Civic Type R - First hot hatch
Discussion
Got rid of mine late last year - Mine was also doing the 2nd gear crunch when cold, annoying - but it always went away after a warm up. I used to just shift 1st to 3rd until it was warm.
A lot of car available for £2k now - possibly the best way to spend £2k without buying something that will double your original spend in parts. All mine needed was tyres, oil and a few suspension bits/alignment after hitting a pothole. Think I averaged about 22mpg, not too good for the performance on offer.
The EP3 looks so much better than the FN2 as well. FN2 Type Rs look like any other civic.
A lot of car available for £2k now - possibly the best way to spend £2k without buying something that will double your original spend in parts. All mine needed was tyres, oil and a few suspension bits/alignment after hitting a pothole. Think I averaged about 22mpg, not too good for the performance on offer.
The EP3 looks so much better than the FN2 as well. FN2 Type Rs look like any other civic.
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
Great thread, keep the updates coming! I've had mine 5 years now, and have come across a few of the same niggles, such as the leak from near the wing mirror (yet to do anything about that!). I also replaced my backbox for a klarius one - it went the same way as yours very quickly. Found a good used second hand original on ebay to replace it. Interested to hear how your getting on with the shifter bushes?
Have you considered replacing the flexible hoses to the calipers for braided ones?
Have you considered replacing the flexible hoses to the calipers for braided ones?
Good updates! I did look at some of those pattern back boxes but ended up looking for an OEM one on eBay - Worked out a tad cheaper to.
bumrar said:
Interested to hear how your getting on with the shifter bushes?
I'm not OP but I did the engine bay and interior bushes on mine (£45 from Tegiwa for them) and I was very impressed. It has made the whole shift a lot tighter and less movement than on the rubber ones. 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.
another little mod I did (that I forgot about when writing my previous reply), also shifter related - fitted a tegiwa short shift a while back. The shorter throw is nice, whether it has improved or had a detrimental effect on how smooth gear changes are, I couldn't say. Not an expensive mod either. I too suffer from a slightly clunky shift now and again.
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.
super pro polybushes they do a full alignment kit which I think was something like £200 - £250 for the lot + import charges
at a minimum I'd look at front control arm, anti roll bar and lca's can't remember if the whiteline ARB's came with there own poly bushes, I seem to rember having some left over.
back when I had mine 2003 - 2005 the roads were a lot better than these days but was solid and you'd feel a lot,
would be perfect on a smooth track
at a minimum I'd look at front control arm, anti roll bar and lca's can't remember if the whiteline ARB's came with there own poly bushes, I seem to rember having some left over.
back when I had mine 2003 - 2005 the roads were a lot better than these days but was solid and you'd feel a lot,
would be perfect on a smooth track
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!
I did the smoothed airbox mod on my old FN2 Type R. I'd put a HKS RSK induction on it first off but the intake temps I was logging on my flashpro were worrying me (used to sit in tunnel traffic alot) so I went back to the stock sealed box and smoothed it out instead
On the FN2 it added a little bit noise, no noticable BHP gain but if there was it would have been 2 or 3 bhp tops so without a dyno plot you'd never notice anyway.
On the FN2 it added a little bit noise, no noticable BHP gain but if there was it would have been 2 or 3 bhp tops so without a dyno plot you'd never notice anyway.
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, s
te:
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.
Looks good mate, I've got Premier Recaros and they're superb. Not cheap but you won't lose any money on them.
I have the JDM mats too, got mine for free
I decided not to go for the red carpet, it's a bit OTT with red seats/doorcards/mats and carpet IMO. But saying that my car is red so it maybe was just that would make it a bit overwhelming!
I have the JDM mats too, got mine for free
I decided not to go for the red carpet, it's a bit OTT with red seats/doorcards/mats and carpet IMO. But saying that my car is red so it maybe was just that would make it a bit overwhelming!That would have been too much red!
I've the premier edition anyway but for all its life its had the standard Honda black Type-R mats, until about a month ago i got some red ones with a Type-R logo on the side... OK they only cost me 35 quid (not quite JDM money) but damn they seem to get dirty quickly compared to the black due to the colour!
I do think i prefer them though...
I've the premier edition anyway but for all its life its had the standard Honda black Type-R mats, until about a month ago i got some red ones with a Type-R logo on the side... OK they only cost me 35 quid (not quite JDM money
) but damn they seem to get dirty quickly compared to the black due to the colour!I do think i prefer them though...
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