EK3 > EK9 Replica , Project car that wasn't meant to be a project car


JDM180

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Oct 4, 2013
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Hi All , Turned out to be quite the project so thought it would be worth sharing.

Spent the last year or so sorting out a civic I bought to daily with the intention of selling my Nissan 350Z and finishing off my Nissan 180sx. But yeah...

Always wanted an EK shape civic since seeing my mates ek9 , so when I thought about getting a daily a civic was my first choice. Trying to find out without travelling for 4 hours seemed near impossible. stuck a wanted ad up at work and had someone message that they had one they where going to MOT and sell and if it failed it was off to scrap.

I thought it was one of my mates winding me up at first but went round and here was a what seemed slightly rusty EK3 in the usual manky green. Had been owned locally and used to take dogs out in so was scuffed , dented and a bit neglected but it went through an MOT so a deal was done and it was mine. I remember him saying if you want a car to do up it isnt it. sometimes i think i should have listened to that seeing where I am now lol

Gave it a good clean up and in the right angle you can hide the dents enough to look decent !

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Couple days later , Driveshaft snapped clean in half pulling out a junction.

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Replaced both and was away again, this was about the end of the first week of driving it and about as long as I held up before the bug bit , within a few days I had a set of alloys i got a good deal on as need paint, some decent coilovers , a spoon rep exhaust and some interior bits

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Had the dials out to carbon wrap and made them look a bit like type R clocks , And had the rest of the dash in bits for some reason I forget.

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Always wanted a white one and decided i would have a go painting on this , done bumpers and stuff before but never a car and always wanted to. Bought all the gear then started on the bodywork.. A quick sand and spray is what I had in mind but the first few passes with the sander and clumps of filler started falling out of the rust hidden behind it , after poking around i was left with this ( it got worse but i stopped feeling like taking photos )

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I didnt have a welder at this point so as much as I wanted to do everything , was helped out by a friend who got it welded up at a decent price where he worked.

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it wasn't pretty but gave me a base to work on , and since I was having to do this i had a go at the other dents and scrapes.

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The other car was another EK3 that was going to scrap that I bought to rob a few bits of trims from and have for anything I needed during the repair/repaint

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I just rattle canned over the repairs with the intention of painting the full car at a later date and got some better wheels in a good deal from a friend , however first trip up the road took a chunk out the arch as it was hitting , I couldnt get a roller under there so cut out most of the lip and sealed it again to clear.

I also managed to get hold of some Integra recaros which I was really pleased to get hold of.

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Also bought a welder which came in handy as after getting some facelift parts i found a hole in the crossmember and under the airbox , all cut out and welded ( that scrap ek3 came in handy at last ). and undersealed all the underneath

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Stayed like this for a month or two while i tried to get somewhere to paint it in , a guy my dad knew that did bodywork said he would do it cheap if I prepped it all so got it all sanded down till i had no fingerprints left. This is WAY more work than I ever imagined.

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I got it done but then the guy took like two months before he said he could do it, Took it down and stripped it outside his garage before giving him the key. I really wish I could have sprayed it myself especially for the want of just a garage but couldn't wait anymore. A week later ( today ) I collected the car and all the parts, if im honest im disappointed with how the painting came out, if this wasn't intended to be a runaround id be getting it done again ( apparently the paint is to blame ) but whatever its better than it was and and by now I just want to get back in it and get on with things.

Theres bits ive left out but you get the jist , learned so much working on this and for something that I intended to not do anything on its been to fun ( well sometimes ) to work on.

Just have to wait for the paint to fully cure before I can start putting it back together , ive a few other bits to do to finish it off but im starting to see what was in my head come to life now.

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I always likes these threads . you start from nothing and in the end you make something special. I will watch you:nice:
 
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