Erick Dickerson’s Favorite: Meet Mandy

With such a collection of cars, you’d think that choosing a favorite might be hard, but not for Dickerson. He managed to do that more easily than one might imagine. What you see here is Mandy, his pride and joy. We’re going to take a guess at why Mandy has become the pick of the litter. Could it be because it’s an authentic Honda Integra Type-R, or is it because of all of the hard work he invested into restoring it to the condition you see now? Regardless of why, Dickerson’s Honda is near the top of the list for being one of the cleanest projects that we’ve come across.

The Restoration Process Begins

Before the Integra appeared as you see it here, Dickerson took on the task of restoring the car. What would seem like a waste of time and money to many wasn’t at all to Dickerson. He went ahead and replaced a lot of the dated factory trim pieces, such as the carpeting, inner plastic accents, fender liners and the weatherstripping, with new replacements. Once all of the parts arrived, the car was taken down to MOB Works in Orange, California, and given a complete makeover. Along with the OEM parts that were purchased from the dealer, Dickerson also picked up an OEM HID-equipped front end, a set of ’98-spec taillights, a rear hatch with wiper and deleted brake light, and an OEM rear bumper to give the Integra a slightly updated look. When it came to adding flavor to the exterior, Dickerson managed to get his hands on one of the most hard-to-come-by front bumpers for the Integra, a BackYard Special unit, and a pair of Spoon Sports side mirrors. When the body was smoothed and prepped, the crew at MOB Works sprayed the Type-R in a DuPont Chromabase Championship white tone.

Keeping the Interior Clean and Purposeful

Sticking to the “less is more” theme, the interior was kept as clean as the outside. With most of the rear half of the car gutted, the only thing to be found in the back is a Miracle X-bar to brace the back half and a spare tire. Up front, the driver finds himself strapped down into a rare reclinable Vision Imus Kevlar bucket seat while the passenger enjoys the comfort of a suede JDM IT-R Recaro seat. Subtle accents that were also added to the mix include an ARC shift knob, suede Personal Grinta steering wheel, H.O.P. JDM sunglasses holder and a Clarion head unit.

Performance Upgrades Under the Hood

When the time came to perform, Dickerson looked no further than the motor from the chassis he already had. From a performance aspect, the car would be based around an ’00 JDM IT-R motor outfitted with a handful of other performance parts. Inside, a pair of Skunk2 cams with matching cam gears was added to give the 1.8-liter motor more torque. An A-Sports individual throttle body kit was added to open up throttle response while a Spoon Sports header in conjunction with a Vision test pipe allows gasses extra breathing room as they make their way through the motor and the Spoon Sports street-type exhaust. For cooling purposes, a C&R radiator was held down with a pair of Spoon Sports radiator stays and hooked up to a set of Spoon Sports radiator hoses. The fuel setup was upgraded with the help of a Golden Eagle fuel rail, Vortech fuel pressure regulator, Earl’s inline fuel filter and 290cc OBD-II Prelude injectors. For tuning purposes, an AEM EMS was used to program the Type-R to whatever specifications Dickerson decided were best.

Suspension and Handling Improvements

For the suspension portion of the Integra, the most radical upgrade was the change from the Honda factory four-lug suspension to a five-lug setup. Not only offering upgraded suspension and braking components, the five-lug setup opens up a whole new world when choosing wheels. Aside from that, Dickerson called upon a set of Zeal B6 dampers to keep the Integra riding smoothly and steadily. Looking to add more reinforcement to the suspension aspect of the car, Dickerson also swapped out the factory bushings in exchange for a Mugen bushing kit and added a Spoon Sports lower rear tie bar, Cusco front strut tower bar and a pair of front and rear Cusco sway bars.

Upgrading the Brakes and Wheels

Going hand-in-hand with the suspension, the next step was to work on the braking. Once again ditching the stock parts, Brembo’s OEM rotors were used both up front and in the rear of the car. Since the rotors were replaced, Dickerson saw the need to upgrade the calipers as well and picked up a set of Spoon Sports four-piston calipers with Cobalt VR race pads and Goodridge stainless steel brake lines. The final accessory comes in the form of a set of white 16-inch Desmond RegaMaster EVO wheels wrapped in Falken Azenis Sport rubber.

Quality Over Quantity

In the end, this effort goes to show you that more is not always better. Quality parts, time and dedication go a long way in this game as Dickerson and Mandy prove that the “less is more” theme works wonders. If you’d like to find out more info on Dickerson, his builds and some other projects he’s working on, be sure to check out www.NWP4Life.com.