As I’m writing this, I think I’ve decided that this will be one of the best posts that I’ve put up in a long time – let me explain why.

I’ve known Derrick for a few years now and we got acquainted through Diana’s sister, Cindy. Our shared interest in cars naturally meant that we’d probably get to know each other better and become good friends. (Great script for a love story, btw. No homo).

And over the few years, I’ve come to the conclusion that Derrick is one of the most ingenious and craftiest people I know. He can come up with ways around things where many people would just say “nope – can’t be done”. He’s a handyman-type, that’s what they do, and you can’t help but think “how do you think of that stuff?”. In the world of modifying cars and changing things that weren’t supposed to be changed, you often run into many speed bumps along the way. But Derrick is great at avoiding those bumps altogether most of the time – it’s an awesome skill to have, and for that – I’ve always respected his car, the work he’s done, and most importantly, Derrick himself.

The reason I say that is because the whole time I was there, he kept telling me not to take pictures of this or that because it was ghetto. “Ghetto” isn’t the right word, but I’m going to continue using it for the purpose of this post. I’m not sure how else one would make it “not ghetto” if you’re doing it in your garage with the materials you have. I personally thought that it was great that he was doing all of that on his own and the set up was pretty good considering all he had was his garage. You’ll see what I mean as you scroll through the plethora of pictures. Now the main reason why I think this will be one of the best posts is because it’s one of those things where you see a car like Derrick’s all torn apart in basically it’s rawest form. You’re not sure what to make of it, you don’t know what it’s going to look like in the least bit, but you do have faith that it’s going to be awesome.

OK so the good part – Derrick has been working day in and day out for the past 2 weeks-ish. He took work off so that he could spend every waking minute to getting the Integra done. I asked him “so when do you think it’ll be done?” and he replied “by the show & shine”. That means he’s got 4 more days from the time you saw this post to get it done. 3 days if you don’t include Sunday, which is the show. He’s scheduled to tow the car into a booth on Thursday evening for 4 hours to finally lay down the paint and clear, then Friday and Saturday to assemble the car back to how it used to be. I feel rude about it now, but I scoffed at the idea about getting it done in time but he insisted it would be…

It’s going to be a pic-heavy post, so wait for it to load and check it out!

As I was walking up to the garage, he was just finishing laying down primer on one of the doors. Here he’s cleaning the gun to prepare for more spraying. The gun has to be cleaned every so often because the paint dries up around it and causes a mess.

The shell. Basically everything – interior wise and exterior wise has been taken off and stripped apart. All that’s left is his internals.

The other side of the garage – you see the hatch and his two doors.

Shot of the inside all gutted and slightly cleaned up.

His steering rack and dash area all covered up.

Here’s the passenger door he just finished priming. He still has a long way to go with wetsanding and getting it nice and even.

The other door that was sanded and waiting for primer.

Hinges hanging in the middle of the garage.

Another shot of the interior/trunk area.

Tail lights and everything off.

His bay all covered up.

Went outside and took a snap of the LS cause the paint fumes were killing me haha

Cleaning…

Some detail shots. His shifter

Derrick also did a lot of work on his rear quarters. He re-welded and fixed it all up. This tab here is actually from a 2011 Mazda 3 that he welded on.

Shot of the rear quarter. He spent a lot of time on this side to get it all fixed up the best he could. He said it was quite messed up while the other side was perfect and required little work.

In the backyard his front and rear bumpers, lip, hood and fenders were all sitting there waiting for paint. These already had their prime coat on.

All his plastic pieces also primed and ready to go.

Fenders.

His junk pile. Cracked windshield and lining. The Integra is going to look as good as new soon…

I told him to smile for the camera so everyone would know the guy in the legendary DIY Integra. He declined but I took it anyway. He was telling me that he hasn’t slept well lately because he’s been up trying to get the car done, he hasn’t had a haircut in weeks and Thy – his girlfriend, makes fun of him and calls him ugly. It will all be worth it in the end, my friend!

Another thing that Derrick pointed out was the trolly he made for the car while he was working on it. The reason he built it was so that he could roll it around easily if he needed to maneuver it and when he was done, he could roll it around so his mom could park back in the garage again. He made the comment “I’m just a bad son now cause I can’t move it anymore and she has to park outside”. LOL

Another shot of it waiting to be put back together.

Getting ready to primer the other door.

Up close shots of the door that was primed. Note – he removed the side moldings and now it’s just a clean door. I know Derrick’s been wanting to get rid of them for quite some time – at one point he even just paint-matched it cause he hated it so much. Glad he was able to get rid of it finally.

He also deleted the wiper.

And the antenna…

I asked why he had some makeshift ventilation system going on at the door in the garage. As I was taking this picture he was yelling at me not to take it because it was ghetto. The reason is because he usually paints with the garage door closed and there needs to be some sort of air flow or else it’ll just get so clogged up.

Lights clamped around the garage…

Wires running across from one end to the other with more painted parts hanging…

This was one thing that caught my eye. I know that last year he had the Wilwood kit, but I never got a chance to see the car with it finally installed until yesterday. Looks great and it should look great behind the new wheels he’s got too.

Another shot of his trolly.

Mixing his primer.

A shot of the back of his hatch. He removed all emblems and filled the holes as well.

Ass shot of the LS. lol

Getting ready to prime. Spraying test shots.

Finally getting back to work. Priming the driver door.

I’ll end it here. This is going to be super exciting to see at the show and shine on Sunday – provided that things go according to schedule. If you’re attending, be on the lookout for his Integra!

Good luck to you, Derrick in getting this done in time. Going to turn out great for sure!