EP3 Civic Type-Roadkill
Discussion
Well I didn't think I'd be doing another readers cars thread for a while, but as you can see the Megane R26 has gone to a green and pleasant land, or North Wales as it's more commonly known. There wasn't a plan to sell it as soon as I have done but it was just too nice to be using for bike carrying duties and driving to a quarry and back every day so the decision was made to pocket some cash and purchase a cheap daily. I looked into some sort of turbocharged Saab extensively and was all but ready to go and buy one when the day before the Meg was collected a friend tried his best to convince me to buy something else and started playing VTEC videos through some decent speakers.... Exactly 5 minutes later I'd arranged to go and view a cheap EP3 that also happened to be local, the now affectionately know piece of s
t daily.
Pic from the advert
As you can see it's a black facelift model, a 53 plate so right on the changeover point. It's done 131,000 miles, has service history upto a point and a fair few receipts for jobs done recently. A quick test drive showed there was no serious issues with the car, it pulls really well for its ago and as it already has a Buddy Club Pro Spec exhaust and unsilenced mid pipe it's LOUD!
Be under no illusions this is a daily that I'm going to just have fun with and keep mechanically in good condition, the body has a few dings and scratches so hopefully a machine polish will sort a lot of that if I get round to it, the front drivers wing has a slight dent so if I can find a replacement wing cheap enough I'll swap it over as it'll be cheaper than a body shop sorting it out. The roof does have a spot of rot on it and a few spiders in the lacquer so I may sort that bit out at some point also if I do get attached to it, which so far I am doing
and it desperately needs a half decent head unit and door speakers so they are on the list.
It's had the timing chain done and mechanically is actually pretty spot on all bar a CV joint starting to make some noise so that's due for replacement next Monday.
A few pics
As previously mentioned it's in the garage Monday to sort the CV joint so while it's there it'll be treated to a major service, new plugs, oil filter and oil change, brake fluid, gearbox oil, fuel filter, all genuine parts.
The track rod ends are also seized so they'll be replaced if they can't be freed off and there's a pair of camber bolts to go in to get a fast road geometry setup sorted out to get it handling like it should do. (I've already put a full set of T1R's on it to replace to shockingly bad budgets that were fitted)
Finally I've got a full set of grooved discs with EBC Yellowstuff pads for the front and Ultimax tears to go on as the pads in it at the moment currently go to the floor after 2 hard braking moments so that will be sorted also ready to make it the ideal cheap B-road toy. I fancy doing something silly with the wheels so they'll probably end up Kawasaki Metallic Orange in the near future.....
Other bits also due to arrive are a cheap second hand decat pipe I won on eBay and a cheapish induction kit purely for more noise and the air filter needs replacing anyway so using a bit of man maths helped there....
And to sign off, a picture of it doing its secondary job to the day to day drive to work. Thanks for reading if you've got this far, god knows why you have.
Until next time....
t daily. Pic from the advert
As you can see it's a black facelift model, a 53 plate so right on the changeover point. It's done 131,000 miles, has service history upto a point and a fair few receipts for jobs done recently. A quick test drive showed there was no serious issues with the car, it pulls really well for its ago and as it already has a Buddy Club Pro Spec exhaust and unsilenced mid pipe it's LOUD!
Be under no illusions this is a daily that I'm going to just have fun with and keep mechanically in good condition, the body has a few dings and scratches so hopefully a machine polish will sort a lot of that if I get round to it, the front drivers wing has a slight dent so if I can find a replacement wing cheap enough I'll swap it over as it'll be cheaper than a body shop sorting it out. The roof does have a spot of rot on it and a few spiders in the lacquer so I may sort that bit out at some point also if I do get attached to it, which so far I am doing
and it desperately needs a half decent head unit and door speakers so they are on the list. It's had the timing chain done and mechanically is actually pretty spot on all bar a CV joint starting to make some noise so that's due for replacement next Monday.
A few pics
As previously mentioned it's in the garage Monday to sort the CV joint so while it's there it'll be treated to a major service, new plugs, oil filter and oil change, brake fluid, gearbox oil, fuel filter, all genuine parts.
The track rod ends are also seized so they'll be replaced if they can't be freed off and there's a pair of camber bolts to go in to get a fast road geometry setup sorted out to get it handling like it should do. (I've already put a full set of T1R's on it to replace to shockingly bad budgets that were fitted)
Finally I've got a full set of grooved discs with EBC Yellowstuff pads for the front and Ultimax tears to go on as the pads in it at the moment currently go to the floor after 2 hard braking moments so that will be sorted also ready to make it the ideal cheap B-road toy. I fancy doing something silly with the wheels so they'll probably end up Kawasaki Metallic Orange in the near future.....
Other bits also due to arrive are a cheap second hand decat pipe I won on eBay and a cheapish induction kit purely for more noise and the air filter needs replacing anyway so using a bit of man maths helped there....
And to sign off, a picture of it doing its secondary job to the day to day drive to work. Thanks for reading if you've got this far, god knows why you have.
Until next time....
Well, the Shed Type R has been dropped at the garage this morning, all is expected so far, and it's not been hard to discover why the CV joint has died...
The CV joint won't be here until tomorrow so hopefully it should be done by end of play tomorrow evening, as an annoying and unexpected bonus I've also had to order a pair of rear calipers as the current ones are fked beyond the point of a rebuild being worth doing. All 4 calipers are also being painted silver, mostly to refresh the fronts as the tears will be new obviously.
As there's a delay the cars also being waxoiled while it's up in the air as looking underneath it definitely needs it. Can't wait to get it back tomorrow/Wednesday complete with the geometry sorted and the added bonus of the induction kit making more noise. Can't wait to have a full thrashable car again, despite being a cheap nail in starting to bond with it rather more than expected.
I wonder how easy it'd be to do a K24/K20 Frankenstein motor...?
The CV joint won't be here until tomorrow so hopefully it should be done by end of play tomorrow evening, as an annoying and unexpected bonus I've also had to order a pair of rear calipers as the current ones are f
ked beyond the point of a rebuild being worth doing. All 4 calipers are also being painted silver, mostly to refresh the fronts as the tears will be new obviously. As there's a delay the cars also being waxoiled while it's up in the air as looking underneath it definitely needs it. Can't wait to get it back tomorrow/Wednesday complete with the geometry sorted and the added bonus of the induction kit making more noise. Can't wait to have a full thrashable car again, despite being a cheap nail in starting to bond with it rather more than expected.
I wonder how easy it'd be to do a K24/K20 Frankenstein motor...?
Error on my part with the rubber, they're Proxes Sports, did originally ask for T1R's but the sports are supposed to be better in the wet, and also happened to be on offer at 58quid a piece so that made the decision easier.
I am planning one silly thing with it for a while, the wheels are going Luminous Orange purely for sts and giggles, rude not to have them matching the bike also...
I'm going to get the roof painted soon to sort the rot spot by the windscreen and see if the nice man from dent master could do anything with the couple of dents on the car. Combine that with a machine polish and it might actually end up looking fairly tidy. Or at least as tidy as I can make it without throwing silly money at it anyway.
I am planning one silly thing with it for a while, the wheels are going Luminous Orange purely for s
ts and giggles, rude not to have them matching the bike also... I'm going to get the roof painted soon to sort the rot spot by the windscreen and see if the nice man from dent master could do anything with the couple of dents on the car. Combine that with a machine polish and it might actually end up looking fairly tidy. Or at least as tidy as I can make it without throwing silly money at it anyway.
jsims1 said:
Absolutely love these, had three so far. All pre facelift cars, one normal one in milano pink (shame on me for not checking thar it couldn't be polished back to red!) And two Night Hawk Black Pearl 30th Anniversary cars. Im driving a Focus ST 225 at the moment but looking at replacing it with a Premiere Edition face lift car as i love the all round reliability of the civic and the near on 9k red line certainly helps too! They're certainly addictive mate, enjoy it!
It's been hard to reign it in knowing the brakes there were on it aren't upto much and a cv joint is very broken but I still can't help but hoofing it at every opportunity My old one is the one car I really wish I'd kept and supercharged rather than selling up to buy something else....
And it's still used by ABP on their eBay ads after 9 years!
Butter Face said:
The JDM only FD2 is 5 door also.
And definitely the one to go for, last of the N/A screamers, way faster than the numbers suggest and they hold their value unbelievably well. There's a cheapy induction kit gone on it for now purely for induction noise but there's a good chance of a Tegiwa kit comes up at the right price it may well get swapped for that at some point.
colinjy said:
loved my EP3 still miss it, if i had the spare cash and space i'd have another one in a second.
have supercharger kits have dropped in price now as it was always something i wanted to do with mine.
daniel didn't you origionally start with a cosmic grey one ?
Silver one in the post above was my first, a friends old Cosmic one is on here. have supercharger kits have dropped in price now as it was always something i wanted to do with mine.
daniel didn't you origionally start with a cosmic grey one ?
Got the car back today, having to order new rear calipers extended its stay at the garage for a bit longer than planned. The final list of jobs completed is as follows -
Major service
Fit induction kit (stupid blue breather hose is going to be replaced with a black one as it just looks odd)
Waxoiled underneath car
Supply and fit new rear calipers
Fit new discs and pads all round
Calipers repainted silver all round
Supply and fit O/S CV joint
Tracking, camber bolts are fitted I just need to get it somewhere now to set it all up correctly.
Just a couple of quick pictures , excuse the car being dirty I'd just test driven it home. Engine bay valet is on the list of jobs to do aswell as stripping and repainting the cam cover.
Major service
Fit induction kit (stupid blue breather hose is going to be replaced with a black one as it just looks odd)
Waxoiled underneath car
Supply and fit new rear calipers
Fit new discs and pads all round
Calipers repainted silver all round
Supply and fit O/S CV joint
Tracking, camber bolts are fitted I just need to get it somewhere now to set it all up correctly.
Just a couple of quick pictures , excuse the car being dirty I'd just test driven it home. Engine bay valet is on the list of jobs to do aswell as stripping and repainting the cam cover.
I'm not completely sure what they are to be honest, they seem to be from the Fox Motorsport but not a clue on model number/name, weight or anything to be honest. I'm sort of tempted to swap them for a set of the OEM EP3 17's if I can find someone will to do th swap anyway. Including swapping my new tyre over onto the OEM wheels obviously
Managed to find a link to mine last night, Fox Racing MS006 it seems
http://m.wheelbasealloys.com/alloy-wheels/fox-raci...
I think Evo 8 Enkei's are the number one choice but they seem to be getting pricey recently. Think I'd rather spend the money getting the roof painted and the couple of dents sorted. Need to sort a free weekend when I can machine polish the car also and see how much of it comes up nicely, there's a few scratches but I have a feeling they're only in the lacquer so nothing more than polishing, maybe a bit of wet sanding will sort them out.
http://m.wheelbasealloys.com/alloy-wheels/fox-raci...
I think Evo 8 Enkei's are the number one choice but they seem to be getting pricey recently. Think I'd rather spend the money getting the roof painted and the couple of dents sorted. Need to sort a free weekend when I can machine polish the car also and see how much of it comes up nicely, there's a few scratches but I have a feeling they're only in the lacquer so nothing more than polishing, maybe a bit of wet sanding will sort them out.
lickatysplit said:
All I can see from that induction kit is heat soak. How is it getting cold air?
By the car moving and a cold air feed... I ran the K&N one on my old car with a 4-2-1, decat and exhaust. That made 212bhp with no mapping. And want to know how many times it suffered heatsoak that affected performance? Once, sat in traffic for 20 minutes on a day it was around 28 degrees . That dip in performance lasted for the 5 seconds it took to get moving and get up to speed again. It got boring reading on forums how much heat soak it would suffer from, usually from someone trying to justify why they'd spent 600quid on a GruppeMIt can't have been bad, it lost nothing on a mates EP3 at the time that was running 245bhp N/A.
TheTrash said:
I agree, there's loads of room in the engine bay and at full chat it's going to be sucking quite a bit of fresh air in. EBC for the brakes though
I've tried DS2500's in the past and can't get on with them, they're too sharp on initial bite for how I brake. Yellowstuffs are a win so far, not too sharp on initial pressure then when I want to stand it on its nose just press harder. Redstuffs on the other hand are f
king st! They are genuinely dangerous in the way they just don't workGassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff