Si's EP3 - 2016 Updates

[Simple Simon]

So I've done a couple of things to the car recently and bought a few things as well. First up was the brakes, felt terrible and were squealing like crazy. Si over at Hendy sorted me out with a great deal some Project Mu pads. I went for their less aggressive pads (NC 400) as I am still using the using the car as a daily for the time being so no need for anything too drastic. These are obviously a lot better from the OEM items I had and they do stop really well from cold, although I'm interested now to see what the next best ones are like! haha Didn't get any pictures of them on the car but just a picture of them out the box.



I still need to change the brake fluid and would like the callipers refurbed as well but this can all be done at a latter date.

So I had been in the process of stripping down my Yellow Speed coilovers and it came to the last two collars. I just couldn't budge them! Took the to a mate who had a vice and we both tried to loosen them to no avail! So gave up and took them to a garage. Hadn't really looked at them after having them in the vice but wish I had now. Turns out we actually managed to bend the bracket and also somehow bent the shock itself! In all honesty I really don't know how we managed this as I'm sure we didn't put it in the vice upside down. Luckily spares are readily available from Tegiwa so a new shock assembly and mounting bracket are in the post.

Onto more positive things, I received a nice little bonus from work this month so decided to treat my self a little bit. Came home today to be greeted with this in the living room...



Any guesses on what wheels I've bought?



Couldn't resist Driftworks new prices on the Work wheels!



And the actual product...







Also in the box was a new steering wheel, OEM on is pretty tired and always loved the Personal wheels




Awesome instructions with the boss!



Finally, had my BNIB rear camber arms and front camber bolts turn up as well, got them for a great price seeing as they had never been used!



So current plans are to get some tyres, fit the coilovers and camber arms and get it in for alignment. Will update this once thats all done. Also ordering some more suspension parts as well over the next week or so, LCA, subframe brace ARB's & drop links to name a few.

Thanks for reading. (Apologies for some of the pictures being the wrong way round)

 

[Simple Simon]

So my replacement shock turned up for the Yellow Speed's, you can see in the second photo just how bent the bracket was. The piston itself was bent as well but was too hard to picture it so just left it out.




Also ordered some tyres yesterday and turned up next day

 

[Bushell]

That's a strong effort on the old shock mate haha. Some nice purchases there. Is that the suede wheel you bought?

 

[Simple Simon]

That's a strong effort on the old shock mate haha. Some nice purchases there. Is that the suede wheel you bought?

Yeh my mate is a so called "mechanic" and put it in the vice at the base with the brackets inside of it! Lol he is a unit as well and wasn't able to shift the bloody collar on that one anyway, so a new damper would probably have been needed regardless.

Yeh it's the suede version, never been that fond on leather as my hands just slip on it all the time. Something a bit different as well. Feels pretty decent tbf, will be on the car by the weekend.

 

[Bushell]

Yeah he has been rather enthusiastic it would seem. Suppose no great deal anyway if you needed a new unit.

Really want a Personal wheel. They look amazing. Think I would go for leather though....easier to keep clean

 

[Simple Simon]

Yeah he has been rather enthusiastic it would seem. Suppose no great deal anyway if you needed a new unit.

Really want a Personal wheel. They look amazing. Think I would go for leather though....easier to keep clean

Awesome quality like, was tempted to get a Nardi and then realised they actually make the Personal wheels! lol Plus they happen to be £50 cheaper! haha

So coilovers and camber arms are on along with my new wheels and rubber! Found a place just down the road that run a "rent a ramp" service which is an absolute god send! haha No real dramas with it, a few bolts needed heating up but none snapped and obviously it isn't handling great just yet as it still needed aligning.

Had a bit of time before heading out so decided to see what the wheels weigh...



Not exactly light at a little under 10kg, but then again they aren't forged

Off to the workshop fully loaded up



Rear coilovers on with the camber arms



Test fit of the wheels once the coilovers were on





And all done and back home





I know the camber and height are totally off but its a general idea of what it will look like.

Also at it's current height I can't park on my drive way as the exhaust catches, I wouldn't say its all that low either. So I have been subjected to park outside the front of the house lol




So I have some custom track rods coming from Area Motorsport next week which help elevate the strain the standard EP3 ones have once lowered as they are shorter and have more threads enabling more toe adjustment (something EP's lack in massively!). Also going to order the rack raiser from Tegiwa and some Buddyclub RCA's to finish it off before a geo setup, hopefully at TGM.

I'll be at Japfest next week, but haven't got a pass for it so just going through the general public entrance. Probably see a few of you there

Thanks for reading

 

[Simple Simon]

So my exhaust is scraping on EVERYTHING! lol I won't be running this low once I have the geo set up, but a mate of mine said his was a little better once he had a different manifold on. Anyone know if this would help? This is me parked up outside the front of my house on the curb and the clearance the B pipe has!

 

[si8pny]

looks like the B pipe needs to be twisted around to tuck it up

 

[Simple Simon]

looks like the B pipe needs to be twisted around to tuck it up

How do you mean mate? Taken off and twisted off the car and bolted up in a different position? Or cut at the flange and re welded at a better angle?

I had major snags when I first fitted it and it was too tight to the floor pan and touching it all the time causing it to vibrate. Garage I took it too gave me the clearance I have now, but now it's too low. Lol

Hopefully once I raise the ride height the exhaust will stop catching....maybe.

 

[si8pny]

How do you mean mate? Taken off and twisted off the car and bolted up in a different position? Or cut at the flange and re welded at a better angle?

I had major snags when I first fitted it and it was too tight to the floor pan and touching it all the time causing it to vibrate. Garage I took it too gave me the clearance I have now, but now it's too low. Lol

Hopefully once I raise the ride height the exhaust will stop catching....maybe.

Depends on how it's bolted up but you should have some movement unless the garage you took it too re welded the flange at a different angle. I would take it back there as it hangs way too low

 

[Simple Simon]

Depends on how it's bolted up but you should have some movement unless the garage you took it too re welded the flange at a different angle. I would take it back there as it hangs way too low

I think the garage I took it to may have re-welded it at the flange, but they never did tell me how they sorted it out.
Even though it looks like it is hangs massively low there really isn't that much room between the floor pan and the b pipe. At the narrowest point I can just about squeeze my finger between them.

As for bolting it up differently I could only twist it 180 degrees as there is two bolts going to the backbox. Then it's a question of wether the 3 holes line up to the cat. lol

All a bit confusing how it's sitting like it is. I'll take a look at it again next time I have it on the ramp.

Cheers for the help mate.

 

[LittleGeo]

Not a big fan of ep3's but looks cool mate, some awesome parts here

 

[Simple Simon]

Not a big fan of ep3's but looks cool mate, some awesome parts here

Thanks mate, yeh I know they are a bit marmite. For a long time I overlooked them massively due to being so common. I am glad I've given it a try though, it is a good car tbf. I know it's nowhere as good as the older type r's but once I can make it into a track car I won't really care as it's not rare or that expensive if it gets damaged. Haha

So Japfest was awesome at the weekend! Really I'm just glad I got there in one piece this year. But some seriously nice cars and a lot of them!

Managed to get my personal wheel in, the hkb boss was a bit of a pig and the horn needed filing down a bit but it's all on there. Think I might get the cowl dipped in carbon effect as it looks a bit odd now.




A friend of a friend also got these rolling shots on the way home.

 

[Simple Simon]

I've had really poor fitment of the B-pipe ever since I 1st fitted it. I've been in 3 times now to have it adjusted. In the end the only way to fit it properly and for it not to hit off anything was to "notch" underside and basically cut a bit of metal out where it was fouling. So out came the angle grinder!



Folded the sharp edges in and made sure everything cleared:



Finally put some tiger seal in the gaps and sprayed some zinc primer to stop any rust getting in there:



Really disappointed that I've had to do this as it is such an expensive exhaust you would have thought it would fit perfectly in the exhaust tunnel but wasn't anywhere near it.
Had to remove ALL of the exhaust heat shields on the car as most of them were rattling, but can now say it is all complete, and I can actually get on my drive without scraping! haha!

 

[Simple Simon]

I was booked in for an alignment at TGM this Tuesday just gone but unfortunately the last remaining parts from Area Motorsport didn't turn up in time. Just got them through the post now. :mrgreen: Car is in to get one of the rear arches painted on Monday after it cracked from rolling the arches. Then hopefully I can get round to fitting these parts next Friday/ weekend.

Anyway, the parts that turned up;

Rack raiser
Buddy Club RCA's
Area Motorsport's custom track rods (for more toe adjustment)
Track rod ends





Thick, sturdy looking chunk of metal. Wasn't expecting it to be this thick, looks good quality.



I still need an alignment afterwards, but TGM are so busy (not taking any work on till the 4th week of June already!)
Can anyone recommend somewhere down south (near Portsmouth) to have 4 wheel alignment (FRSU) done? As I need it done sooner than 4 weeks from now. Cheers.

 

[Simple Simon]

So yet another package turned up in the post today. Thought I would get a couple of bits whilst a Tegiwa had their bank holiday sale on.

K-tuned battery tie
K-tuned dip stick
Tegiwa shirt shifter
Tegiwa rocker cover washers




Wasn't doing anything at the time so stuck them all on.
Have to agree with everyone else the the short shifter is a really nice mod and does make shifter much nicer.




Engine bay is looking a lot better but still a fair bit to change and clean up. Last things to order:
J's Racing oil & rad caps
New throttle cable
New silicone hose for intake
New silicone hose for rocker cover breather (might even run a catch can)
New aux belt
Silicone hose set (heavyset ones maybe?)

 

[Simple Simon]

During the week I fitted the rack raiser, track rods and new ends and the Buddy Club RCA's.

So, went up to Eurospec on Friday and had my alignment done. I needed the height sorting out on the coilovers and the pre loads increasing which meant it cost a bit more than I was hoping for and in hindsight I wish I had sorted all that out myself before going up. Never mind the car is all sorted now.

When I first fitted the Yellow Speed's I noticed that the track rod ends were really difficult to do up tightly and there was massive amounts of play in them, so as a temporary fix I made a little collar to fill the quite apparent size difference in the two items, looked like so. The video (if it works) is the play before I made up the collar:

http://vid1092.photobucket.com/albums/i419/scoleshill92/Civic EP3/854A1FDD-759E-44B3-8844-CF3E11ADCEFB.mp4

And the collar I made to stop it



Basically the hole in the bracket for the track rod end is about 1-2mm too big for the taper of the track rod ends. Am I being stupid here in saying why not just make it the correct size and then there is no gap/play???? I've never heard of another set of coilovers needing these, or is it common?
Anyway, got it contact with Tegiwa and they told me the coilovers should have come with the collars (picked the up 2nd hand from a breaker). So they sent me out a set as thankfully they have spares, look like so:




It took a few tweaks and changes before the car wasn't scrubbing on the arches (mainly the rears) but we got there in the end. Had a few printouts from the machine, this was the last one before adjusting the toe on the drivers front to match the passenger's (0.06 down to 0.03)



It feels awesome and loving the way it handles now!

What do you guys reckon? Similar to majority of set ups? Haven't got any pics of the car at it's current height but will get some decent ones soon.

 

[Bushell]

So many goodies hhaha. Wouldn't have picked those wheels in 100 years but they look so good on the car man. Nice choice.

Alignment looms good man, all pretty even, not sure on what settings others use though. Got mine done yesterday and running a lot more camber but that's because I don't have adjustable arms.

Nice to see an ep3 being done properly though. Nice work

 

[Simple Simon]

So many goodies hhaha. Wouldn't have picked those wheels in 100 years but they look so good on the car man. Nice choice.

Alignment looms good man, all pretty even, not sure on what settings others use though. Got mine done yesterday and running a lot more camber but that's because I don't have adjustable arms.

Nice to see an ep3 being done properly though. Nice work

Thanks a lot man! Yeh the wheels I feel are different from the norm. My mate has a silver set of XD9's (similar design but older wheel) on his S15 and I love the way they look as he has really aggressive offset and dish. I see a lot of these on S-chassis' and drift cars in general but don't think I have ever seen an EP on a set, well not in the UK anyway.

Had a go on getting on the drive again, and I only JUST get on it. I mean the exhaust scrapes (can see the marks in the photo) but I have a skid plate welded on to it so not bothered as it isn't damaging the actual exhaust. Took a couple of naff iPhone pics just to get a general idea of the height.





Also remembered that I had my pollen filters to change from my service still. I don't think these have ever been changed before....I mean JESUS look at the state of them!!!

 

[si8pny]

Good thing you changed those filters. Looked gross haha. Glad to see exhaust issue is sorted.