PARTS SHOPPING LIST:

DA	EF
Entire 5 lug conversion from a wrecked ITR (you don't need the control arms, but they're nice to have).	Entire 5 lug conversion from a wrecked ITR (you don't need the control arms, but they're nice to have).
Set of 5x114 wheels	Set of 5x114 wheels
New DA front wheel bearings	New 90-91 EX wheel bearings
	Front knuckles from 90-91 EX or EF Si-R
	4040 proportioning valve from DA

DA	EF
Complete rear ITR trailing arms	Complete rear ITR trailing arms
Front ITR hubs	Front ITR hubs
Front ITR/Accord Wagon/Prelude calipers and rotors	Front ITR/Accord Wagon/Prelude calipers and rotors
Set of 5x114 wheels	Set of 5x114 wheels
New DA front wheel bearings	New 90-91 EX wheel bearings
	Front knuckles from 90-91 EX or EF Si-R
	4040 proportioning valve from DA

NOTE: Stock ITR wheels are 15x6 +50 offset, while GS-R wheels are 15x6 +45 offset. This is because the ITR hubs push the track out 5mm on all four corners. If you're not using the stock ITR wheels, make sure the spokes will clear the front calipers. Lower offset doesn't necessarily mean it will clear (spoke design is a much bigger factor). Prices on used car parts vary dramatically. EF owners... figure out whatever axle spline issues you're going to have before you get started.

NOTE: Although the ITR caliper is still a single-piston design, the caliper and the piston are much bigger than the stock DA. Also, the front brake pads are very similar in size, but when measured, the ITR pad has more surface area.

INSTALLATION OF REAR BRAKES:

This part of the install is quite literally a bolt on process. The e-brake cables from the Type R are unnecessary if you have a DA. If you have an EF with drums in the rear, you will need some form of Integra cables. When you switch over the trailing arms, just undo the cables and reattach to the new arms. If you look under your trailing arms on the car, there are two bolts underneath the arm on each side holding it to the chassis. There is also another bolt that holds the compensator arm to the chassis. After undoing these, only the rear upper and lower control arms and the brake lines are holding it onto the car. It's still questionable whether or not you can use your stock brake lines on all four corners... if you can, make sure your 5 lug comes with the brake lines. The ITR ones work fine (great, even). After comparing, the ITR rear upper control arms appeared to be the exact same dimensions as the DA one. If your setup came with the ITR ones, use them. Newer bushings are good.

Special Note: I've probably been asked this same question more than a dozen times... "Don't I HAVE to use the ITR springs/shocks and control arms?" NO! For the love of poo, just use your current springs, shocks and rear LCA's! They bolt onto the ITR trailing arm just fine! Please don't ask this question anymore!

Extra Note: The geometry of the actual physical ITR trailing arm does differ from the DA one slightly, but ultimately, all the bolt holes line up perfectly with the chassis and after the much needed wheel alignment that follows this conversion, the geometry difference will not be an issue.


After you're done, the rears should look something like this:

MACHINE SHOP TIME!

This is where the 5 lug conversion ceases to be a bolt-on procedure, but rest assured, if done properly, your conversion will have OEM fit and quality.

Hydro Presses Are Fun: Ultimately, you will need to wind up with hubless DA/EF(Si-R/EX) knuckles and bare ITR hubs. Take all your junk down to the machine shop and have them press all the hubs and bearings out of whatever knuckles you have. Don't throw anything away quite yet.

NOTE: for DA Owners: If you can, try to get yourself a spare pair of DA knuckles instead of reusing the ones on your car. First of all, people seem to just be giving these away and secondly, you'd be minimizing the amount of downtime your car has. Also, depending on how you do it, you might only need to make one trip to the machine shop.

While the hubs and bearings are out of the DA/EF(Si-R/EX) knuckles, now's the time to decide what to do with the dust/splash shields. You can either cut your stock ones, move over the ITR ones (the screw holes line up perfectly), or just leave them off altogether. Any of these are fine. In the second picture, note the offset difference between the two hubs.

SHAVE THOSE HUBS:

Before you do this, it's important to know why you have to do this. The DA/EF(Si-R/EX) wheel bearings have a different inner and outer diameter than the DC/EG/EK (and ITR) wheel bearings, which means the shaft of the hub is of a different diameter as well. This is why you can't just press out the DA/EF(Si-R/EX) hubs and press in the ITR ones.

This is the tried and true method. What I did was bring my old DA hubs, new and old DA bearings, and ITR hubs to the machine shop. They spec'ed the diameter of the shaft of the DA hub and put my ITR hubs on a crank grinder to be machined down to the appropriate size. I can't remember the exact figure, but they took off somewhere around 3mm off the diameter of the shaft of the ITR hubs. Despite what I say, you or the machine shop should measure your bearings/hubs.

A fter this, have the new pair of DA/EF(Si-R/EX) wheel bearings pressed into your DA/EF(Si-R/EX) knuckles. Then have your newly machined ITR hubs pressed into these said bearings. Here's the part number for the DA bearings (trivia: same part number for late 80's Prelude).

The second picture is of my freshly machined ITR hubs. Nice and shiny! The third picture is the DA knuckle with the ITR splash shield attached and DA bearing and ITR hub pressed in.

MOUNTING THE KNUCKLES:

Begin by removing your old knuckles. On each side, remove the axle nut (having an air gun makes this quite a bit easier). After that, undo the brake line from the chassis hardline and catch all the dripping brake fluid. Next, remove the 3 cotter pins and castle nuts to separate the 3 ball joints (one for each control arm and one for the tie rod). The knuckle should then be free from the car.

Installing your new 5 lug knuckles is the exact reverse of removal. Make sure you use your stock DA/EF upper and lower control arms.

Idiot's ask: "Why can't I just use the stock Type R knuckles and avoid all this machining?" The main reason is the difference in the curvature of the steering knuckles as shown:

If you use the DC2 knuckles, you'll wind up with some pretty severe alignment issues in the front (massive amounts of negative caster and positive camber).

Anyway, now your 5 lug knuckles should be mounted to your car. Time to see if the machining and pressing was done properly.

RUN-OUT TEST:

If you look at your FSM, you'll see the runout spec for the hubs is 0.002". What this means is that when you spin the hub, the surface of the hub should remain nearly perfectly flat. If your bearing is bad or the machining is off, the surface of the hub will wobble and cause premature wear/warpage of the rotors. What you do is set up a dial gauge and mount it to your knuckle. The needle should not move anymore than 0.002".

If you're looking for a cheap dial gauge and magnetic base stand, I picked up both at Harbor Freight on sale for $17 total. Made in Chiiina, but gets the job done and can't beat the price!

FINISHING UP THE FRONTS:

Now that your runout is nice and in spec, pop your rotors on and screw them down. Load up your calipers with pads and bolt those on. Finally, attach the brake lines.

The first picture is a comparison between the fully assembled stock DA knuckle and ITR-spec DA knuckle. The last picture is what it should look like after you're all done.

PROPORTIONING:

EF owners... get yourself a 4040 proportioning valve from a wrecked DA to gain the proper front/rear brake biasing. DA owners... rejoice. You're done! Bleed the hell out of your brake system as specified by the FSM and go for a test drive (go slow... it'd be a shame to find out your brakes don't work when you're driving 55+mph).

IMPRESSIONS:

After your test drive, you should notice that the brake pedal feels considerably more sensitive to input and you're stopping a lot quicker. Performance-wise, this means later braking before diving into turns and a greater feeling of control. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the new brakes... they are quite a bit more powerful and easier to lock up if you don't have ABS.

UPGRADES:

Can't get enough? There are a variety of things you can do such as trying new pads, stainless steel brake lines (be sure to buy for Integra Type R application), or a different fluid. But the ultimate in improving pedal feel is installing a JDM Type R booster and master cylinder (yes, you probably noticed your brake pedal now has more squish before the pads bite down).

Nissin makes Cup Noodles... and Japanese brake components.



You're looking at a JDM ITR 1" master cylinder + brake booster in my car.



So let me break this down so there are no more rumors or speculation. I rolled on my 5 lug for almost two years with my stock 15/16" master and booster. No matter how much I bled, there was still a bit of initial mush in the pedal before you feel the clamping force of the big brakes. All non-ABS/ALB DA's had a 15/16" mc and all ABS/ALB DA's had a 1" mc. What's worse, most EF's have a 7/8" mc (talk about mush-city). Seems easy enough... just get an ABS/ALB DA mc.

Here's what you didn't know. Both of the flare nuts on the hardlines going to the master cylinder on a non-ABS/ALB DA/EF are 10mm. The ABS/ALB one is a 10mm and a 12mm. My suggestion? Remove the entire hardline going from the proportioning valve to the rear port on the mc. Take it to a machine shop and have them do a quality reflare. If you do it at home with a cheap kit, chances are, it's going to leak like crazy.

Or do what I did. The JDM ITR booster and mc bolted right up. You NEED the booster since this master cylinder and the stock DA/EF one have different bolt patterns. The rear hardline bolted right into the master cylinder... it was aligned perfectly and was 10mm (if the mc was USDM, the port would be on the reverse side). The front was almost that easy. No reflaring necessary. You could do it one of two ways:

Conclusion: 1/16" difference doesn't seem like much, but the difference in pedal feel was literally night and day. Any slop before the calipers bit down vanished. As soon as you put your foot down, it's biting down hard. I actually had to relearn how to heel/toe downshift because the brake pedal now requires a different feel for modulation. This'll definitely screw me up at the next track day. This is how full Type R brakes are SUPPOSED to feel (enormously crazy on a stripped out EF).

Was it worth it? For me, yes. BUT the install was one of the most painful things I've had to do on my car. Some people will tell you it's impossible with the motor still in the car. Others'll say it's totally do-able. I say it's only possible if you're a closet-contortionist with baby hands who loves masochism. And your shock tower WILL get scratched up. Along with your arms and hands. If you're going to do this, I highly suggest you do it while your motor is out. If you don't have 5 lug and your motor is still in... don't even bother. It's totally not worth it.

Lastly, you can go crazy and get Spoon calipers (which now bolt right on). They make a huge difference over stock ITR brakes (much more difficult to lock up and excellent feel). This entire setup on an EF is absolutely INSANE!