[RickyE]

finaly, after looking at civics for a good while, i bought one

its a 2000, ej9 tropica, fsh, e/w, e/s, electric mirrors, all the usual stuff

quite high miles, its on its second timing belt, but with the fsh i didnt mind, it is a honda after all

only pic i have atm is from the add

couple wee bad bits, couple bits of light surface rust, back arch's, bit on the roof and bonnet, not to worried, metal is sound underneath
passenger window moves, but is slow, so likely need a motor
slight dent on the boot and front wing

plans,
meister r zeta S coilovers
adjustable camber arms
some form of 15" wheel
either, bride seats or full buckets
harness
usual strut braces
some form of pipe
lips, dunno what ones yet
bigger engine at some point

old and new




the beast that is my high milage stock d14- the resanator box


so far its just a daily car, waiting on money clearing to get the coilovers

have got a nrg steering wheel, nrg short boss, and a nrg quick release hub on its way, as an xmas pressent so gotta wait abit for that

also got a hold of a piece of 16mm bar to extend my gear stick, going for high up, standard throw approach, so gonna weld around 6" onto the top part of the stick, and take a couple mm off the bottom, havent worked it out exactly how much i needa take off the bottom, but will do once i get it out, leaving it untill i get the wheel on untill i weld this in, as i wanna make it a custom fit for the car

[Russell]

Hi Ricky. What can I say really? You're not going to set the world on fire with 1.4l Civic but great things can come from small beginnings. I would say your first plan should be to give it some beans to see what the cars strong and weak points are.

[RickyE]

aye, wont be breaking any land speed records for a while, was surprised for a 1.4 though it goes right and well

first on the big list is coilovers, and looking for some arb's aswell, wanna try leaving it good handling before i drop a bigger engine into it

any advise you's can give is greatly appreciated, know bits and piece's from working on old rally car's, but still alot i needa learn for building a fast road car, theres going to be comprimises but knowing what ones

first bitta advise, the coilover company, do zeta s's, and zeta r's, the zeta r's are silghtly stiffer springs, and pillow ball topmounts, compared to the rubber topmounts of the s's,

trying to decide if its worth it for a fast road car, gonna be seeing abit of track time, maybe a trip to the ring, since i always wanted to go there

[Russell]

Sorry to be a grumpy sod but can you do me a small favour? Find and use the shift and full stop keys on your keyboard. It just makes things easier to read. Thanks.<br><br>I see your dilemma with the suspension. £50 more gets you the top spec R's. I'd say that you'd be better off with the Zita S's if the car is mainly for road use. Crashing over potholes and bumps gets old very quickly. With supple suspension you'll make better progress down a rough B road. I might just be getting old though so one of the Civic owners on here could probably answer you question better. When you do get them let me know what you think. I'm thinking of fitting Zita S's to my Accord at some point next year.

[RickyE]

Sorry, usaly try to do my best, was abit tired on it last night

yeh, I have a mate with s's, He says they are hard enough for the roads. Having sat in them the can be very stiff, but still retain some comfort when you turn the damping down. Quite abi of money to be payin out so wanna make sure i get the right ones.

[BigJames]

As someone who used to drive an EM1 shape Civic and sold tonnes of stuff to Honda owner's I hope I can help guide you in the right path!
I'd highly recommend looking at our range of HSD TT coilovers over the Meister-R range. We spec'd the HSDs for UK roads and the TT's come with rubber top-mounts to make them easier to live with on a day-today basis. We have these in stock and ship on a next day service. We are based in Birmingham and hold spares for the HSD range in stock at all times should you ever damage anything and need a replacement. Click here for some info.
With the ARBs, I'd probably hold out till you have fitted your new coilovers then maybe look at the Whiteline range - it sounds like a bit of a shameless plug because we sell their products but the truth is that we sell them because we really rate them!

I had the same issue with the window being slow, but it just took some silicon spray (something like - this on the runners and around the window rubbers to lube them up a little. I'd do this sooner rather than later or you'll end up in the position I was in where I was stuck in a car park with a window that had popped off the runner with a thunderstorm fast approaching!

[Russell]

Ah yes. I forgot to mention the stuff they actually sell on trackculture. I've never heard a bad word against HSD and if I had the option I'd go for them instead.

What size are the standard wheels? 14's?

[RickyE]

been loking at hsd's aswell. Trying to get indepentant reviews on both isnt easy, most people are either one or the other.

Havent heard a bad report about either. Both kits same price, Part's easy got for both, Only really difference is the meisters are 32 way adjustable, hsd are 16 and meisters are monotube, tt's being twin tube.

Got untill early next week to decide. As idealy want them to fit over the xmas holidays. As i have a couple other bits im doing, mostly tidying up. Engine bay, arch's, and wax oiling the car aswell. Steering wheel and extended shifter is going on over xmas aswell.

I plan to be running quite a few upper and lower suspension braces. Aswell as arb's. So dont want to stiff of coilovers since the roads over here are very bad.

Only an apprentice engineer atm, so £500 is alot to be throwing about.

aye, standard is 14's

[Loui]

I'd avoid meister's they lasted 2 weeks on my car and I went back to KW and bought a set of clubsports as I hates them that much. I've had 3 different sets of KW's and can't fault any of them. The v1's would be a bit soft for my current engine but my v2's were great and stood up ok to track and laps of the ring

[BigJames]

Don't worry about the number given to adjustability, its just a measurement - it doesn't mean the range of adjustment is any greater, just that there are more clicks to use to determine how far from hard/soft you are. You won't be able to tell the difference between being 4 clicks on a 16 way adjustable or 7 clicks on a 32 way adjustable clicker. In fact the clicker that generates the feel for adjustment is a replaceable, bolt on part.
Check out this video where James explains how it works:

[RickyE]

Suspension, shocks coilovers etc isnt something i know alot about. Know basic's. Bit about preload etc. Brother races bikes and help him with the suspension setup, and worked on a few rally car's. Always been told that good suspension, setup wrong is as good as cheap stuff, thats half setup right. Dunno how much truth is in that, but i do know reiger is the boss for big bumps, and big bank accounts.

finaly and update, my steering wheel, boss and snapoff came today, the boss will be for sale, as its off a eg, but my ej/ek one is coming shortly

its for my xmas present so cant fit it till then, but here's a few pic's for now




that is, nrg short boss, nrg snap off boss, and a nrg wheel, in suede finish, not bad for less than the price of a wheel

[RickyE]

coilovers ordered last night, one set of meister zeta s's should be here shortly, , going in over xmas, along with alot of other wee changes

got car mat's aswell, finaly, and a tin of silver paint so i can get rid of the rust on the slam panel

this is roughly where the gearstick will end up, maybe slightly futher back, due to having a the wheel on, also, gotta love cable ties


went for meisters in the end, all mates who have them rate them highly, never have problems, woulda gone for hsd's if it was gonna be a pure track car, or rwd

[RickyE]

finaly started getting stuff on and done to this car

dewipered and the rear recess is getting colour coded, and jap plates fitted

spoiler tilt before

after

makes quite abit of difference, never thought it would improve the look as much, real pleased with it, since it was free

twin filament amber bulbs, usdm marker/parking lights, just needa get a hold of the holders





my steering wheel and boss, love this, makes the driving position so nice, thought it might bring it out to far but its just spot on, just need bucket seats now

now i can mock up where the gear stick will finish, it should be somewhere around here

got my gear stick done
bottom, welded about a 1/4 inch in here, about the same as a type r one is longer than a stock ej9


top, dunno how much this is longer, i think its about 5-6 inchs


all finished up



finaly got the coilovers in, had it down the road a run and they great, love them, well worth the money, completely different car to drive, they are set at 16f,16 rear, both go to 32, and its just at a nice level, comfy but still solid feeling



bumper will go on once i get the numberplate tilt bracket made

[RickyE]

so far since the coilovers went in, its all just been arsing about, so thought i'd just update it in one go

looking at getting poly bush's, and camber arms front and rear, then looking at a set of lightweight 15's with good sticky tires

also looking at turbo'ing this cheaply untill i can afford a bigger engine

got abit more done to her today
first off, a wash



then set about fitting a few horns, mounted a couple switchs aswell, through a oem honda radio blank



and finaly got my front plate on, horns where fitted here, put them in such a way they cant be seen


also fitted a new honda thermostat(no more need for that cardboard covering the rad) and rocker cover gasket

also got the wind deflectors fitted a couple days ago

[RickyE]

type r rack bought, standard rack is around 4 turns lock to lock, type r rack is 2.8, should make a good bit of difference

will be new inner and outa track rod ends, and harder bushes going on when im putting the rack in

[mixer72]

looking good mate will be nice to see this coimg in

[Ali.C]

Nice work mate, nice to see the development.
I will have a few parts for sale shortley if your interested? inc. ek4 brake setup (262mm f / 240mm r), new tegiwa rear strut brace, few other bits...

If i can ever help with any questions etc, feel free to send me a pm anytime!

[RickyE]

cheers everyone, will be a couple weeks before i get money built up again, need bigger wheels before i get bigger brakes, stock just about fits under the 14's

steering rack should be here tomorrow, then just a waiting game for money to get bushes, and ball joints etc

need camber adjusters badly, lowered it another 15mm at the weekend. The camber is getting abit to much so it needs sorted

it is abit to low tbh. still driveable but not hard on back roads, it will do untill i get around to polybushings it and fitting the steering rack etc

might start trying to lose some weight of it, as i no longer have a rear wiper motor i might shell it, sound deadning is coming out but gonna wait a little while, seats etc will come out once i get buckets

[RickyE]

thought i should through up a wee photo
a nice ek9 steering rack(thanks to vtec performance), i count 2.7 turns lock to lock, very very happy

[RickyE]

went and bought this

you can get 180 outa a stock d14 turbo'd thats in good nick, but since mines got 150k on it, ill settle for around 150bhp till i get a d16, its a straight bolt on fit to a d16 so its not a waste putting it onto the 1.4, will get all the wrinkles ironed out before it goes on a rebuilt engine

btw, it was a steal, £35 and its never been used

still waiting on bushes and stuff, so no real changes since last time, car is being lifted 10mm at the weekend, i cant stand battering it off bumps anymore
abit of fake carbon

thats it for now, its a slow build, funds are low