Through great fortune I have recently acquired a 1988 Acura Integra LS with 113,000 miles of use. A colleague bought a newer Honda Fit and bequeathed this classic diamond in the rough to yours truly. It began to overheat in past weeks and, understandably, she did not want to spend any more money on a car of such age. She had recently paid for new brakes pads, rotors and a radiator. I informed her of my suspicion that the thermostat may be stuck but have yet to verify this.
Contained within that pretty blue shell is a four-speed autotragic transmission and a 1.6 liter DOHC engine. Fabricated in 1988, the engine has slight improvements over the original D16A1 including domed pistons and lighter rods. It produces 118 hp at 6500 rpm and 103 lbft of torque at 4300 rpm. Luckily this California car has minimal rust. The top side of the engine looks to be in excellent condition. There were no signs of coolant under the valve cover or on the dipstick. What coolant I could see in the radiator and expansion tank lacked signs of oil. This is all well and good but a compression test is in order.
The moon roof is functional, the windows, seats and mirrors are manual, and the headlights pop up! I love it all. If only there were a manual transmission to be found at the local junkyard…
thedailyyeti 