Azza
EK9 Nutta!
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2008
- Messages
- 177
***** MAY BE GOING UP FOR SALE!! CONTACT ME IF INTERESTED! *****
Right guys, I hope your sitting comfortably! Iâve also got to get myself comfortable cos this is gonna be a lonnnnnngggg post!!
Iâve owned my JDM EP3 for nearly 3 months now, itâs my second EP3 with a NHB 30AE being my first about a year and a half ago. But Iâm no stranger to Hondaâs, with this particular EP3 being my 11th Honda!
I bought the car off of Nathan (Nat-01) on here back in September, :bigthumb: I travelled a round trip of 500 miles to collect it and bring it home, which was well worth it! :-D Before Nathan bought the car it was owned by another forum member â b2uce, he bought the car when it was first imported by Torque-GT, so itâs been enthusiast owned since being in the UK.
Quick overview of the car:-
2001 (51) JDM EP3 Civic Type R
C Pack which consists of:-
- Bi-xenon HID headlights
- Electric folding mirrors
- Rear privacy glass
- Automatic climate control
- Outside temperature sensor
- Keyless entry
Mod list to date:-
EXTERIOR-
As Honda intended at the moment (unsure if that will change)
INTERIOR-
Mugen gear knob
Red alcantara gearshift boot and handbrake gaiter
JDM original red Type R mats
JDM flare (still live)
Sony Xplod headunit
Tein EDFC control unit
ENGINE-
Mugen airbox
Mugen twin loop cat back exhaust system
Mugen rad cap
Facelift engine bay front wing trims
TRANSNISSION-
Powerflex gearbox mount insert
Tegiwa aluminium shifter bushes
CHASSIS-
Tein Superstreet coilovers with adjustable pillow ball top mounts and EDFC control
Tanabe under car H brace
D2 rear lower control arms
Eibach / SPC rear camber arms
Superpro bushes throughout with caster increase
Tegiwa steering arm relocation bracket
Area / DRM Motorsport fast road set up
BRAKES-
Stop-tech grooved discs
Ferodo DS2500 pads
Mugen braided and rubber coated brake hoses
Premier Edition Type R embossed calipers
WHEELS / TYRES-
Standard Championship White alloys
Yokohama Parada Spec 2 tyres
When I bought the car off of Nathan it was in very good condition for an import, I am a perfectionist though so I did pick up on a few blemishes when I went to view it, a couple which Nathan was very honest about which I appreciated. They were a quite badly chipped front bumper which had unfortunately been pretty badly touched up in which didnât look like championship white paint. The rear bumper had an odd mark on it which wouldnât polish out, and the drivers front wing had obviously been resprayed at some point and it wasnât a good colour match. Fortunately for me I have a mate who owns a bodyshop so on my way home I rang him and arranged for it to be taken into his bodyshop the very next day to get these imperfections sorted! I waste no time!!
Since buying it Iâve been taking plenty of photos of the car as I do work on it to create this âbuildâ thread.
To start things off I always go a bit mad on detailing a car when I first buy it, this way it makes the car feel more like âmy carâ. But what really prompted me to get stuck in to the detailing of this car was when I got the car up on axle stands to change the current suspension that was on it. There was nothing wrong with the suspension that was on it, in fact it was virtually brand new and cost Nathan £900. I had a Bilstein B12 shock and spring suspension set up which was fine, but 2 things bugged me about it, 1- the front of the car sat higher than the rear (which really bugs me!) and 2-it was a surprisingly firm ride for just shocks and springs. So, I sold the Bilsteins to another forum member and mate of mine alexunderwood :bigthumb: and bought a set of Tein Superstreet coilovers with EDFC control from forum member zetec-s :bigthumb: This way I could obviously set the height of teh car how I wanted and also adjust the damper setting for how hard or soft I want it all at the touch of a button inside the car! Happy days! Killing 2 birds with 1 stone me thinks.
So this is how the car sat feeling sorry for itself for 5 weeks whilst I replaced the suspension, and took advantage of it being on axle stands to fit new front antiroll bar drop links, tidy up the brake calipers and discs/hubs, thoroughly clean, polish and wax the wheels, de-grease and detail the engine bay, and give the whole car a good detail to bring it back to its former glory.
To start it was out with the old (well they werenât exactly old!) big thanks to SeanEP3 for lending a hand to remove it all and for loaning me his far superior tools compared to mine! :bigthumb:
And in with the new (well they arenât exactly new!)
And fitted!
Whilst removing the Bilsteins we noticed that my front anti-roll bar drop links were shagged to say the least, which explained the slight knocking I had.....
So I ordered some new drop links and got them fitted at the same time as fitting the Teins to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Here is a pic with the new front antiroll bar drop links fitted, much better! And cured the knocking!
So whilst the wheels were removed and the car was sitting on axle stands I took advantage and gave the wheels a thorough clean as they were covered inside and most of the outside with baked on brake dust which looked awful and really let the car down in my opinion. Now 2 years ago I wouldnât of hesitated and I would of got them refurbished, but these days with a family to feed I donât often have £200+ to shell out on getting them done, so I resulted in good old elbow grease! A long process that wasnât 100% worth the time or effort if Iâm honest but they are a hell of a lot better than what they were when I bought the car.
The state the wheels were in....
I donât normally like using Wonder Wheels as I know its harsh stuff and pretty much neat acid, but I needed something harsh to get the baked on brake dust off, so took the plunge and bought some to start the wheel cleaning off.
Here you can see an obvious line where I cleaned a section of the inside of the wheel with Wonder wheels
Another irritating bit on the wheels was the sticky crap that was left on the inside of the wheels from old weights....
After some vigorous determination they were removed from all wheels to a must cleaner look......
.
Once all the wheels were cleaned with Wonder Wheels it was clear to see what areas needed more attention, this was mostly in-between the spokes and the inside of the wheel, so I went over all of the wheels with some Auto Glym Intensive Tar Remover which surprisingly cut through more of the stubborn areas that the Wonder Wheels didnât seem to touch.
Once these areas were tackled I then gave all of the wheels including the inside of the wheels a coat of T-Cut, I used this to basically âcleanâ the paint on the wheels.
The cleaning continued through a further 2 stages of Meguiars, which consisted of a polish, and finally to finish them off a camauba wax. And here is a finished product!....... (complete with a trial of red wheel nuts to see how theyâd look)
Once the wheels were all clean and out of the way I cracked on with refurbishing the brake calipers and discs as they looked awful. It looked like someone had painted the calipers red, which is fine but they were badly done, and then had painted the âType Râ embossed logo white, but again that was done badly and looked like it was done with tipex! Here is how they looked......
Now when I say they were done badly this is just one of the points that irritates me and makes it obvious to me that it was all a rush job. The metal anti-squeal clips were all painted which shows that the calipers werenât removed from the hubs when they were done. Pretty lazy if you ask me as it only takes 5 minutes to remove each caliper! Just like the wheels all the clips had baked on brake dust (I know thatâs obviously to be expected!)
So out came the Wonder wheels again and I soaked them in a bowl of the stuff over night to work its magic.....
The next bit was to get rid of all the red paint, unfortunately for me I didnât have any paint thinners, so had the tedious process of removing it with sand paper! But patients paid off and they came out looking like new!
I re-painted the calipers and brake discs (the hub part) with Hammerite Direct to Rust paint. Iâve used this on several previous cars and it seems pretty good stuff, a lot cheaper than say Folia Tec calliper paint and it covers well only needing a couple of coats, seems very durable too.
The finished product......
Right guys, I hope your sitting comfortably! Iâve also got to get myself comfortable cos this is gonna be a lonnnnnngggg post!!
Iâve owned my JDM EP3 for nearly 3 months now, itâs my second EP3 with a NHB 30AE being my first about a year and a half ago. But Iâm no stranger to Hondaâs, with this particular EP3 being my 11th Honda!
I bought the car off of Nathan (Nat-01) on here back in September, :bigthumb: I travelled a round trip of 500 miles to collect it and bring it home, which was well worth it! :-D Before Nathan bought the car it was owned by another forum member â b2uce, he bought the car when it was first imported by Torque-GT, so itâs been enthusiast owned since being in the UK.
Quick overview of the car:-
2001 (51) JDM EP3 Civic Type R
C Pack which consists of:-
- Bi-xenon HID headlights
- Electric folding mirrors
- Rear privacy glass
- Automatic climate control
- Outside temperature sensor
- Keyless entry
Mod list to date:-
EXTERIOR-
As Honda intended at the moment (unsure if that will change)
INTERIOR-
Mugen gear knob
Red alcantara gearshift boot and handbrake gaiter
JDM original red Type R mats
JDM flare (still live)
Sony Xplod headunit
Tein EDFC control unit
ENGINE-
Mugen airbox
Mugen twin loop cat back exhaust system
Mugen rad cap
Facelift engine bay front wing trims
TRANSNISSION-
Powerflex gearbox mount insert
Tegiwa aluminium shifter bushes
CHASSIS-
Tein Superstreet coilovers with adjustable pillow ball top mounts and EDFC control
Tanabe under car H brace
D2 rear lower control arms
Eibach / SPC rear camber arms
Superpro bushes throughout with caster increase
Tegiwa steering arm relocation bracket
Area / DRM Motorsport fast road set up
BRAKES-
Stop-tech grooved discs
Ferodo DS2500 pads
Mugen braided and rubber coated brake hoses
Premier Edition Type R embossed calipers
WHEELS / TYRES-
Standard Championship White alloys
Yokohama Parada Spec 2 tyres
When I bought the car off of Nathan it was in very good condition for an import, I am a perfectionist though so I did pick up on a few blemishes when I went to view it, a couple which Nathan was very honest about which I appreciated. They were a quite badly chipped front bumper which had unfortunately been pretty badly touched up in which didnât look like championship white paint. The rear bumper had an odd mark on it which wouldnât polish out, and the drivers front wing had obviously been resprayed at some point and it wasnât a good colour match. Fortunately for me I have a mate who owns a bodyshop so on my way home I rang him and arranged for it to be taken into his bodyshop the very next day to get these imperfections sorted! I waste no time!!
Since buying it Iâve been taking plenty of photos of the car as I do work on it to create this âbuildâ thread.
To start things off I always go a bit mad on detailing a car when I first buy it, this way it makes the car feel more like âmy carâ. But what really prompted me to get stuck in to the detailing of this car was when I got the car up on axle stands to change the current suspension that was on it. There was nothing wrong with the suspension that was on it, in fact it was virtually brand new and cost Nathan £900. I had a Bilstein B12 shock and spring suspension set up which was fine, but 2 things bugged me about it, 1- the front of the car sat higher than the rear (which really bugs me!) and 2-it was a surprisingly firm ride for just shocks and springs. So, I sold the Bilsteins to another forum member and mate of mine alexunderwood :bigthumb: and bought a set of Tein Superstreet coilovers with EDFC control from forum member zetec-s :bigthumb: This way I could obviously set the height of teh car how I wanted and also adjust the damper setting for how hard or soft I want it all at the touch of a button inside the car! Happy days! Killing 2 birds with 1 stone me thinks.
So this is how the car sat feeling sorry for itself for 5 weeks whilst I replaced the suspension, and took advantage of it being on axle stands to fit new front antiroll bar drop links, tidy up the brake calipers and discs/hubs, thoroughly clean, polish and wax the wheels, de-grease and detail the engine bay, and give the whole car a good detail to bring it back to its former glory.
To start it was out with the old (well they werenât exactly old!) big thanks to SeanEP3 for lending a hand to remove it all and for loaning me his far superior tools compared to mine! :bigthumb:
And in with the new (well they arenât exactly new!)
And fitted!
Whilst removing the Bilsteins we noticed that my front anti-roll bar drop links were shagged to say the least, which explained the slight knocking I had.....
So I ordered some new drop links and got them fitted at the same time as fitting the Teins to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Here is a pic with the new front antiroll bar drop links fitted, much better! And cured the knocking!
So whilst the wheels were removed and the car was sitting on axle stands I took advantage and gave the wheels a thorough clean as they were covered inside and most of the outside with baked on brake dust which looked awful and really let the car down in my opinion. Now 2 years ago I wouldnât of hesitated and I would of got them refurbished, but these days with a family to feed I donât often have £200+ to shell out on getting them done, so I resulted in good old elbow grease! A long process that wasnât 100% worth the time or effort if Iâm honest but they are a hell of a lot better than what they were when I bought the car.
The state the wheels were in....
I donât normally like using Wonder Wheels as I know its harsh stuff and pretty much neat acid, but I needed something harsh to get the baked on brake dust off, so took the plunge and bought some to start the wheel cleaning off.
Here you can see an obvious line where I cleaned a section of the inside of the wheel with Wonder wheels
Another irritating bit on the wheels was the sticky crap that was left on the inside of the wheels from old weights....
After some vigorous determination they were removed from all wheels to a must cleaner look......
.
Once all the wheels were cleaned with Wonder Wheels it was clear to see what areas needed more attention, this was mostly in-between the spokes and the inside of the wheel, so I went over all of the wheels with some Auto Glym Intensive Tar Remover which surprisingly cut through more of the stubborn areas that the Wonder Wheels didnât seem to touch.
Once these areas were tackled I then gave all of the wheels including the inside of the wheels a coat of T-Cut, I used this to basically âcleanâ the paint on the wheels.
The cleaning continued through a further 2 stages of Meguiars, which consisted of a polish, and finally to finish them off a camauba wax. And here is a finished product!....... (complete with a trial of red wheel nuts to see how theyâd look)
Once the wheels were all clean and out of the way I cracked on with refurbishing the brake calipers and discs as they looked awful. It looked like someone had painted the calipers red, which is fine but they were badly done, and then had painted the âType Râ embossed logo white, but again that was done badly and looked like it was done with tipex! Here is how they looked......
Now when I say they were done badly this is just one of the points that irritates me and makes it obvious to me that it was all a rush job. The metal anti-squeal clips were all painted which shows that the calipers werenât removed from the hubs when they were done. Pretty lazy if you ask me as it only takes 5 minutes to remove each caliper! Just like the wheels all the clips had baked on brake dust (I know thatâs obviously to be expected!)
So out came the Wonder wheels again and I soaked them in a bowl of the stuff over night to work its magic.....
The next bit was to get rid of all the red paint, unfortunately for me I didnât have any paint thinners, so had the tedious process of removing it with sand paper! But patients paid off and they came out looking like new!
I re-painted the calipers and brake discs (the hub part) with Hammerite Direct to Rust paint. Iâve used this on several previous cars and it seems pretty good stuff, a lot cheaper than say Folia Tec calliper paint and it covers well only needing a couple of coats, seems very durable too.
The finished product......
Last edited:
).gif ":)) :))")
