UPDATE: I sold this car and bought a 92 rs. Click here to go that project web page.
You found my project Integra web site. Congratulations.
I bought a 91 Integra GS a while ago for $1200. Good deal, considering the car ran and everything. It needs work, however. The power door locks don't work; it needs a paint job; all the interior needs reworking; doesn't have a stereo. You get the idea. I decided to start off with a paint job because the rust is so bad. I would rather put the money right into the engine, but the rust was a much more serious problem. Rust can fuck a car up pretty bad.
Virginia law requires an inpection of your car once a year. Its kind of like the emissions test in California and other various states, except they don't do an emissions test. They check all other sorts of things instead, such as your headlights, tail lights, brakes, steering. There are more points to the inspection, but I won't list them all here. When I bought the car, it wouldn't pass inspection due to a bad tie rod end and ball joint. I went out, bought a Haynes manual, and replaced the tie rod end myself. Since the (lower drivers side) ball joint needs to be pressed in, I decided to have a professional replace the ball joint.
The woman who sold me the car told me the stereo was stolen. They cut the vehicle harness to get it out. You can't just replace the part of the harness that goes to the stereo - you have to replace the whole thing. These go for around $150 from a scrap yard. Since an ECU happens to be the same price, I'm going to ghetto-rig the stereo, and buy a used ECU.
The reason I'm getting an ECU is that I'm going to do an LS/VTEC conversion (if you couldn't tell by the title). A 1991 Integra GS has an OBD-0 type harness. You have to match the OBD type harness to the ECU and other electrical equipment. Since the Integra doesn't come with VTEC stock, you have to get the ECU out of a car that has (or had) VTEC. The only two OBD-0 ECU's that have VTEC pinouts (controls) are PR3 and PW0. The OBD-0 Integra harness doesn't have the wire leading to the VTEC solenoid. I'm going to have to run this wire from the ECU to the solenoid myself. This shouldn't prove too difficult.
There are several sites on the internet that give decent instructions on the engine conversion. DIY Racing has a good tutorial. When I convert mine, I'll give detailed instructions.
While I'm doing my conversion, I'm going to replace the pistons with better ones. I'm going to work the engine before I do any other upgrades.
I plan on eventually installing the following:
Somewhat mild turbo (and all included hardware)
3" exhaust, high flow cat