1996 Acura Integra GSR

Back in 1997, the Honda scene was still in its early stages. Looking back, some of us remember the growing pains the scene was going through with our wild body kits and neon green paint schemes. Some of us, on the other hand, hadn't even sat in a driver's seat for the first time yet.

Al-Michael Franco picked up his 1996 Acura Integra GS-R that year. The car was slightly used and came equipped with a set of OEM fog lights, Eibach Sportline springs and some white faced gauges, a good starting point in those days. Through the next two years, Franco continued his mods. He added all of the hottest parts of the time, going with an Akimoto intake and a DC sports 4-2-1 header (a staple at the time) dumping into a GReddy Power Extreme exhaust. The car also got a set of Neuspeed plug wires and clear bumper lenses to add a bit of bling, inside and out.

He then picked up the first of a handful of Alpine head units that would grace the Integra's dash over the years. Franco replaces the Alpine head unit almost every year with the newer, cooler top-of-the-line Alpine offering.

Back then, the Teg rolled on a set of 17-inch Racing Hart C2's. "Everybody wanted those wheels back then," Franco says. Later, he replaced the Eibachs with Skunk2 coilovers over Tokiko Illumina shocks so he could get the car to sit lower then it already was. A trio of DC sports braces spanned the front and rear strut towers and between the rear lower control arms. The 17-inch Racing Harts were sold in favor of a set of the same Racing Hart C2's, this time of the 18-inch variety.

"At the time] the only thing better than 17-inch C2's were 18-inch C2's," Franco recalls. "Nobody had 18's then."

Around the turn of the millennium, Franco's father started to put his influence in on the progression of the GS-R's build. Franco's father had raced mid-70's Mitsubishi Lancers in long-distance rally events in the Philippines. Since these Lancers were only offered in Asia, Japanese aftermarket parts were the only thing available. When he saw his son building a Japanese car using primarily American parts, his interest arose and some research ensued. After searching for a while, Franco's father opened his eyes to the world of JDM. From there on out, every part on the car had to be Japanese, and a transformation began.

"I went to the Japanese bookstore in Chinatown to look at Option and Carisma mags. I liked the way the Japanese guys were building their cars. It looked cleaner and the parts seemed more functional."

In late 2000, Franco picked up the OEM ITR front end conversion to start the GS-R's JDM metamorphosis. Before he could get the front end on, the car was in a pretty major accident.