Where's the action? We're putzing around an industrial zone in Osaka, Japan, in an automatic Legacy wagon, searching for some kind of late-night car action. Any kind. Lots of black patches on the pavement, but the known spots are empty. On the way home, we see a gleaming white Type R gassing up at the pumps. We pull in to grill him on local spots.
At first the car isn't that impressive. After a week in Japan we've lost it. We now expect every ride to be a shop car with carbon-fiber everything and enough titanium to alarm a group of U.N. weapons inspectors. But a closer look yanks us back to reality. This car means business, and it's a perfect example of what a regular guy in Japan with a decent job, wife and kid builds with his excess income and strong enthusiasm.
Toru Hirate's '96 Integra Type R is built to run the "touges," or mountain roads, and area circuits, so he aimed the bulk of his resources at suspension modifications. Shift Sport, the shop responsible for most of the car's setup, revalved a set of already competent Buddy Club N1 coil-overs. Although in theory streetable, a brief ride shows this suspension configuration to have as much street compliance as a set of steel rods. To complement the stock front strut tower brace, Toru chose a Cusco bar to connect the rear shock towers.
Shoring up the chassis substantially is a custom cage by Shift Sports. The cage is an interesting combination of permanent gusseted sections and sections removable via clevises. For example, the entire section aft of the B-pillar hoop is bolted in, and can be removed for rear hatch room if needed. While making the cage configuration more versatile, these clevises are far from ideal in terms of torsional rigidity.
The DC2 is about as close to greatness as a front-wheel-drive vehicle can get, and a few well-planned modifications can make the car's edge that much sharper. Quite happy with the B18C's pep, Toru left it alone, only wrapping the stock exhaust manifold with insulation and replacing the car's exhaust with a Takuhashi midpipe and Shift Sport's VForce Canister muffler. To keep the car's engine healthy and temps in check when lapping in the hot and humid summer months, Toru installed a custom large capacity radiator.
The stock Type R's limited-slip differential is perfectly effective and left in place.
Toru procured 15x7-inch Buddy Club P1 Racing wheels. Although not the lightest wheel available, they are cost-effective, strong and good-looking. Japanese enthusiasts are blessed with the most bitchin' street tires, more like our R-compound tires, but with realistic wear characteristics. For both street and track use, Toru uses Bridgestone RE540S Potenzas, sized 205/50-15 in front and 195/55-15 in the rear. Placing tires with a smaller contact patch on the rear of front-wheel-drive cars encourages more neutral handling characteristics and is a popular setup with Japanese "grip" drivers.
Only Earl's braided stainless brake lines augment the stock brakes. Toru uses Winmax brake pads front and rear, which are a bit aggressive for around-town cruising, but perfectly suited to hard driving and track use. A cool modification is the Cusco master cylinder brace that reduces flex in the assembly as the piston is depressed to provide better pedal feel.
Toru did away with all rear interior pieces, and stripped all the carpeting and sound deadening in the front before returning a little carpet for civility. More weight was shaved from the package with a Shift Sports carbon-fiber hood and vented fiberglass fenders. We'll never quite get over how much better looking the JDM headlight configuration is than the U.S.-spec pimple beam setup, and what you see is stock.
Toru replaced the already impressive stock Recaro driver's seat with a one-piece Recaro SPG shell seat, and locks himself in place with a Sabelt harness. Omori oil and water temperature gauges help keep tabs on engine temps.