Eric Dixon's '92 Integra LS
There are two undeniable truths in life: failure and success. Unfortunately, everyone experiences failures before achieving any amount of success. Life is ultimately a giant trial and error test. It's sort of like talking to that girl you like and then somehow getting stuck in the friend zone-you never really get what you want without putting up with the things that you don't. The same holds true in our community. Familiarizing oneself with Hondas without first learning what not to do is a rarity. It's a given that error-free builds are few and far between. Mistakes are often what make things great, or at least unique. Such are the things that make for great stories and give a car its voice. These stories are what drive Internet forums and keep the community alive. This is where Eric Dixon's story begins.
The Houston native was formally introduced to his '92 Integra as a graduation gift. "I never had any plans to modify the car," Eric says, "but with the persistence of my friends, I couldn't resist." A virgin to Hondas, Eric decided to arouse himself with knowledge by doing research on his new partner. "I picked up a magazine at a bookstore and saw a few DAs in them and got hooked on wanting to mod mine. Tony Fuch's DA was a huge inspiration, I fell in love and that pushed my need for speed," he says. With zero races under his belt and barely any seat time, Eric deemed his car "Da Rooki3" and went off on a stoplight-to-stoplight barrage against every car in the Lone Star state. Nobody's condoning such behavior, including Eric, but that might just be because he was typically on the losing end. The losses began to add up so Eric began to look into local speed shops for assistance. An intake and header were installed in hopes of adding some extra kick but it still wasn't enough power to win. Disappointed, he finally decided to hook up with a local shop to do something major: the ever-popular LS-VTEC conversion.
Thinking he had finally found the proper engine setup, Eric decided to modify his Integra's footwork. Weds Sport SA-90 rollers made their way onto the chassis in the 15x7 form. Attached to the Weds are BFGoodrich g-Force street radials up front and Yokohama ES100s in the rear. The stock, aging springs, and shocks were removed in place of Ground Control coilovers and Koni dampers. Energy Suspension's complete line of DA bushings was also installed to help keep essential suspension pieces in place.
The exterior had experienced gradual wear and tear over the years so Eric decided to respray the shell with a Nighthawk Black Pearl hue. Before sending it off to nearby Super Autobody, Eric contacted Mark's Garage to pick up a Wings West RS body kit. The Integra was overdue for some much needed weight loss so the bulky stock hood and hatch were switched out and VIS carbon-fiber pieces were bolted on. The OEM side and rear glass windows are also long gone and supplanted with lightweight FAL Plexiglas.
Eric thought he had the makings for a sleek, fast ride but something just wasn't right. "I wasn't happy with the setup at all," Eric says. "I wasn't running any good times at the track and after having bad experiences with a couple of local shops, I felt I had wasted thousands of dollars." Downtrodden, Eric turned to his good friends Bryan Jimenez and Juan Q of Jimenez Racing for advice. They both agreed that it was a good idea to have the car sent down to T1 Race Development, a relatively new shop spearheaded by SFWD champ Tony Palo. Everyone felt Tony was the guy who could finally finish Da Rooki3 and after a conversation with Tony himself, Eric agreed.