DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Really enjoying this

Thanks Barry, I enjoy the mechanical bits, this wheelarch cleaning is doing my head though!

Brakes are now on with new Honda pads and Goodrich flexis:

Finally got some paint on! Not finished of course because that would be too easy, but done both rear arches and the boot floor in 2k epoxy.

More prep and paint along the sills and in the front arches to come then tinted Raptor going over the whole thing

Decided to crack on today with the Raptor whilst the area was masked up. Really happy with how it turned out, even if the colour match is a bit off.

Honda Insight - hybrid, built in same factory as NSX and S2000

More scrubbing, grinding and painting…
Both front arches, floors and sills done.
Raptor tomorrow then we can finally start putting the car back together!

MOT and alignment booked for 20th so hope it’s all up and running for Loton park on the 24th.







Painting upside down is a right pain! Two seconds at a time max.

And finished:

Silver Raptor where you can see it inside the arch liner (as original) and extra under the front of the sill which was originally bare and covered in surface rust.


Whole underside to the tunnel in Raptor. Trying to draw the line as to where to stop is so hard!



Mix and match: Tinted Raptor, 2k epoxy and original Honda primer


Mechanical rebuild starts tomorrow!

3 of them at Loton today:

Don’t tempt him Graham!

We had a good day on the car today and got the back end in together with brake lines, exhaust, prop etc.

Front suspension and fluids tomorrow then we can start with cosmetic stuff like wings and lights

Fluids done today, front suspension is taking a bit longer than planned due to working out where everything goes and what sequence to build in.

Filling the diff and box would have been impossible without the little Sealey pump, great little tool.

Diff drain plug is 23mm and needs a spanner as there’s no clearance to the subframe, Amazon same day delivery to the rescue




Brake hose routing is making no sense so I’ll try again tomorrow when I’m more awake

And in one bound it’s done

Refitting the wings was simple. The bumpers, undertrays, and arch liners not so much.
Every fixing fought us, many of the originals underneath were long gone so had to be improvised. I’m not entirely sure how they were holding on before!

The bumpers don’t match the body and the lights match nothing! Maybe I’m just too fussy

Fit and finish not withstanding it’s great to get it back in one piece.

Other than refurbished wheels and new tyres the outside looks the same as when we bought the car. Good to know the mechanical bits are sound though.

Paint will get a once over with the polisher to get a shine, particularly on bonnet and boot lid, but it won’t make it all the same colour so we won’t get too carried away!

Found the LH sidelight has gone out once we got the car outside. Such a pain as you need to drop the arch liner out to get to it…

MOT and alignment booked on for next Friday. Might have a quick look myself at the alignment to get it somewhere close for the drive over.

Well done

Just don’t put it in a hedge on the first run out!

(Back in the day, the son of my boss’s Secretary was in the garage trade as a dealership salesman. He took his S2000 to a independent garage for basic servicing. The mechanics took the car out for a “road test” and ran out of talent, losing it on a bend and put it backwards through a dry stone wall)

Too true, there’s evidence this one has been off backwards at least once!

I’m going to have a go at a string alignment before we go for the MOT as it looks like it has 5deg of toe out on the front!

Quick google suggests the front gets a touch of toe-out and the rear gets toe-in.

Deep (ish!) clean of the interior and a machine polish of the outside today.

It won’t make it all the same colour but at least it’s shiny now!



20 years of DNA to be removed from the interior. And of course extra JDM points for finding 10 yen under the carpet


These seats look dark and dirty, but 30 minutes of scrubbing doesn’t seem to make much difference.



Real shame the Japanese sat nav doesn’t even turn on, obviously it’s not going to work but it would be nice if it lit up. Project for another day.