Civic Type R - First hot hatch
Discussion
Mansells Tash said:
Convert it to a DC5 shifter and put a gauge in the gearstick hole. I love my EP3's shifter with the DC5 and short shift kit! 
Do you have pictures of that?Last update of the year for me now:
I noticed a grinding noise from my rear nearside brakes. Upon inspection it was clear the calliper wasn't doing its job properly, I found out upon stripping it down that one of the slider pins on the calliper sliding bracket was seized.
Here you can see the inner pad compared with the fatter outer pad, as well as the slider pins, one seized completely due to the rubber seal deteriorating.
No breakers would sell me the sliding bracket on its own so had to buy a complete unit. The complete calliper unit I received was badly painted in red so I spent a while sanding the paint off from pad contact points and regreasing the seals which thankfully looked in good condition. Of course, I also did the other side even though there was plenty of meat left on pads and disc - I used Ferodo discs and pads and could tell straight away there was much improved braking.
Next year I am putting on some very decent front discs and pads in preparation for a trackday I want to do - can't wait!
I also bought myself a great condition Type R brochure. Call me sad but I do this for all of my cars, it's interesting to look at and adds a bit of provenance I think. Although I wasn't half as proud for this as I was for finding and securing a mint condition G Wagen brochure from 1990 for my dad as part of his christmas stuff.
I went to a local cars and coffee meet in Liverpool last month but the very windy weather put a lot of people off but saw two stunners there:
DO WANT!
DO WANT!
Seeing the two cars above make me yearn sometimes for another car (wishful thinking especially given my priorities/ finances!)
Part of me wishes I stretched myself a little bit more and got a DC2 instead of the EP3 especially given the recent price rises of the cars but then again another part of me says I'd have only spent a fortune restoring rust or tired engines etc on the DC2's I could afford. It also makes me cry looking at how much S2000's have gone up recently. I would also like a DC5 but they have always commanded strong money for what they are IMO - although the blue / black cars look fantastic. Ah well another time I suppose.
Back to my car, I recently noticed the car was hard to get into gear occasionally at high revs with a really low bite point - I know enough about EP3's to know this means the clutch was therefore knackered. With a lot of miles coming up over Christmas I asked for an early present off the GF (genuine Honda clutch kit) and had it replaced. The original, 121k mile clutch was down to the rivets so now the cars clutch feels nice and light and grips hard - a revelation. However - my friends garage who did the clutch change accidentally broke the knock sensor (easily done during clutch changes especially as it gets very brittle and fragile with age) - so it cost me a bit more than just labour
The new clutch and the recent cold weather has also brought to the fore a new issue - I find it very hard to change from 1st to 2nd at low revs / normal driving speed when the gearbox is stone cold - either it doesn't want to go in or goes in with a slight crunch sensation. Give the box 15-20 minutes to warm up and its perfect. This is apparently a very very common problem with EP3's but I honestly thought I had escaped it! Can any EP3 owners who have had this let me know if it's synchro based or anything else like gear linkage / gear selector fork related?? I think I already know the answer but fingers crossed....
I've had my EP3 since 2007 (06 plate) and when cold it needs caressing into 1st-2nd gear for a few miles (only 5 minutes or so though but my car is garaged overnight) then its fine! It doesn't crunch but its notchy until all her juices are flowing, just warm her up slowly 
Car has done about 60k miles
Car has done about 60k miles
Good on you for doing an old one up. They are great cars.
I've had two in the past brand new and the second one I fitted Eibach 20mm springs with camber adjusters and a set of OZ superleggera lightweight wheels. I recommend this set up as it made the car even better to drive in the twisties.
I've had two in the past brand new and the second one I fitted Eibach 20mm springs with camber adjusters and a set of OZ superleggera lightweight wheels. I recommend this set up as it made the car even better to drive in the twisties.
Thanks all. Plans for the future are to keep it mechanically sweet (cosmetics perhaps too far gone - will need expensive respray to get top notch) in line with the fact it's simply a daily driver albeit one that does pretty much everything.
I won't be lowering it from standard height as it scrapes on some speedbumps as it is. I have front camber bolts and will be putting on rear camber arms then getting the geo done once more. That, plus some top notch brakes at the front and some sporty tyres sometime next year will make it decent enough I hope.
I'm a bit disappointed with the 1st to 2nd gear notchiness when cold as like I said, most if not all EP3s have this and I honestly thought I was one of the blessed ones. I am convinced (hope) that a clean up and renewal of the shifter cable bushes and a look at the condition of linkages and engine mounts may paint a clearer picture for me. If it is a synchro issue - i'll just have to work around it when it's cold for now
I won't be lowering it from standard height as it scrapes on some speedbumps as it is. I have front camber bolts and will be putting on rear camber arms then getting the geo done once more. That, plus some top notch brakes at the front and some sporty tyres sometime next year will make it decent enough I hope.
I'm a bit disappointed with the 1st to 2nd gear notchiness when cold as like I said, most if not all EP3s have this and I honestly thought I was one of the blessed ones. I am convinced (hope) that a clean up and renewal of the shifter cable bushes and a look at the condition of linkages and engine mounts may paint a clearer picture for me. If it is a synchro issue - i'll just have to work around it when it's cold for now
I decided to look into the notchy 2nd gear when cold problem a little bit. It's more than likely a reluctant synchro given the age of the car, so I have learnt very quickly to rev match each change into 2nd for the first few minutes of driving until the box warms up. I will also try a gearbox oil change as now that the weather has warmed up slightly its got better - and I still need to check the engine mounts, I suspect the rear one may be a bit perished and may affect the gearchange but I could be clutching at straws
I did find lots of EP3 owners on the forums recommend changing the standard rubber gear linkage bushes for more solid ones, with most people indicating a better gearchange action once fitted. So armed with some Christmas cash I bought some K tuned shifter bushes and set about fitting them.
First step - airbox off:
Original bushes:
Old bushes off. Needed a fair bit of penetrating fluid and also a bit of drilling out to help them along.
New K tuned bushes in:
The bushes I would say were worth doing, as they give the shift a slightly more positive feel, but it's one of those mods where you get used to it after a day or two - I'm sure going back to standard bushes would feel worse though so they can stay!
I also wondered what sort of BHP the car was pushing out so took a trip to a local tuner and had it on the rolling road. There was a lad with a VXR Nurburgring (240hp stock I think) with a few engine mods in front of me and he was pretty wounded when it 'only' got 220hp at the fly. With it being a Dyno Dynamics dyno they are supposedly pretty conservative compared to other dynos that may massage ego's. At this point I started to worry and imagined figures of 150hp at the fly but it came out with -
It's a 122k mile car, completely standard except for a 2.5" unsilenced B-pipe. The dyno operator was impressed and a bit surprised as I was I. Can any dyno experts shed any light on the graph and decipher it for me? i.e whether the torque and power curves look good etc?
Not long after I noticed some knocking around the rear, a quick look found this:
An orginal, crusty broken exhaust hanger and also one of the rubber hanger mounts on the original, crusty backbox has also rusted off, so the exhaust was moving about a lot and knocking into the anti roll bar on bumps or turns. A temporary application of thick cable ties has the exhaust back where it's meant to be, in the meantime I have taken delivery of a new eurocarparts backbox (does the job still I am sure) and will get it fitted when my Hardrace rear camber arms arrive so I can kill two birds with one stone!
Comments welcome
I did find lots of EP3 owners on the forums recommend changing the standard rubber gear linkage bushes for more solid ones, with most people indicating a better gearchange action once fitted. So armed with some Christmas cash I bought some K tuned shifter bushes and set about fitting them.
First step - airbox off:
Original bushes:
Old bushes off. Needed a fair bit of penetrating fluid and also a bit of drilling out to help them along.
New K tuned bushes in:
The bushes I would say were worth doing, as they give the shift a slightly more positive feel, but it's one of those mods where you get used to it after a day or two - I'm sure going back to standard bushes would feel worse though so they can stay!
I also wondered what sort of BHP the car was pushing out so took a trip to a local tuner and had it on the rolling road. There was a lad with a VXR Nurburgring (240hp stock I think) with a few engine mods in front of me and he was pretty wounded when it 'only' got 220hp at the fly. With it being a Dyno Dynamics dyno they are supposedly pretty conservative compared to other dynos that may massage ego's. At this point I started to worry and imagined figures of 150hp at the fly but it came out with -
It's a 122k mile car, completely standard except for a 2.5" unsilenced B-pipe. The dyno operator was impressed and a bit surprised as I was I. Can any dyno experts shed any light on the graph and decipher it for me? i.e whether the torque and power curves look good etc?
Not long after I noticed some knocking around the rear, a quick look found this:
An orginal, crusty broken exhaust hanger and also one of the rubber hanger mounts on the original, crusty backbox has also rusted off, so the exhaust was moving about a lot and knocking into the anti roll bar on bumps or turns. A temporary application of thick cable ties has the exhaust back where it's meant to be, in the meantime I have taken delivery of a new eurocarparts backbox (does the job still I am sure) and will get it fitted when my Hardrace rear camber arms arrive so I can kill two birds with one stone!
Comments welcome
Dyno graph looks good man. Slight strange hump at the beginning though. A slight dip in torque before VTEC changeover as noraml.
Thats a healthy figure of 196hp, down 1hp from factory :P It's also good yours isn't burning much oil. I believe the K20 high mile failure is the valve seals. Which can all be replaced.
I used to have an EP2 and it was a lot of fun. I debated long about an EP3 but in the end got myself an FN2. I'm changing the clutch and brake fluid tomorrow morning. Trouble is now I want an S2000 but I can't bear to part with the civic. As you have said also, the prices have gone up a fair way on them
Thats a healthy figure of 196hp, down 1hp from factory :P It's also good yours isn't burning much oil. I believe the K20 high mile failure is the valve seals. Which can all be replaced.
I used to have an EP2 and it was a lot of fun. I debated long about an EP3 but in the end got myself an FN2. I'm changing the clutch and brake fluid tomorrow morning. Trouble is now I want an S2000 but I can't bear to part with the civic. As you have said also, the prices have gone up a fair way on them
Thanks all for the kind replies.
Quick text update on the car... Hardrace rear adjustable camber arms are fitted but now the car badly needs a new 4 wheel alignment. Next on the list is some racier front pads and discs as I plan to track the car at least a couple of times later in the year for a laugh. Also need some new tyres, 2 are about 1.9mm and one with decent tread has a couple of nails in it and looses about 10psi per day.
Original Honda backbox was as mentioned replaced with a Eurocarparts cheapy Klarius exhaust but I am a bit miffed that the ECP exhaust has started to rust already after about a month or two, particularly on the tailpipes which looks terrible. In other news the 2nd gear crunch when cold has 99% disappeared after a long drive down to Reading and back to see family - maybe the oil just needed to get really hot and circulate. All hail the self-healing car!
Sillyhatday said:
Dyno graph looks good man. Slight strange hump at the beginning though. A slight dip in torque before VTEC changeover as noraml.
Thats a healthy figure of 196hp, down 1hp from factory :P It's also good yours isn't burning much oil. I believe the K20 high mile failure is the valve seals. Which can all be replaced.
Yeah I saw that hump at the beginning, could be VTC? Pretty pleased with the figure, always knew it had a decently strong engine for what it is. Oil consumption still about the same, a couple of litres over 7-8k hard miles.Thats a healthy figure of 196hp, down 1hp from factory :P It's also good yours isn't burning much oil. I believe the K20 high mile failure is the valve seals. Which can all be replaced.
MyVTECGoesBwaaah said:
Solid results from the dyno there.
Did you do any of the shifter bushings in the car? Think there are 4 and people say they are worth doing (Potentially more than the ones in the engine bay).
Didn't do the ones in the car as they looked like a faff and I wanted to see just how the engine bay shifters did, but will definitely consider adding them this year.Did you do any of the shifter bushings in the car? Think there are 4 and people say they are worth doing (Potentially more than the ones in the engine bay).
Quick text update on the car... Hardrace rear adjustable camber arms are fitted but now the car badly needs a new 4 wheel alignment. Next on the list is some racier front pads and discs as I plan to track the car at least a couple of times later in the year for a laugh. Also need some new tyres, 2 are about 1.9mm and one with decent tread has a couple of nails in it and looses about 10psi per day.
Original Honda backbox was as mentioned replaced with a Eurocarparts cheapy Klarius exhaust but I am a bit miffed that the ECP exhaust has started to rust already after about a month or two, particularly on the tailpipes which looks terrible. In other news the 2nd gear crunch when cold has 99% disappeared after a long drive down to Reading and back to see family - maybe the oil just needed to get really hot and circulate. All hail the self-healing car!
seany87 said:
In other news the 2nd gear crunch when cold has 99% disappeared after a long drive down to Reading and back to see family - maybe the oil just needed to get really hot and circulate. All hail the self-healing car!
Mine is used as a daily, as it has for the 9!! years i've owned it. Anyway the car kinda settles down into a mopey 30mph coummuter car and just gets on with it.... take it out for a few hours and really kick the crap out of it (when warm obviously) and the car feels totally different and much better to drive for a few weeks after, its wierd but very noticable! Could it be the ECU re-learning? Who knowsMine is long over due, once the warmer weather comes i need to take it for a proper drive to blow the cobwebs out!
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