Civic Type R - First hot hatch
Discussion
Next exciting update! Not many replies to this thread recently, but will still continue with the updates as a record for myself and any future owners.
The car has ticked over to near 114k miles, and was due it's MOT. It being an oldish petrol Honda, it passed with no advisories. The MOT tester commented on how good condition the car is underneath, and made with good quality metals unlike a lot of newer cars he has seen. I treated the car to a rare wash in the last of this years sun to celebrate:
The pictures make the car look much better than it actually is in real life - I don't actually mind that it has a few scrapes and dents, it's bound to get more at some point at supermarkets etc, so no point stressing about it for now.
I also did another oil change, 6-7k miles since the last one. Good quality 5w-40 Fuchs oil went in and it also gave me the opportunity to check out what was on the magnetic sump plug. Happy to see a very small, normal amount of grey paste rather than big chunks of metal
Then the postman dropped these off, Uniroyal Rainsport 3's in the proper 205/45 r17 size:
When I bought the car last year it had 3 different makes of budget tyres on, albeit they all had loads of tread. (They were in the wrong size too, 215/40 r17) I vowed to replace them sharpish as I fit into the 'budget tyres are evil' camp. Alas, life gets in the way and I never got round to it. They were 'fine' through the Winter weather though, by that I mean I didn't die in a fiery crash. My brother has the Rainsport 2's on his Mini Cooper and I was mightily impressed with the grip especially in the wet, something which I found the Civic was lacking in. So there we are.
I did notice they have 'shark skin technology,' whatever that is..
Anyway, I am mightily impressed with the tyres, the ride is slightly improved, but you can really feel the difference in the grip, steering and braking, and that's without them being scrubbed in yet. It's made me love the car even more.
The car on a cold October morn with a great sunrise, again crap iphone shot:
Plans for the car? Well short term, it's going to be stood for a month or so in the next couple of weeks, as I go abroad with work. Long term I still have to:
- Change brake and clutch fluid
- Sort out peely rocker cover
- Sort out various scratches/dents eventually
- Fix door seal that lets whistle of air in at speed
- Sand and paint wiper arms
- Sort out occasionally creaky steering rack
- Check valve clearances and adjust if needed
Probably last update of this year, any opinions welcome!
The car has ticked over to near 114k miles, and was due it's MOT. It being an oldish petrol Honda, it passed with no advisories. The MOT tester commented on how good condition the car is underneath, and made with good quality metals unlike a lot of newer cars he has seen. I treated the car to a rare wash in the last of this years sun to celebrate:
The pictures make the car look much better than it actually is in real life - I don't actually mind that it has a few scrapes and dents, it's bound to get more at some point at supermarkets etc, so no point stressing about it for now.
I also did another oil change, 6-7k miles since the last one. Good quality 5w-40 Fuchs oil went in and it also gave me the opportunity to check out what was on the magnetic sump plug. Happy to see a very small, normal amount of grey paste rather than big chunks of metal
Then the postman dropped these off, Uniroyal Rainsport 3's in the proper 205/45 r17 size:
When I bought the car last year it had 3 different makes of budget tyres on, albeit they all had loads of tread. (They were in the wrong size too, 215/40 r17) I vowed to replace them sharpish as I fit into the 'budget tyres are evil' camp. Alas, life gets in the way and I never got round to it. They were 'fine' through the Winter weather though, by that I mean I didn't die in a fiery crash. My brother has the Rainsport 2's on his Mini Cooper and I was mightily impressed with the grip especially in the wet, something which I found the Civic was lacking in. So there we are.
I did notice they have 'shark skin technology,' whatever that is..
Anyway, I am mightily impressed with the tyres, the ride is slightly improved, but you can really feel the difference in the grip, steering and braking, and that's without them being scrubbed in yet. It's made me love the car even more.
The car on a cold October morn with a great sunrise, again crap iphone shot:
Plans for the car? Well short term, it's going to be stood for a month or so in the next couple of weeks, as I go abroad with work. Long term I still have to:
- Change brake and clutch fluid
- Sort out peely rocker cover
- Sort out various scratches/dents eventually
- Fix door seal that lets whistle of air in at speed
- Sand and paint wiper arms
- Sort out occasionally creaky steering rack
- Check valve clearances and adjust if needed
Probably last update of this year, any opinions welcome!
A little bit of an update since last October..
Mid November to Mid December I worked abroad in Spain so the Civic was left in a freezing car park in the midlands. When I got back after a long drive home through Spain and France it started on the button although the rear callipers were a bit reluctant to release the discs and the idle was hunting all over the place. The callipers were sorted with several 60-0 mph emergency stops and the idle sorted itself out after a blast home on the motorway. It wasn't all bad being away from home for that long as you can see from the picture below, although I did feel sorry for the girlfriend when I got back!
After Spain, I was only in work for 2 days then we took our mandatory 2 week Christmas holiday, result!!.. the Civic proved its worth with trips across the country ferrying presents and relatives about, although the snow on Boxing Day finally did it for the rear wiper, the plastic around the spline nut had become brittle and it snapped off which was nice on the motorway not being able to wipe a grimy screen. Replacement wiper arm from ebay about 10 quid job done.
Around January I was searching for EP3's that were being broken for parts on ebay so I could replace some scratched trim when I noticed one car had red mats with a familiar pattern.. could it be? Yes! the car had genuine EP3 JDM mats. These often attract ridiculous scene tax prices with some going for £200 in mint condition when they pop up on eBay.
I messaged the breaker and asked if he still had them, which he said he did, he obviously didn't know what he had as I picked them up for £30 iirc.
I did toy with the idea of keeping them, but they only suit the EP3's with red carpets and not black like mine. So I threw them on eBay and made a quick buck or two, every little helps when we are saving up for a house deposit. I also sold the K&N Typhoon induction kit. This was a harder decision to make as I enjoyed the noise it made - but it was ultimately outweighed by several factors - I needed the cash, the girlfriend thought it was 'stupid' and it's bloody antisocial to passers by on full VTEekkkk mode. I put the standard airbox back on but put in a new genuine Honda airfilter, Vtec feels a bit stronger albeit much quieter and midrange throttle response feels crisper.
The car is booked in at Tdi North this month for its valve clearances as I have no history of them being done, I didn't fancy doing it myself in the end in case I stuff it up and Tdi must do dozens and dozens a year so will have it down to a fine art. While its there I'm getting the clutch and brake fluid changed as again I have no record of it being done. I will also get them to have a nose round the front end for some knocking and vibration I have been getting recently, I'm suspecting (hoping) a suspension bush.
Mid November to Mid December I worked abroad in Spain so the Civic was left in a freezing car park in the midlands. When I got back after a long drive home through Spain and France it started on the button although the rear callipers were a bit reluctant to release the discs and the idle was hunting all over the place. The callipers were sorted with several 60-0 mph emergency stops and the idle sorted itself out after a blast home on the motorway. It wasn't all bad being away from home for that long as you can see from the picture below, although I did feel sorry for the girlfriend when I got back!
After Spain, I was only in work for 2 days then we took our mandatory 2 week Christmas holiday, result!!.. the Civic proved its worth with trips across the country ferrying presents and relatives about, although the snow on Boxing Day finally did it for the rear wiper, the plastic around the spline nut had become brittle and it snapped off which was nice on the motorway not being able to wipe a grimy screen. Replacement wiper arm from ebay about 10 quid job done.
Around January I was searching for EP3's that were being broken for parts on ebay so I could replace some scratched trim when I noticed one car had red mats with a familiar pattern.. could it be? Yes! the car had genuine EP3 JDM mats. These often attract ridiculous scene tax prices with some going for £200 in mint condition when they pop up on eBay.
I messaged the breaker and asked if he still had them, which he said he did, he obviously didn't know what he had as I picked them up for £30 iirc.
I did toy with the idea of keeping them, but they only suit the EP3's with red carpets and not black like mine. So I threw them on eBay and made a quick buck or two, every little helps when we are saving up for a house deposit. I also sold the K&N Typhoon induction kit. This was a harder decision to make as I enjoyed the noise it made - but it was ultimately outweighed by several factors - I needed the cash, the girlfriend thought it was 'stupid' and it's bloody antisocial to passers by on full VTEekkkk mode. I put the standard airbox back on but put in a new genuine Honda airfilter, Vtec feels a bit stronger albeit much quieter and midrange throttle response feels crisper.
The car is booked in at Tdi North this month for its valve clearances as I have no history of them being done, I didn't fancy doing it myself in the end in case I stuff it up and Tdi must do dozens and dozens a year so will have it down to a fine art. While its there I'm getting the clutch and brake fluid changed as again I have no record of it being done. I will also get them to have a nose round the front end for some knocking and vibration I have been getting recently, I'm suspecting (hoping) a suspension bush.
Time for another quick update:
The Civic had it's valve clearances done as well as the clutch and brake fluid at TDI North. Now practically everything service wise has been done so this car should keep going for some time yet. Car runs very slightly smoother now so I'd say the clearances weren't that bad to begin with.
The guys at TDI North also had a quick look around the car when doing the work and found that the timing chain was about half a tooth out, nothing to worry about and simply something to keep an eye on, they said the car will throw a code if the chain stretches. I must admit I wouldn't have known the car was half a tooth out as it drives really well and has never thrown up a code. They also picked up on a non-standard front brake caliper.
The front lower engine mount has also perished according to TDI guys which probably explains the slight vibration through the drivetrain at certain speeds / cornering angles - this will be done as funds allow...especially as I believe the mount is pricey and a pain to replace.
Currently myself and the girl are deep in house saving mode so as the car is only being used for pootling about to work 5 minutes away or the shops/gym I will have to put up with the perished mount for now. Doing another car boot in a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to turning it into a van again and being amazed at how much crap I can stuff in the back! I am also at two minds whether or not to gradually do the car up as a potential future Classic or run it as my daily dogsbody until it dies, although who knows how long that will be?
I am tempted to see the difference that a ( larger than standard ) 2.5 inch exhaust mid pipe does to the car, apparently it's the most restrictive part and should see some gains. Sportex do a cheap mild steel silenced one for £80 that seems decent value for money so if anyone has tried it let me know!
The Civic had it's valve clearances done as well as the clutch and brake fluid at TDI North. Now practically everything service wise has been done so this car should keep going for some time yet. Car runs very slightly smoother now so I'd say the clearances weren't that bad to begin with.
The guys at TDI North also had a quick look around the car when doing the work and found that the timing chain was about half a tooth out, nothing to worry about and simply something to keep an eye on, they said the car will throw a code if the chain stretches. I must admit I wouldn't have known the car was half a tooth out as it drives really well and has never thrown up a code. They also picked up on a non-standard front brake caliper.
The front lower engine mount has also perished according to TDI guys which probably explains the slight vibration through the drivetrain at certain speeds / cornering angles - this will be done as funds allow...especially as I believe the mount is pricey and a pain to replace.
Currently myself and the girl are deep in house saving mode so as the car is only being used for pootling about to work 5 minutes away or the shops/gym I will have to put up with the perished mount for now. Doing another car boot in a couple of weeks and I'm looking forward to turning it into a van again and being amazed at how much crap I can stuff in the back! I am also at two minds whether or not to gradually do the car up as a potential future Classic or run it as my daily dogsbody until it dies, although who knows how long that will be?
I am tempted to see the difference that a ( larger than standard ) 2.5 inch exhaust mid pipe does to the car, apparently it's the most restrictive part and should see some gains. Sportex do a cheap mild steel silenced one for £80 that seems decent value for money so if anyone has tried it let me know!
Another quick update for the record / potential future owners!
The Type R (which I have started calling Kato because of it's reg) was commissioned into car boot duty again, poor picture enclosed of the breadvan; We did well at the car boot and netted the equivalent of 10 weeks fuel usage for the car.. however we spent it in Bruges instead!
After taking the car to Tdi North the previous month I decided to get some minor work done as I owe it to the car to get it done especially as it seems I am keeping it for some time now. I took a look at the suspect engine mount where you can clearly see it was perished:
New from Honda the mount was too much for my budget IMO, around 120, so I managed to find a pattern parts online at around half that with a years warranty.
I got a family friend to fit it in his garage as you have to lower the subframe to get to it, and I also asked them to change the old looking auxiliary belt. The new mount makes a huge difference to the feel of the car, the transmission and engine feel solid and don't feel like they are moving about when I change gear now. When the garage took off the old belt, the tensioner was deemed to be 'absolutely f
ked' so I also got them to fit a new one:
Next I had been meaning to take off the wiper arms, sand them and spray them as they were rusty and chipped. Despite liberal application of sprays, a wiper arm puller and some brute strength, they refused to budge due to corrosion! So I gave up for now. I think I may have to buy some other arms and hacksaw these ones off. While I was in the engine bay, I cleaned it up a bit, and used gunk to get rid of the majority of grime from the cam cover. I would like to refurbish it though as it looks a right state.
I also took the plastic I-Vtec cover off and its associated brackets because one of the brackets to hold the cover has been cross threaded and the I-Vtec cover was loose and rattling about.
But the main thing I did was take off the exhaust manifold heat shield, it had completely rusted and sheared off at the bottom:
It made such a difference to the noise levels in reducing slight rattles etc I'm wondering whether any other of the heatshields are in a similar state so I can remove those as well. The car is practically 14 years old - half my age!
The Type R (which I have started calling Kato because of it's reg) was commissioned into car boot duty again, poor picture enclosed of the breadvan; We did well at the car boot and netted the equivalent of 10 weeks fuel usage for the car.. however we spent it in Bruges instead!
After taking the car to Tdi North the previous month I decided to get some minor work done as I owe it to the car to get it done especially as it seems I am keeping it for some time now. I took a look at the suspect engine mount where you can clearly see it was perished:
New from Honda the mount was too much for my budget IMO, around 120, so I managed to find a pattern parts online at around half that with a years warranty.
I got a family friend to fit it in his garage as you have to lower the subframe to get to it, and I also asked them to change the old looking auxiliary belt. The new mount makes a huge difference to the feel of the car, the transmission and engine feel solid and don't feel like they are moving about when I change gear now. When the garage took off the old belt, the tensioner was deemed to be 'absolutely f
ked' so I also got them to fit a new one:Next I had been meaning to take off the wiper arms, sand them and spray them as they were rusty and chipped. Despite liberal application of sprays, a wiper arm puller and some brute strength, they refused to budge due to corrosion! So I gave up for now. I think I may have to buy some other arms and hacksaw these ones off. While I was in the engine bay, I cleaned it up a bit, and used gunk to get rid of the majority of grime from the cam cover. I would like to refurbish it though as it looks a right state.
I also took the plastic I-Vtec cover off and its associated brackets because one of the brackets to hold the cover has been cross threaded and the I-Vtec cover was loose and rattling about.
But the main thing I did was take off the exhaust manifold heat shield, it had completely rusted and sheared off at the bottom:
It made such a difference to the noise levels in reducing slight rattles etc I'm wondering whether any other of the heatshields are in a similar state so I can remove those as well. The car is practically 14 years old - half my age!
Edited by seany87 on Sunday 31st May 11:47
Is anyone still reading?? Some maintenance has been required on the car this summer:
The original nearside front wheel bearing decided at 118k miles old it was time to die, so with some long distance trips looming, I had it replaced at a family friends garage. Apparently it was an absolute pig to remove and the Civic's name was mud for a while.
Whilst this was going on the front nearside brake caliper was inspected and the main seal was toast, so easiest thing was to order in a replacement and have the friendly garage fit it at the same time. Oh and the front inner pads had worn themselves to a wafer thin sliver so new pads went on. It's fair to say braking has improved somewhat.
It hasn't all been doom and gloom, I added some front camber bolts and got the car aligned at my centre of choice - Blink motorsport in Winsford:
I didn't go for anything too drastic with the alignment, but turn in is much improved and car feels sharper at the front which these cars really need IMO. As you can see from the alignment sheet, next on the shopping list is some rear camber arms.
I also added a cheap and cheerful Sportex unsilenced mid pipe;
The standard EP3 B-pipe is the most restrictive area of the whole car - so this is a much larger diameter allowing better gas flow and it removes the silencer so the car sounds much better. As standard these cars exhausts are really quiet.
Someone has done a video here similar to what mine now sounds like : https://youtu.be/wMvG3AU5Nac To some it sounds far too raspy, to me, in person it sounds a bit like a raspy old Italian twin cam. It's certainly not intrusive or droney on the motorway.
As well as this, the B-pipe was installed with new gaskets and bolts, and I also had a pretty bad exhaust leak sorted at the flange from the exhaust manifold to the cat. The circular exhaust gasket had burnt through and was nearly half gone!
With all the above the car is much improved, it now steers better, sounds better and with the exhaust leak sorted, feels stronger throughout the rev range, even V-tec feels stronger.
Next for the car is an oil change, (only used 1 litre or so in the past 7k miles) and general tidying up cosmetically!
Some maintenance has been required on the car this summer:The original nearside front wheel bearing decided at 118k miles old it was time to die, so with some long distance trips looming, I had it replaced at a family friends garage. Apparently it was an absolute pig to remove and the Civic's name was mud for a while.
Whilst this was going on the front nearside brake caliper was inspected and the main seal was toast, so easiest thing was to order in a replacement and have the friendly garage fit it at the same time. Oh and the front inner pads had worn themselves to a wafer thin sliver so new pads went on. It's fair to say braking has improved somewhat.
It hasn't all been doom and gloom, I added some front camber bolts and got the car aligned at my centre of choice - Blink motorsport in Winsford:
I didn't go for anything too drastic with the alignment, but turn in is much improved and car feels sharper at the front which these cars really need IMO. As you can see from the alignment sheet, next on the shopping list is some rear camber arms.
I also added a cheap and cheerful Sportex unsilenced mid pipe;
The standard EP3 B-pipe is the most restrictive area of the whole car - so this is a much larger diameter allowing better gas flow and it removes the silencer so the car sounds much better. As standard these cars exhausts are really quiet.
Someone has done a video here similar to what mine now sounds like : https://youtu.be/wMvG3AU5Nac To some it sounds far too raspy, to me, in person it sounds a bit like a raspy old Italian twin cam. It's certainly not intrusive or droney on the motorway.
As well as this, the B-pipe was installed with new gaskets and bolts, and I also had a pretty bad exhaust leak sorted at the flange from the exhaust manifold to the cat. The circular exhaust gasket had burnt through and was nearly half gone!
With all the above the car is much improved, it now steers better, sounds better and with the exhaust leak sorted, feels stronger throughout the rev range, even V-tec feels stronger.
Next for the car is an oil change, (only used 1 litre or so in the past 7k miles) and general tidying up cosmetically!
Butter Face said:
Still reading! Car looks good.
I'm still enjoying mine at 120k. Did you do the Camber Bolts yourself? I've done a few How To videos on YouTube about camber bolts etc.
Cheers. Blink Motorsport did the camber bolts gratis with the alignment, it only took them 5 minutes. Saves me messing about really, I never seem to have the time to tinker with cars like I used to!I'm still enjoying mine at 120k. Did you do the Camber Bolts yourself? I've done a few How To videos on YouTube about camber bolts etc.
Podie said:
Likewise. Love a good project thread
Cheers, although not much project stuff going on - more daily drive diary.SteellFJ said:
I miss mine sooooooooo much, never sell yours, you will never enjoy driving again 
To me there is something about these cars, and I cant put my finger on it. It's not as if they are great at everything - they aren't stupid fast, steering racks are pants, they are a bit tinny, they aren't stylish/cool nor will they get women's knickers in a twist. But I love driving mine. That said I have a hankering for an S2000!giblet said:
Did you use genuine gaskets? Don't suppose you know the quantity of gaskets and bolts required? Need to get round to fitting the sportex pipe to a mates EP3.
I used a mix of genuine and non-genuine. Not sure what advantages a genuine exhaust bolt would have over a non genuine one to be honest. Have a look at the schematics on Lings Honda website to see what parts you need to gather.Martin_Hx said:
Mine has its 10th birthday in around a year, I've owned it for 9! 
Nice one! I can't believe mine is half my age nearly (14 years) - in fact it I think it was built around the time 9/11 happened. Seems ages ago now.Did some work on the 'ald Civic the other day.
Ever since I had the car, there was a fair bit of wind noise coming from by the passenger wing mirror/windscreen. I traced it to the rubber channel that the passenger window sits in and actually bought the channel about a year ago. I finally had time to sort it and I found the rubber channel was a pig to replace with the window in situ - but as I have Japanese sized hands it made things a little easier for me:
So that's one more thing sorted.
Next up was an oil change, 5 litres of Fuchs and a Hamp filter. Easy peasy:
Some grey paste on the magnetic plug there but that's normal.
Next I replaced the driver side door sill - 14 years of scratches and scrapes made it look proper st and annoyed me greatly. Old sill shown next to the new one for comparison.
I had another go at removing the atrocious and undoubtedly original wiper arms as well:
I had ordered a second hand set of arms, then sanded and sprayed them black. When it came to removing the originals I ordered a beefier wiper arm puller, and used copious amounts of penetrating fluid to help them on their way. One wiper arm reluctantly came off as you can see on the above photo, but the other just would not be defeated :
What's next for the car I hear you say? It is due it's MOT in the next month or so - there's a slight knocking at the rear of the car which I'll get the garage to look at, as well as asking them to swap the wiper arm which won't budge.
I have also acquired a facelift steering rack which I will refurb with a new rack slider and grease, with the aim of getting some improved steering feel as my rack slider is worn I think. I wanted a facelift rack because they are supposed to be better than the pre-facelift rack that mine has.
Next March I am also planning to have the car ready for it's first ever trackday at Aintree, it looks like a good beginners circuit and is local to me. I reckon I'll need new discs and pads for it at a minimum, so watch this space.
Ever since I had the car, there was a fair bit of wind noise coming from by the passenger wing mirror/windscreen. I traced it to the rubber channel that the passenger window sits in and actually bought the channel about a year ago. I finally had time to sort it and I found the rubber channel was a pig to replace with the window in situ - but as I have Japanese sized hands it made things a little easier for me:
So that's one more thing sorted.
Next up was an oil change, 5 litres of Fuchs and a Hamp filter. Easy peasy:
Some grey paste on the magnetic plug there but that's normal.
Next I replaced the driver side door sill - 14 years of scratches and scrapes made it look proper s
t and annoyed me greatly. Old sill shown next to the new one for comparison.I had another go at removing the atrocious and undoubtedly original wiper arms as well:
I had ordered a second hand set of arms, then sanded and sprayed them black. When it came to removing the originals I ordered a beefier wiper arm puller, and used copious amounts of penetrating fluid to help them on their way. One wiper arm reluctantly came off as you can see on the above photo, but the other just would not be defeated
:What's next for the car I hear you say? It is due it's MOT in the next month or so - there's a slight knocking at the rear of the car which I'll get the garage to look at, as well as asking them to swap the wiper arm which won't budge.
I have also acquired a facelift steering rack which I will refurb with a new rack slider and grease, with the aim of getting some improved steering feel as my rack slider is worn I think. I wanted a facelift rack because they are supposed to be better than the pre-facelift rack that mine has.
Next March I am also planning to have the car ready for it's first ever trackday at Aintree, it looks like a good beginners circuit and is local to me. I reckon I'll need new discs and pads for it at a minimum, so watch this space.
Big update alert!
I have been bled dry this month. The car had it's MOT, tax and insurance due around the same time of my girlfriends birthday - good job I have been doing some overtime recently! I was looking forward to the MOT because I knew it was knocking from the rear and there was a nasty vibration between 80-90mph which was worse on long left hand turns.
As it was, the Civic scraped through - The MOT picked up that at 120,000 miles, the rear ARB droplinks, front lower ball joints and front shocks decided they had enough of being hammered around what the North West calls roads and should be replaced. The offside front shock in particular had a fair bit of play in it so that explains the vibration.
I got the chance to look under the car whilst at MOT; generally clean, surface rust on brackets and things like that so will keep an eye on them with a view to cleaning them up eventually.
Here are some of the parts accrued to get my car ship shape: This picture doesn't include the shocks or the 2nd hand steering rack from a facelift car I wanted to fit. I also ordered a new steering rack slider from Honda as there was a fair chance the secondhand rack had a worn one which causes creaking.
I got my local friendly garage to fit all of these for me, and seeing as I was replacing the front shocks I thought I might as well replace the top mounts as they can be a weak point on these cars -
The rack replacement was a 'fking of a job' apparently - but I get on well with the garage so as well as persuading them to refurb it for me with the new slider and grease it up, they even sprayed it silver without me asking and sprayed a crossmember black as it was beginning to look a bit rusty. Good lads:
This has been a vast improvement - the new facelift steering feels more weighty than the pre-facelift - and it was also a prudent buy as my old rack was toast, very rough and notchy in its movement.
All that remains now is to get the car aligned again and settle in the new shocks.
In other news, I noticed a slight leak with the recent wet weather, looks like it's coming from the (now hardened) inner door seal, so like with the passenger side I will replace it (although its a ball ache):
The old central locking remote bugged me, so bought a refurb kit from eBay - old on left obviously:
Got really, really, really fed up with the stty standard Honda radio - it couldnt even keep the right time! So bought this basic Sony replacement with real carbon fibre YO!:
And I thought I would go for a top speed run:
Only joking - the cars clocks are in 'test mode' - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGf3t9nRbP4
Since I have owned the car, the fuel gauge has over-read by about a quarter, so the fuel light would come on when the gauge told me I had a quarter tank left. I thought it was a fuel sender issue or something like that, but all it took was putting the car in test mode and readjusting the needle. Little things like that make me happy!
That's it for now - here's a picture of the car at the watering hole after a late night blast.
I suppose I better start looking after the cosmetics of the car - I got the valeter at my work to give the bonnet a once over with a rotary polisher as there was a weird haze on it and it came up ok - so will try and get him to give the whole car a once over - Nighthawk Black paint has a lovely purple/green fleck in it but this car has 14 years of scratches and swirls covering it!
I have been bled dry this month. The car had it's MOT, tax and insurance due around the same time of my girlfriends birthday - good job I have been doing some overtime recently! I was looking forward to the MOT because I knew it was knocking from the rear and there was a nasty vibration between 80-90mph which was worse on long left hand turns.
As it was, the Civic scraped through - The MOT picked up that at 120,000 miles, the rear ARB droplinks, front lower ball joints and front shocks decided they had enough of being hammered around what the North West calls roads and should be replaced. The offside front shock in particular had a fair bit of play in it so that explains the vibration.
I got the chance to look under the car whilst at MOT; generally clean, surface rust on brackets and things like that so will keep an eye on them with a view to cleaning them up eventually.
Here are some of the parts accrued to get my car ship shape: This picture doesn't include the shocks or the 2nd hand steering rack from a facelift car I wanted to fit. I also ordered a new steering rack slider from Honda as there was a fair chance the secondhand rack had a worn one which causes creaking.
I got my local friendly garage to fit all of these for me, and seeing as I was replacing the front shocks I thought I might as well replace the top mounts as they can be a weak point on these cars -
The rack replacement was a 'f
king of a job' apparently - but I get on well with the garage so as well as persuading them to refurb it for me with the new slider and grease it up, they even sprayed it silver without me asking and sprayed a crossmember black as it was beginning to look a bit rusty. Good lads:This has been a vast improvement - the new facelift steering feels more weighty than the pre-facelift - and it was also a prudent buy as my old rack was toast, very rough and notchy in its movement.
All that remains now is to get the car aligned again and settle in the new shocks.
In other news, I noticed a slight leak with the recent wet weather, looks like it's coming from the (now hardened) inner door seal, so like with the passenger side I will replace it (although its a ball ache):
The old central locking remote bugged me, so bought a refurb kit from eBay - old on left obviously:
Got really, really, really fed up with the s
tty standard Honda radio - it couldnt even keep the right time! So bought this basic Sony replacement with real carbon fibre YO!:And I thought I would go for a top speed run:
Only joking - the cars clocks are in 'test mode' - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGf3t9nRbP4
Since I have owned the car, the fuel gauge has over-read by about a quarter, so the fuel light would come on when the gauge told me I had a quarter tank left. I thought it was a fuel sender issue or something like that, but all it took was putting the car in test mode and readjusting the needle. Little things like that make me happy!
That's it for now - here's a picture of the car at the watering hole after a late night blast.
I suppose I better start looking after the cosmetics of the car - I got the valeter at my work to give the bonnet a once over with a rotary polisher as there was a weird haze on it and it came up ok - so will try and get him to give the whole car a once over - Nighthawk Black paint has a lovely purple/green fleck in it but this car has 14 years of scratches and swirls covering it!
Thanks for the kind words guys.
I suppose I throw a lot of money at upkeep on cars, but then I don't have much else in the way of hobbies or going out so I am allowed this as a vice I suppose!
Although Track Cit - I looked into the cost of replacing the gear shift mechanism as mine is sloppy as well - errrrrrmmm it's certainly an 'investment' for what is a kilo or so of moulded plastic!
Paulw123 - in test mode my milage display also stayed the same like the video - do you happen to have a facelift car with the outside temperature gauge?
I suppose I throw a lot of money at upkeep on cars, but then I don't have much else in the way of hobbies or going out so I am allowed this as a vice I suppose!
Although Track Cit - I looked into the cost of replacing the gear shift mechanism as mine is sloppy as well - errrrrrmmm it's certainly an 'investment' for what is a kilo or so of moulded plastic!
Paulw123 - in test mode my milage display also stayed the same like the video - do you happen to have a facelift car with the outside temperature gauge?
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....
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
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!
Fair bit happened since my last update from winter time:
In my last big update I mentioned the original backbox after 14 years was falling out, so it was replaced by a cheap Eurocarparts Klarius one, this was it just after fitting:
Annnnddd this was it 2 months and little miles later..
Was not very impressed really, so sent an email to Eurocarparts asking for my money back. They said I had to remove the backbox, post it back to them at my cost, they will then send the backbox back to Klarius who then 'might' reject the warranty claim leaving me with nothing. I decided not to bother, too much hassle on a car that isn't a show queen.
In other news the car hit this magic number:
So to cheer it up, I decided to do a couple of things, first the wiper arms got a sand down and lick of paint:
Then I tackled a job I have always want to do since I bought the car, the Cam Cover. Found an already sprayed one cheap from ebay and grabbed it, then swapped it for the original:
And the finished result - looks miles better! Yes it's not the same shade of red but it's still red.
I also noticed that one of the rear boot hinges had seized, bad maintenance on my part by not greasing the hinges on an old car I suppose. It was starting to crack its bracket where it meets the car body from metal fatigue and it made the boot alignment well out of whack. This picture shows the replacement bracket:
I am aware its all a big rusty mess at the minute and to be honest its only worth a quick clear up in the summer when the weather improves, if I was planning to keep the car for ages and ages then I would get it professionally sorted, but really, this car only suffices as long as I can justify shelling out for an S2000
I am on my first track day this weekend with the car, only at Aintree so nothing too tricky, but should be good to stretch it's legs and see how it gets on. I may get the bug and strip the Civic out and upgrade like a lot of the threads I have been reading recently!
In preparation of the track day on a rare day off I got the car 4 wheel aligned locally, but to be honest the place I took it to wasn't my first choice (they were too busy) and I wasn't 100% with it compared to the times I have been to my first choice. But hey ho, it will do for now as for example I originally had -4deg negative camber at the rear after getting my camber arms installed. Its a more reasonable -1 now.
For the track I also removed the cheapo front brake set up (motorfactors) for some Brembo discs with Honda pads. Even though they are not fully bedded in yet they feel awesome in comparison. They should certainly be adequate!
Keep an eye out for the next thread update after the track day, where I hopefully haven't binned the car into Beechers Brook
In my last big update I mentioned the original backbox after 14 years was falling out, so it was replaced by a cheap Eurocarparts Klarius one, this was it just after fitting:
Annnnddd this was it 2 months and little miles later..
Was not very impressed really, so sent an email to Eurocarparts asking for my money back. They said I had to remove the backbox, post it back to them at my cost, they will then send the backbox back to Klarius who then 'might' reject the warranty claim leaving me with nothing. I decided not to bother, too much hassle on a car that isn't a show queen.
In other news the car hit this magic number:
So to cheer it up, I decided to do a couple of things, first the wiper arms got a sand down and lick of paint:
Then I tackled a job I have always want to do since I bought the car, the Cam Cover. Found an already sprayed one cheap from ebay and grabbed it, then swapped it for the original:
And the finished result - looks miles better! Yes it's not the same shade of red but it's still red.
I also noticed that one of the rear boot hinges had seized, bad maintenance on my part by not greasing the hinges on an old car I suppose. It was starting to crack its bracket where it meets the car body from metal fatigue and it made the boot alignment well out of whack. This picture shows the replacement bracket:
I am aware its all a big rusty mess at the minute and to be honest its only worth a quick clear up in the summer when the weather improves, if I was planning to keep the car for ages and ages then I would get it professionally sorted, but really, this car only suffices as long as I can justify shelling out for an S2000
I am on my first track day this weekend with the car, only at Aintree so nothing too tricky, but should be good to stretch it's legs and see how it gets on. I may get the bug and strip the Civic out and upgrade like a lot of the threads I have been reading recently!
In preparation of the track day on a rare day off I got the car 4 wheel aligned locally, but to be honest the place I took it to wasn't my first choice (they were too busy) and I wasn't 100% with it compared to the times I have been to my first choice. But hey ho, it will do for now as for example I originally had -4deg negative camber at the rear after getting my camber arms installed. Its a more reasonable -1 now.
For the track I also removed the cheapo front brake set up (motorfactors) for some Brembo discs with Honda pads. Even though they are not fully bedded in yet they feel awesome in comparison. They should certainly be adequate!
Keep an eye out for the next thread update after the track day, where I hopefully haven't binned the car into Beechers Brook
Edited by seany87 on Tuesday 24th May 15:19
Thanks all for the kind words. In reality this car is a stopgap (albeit a practical and decent performing one) until I can afford an S2000 - although not likely anytime soon the way the prices are going.
In answer to some of the questions, the wing mirror on my car has not leaked for a while after I jiggled the window seal about with the aid of a pokey device, but I am keeping a close eye on it in case it does leak again.
I also haven't really considered braided hoses for now as the brakes perform plenty good enough for the use the car gets currently, no doubt that the trackday this week will show them up and of course if the car gets upgraded then braided hoses will be one of the, if not the first mod. I am also really disappointed with the Klarius exhaust, I was not expecting it to last anywhere near the same as an OEM original but nor was I expecting it to become so unsightly after a few weeks light use, albeit even in the winter. I am keeping an eye out for a decent Honda backbox as the current exhaust no doubt will put many people off when it comes to selling. I will certainly think twice about putting a Klarius exhaust on any car of mine in the future.
The shifter bushes are still in, I think it's one of those mods where you very quickly get used to them but if you take them out its instantly noticeable. I will definately consider the shifter bushes for the gearlever inside of the car based on how these bushes attached to the box linkages have performed.
In answer to some of the questions, the wing mirror on my car has not leaked for a while after I jiggled the window seal about with the aid of a pokey device, but I am keeping a close eye on it in case it does leak again.
I also haven't really considered braided hoses for now as the brakes perform plenty good enough for the use the car gets currently, no doubt that the trackday this week will show them up and of course if the car gets upgraded then braided hoses will be one of the, if not the first mod. I am also really disappointed with the Klarius exhaust, I was not expecting it to last anywhere near the same as an OEM original but nor was I expecting it to become so unsightly after a few weeks light use, albeit even in the winter. I am keeping an eye out for a decent Honda backbox as the current exhaust no doubt will put many people off when it comes to selling. I will certainly think twice about putting a Klarius exhaust on any car of mine in the future.
The shifter bushes are still in, I think it's one of those mods where you very quickly get used to them but if you take them out its instantly noticeable. I will definately consider the shifter bushes for the gearlever inside of the car based on how these bushes attached to the box linkages have performed.
colinjy said:
awesome cars, and do miss mine.
Eibach springs, whiteline ARB fast road setup and polybushes made it handle like it was on rails.
I have always toyed with having the car on decent springs, JDM ARB and a polybush set. How does the ride with the polybushes compare to standard? And which bushes would you say need doing as a minimum. I am convinced some of the bushes in my car are starting to get tired.Eibach springs, whiteline ARB fast road setup and polybushes made it handle like it was on rails.
Well I did the trackday at Aintree Motor Circuit (driven by the great Moss, Fangio et al) and had an absolute blast - see pictures and video below:
https://youtu.be/bAwjEgcHN48
There were some quick cars/drivers even in the novice group, a couple of stripped out Clios with sticky tyres just carried ridiculous speed around the corners which my tired suspension'ed and Uniroyal road tyres couldn't keep up with, but I did claim a few scalps such as a Fiat Coupe Turbo, Z4 Coupe, and a 197 Clio, I do think the little Civic punched well above its weight. Really good fun, and I will aim to do the next Aintree trackday in October.
The car didn't miss a beat either, and only used about 200ml of oil despite being in VTEC practically the whole way round the quick Aintree circuit. The car squirmed a little under hard braking so I will check the calipers for any stickiness and it definitely needed a LSD to help pull it out of corners but most UK EP3 owners already know this! The brakes also lost a bit of feel by the afternoon so a fluid change will help, which brings me onto below:
The car is due its annual service, about 7000 miles since the last one.
Bits I wanted to do are:
New front tyres
Gearbox oil (1 litre Amsoil, 1 Litre Honda MTF3 hopefully this mix will aid in cold shift quality)
Engine oil with genuine Honda filter
Pollen filters
Genuine air filter
Brake fluid change with ATE Super fluid (supposedly the best around)
And a general check under the car looking at suspension etc
The other half is on a Hen do this weekend so I have slowly been collecting service items in anticipation of getting it done early doors today. However the torrential rain this morning for some reason put me off lying on the floor with hot oil dripping everywhere so hopefully I am going to get weather dry enough to drop both the engine and box oil tomorrow.
I did however nip to the friendly local tyre fitters to get them to fit 2 more Uniroyal Rainsport 3's on (cheap and good in our English summer weather), and the pollen filters I changed in 2 minutes. While I was changing the air filter I thought I might as well do the Hondata mod to the airbox I had been meaning to do recently.
In case you haven't heard of the Hondata airbox mod, supposedly it gains about 2 bhp on a standard car by removing some of the restrictions in the airbox:
https://www.hondata.com/tech-rsx-airbox
I took the airbox inside where it was nice and dry to do some work. The airbox is made of very thick plastic at the bottom but it does sit directly over the gearbox. It was a bit dirty with lots of road grime and some oil on the outside of it:
I then started doing the mod, using a borrowed dremmel tool. The dremmel cutting disks liked to shatter for fun so I wore some eye protection, especially because the thick plastic melted and then usually a thick gloopy mess of plastic caused the dremmel disk to go from 90000rpm to 0 in a split second - more often than not causing a shattered cutting disk to come flying towards my face.
Anyway I finished at this, I could have took a bit more off but I didn't want to use up all the cutting disks as the dremmel wasn't mine. I then smoothed it off with some sandpaper, and then washed and flushed out the entire airbox in the bath using the shower head. You can see a lot of the mess behind this picture!
I will report back tomorrow when I fit the modded airbox to the car, I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts on the mod if you have already done it though!
https://youtu.be/bAwjEgcHN48
There were some quick cars/drivers even in the novice group, a couple of stripped out Clios with sticky tyres just carried ridiculous speed around the corners which my tired suspension'ed and Uniroyal road tyres couldn't keep up with, but I did claim a few scalps such as a Fiat Coupe Turbo, Z4 Coupe, and a 197 Clio, I do think the little Civic punched well above its weight. Really good fun, and I will aim to do the next Aintree trackday in October.
The car didn't miss a beat either, and only used about 200ml of oil despite being in VTEC practically the whole way round the quick Aintree circuit. The car squirmed a little under hard braking so I will check the calipers for any stickiness and it definitely needed a LSD to help pull it out of corners but most UK EP3 owners already know this! The brakes also lost a bit of feel by the afternoon so a fluid change will help, which brings me onto below:
The car is due its annual service, about 7000 miles since the last one.
Bits I wanted to do are:
New front tyres
Gearbox oil (1 litre Amsoil, 1 Litre Honda MTF3 hopefully this mix will aid in cold shift quality)
Engine oil with genuine Honda filter
Pollen filters
Genuine air filter
Brake fluid change with ATE Super fluid (supposedly the best around)
And a general check under the car looking at suspension etc
The other half is on a Hen do this weekend so I have slowly been collecting service items in anticipation of getting it done early doors today. However the torrential rain this morning for some reason put me off lying on the floor with hot oil dripping everywhere so hopefully I am going to get weather dry enough to drop both the engine and box oil tomorrow.
I did however nip to the friendly local tyre fitters to get them to fit 2 more Uniroyal Rainsport 3's on (cheap and good in our English summer weather), and the pollen filters I changed in 2 minutes. While I was changing the air filter I thought I might as well do the Hondata mod to the airbox I had been meaning to do recently.
In case you haven't heard of the Hondata airbox mod, supposedly it gains about 2 bhp on a standard car by removing some of the restrictions in the airbox:
https://www.hondata.com/tech-rsx-airbox
I took the airbox inside where it was nice and dry to do some work. The airbox is made of very thick plastic at the bottom but it does sit directly over the gearbox. It was a bit dirty with lots of road grime and some oil on the outside of it:
I then started doing the mod, using a borrowed dremmel tool. The dremmel cutting disks liked to shatter for fun so I wore some eye protection, especially because the thick plastic melted and then usually a thick gloopy mess of plastic caused the dremmel disk to go from 90000rpm to 0 in a split second - more often than not causing a shattered cutting disk to come flying towards my face.
Anyway I finished at this, I could have took a bit more off but I didn't want to use up all the cutting disks as the dremmel wasn't mine. I then smoothed it off with some sandpaper, and then washed and flushed out the entire airbox in the bath using the shower head. You can see a lot of the mess behind this picture!
I will report back tomorrow when I fit the modded airbox to the car, I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts on the mod if you have already done it though!
From the previous post, I did the oil and oil filter myself at a friendly garage.. beats lying down in the rain outside the house anyway!
Next, I tackled a job I always wanted to do but never got round to it - fitting a red carpet. I have always loved the red carpeted editions of the EP3 (JDM, Premier, 30th anni) and wanted mine to look the same. The black carpet just looks meh:
So following a great guide on the Civic Type R forums, I started work:
It was pretty easy, took me about 2 and a half hours in no particular rush and enjoying a couple of beers as I did so. I still have the original black carpet should I change my mind. Changing the carpet did highlight how out of place the pre-facelift dark seats and the standard UK mats look, so next on the shopping list is some JDM mats and some Premier edition Recaro's (finance dependant on me selling my body)
I also bought a positive terminal cover for the battery as without it looked, frankly, ste:
Also some non-rusty screws for the airbox:
and STOP PRESS! JDM we MATS FITTED - miles better, now it looks like a proper hot hatch (seats still need to go though!) These mats were on ebay and absolutely caked in mud, I took a punt and they came out very well for the money paid.
Next up for the car? Looking to do another Aintree trackday and maybe, just maybe, a Nurburgring trip in October. But before that I need to change the brake fluid and also fit a couple of balljoints. I also have my eye on replacement tailgate and bonnets on ebay, because my bonnet needs a respray and the tailgate has a dent that's not worth fixing. Other than that, she's running sweet. But I do wonder about the original, 125k timing chain.
Comments welcome.
Next, I tackled a job I always wanted to do but never got round to it - fitting a red carpet. I have always loved the red carpeted editions of the EP3 (JDM, Premier, 30th anni) and wanted mine to look the same. The black carpet just looks meh:
So following a great guide on the Civic Type R forums, I started work:
It was pretty easy, took me about 2 and a half hours in no particular rush and enjoying a couple of beers as I did so. I still have the original black carpet should I change my mind. Changing the carpet did highlight how out of place the pre-facelift dark seats and the standard UK mats look, so next on the shopping list is some JDM mats and some Premier edition Recaro's (finance dependant on me selling my body)
I also bought a positive terminal cover for the battery as without it looked, frankly, s
te:Also some non-rusty screws for the airbox:
and STOP PRESS! JDM w
e MATS FITTED - miles better, now it looks like a proper hot hatch (seats still need to go though!) These mats were on ebay and absolutely caked in mud, I took a punt and they came out very well for the money paid.Next up for the car? Looking to do another Aintree trackday and maybe, just maybe, a Nurburgring trip in October. But before that I need to change the brake fluid and also fit a couple of balljoints. I also have my eye on replacement tailgate and bonnets on ebay, because my bonnet needs a respray and the tailgate has a dent that's not worth fixing. Other than that, she's running sweet. But I do wonder about the original, 125k timing chain.
Comments welcome.
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