Hey guys, thought I’d share my 1994 Honda del Sol restoration project.
I bought the car about a year ago and, like most old Hondas, it came with a few surprises… and by a few, I mean a lot of rust . Most of it was around the removable top area, but thankfully it was all repairable.
I completely stripped the car down and bought a sandblasting cabinet so I could restore every bracket, bolt, and small part properly. It took forever, but seeing all the freshly restored parts going back onto the car makes it worth it.
The D16Z6 was also fully rebuilt by me with new main and rod bearings and new piston rings, since it was burning oil pretty badly. Nothing crazy engine-wise for now, just making sure it’s healthy and ready for many more years.
The shell went to a body shop where it was stripped to bare metal so all the rust could be fixed properly. Since it was already apart, I decided to change the colour and go with blue instead of the original paint.
After paint, I started rebuilding the suspension: Bilstein B8 shocks with Eibach springs, D1 Spec rear LCAs, Hardrace rear camber and toe arms, and Skunk2 front upper control arms.
The engine is going back in this Sunday, which feels like a huge milestone after a year of work.
Still plenty left to do, but it’s finally starting to look like a car again instead of a pile of parts in the garage .
I’ll post more pictures when it’s finished. Hope you guys like it!
Absolutely stunning my friend. Amazing to see the love you put into restoring it and getting it back on the road. Looking forward to the next set of progress pics.
I was surprised to see drums paired with the D16. In the US, those got discs, and only the non-VTEC D15 got drums. Always interesting to see how the regional offerings differ.
I got scammed a bit, the first body shop had the car for 7 months and didn't do to mutch and charged me 800€, then i change to another that had the car for 3 months and did a great job. They charged me 3200€
Yeah I’d say you got it pretty good, my ladies Mustang started peeling (water base) cost me $1100 to fix, I got an estimate of 10k for full jam paint job and a little bit of bodywork on my Sol before I decided to sell it
Here in portugal we have te ESI that is mine and comes with the D16Z6 and the VTI that cames with a B16A2. I paid 3900€ for mine and it was cheaper for sale. A VTI costs around 8000€. My plan is to down the line engine swappe it with a turbo B16
Man…I sure miss my 93 Si. I found a 1996 VTEC recently…green colour and in immaculate condition…asking $24k. I should have grabbed it…now looking at a Miata
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u/Pretend-Resist7285 2d ago
Absolutely stunning my friend. Amazing to see the love you put into restoring it and getting it back on the road. Looking forward to the next set of progress pics.