HCF Project Section - Itinerant's 4 door Si project

Massive thread redirection 3/17/09:

I've decided on a new direction for the car. My evil plan now is to focus my efforts on converting the car to basically a 4 door Civic Si. This means I'll be putting in rear disc brakes, an Si cluster, a b16a2 engine, and a few other things that make a Civic Si a Civic Si. There are some things that just aren't really possible, like adding the moon roof, so that's why I'm calling this the "Bastard Civic Si" project. This will be a slow process but I hope I'll learn a lot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original thread from 12/2007
I just wanted to show you guys what little I have done so far to the Civic. Some of this brief chronicle will overlap into audio/visual, but I wanted to keep it all together instead of doing two threads. Sorry if this angers the HCF deity, or whatever. The best stuff is exterior anyways, even though it was done on a budget of ... well, nothing. Basically, I'm poor. I'm extremely limited to what I can do at this point in my life. (senior in college, no money, still walk everywhere I can, even with a Civic)

What I have is a 2000 Civic LX sedan (obviously).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC04862a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC04861a.jpg

This is as it was shortly after the rebuild of the front end. When I first saw it, the car had been totalled from the front end. It got a new front cap, except for the passenger side fender, which is made mostly of bondo. You can't tell unless you tap your fingers against it. It also got a core support, radiator, condensor, etc. So, as it stood here, bone stock.

I started by adding the hodge podge of speakers I have collected. I put in some Kenwood 6.5s for the doors, dome tweeters, Pioneer 6x9s for the back, an Alpine head unit, 500 watt Jensen amp, and... (you might find this strange for my setup, but...) I added four Crossfire CF310d subs to the trunk. I have received a lot of flak for my system, because each sub gets a whopping 75ish watts RMS. I have 4 low powered subs, but together they provide excellent, even bass. That's what I'm about with music: balance. I'm not out to win any competitions, but what I have is balanced. It's a small trunk, so it sounds much stronger than it actually is. (I still have a 4 channel, 600 watt amp to put in somewhere later anyways.)

I built a box to fit the trunk. I started with just two subs:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/2subs.jpg

I found two more of the same sub, so I added them too. Oh yeah, 3rd brake light. I did that too.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/4subs.jpg

After that, I found a cheap, real OEM spoiler. It was a great deal, so I couldn't pass it up. Before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC05274a.jpg

After:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC05280a.jpg

I have always liked the clear/red style tails, so I replaced my OEMs with those style. Before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/oldtails.jpg

After:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/newtails.jpg

A couple of those sub pics were mildly photoshopped where the carpet wasn't sitting right. Sorry. I fixed it for real a couple of months ago.

What I want to do soon is debadge the car, at least with the Civic and LX logos. I want to repaint the sideskirts because they are fading for some reason. I'd like to repaint the grille the same gold as the body, or at least change to a different style. I had planned to add a type R front and rear lip kit, but never got around to it (read: was broke). Someday, I will have some 17s instead of fake chrome hubcaps. Someday, it'll get dropped. Someday, I will paint the side mirrors to match the body too. I'm going for that really clean look, nothing ricey or showy. Just clean.

Sigh. So many dreams, so little cash.

Next you should paint your mirrors to match the gold... shouldn't be much, cost me 50 bucks to do it.

Nice man, its coming along

Very nice, I like the box built into the trunk. Good luck for the future.

Not bad, love the color. Love your choice of tails too, looks nice, definately needs some wheels and a drop, I'd search craigslist if you're on a budget.

haha, CL is great, but the CL for Little Rock is terrible. No one posts good things there. Some of it is obviously stolen. I did see someone selling a D16z6 that I really wanted, but he was asking too much. And the personal ads? Nothing but spam. No real women. A damn shame!:D

But seriously, we have a bunch of rednecks who like to put big mud tires on anything and jack it up 4 feet. I wish I had a picture of the CRX with mud tires and a lift, parked in the WalMart parking lot. Those kinds make the rest of us look bad, especially when they do the poor-man's-flowmaster mod (read: cut off the exhaust at the cat for extra loudness).

But yeah, I already have to get the hood repainted because there is a heart-shaped chunk of clearcoat missing. A rock hit me in such a way that it didn't dent the hood, and only took the clearcoat layer off. Well, there are two dots of missing gold. This is just about actual size on a 1024x768 screen.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/chip.jpg

They quoted me $300 something to get that little thing fixed. I suppose I could have them add around $50 to it, if it ends up being that cheap.

Looks good. I don't know about the wing though. Thats just something else to raddle when you base hits.I like the tails too. When you first glance at it, looks like an Accord

how did you get the "civic" on the third brake light? looks cool. other than that at least your doing some tasteful stuff for no budget. keep it up!

how do those subs sound?

ORIGINAL: Mossy

how did you get the "civic" on the third brake light?


You can buy a vinyl insert online for $15 plus shipping, or you can google image search Civic Logo, find the logo in a decent size, work with it in photoshop, make it black and white, resize it just right, print it, and put it into the 3rd brake light. You have to pull the rear deck, pull the light assembly off, take the red lens out, cut the logo to fit, and put it all back together.

(Told you I worked on a budget.)

ORIGINAL: my05civic

how do those subs sound?


Surprisingly good. Even at their low power, they are loud enough. Those are my first attempts at making boxes. They turned out alright.

ORIGINAL: itinerant

ORIGINAL: Mossy

how did you get the "civic" on the third brake light?


You can buy a vinyl insert online for $15 plus shipping, or you can google image search Civic Logo, find the logo in a decent size, work with it in photoshop, make it black and white, resize it just right, print it, and put it into the 3rd brake light. You have to pull the rear deck, pull the light assembly off, take the red lens out, cut the logo to fit, and put it all back together.

(Told you I worked on a budget.)


LOL I did one for mine when I first got it of one of my tattoos. But I just took the red lens out and masked it and sprayed it. Then I realized that because of my factory spoiler the dash mounted brake light didn't even light up. LOL I still laugh at myself for that one!

ORIGINAL: windcalmer

LOL I did one for mine when I first got it of one of my tattoos. But I just took the red lens out and masked it and sprayed it. Then I realized that because of my factory spoiler the dash mounted brake light didn't even light up. LOL I still laugh at myself for that one!



I had that problem too, so I ran jumper wires to make it work!

good job for your first box build. I like that oem spolier

When you first glance at it, looks like an Accord

^+1 I thought the same thing

Car looks good...bet that thing bumps

lokks awesome. keep adding

Time to update! But the virus won't let me fix my dead links... sorry.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Forum%20workarounds/DSC01097atxt.jpg

So far car looks super clean, cant wait for the update

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Forum%20workarounds/badgrille.jpg
Fog light/grille install pics later, once I get the harness right. Night shots coming.

Before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01099-1.jpg
After:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01104.jpg
Lights:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01131.jpg

Head unit relocated. Before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01121.jpg
After:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01122.jpg
Aftermarket CD player?Huh? I'm running stock...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01125.jpg

Comments/criticism/praise welcome.

pretty clever. ain't no one stealing your shiznit. lol

how hard was it to get it down there?
lucky for me in my del sol there's a door that goes over the stereo when so you close it no one can see what you have

Once I got the 96-98 style cup holder with the proper brackets, it was nothing. Just had to pull the center console, armrest, etc to get to everything. Wires reached fine, everything bolted right on.

Installed my CAI. Engine has a little growl now. Engine bay is still dirty...
No before picture necessary. After:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01135a.jpg

Looks good. I'm liking the deck.

I'm going to paint my valve cover soon. Anyone have suggestions/cautions? I know I need to remove and replace the screws in a certain order and torque down at 7.2 ft/lbs, but is there anything else?

thats pretty much it. id make sure to take out your spark plug seals while you paint the valve cover. Theres a DIY on valve cover painting in the DIY section

I read the DIY. Good info. It says nothing about gaskets though, or if you need to add liquid gasket like the helms manual says. I wanna make sure it can get me to work tomorrow or next week.

Lookin good! Keep up the good work. Now if only I could finish painting mine...:eek:

I finished the valve cover paint today. It was interesting to see the rocker arms of my own engine for the first time.

Here's the valve cover before the last coat of clear.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01140a.jpg

And here it is finally reinstalled and everything.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01147a.jpg

I REALLY need to clean the engine bay, and I wish I could drive it to the shop tomorrow for a few things, but the liquid gasket needs to cure. So does the paint, I suppose.

looking good. i just got a dx same year and good job with the pics , gave me alot of ideas. i'm also on a budget and never thought of just painting the cover. pretty cool. can't wait for your next update

Since I don't have a splash guard on the underside of the engine bay (was never there since I've owned the car), I decided to temporarily convert my CAI into an SRI. It has been raining a lot here lately. My engine coughed at me just once while I drove through a particularly awesome puddle. Once was enough for me to do something about it. I also put a quality filter on it while I was at it, grey this time instead of red. It'll match the new dizzy, plug wires, and valve cover. During my last visit to the salvage yard, I also snagged some plug wire clips to clean up the display of my plug wires (like they're worth displaying). To finish it, I moved the little mounting brace for the intake to make the install stay in place this time.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01205.jpg

Dude everything looks great nice job! Im also on a budget so youve given me some great ideas I have to say your very clever youve done a lot of things I wouldnt have thought of.

Keep up the good work im anxious to see what you will do next.

Your car is coming along nicely. Like so many others I'm looking to save cash while upgrading looks/sound/performance. Didnt realize the d16y7 would look so cool with a black valve cover. Definitely need to paint mine. BTW, CF will look tight on your ride, especially going along with other appearance mods you've mentioned. Definitely CF. Mine is costing me $600 including shipping and $20 install. I have a daily driver also and need to get to my low-paying job! :) The only drawback with CF is that now even more obnoxious dudes will want to race you in their beater Cavaliers and 4th gen Accords. Lol!

i would like to see the new headlights on, nice work man.:)

Very nice man :D

Another update, this time from the audio side of things.

When I first got my speakers, they were in my old 2000 DX and one was already halfway blown. One car and two years of outrighteously loud music later, I have managed to smite one of the 6x9s completely and one of the 6.5s in the front screams for mercy between bursts of static. The fat lady has not yet sung for the others, but fat Brad is about to.

I've always liked Alpine and I've got an Alpine head unit already, so why not go all the way?

I ordered some Alpine 2-way Type R 6x9s on eBay. They'll be here the 7th. The eBay guy screwed me on the 6.5s (had an auction with 11 available, but was backordered so I got a refund) so I just went to Best Buy and picked up some 2-way Type R 6.5s there. The only way I was able to justify buying them was to call them a late birthday present.

I hooked them up to my home audio amp and judged the stereo imaging to be the clearest I have heard from speakers belonging to me. It was like audio sex with positive and ground wires attached, except with Serj Tankian singing in the background instead of Barry White.

Can't wait until the other two get here so I can install them.

you car coming coming along, good choice on the alpine type r's. how much did they cost you? thinking of swapping my infinity and alpine speakers to all alpine type r's

you car coming coming along, good choice on the alpine type r's. how much did they cost you? thinking of swapping my infinity and alpine speakers to all alpine type r's

The 6x9s were $108 shipped from ebay and the 6.5s were $160ish from Best Buy. The only reason I didn't wait on the guy from ebay to get the 6.5s in stock was because I am friggin sick of the static in my music. When I unhooked the offending stickers, it just wasn't the same coming from two speakers. I'm rushing the process a much as possible.

If you order on ebay from someone called "autosounds4less," you'll get a good deal but be sure to ask if they are in stock and not on backorder before you decide to bid or buy it now.

Not bad, love the color. Love your choice of tails too, looks nice, definately needs some wheels and a drop, I'd search craigslist if you're on a budget.

Same, I like the tails. But you should still smoke them.

Alright. The 6x9s came in. I was very happy to have this sitting in my room:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01267.jpg

The speakers were just as excited. "!!"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01269.jpg

These are the old pioneers that the Alpines are replacing. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them. The super tweeters are blown, but the tweeters still play. The 6x9s themselves are actually okay. I thought one was blown, but the wire was just unhooked. (shut up, I was too lazy to check, okay? There were subwoofer boxes in the way.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01272.jpg

The 6x9s went in without a hitch, but the 6.5s were more of a pain. Everyone says they will fit, but THEY WILL NOT FIT WITHOUT MODIFICATIONS! I had to cut away much of the little speaker cubby so the massive magnet would fit. I decided to just use the black mounting rings that convert a 3 screw configuration to a 4 screw configuration. I paid for them, right? Might as well use them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01275.jpg

Sometime after this point, I went to a friend's apartment to use his dremel. He made me play Rock Band in return, so I started to run out of daylight and patience. After burning myself with hot plastic slag, my will to take pictures grew weaker and weaker. This is how they both ended up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01282.jpg

In the end, they looked about how you might guess speakers would look mounted in a door panel behind a plastic cover. The sound is AMAZING though. Definately an improvement. It's great to have matched speakers and a matched head unit. Now if I can get some type R subs and an Alpine amp, everything will match nicely.

The only problem now is that I forgot to hook up the wires for the passenger side window, so I can't open it. -_-

In response to the smoked tails comment, I have seen smoked tails on a gold Civic and it doesn't look quite right. The only thing that really does look okay on a gold Civic is that fake chrome trim. I think only silver and gold cars can really pull it off well, IMO.

Fake chrome trim? imo no one can pull that look off

The swapping the cd deck is a perfect idea, i might try that out this weekend with my tape player, i have a 98 so i already have that cup holder option.

definite plus on the fogs, tails, and 3rd bl (very clever), the valve cover is also lookin pretty shnazzy. great idea on the relocation of the cd player and cupholders!

[edit] On November 5, a little old lady wrecked my car on the passenger side back door and quarter panel, popping the tire and tearing my sh!t up.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Wreck2/DSC01303.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Wreck2/DSC01304.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Wreck2/DSC01305.jpg

It got all fixed (Bondo'd) and is back on the road.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Wreck2/DSC01326a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Wreck2/DSC01327a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Wreck2/DSC01328a.jpg

LoL Bondo.

[back to the original post]

I'm finally back on track. The car got around 65% new paint after the wreck so it looks good again. After a long discussion on B engine swaps, rear disc brake conversions, auto to manual transmission conversions, and more on my other forum, I've decided that I'll probably put a better grille, Type R lip kit (front and back), header, and exhaust on my car and I'll call it done for the most part. I've come to terms with the fact that it IS a sedan and just isn't meant for modification. I'll keep the car clean and just above stock style wise and performance wise, but thats as far as this one will go.

The car has been wrecked three times, twice on the passenger side quarter panel and door, and once (totalled) from the front. The frame will never be perfectly straight. It will work fine as a daily driver, but will cost too much for me to turn into a boost project. I honestly don't have enough wrench time under the hood to really consider boosting an engine until I go to school and learn some more.

The Civic has already been debadged, has only 2 dings on the body, has a cold air intake, painted valve cover, added fog lights, added OEM spoiler, and a better sound system than stock. I have some project rims (thanks Chris) for summer tires that I've already started sanding in preparation for paint. I think that's where I'll stop once the lip kit and grille are in place.

On to my next question... Wheel paint. Chris (reaper) and I had briefly discussed possible paint schemes. My car is gold and the rims are black. It goes unsaid that my calipers and drums are going to be painted because aftermarket rims will show them more. (I had thought about just painting them flat black.) What about the rims, though? Here are some chops that I did on some old car pics.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/Chop1a.jpg
This is one of the rims as they are, black with a silver ring. Black doesnt go well with the gold.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/Chop1b.jpg
Here is a thought I had: Painting the spokes to match the car, leaving the edges black, and leaving the ring underneath silver.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/Chop1c.jpg
Here, the spokes are painted, but the rim is too, still leaving the silver circle underneath. I liked this one the most.

What other colors should I consider?

maybe gunmetal?

I installed my Password JDM hood dampers. It's a nice cool 13 degrees outside so I didn't stay long enough to take a picture, but be patient. One is coming soon.

[edit] and here it is.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01351.jpg

Those wheels look familiar :D

My vote is still for the solid gold with polished inner lip ;)

Those wheels look familiar :D

My vote is still for the solid gold with polished inner lip ;)

I'm not sure if I want to color match them to the body now. I saw a guy on my local forum with his rims painted gold, but not a shiny reflective gold, and they looked SIIIICK. Here's one of his car:
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb310/prototype_x9/P1010035.jpg

So now I hesitate... so much uncertainty. At least I got started on the sanding process. Remember these?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01354.jpg

I don't really have anywhere to sand these and it's REALLY cold outside so I haven't made much progress. That clear coat is tougher to smooth out than it looks. I didn't intend to take it down to primer on those parts, but I figure they'll get prepped one way or another.

Should I just spend the money to have the tire shop remove the valve stems and tires so I can paint them? I think I can get away with leaving it all on because the stem is on the silver ring that's staying no matter what.

idk how that gold would look on the stock honda gold. The gold on that Mazda seems like it's a lot darker than your paint, so i'm not sure...

are you having the wheels painted or powdercoated? If they're just being painted, you can probably get away with keeping the valve stems on... if they're being powdercoated, they'll probably have to come off.

are you having the wheels painted or powdercoated? If they're just being painted, you can probably get away with keeping the valve stems on... if they're being powdercoated, they'll probably have to come off.

Im gonna paint them simply for ease. I've got 3 out of 4 ready to prime and the 4th is at least halfway sanded. I may not even prime because I sanded down to primer on some of it anyways. The 3 that are ready have already been washed and could be painted today if I wasn't sick and if the city wasn't iced over.

Paint choice is HARD. I can match the stock gold easily, but something keeps telling me that'll be RICE. Black rims won't look good on a gold car. Gold rims won't look good on a gold car. Gunmetal is not quite silver enough. Bronze might be too dark. Silver is too generic, and I'm still keeping the polished inner lip anyways. Chrome is too ricey. I don't want to do blue, green, purple, or red to make them stand out. This is going to be a nice quiet clean ride.

Suggestions? Photochops welcome.

im iced over today to :( where are u from ?

im iced over today to :( where are u from ?

I'm in Little Rock. Luckily it all melted for the most part. North of us, it's still pretty bad. No power, etc.

North of us, it's still pretty bad. No power, etc.
you guys have electricity in other parts of arkansas?

Sorry Stu, thought I answered. If you got a map of Arkansas and just drew a line diagonally across the state following I30, everthing north of that line would have had no power due to ice. Everything south was just damp from rain.

Today was lip kit install day. Once I got the energy to do it all, I was pretty excited. So excited that I almost forgot the mandatory before pictures.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01400a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01399a.jpg

So very stock... but not anymore. Now, the worst part of this by FAR was just taking the bumper covers off. The second worst was putting them back on. The third worst... well, we'll cover that soon.

Here's the front mockup.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01401a.jpg

And the back mockup.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01402a.jpg

I decided against using all those brackets and rivets (from the other thread) for the front lip. Screws alone worked fine. The 3M tape was pretty much unnecessary. The fitment on the front lip was great. Everything lined up fine. The rear lip, however... two words. Fitment issues, fitment issues, fitment issues. I had to soak it in a bathtub full of hot water so it would stretch to fit. Even after that, I had to heat it with a hair dryer to make it keep its shape while I screwed it to the bumper cover. It turned out alright in the end.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01406a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01407a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01408a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01409a.jpg

That took me over an hour to accomplish...

And now, the finished product.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01416a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01415a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01414a.jpg

Which brings me to the third worst part of this whole ordeal...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01413a.jpg

I have never been able to get the drivers side to hang right, but I never knew why until I pulled that bumper off. What I found was evidence of wreck #4 for this car.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01410x.jpg

The quarter panel extension is made of bondo.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01411x.jpg

Geez, this car has been in at least four accidents that I know of now. All I know for sure is that there was no damage there for the third and fourth accidents, so this is either number 1 or 2.

Now, the final touch... Gotta represent the mighty H logo...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01417a.jpg

The car needs a really good wash and the headlights need to be polished again, but that's a project for another day. The rims need some final prep work and some paint before they're ready to put on, but after that this car will be pretty much done.

lookin' good

drop/wheels and you're mint!

its gunna look really good when you get the wheels and drop done. Also, I would leave the rims the same color. I think they will look good with your lips. loll

looking good man. get the lip kit painted. a drop and wheels would add the extra touch it needs

I <3 Lips! Keep it up man!!

Last chance for you guys to have an opinion on my rim color... because I plan on painting tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest. Since I have no preference, I'm probably gonna go with semi-gloss black. Nothing really looks right with gold paint. Seriously guys, toss out some ideas .

id paint the wheels to match the car... IMO at least....

looks good tho.

Apparently no one wanted my business today at both of the paint shops I went to, so I decided to just rattle can them gloss black and see what happened. Well, it started raining. Not the nice real rain, but that damned mist rain like only Arkansux can deliver right when you start to paint. It wasn't even supposed to rain for another few hours.

I don't know how the one I started on is gonna turn out. I may have to sand most of the first coat off. Damned Arkansux weather...

For the rims, i think flat black with the crome lip.....the first pic you had up.
The lip kit came out nice, the rear looks like it need's to be a little closer though.
And i know how you feel about finding out that your car has been in 4 accident's, when i started pulling my car apart i found it was in 2 accidents.

Well, the one I got done today didn't turn out as bad as I expected. I think I should have gone with flat black instead of gloss black, but it looks better than it used to. Here are some before and after pics with comparisons.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01423a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01419a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01420a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01418a.jpg

[ninja edit]
I've got some minimal overspray to clean off, but other than that it looks good. If I lightly sand, I may be able to cut down on the shine.

well trust me they look shiny right now BUT after you shine the tires up it will look alot better!!!!!!!

i painted some old rims black like that and they looked just as bad with shiny paint and ugly tires..... sprayed the tires with some tire shine and it looked ALOT BETTER!

looks good


well trust me they look shiny right now BUT after you shine the tires up it will look alot better!!!!!!!

i painted some old rims black like that and they looked just as bad with shiny paint and ugly tires..... sprayed the tires with some tire shine and it looked ALOT BETTER!

agree 100%

and i recommend black magic tire shine. not the foam, but the stuff in the violet-ish colored spray bottle... it lasts for a long time.

Local forum ftw. I went to Daniel's shop downtown and scored a fourth hub centric ring. Now I'm set. Whether I need them or not, Kanatii over there said it best...

I just don't see paying anywhere from $1-3k on wheels and tires for a car and then not spending 20 bucks on hub rings.

Its like taking a fine b*tch out to a nice dinner and dropping a few bills to get her loosened up, but then getting to bed and saying condoms cost too much...

[high ninja edit=very late edit] My paint booth is holding up well through the rain so I'll have at least 3 out of 4 done today. I'm about to start masking off the 4th as soon as I go put another coat of paint on the 3rd. The paint isn't really as dark as the pics show. The paint is just so black and glossy and the tires are so clean, and the pics of the rim before paint was so light black that it was gray instead, and the flash on my camera is harsh and unforgiving, etc. Paint fumes are really getting to me, though. Couldn't find the mask.

LOL i kept my centric rings from my 17s when i sold my wheels.... he was puting them on a cobalt anyways so they probably wouldnt have fit ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/DSC01432a.jpg

They're painted. The only one that didn't turn out so well was the one with some curb rash, but it's acceptable. Got rims, got rings. Next step is to work on the center caps. I don't know if Honda makes one that will fit these rims. If not, I can use the Flik ones and simply have one of my cute artist friends paint the Honda logo on them. I'm not that talented. Once the rims are 100%, the drums and calipers will be painted black too and I'll be ready to install.

My god, looks like crud.


























J/K, came out really nice, and good call on the drums, i didnt even think about thouse.
As i look at the hole where the center cap will go, the more i thinka OEM cap will fit.

at least you said black for the drums and calipers ;)

pics on car please!
looks good

Stu, ask and you shall receive...
The weather is somewhat nice today so I test fit a rim. Results:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01527a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01528a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01529a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01530a.jpg

And a little stance...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01532a.jpg

The stock lug nuts fit mostly, but I sacrificed some paint because the lug wrench was too big. Looks like I have to get some "tuner" lugs...

[ninja edit] I had hoped the bigger rims would look... bigger... but now I guess suspension is next. It looks like poop on wheels with the 3" gap.

Well, looks like you're going to have to get a lowered suspension set up!! :)

If you get snow ever (6+ inches at a time) I suggest regular or full coilovers.
If no snow, lowering springs ftw!

And don't forget shocks too.

lookin' sharp!

Well, looks like you're going to have to get a lowered suspension set up!! :)

If you get snow ever (6+ inches at a time) I suggest regular or full coilovers.
If no snow, lowering springs ftw!

And don't forget shocks too.

It doesn't snow much here anymore. We just get rain and ice with the occasional tornado. I'll probably just put some coilovers on it. Dunno if I wanna do shocks yet.

It doesn't snow much here anymore. We just get rain and ice with the occasional tornado. I'll probably just put some coilovers on it. Dunno if I wanna do shocks yet.

Well, if you drop anything more than 1 inch (okay maybe 1.5 inches) you'll need new shocks as you old ones WILL blow. I suggest just getting it done at all once. It hurts the wallet initially, but it's well worth it.

I probably won't be adjusting the suspension, so would lowering springs suffice?

definitely
and lowering springs make your wallet more :) without having to cheap out

you can get a brand new set of H&R Sport Springs, for example, on ebay for ~$190 shipped.

well even if you dont adjust the suspension much adjustable is still nicer IMO.....
very few springs will make different fender gaps....
with adjustable you can adjust each wheel gap!!!!!!! if its not enough drop it down... rubs alittle bit lift it up. feel like slamming it low for a show just do it. ;) only thing is after adjsuting the ride height youd need a alignment.... but IMO i love the adjust ability!!!!!

say a spring might sag over time on one side... well with adjustable coilovers you simply adjust the spring perch to compensate. ;)

The reason I wanted adjustable is because the back is weighed down by speaker boxes. I wanted to adjust the front way down and then leave the back mostly alone. With a fill tank of gas, 3 boxes, and 4 10s, the back sits about right anyways.

with my H&R springs, the back sits like this
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i303/trustdestruction/project%20thread/DSC00554.jpg


Keep in mind that looks can be deceiving. My del Sol is actually not lighter than your 4 door EK. If it is, it's not by much, at all.
The reason for this is that the middle-rear is kinda heavy because of all the bracing on the C pillar (there isn't a B pillar, it skips straight to C).
I have 2 10" subs in a pretty heavy MDF MA Audio box, amp, capacitor, strut bar, and then I still have the spare tire and jack in there too. That's all the added weight in my trunk.

I used to have an EG 4-door with the same H&R's on it. I bent the lip in the rear wheelwells up so it wasn't sticking out into the wheelwell, and I never had rubbing problems at all. I only tucked fenders slightly with a full car (5 people). Without 5 people, there was a 1-2" wheel gap. This was also with rear strut bar, amp, and the same subs.

I did the Acura RSX washer nozzle conversion. Didn't take 5 minutes to do. Much better.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01534a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01535a.jpg

lookin' good!
i see that you didn't F those nozzles up like I did. Kudos

They need some slight adjustment, but I'm scared to lol.

Next update:

Got the CORRECT Si/Type R style grille in today. Also ordered some rattle can touch up paint from the site we discussed on the forum recently. I'll probably have enough paint to do the grille, fog bezels, and MAYBE mirrors. We'll see how well I can do. I'll post pics and tell you how well the stuff from that site went.

Now, I'm going outside to see if I can figure out wtf is wrong with my fog lights being all blinky and stuff.

[edit] Cleaned off the chassis ground and the fogs seem to be working right.

Major update:

I ordered the first major part of the Si conversion: the rear disc brake swap. It includes everything but the brake booster and master cylinder, which I may or may not get. I'll have the complete rear trailing arms, rotors, calipers, pads, upper a arms, 40/40 prop valve, and ebrake cables soon.

And a 6th gen civic badge in a couple of days :D

Sweet! That plays right into my evil plans for the next few weeks...

Project is going good. Where did you order the rear disc conversion parts from and what are you using as a guide? I am also interested in this conversion.

I got them off of a guy on the Honda-Tech marketplace. They're from a 2000 Si. There is a lot of info on HT about this conversion. Here are a few I've read.

http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1513752
http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1799917
http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=641639

The day has finally come...
I've removed the last remnants of my ricer days. The blue interior ambient glow is finally gone.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/img024.jpg
Look at that mess! All those ricer installed wires.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/img025.jpg
2 wires to each glow strip thingy, 2 strips to each power plug. There were 16 of those strips, 8 rigged plugs worth.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/img026.jpg
Down in the floor with the trash where it belongs.

All of my wiring except for the audio system is back to stock! I'm so proud of myself...

dang lots of wires.LOL thats why i run one power wire around the car for the lights and just tap off it for other lights. if ya ever go for any interior lighting again i highly suggest some ledflex strips! or for under seat lighting some cold cathodes.... only downfall about the cold cathodes is the large transformer box and short wires on the bulbs. other than that the price rules for them!

main thing to keep it from looking rice is hide all the bulbs... only have the output light visable.

dang lots of wires.LOL thats why i run one power wire around the car for the lights and just tap off it for other lights. if ya ever go for any interior lighting again i highly suggest some ledflex strips! or for under seat lighting some cold cathodes.... only downfall about the cold cathodes is the large transformer box and short wires on the bulbs. other than that the price rules for them!

main thing to keep it from looking rice is hide all the bulbs... only have the output light visable.

Thats what I did pretty much. Tapped the cig lighter, ran all 8 plugs in parallel from that set of wires, then had to run all those damn wires all under the carpet and under panels and into the air vents. You could never see the source, but the glow was there. I don't think I'll ever do ground effects or cold cathodes.

Post removed because false hope of finding Si rims is depressing.

YES. Worth it.

DITO... .trade fast...... i love the SI wheels myself! they have the perfect fitment since they are OEM and since they are 15s you still have plenty of sidewall tire for a comfortable ride if lowered.
thats what i really want for my 96dx!!!!! but ive lost the hardcore desire to mod the civic so its not getting much work at all since my truck is getting about all of my money lately!

^x3 Si wheels rock! The only wheels that I'm digging right now over the Si wheels are the HX wheels. So, yeah, trade quick before the dude sells them or changes his mind!

Darn. Nevermind. He apparently got 5 responses through his Craigslist ad before I said anything. Si rims ARE a high demand item after all.

yep.... even the curbed ones ive seen on ebay always sell for to much at least IMO for all the curbing ive seen on several sets.
i figure when i do get the cash for SI wheels ill just buy them all new.

This should not even be a question, Jump on the deal.

My 93 hatch came with SI rims. Very clean too.

I'm having problems with my research component of this build. This is where I'll need some internet ninjas to help me with some info. I'm trying to compile a list of all the differences between a Civic Si and my LX but the internets aren't cooperating. 6th gen info is buried under 7th and 8th gen info. I'm relatively sure that the only differences between my LX and an EX are the engine and lack of sunroof. So far, this is what I've got:

LX-Si:
sunroof/moon roof (not feasable for this project)
Rear disc brakes/4040 prop valve ORDERED
B16a2 engine/ECU/Tranny/axles
Si rims (still hunting)
door tweeters
interior color (my LX=brown. Si = black?)
steering wheel cover (oem black leather cover)
suspension tweaks (tower bar/strut bar/etc)
fog lights = standard DONE
front and rear lip standard?
sexy Si spoiler
Si grille (waiting for paint)

Anything to add to the list? I keep seeing "Si CD players" for sale, but they look just like the oem one I already have. That, and "Si climate control" which looks the same too.

I'm having problems with my research component of this build. This is where I'll need some internet ninjas to help me with some info. I'm trying to compile a list of all the differences between a Civic Si and my LX but the internets aren't cooperating. 6th gen info is buried under 7th and 8th gen info. I'm relatively sure that the only differences between my LX and an EX are the engine and lack of sunroof. So far, this is what I've got:

LX-Si:
sunroof/moon roof (not feasable for this project)
Rear disc brakes/4040 prop valve ORDERED
B16a2 engine/ECU/Tranny/axles
Si rims (still hunting)
door tweeters
interior color (my LX=brown. Si = black?)
steering wheel cover (oem black leather cover)
suspension tweaks (tower bar/strut bar/etc)
fog lights = standard DONE
front and rear lip standard?
sexy Si spoiler
Si grille (waiting for paint)

Anything to add to the list? I keep seeing "Si CD players" for sale, but they look just like the oem one I already have. That, and "Si climate control" which looks the same too.

Just a thought. Might be cheaper and faster to sell the LX and buy an Si.

dito... urs is a 4door so the spoiler probably wont fit right due to the trunk lids being different.

and the climate controls are simply a amber color bulb i believe.
and the full interior color swap.... well the dash is easy to find but ALL the other panels.... well good luck unless you plan on painting your parts but i must warn you painting interior parts is a hit or COMPLETE MISS.....

like he said i would just sell the 4door and look for a SI it will be alot easier and cheaper most likely.
not trying to be a d***. but your talking about ALOT OF WORK!!!!!! and a long time of just searching for parts!

Just a thought. Might be cheaper and faster to sell the LX and buy an Si.

Where's the fun in that? Besides, 6th gen Si's didn't come in 4 doors.

Sorry, I didn't want to spoil your fun. Just wanted to make sure that you had considered another option.

I'd LOVE to pick up an Si, but the 6th gen Civic Si just doesn't exist in Little Rock. There are only 4 that I've seen. (It's a small city.) There are no 6th gens in the junk yards, period. Much less any Si's. The only ones close by that I've seen for sale were in Memphis, and were overpriced.

What else do you do when you can't easily buy what you want? You make it. heh, I'm not calling this the Bastard Si project for nothing... it's more like a poor man's Si. It may take some work and a few bucks, but I'll get something built up.

Well, there is the black shock brace.
And the rear lip was a very rare ad on, iv only seen one OEM one., then again thats only for a 2 door not a 4.
Color matched door handles, mirrors, and skirts.
Cluster
Floor mats
Thats all i know.

Oh that prop valve, if your civic is a stick already then you just use your old one, all 96-00 civic prop valves are the same. Hell i did a ITR 5 lug on my civic and kept my old prop valve, and these are bigger breaks.

Got some painting done today.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01553a.jpg
Grille masked and ready for prep.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01563a.jpg
Skip a bunch of steps and a couple hours and it's done.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01568a.jpg
Did the fog bezels while I was at it. I kept a chunk of the front bumper cover from when I put the fogs on and sanded half of it to compare for color match. Looks like it's a perfect match.

UNFORTUNATELY, ITS RAINING AND I CAN'T REALLY PUT THEM ON THE CAR NOW....

Also, I didn't get to the mirrors due to the rain. I will have to order another can to do the lips and the handles.

Looking good, is that a OEM grill ?

Nope, not OEM. Looks alright though.

Thanks to Superfly for making this happen. What do you think of the emblem's new home?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01572a.jpg

Now, a preface... I'd say the color match is 95%ish, but the flash from my camera makes it look REALLY off. It might be due to the differences in paint layers. The rebuilt front end had 2 base, 2 clear. I used 2-3 base, 1 clear. This might make the flash react differently off the painted bits. In person, they don't look off at all unless you really look closely.

But still, night pics ftl.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01576a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01573a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01574a.jpg

I can't wait to wash the car, wax everything, and take some day pics. Also, need to do the mirrors. Those are next...

[edit] Also, it'll look better if I can ever find someone who will sell me that front hood seal... because that gap looks like ass.

looks good on the car

if you dont NEED a front plate, why have one? lol. i would pay to not have to rock a front plate on my car. but grill and fogs look sick! not guna paint the lip?

if you dont NEED a front plate, why have one? lol. i would pay to not have to rock a front plate on my car. but grill and fogs look sick! not guna paint the lip?

Eh, I just like to represent. Since I don't have a front emblem, I have the emblem on a plate. That's just me.

The lip WILL be painted. Both front and rear will, I promise. I was waiting to see how the paint from that automotivetouchup.com whatever site turned out. The paint is as close as it could be without them sampling the actual car to match, so I think it'll be fine. When I make the second paint order, I'll paint the lips and the door handles.

Which brings me to the update for today: More paint. I pulled the mirrors off the car bright and early today and prepped them for paint. Turns out that one is OEM and the other is aftermarket OEM style. Guess which one it was?

That passenger side has been abused to hell, I tell you. Whoever owned this car before me needs to surrender their license...

I was heavy handed with the rattle can, so I need wet sand one before I can finish it, but the other looks GREAT. I'll get some pics up later today.

Special thanks to xsteinbachx for my paint booth. I'm using the box he sent my rear lip in as a makeshift paint booth. Works great, keeps the dust off.

(I'm really post whoring the heck out of my update thread lately. Dang.)

haha, if i had an update thread, there'd be updates hourly, this being the reason why i didnt make one. lol.

Paint update:

Base coat:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01590a.jpg

Clear coat:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01588a.jpg

See? The paint match really is close. The flash just made it look bad.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01595a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01591a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01594a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01596a.jpg

Ugh, can't wait until the rear disc brakes are here and the suspension is done so the rims will look good on the car... The hubcaps have to go!

wow that paint matched really good! cant tell in the pics! lookin good!

you should buy my koni and ground controls. ;)
i wanna drop my truck BAD!!!!!!

paint looks good, im not feeling the Civic badge though.

Got the car out on the road after a brief wash. Did a mini photoshoot. http://www.hondacivicforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=632256

I really like the civic emblem in the grill! Nice!!

Not a big fan of the color, but the car is really coming along though. Diggin the emblem on the grill.

So here's how the past couple of days have gone:

Yesterday, woke up at 7:30am. Did stuff all day, like paint car parts, wash the car, photograph the car, more paint on the car, evil scheme, etc. Then, oh dang. 10pm rolls around and it's time to go to work (because I work midnights). No rest for the wicked, eh? So I work from 11pm-7am as security at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law. Lame-o. Guard an empty building, could have run around naked if I felt like it. Good thing I didn't because my sergeant paid a special visit... (another story.)

ANYWAYS, so I'm tired and sleep deprived and all I want to do is pass out anywhere I won't get robbed or worse. No dice. Going on 25 hours of no sleep, I get a call from Greyhound Shipping saying they have a package for me.

Now, I know what you're thinking. What the heck did I order now? (or, wtf Greyhound ships packages?) Well, here is your answer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01623a.jpg

Rear disc brake swap for the Civic. But the seller forgot the 40/40 prop valve! ARGH. Gotta get him to send me some cash back or send the dang valve.

I'm tired. I'm going to bed.

Damn man your car is comming along very nicely.

I really want to do this conversion on my car as well but i would ahve to have a shop do it as i have no tools and such and im also broke so i dont think ill be doing it anytime soon..

BTW what did that run yah??

Rear Disc FTW!!

Damn man your car is comming along very nicely.

I really want to do this conversion on my car as well but i would ahve to have a shop do it as i have no tools and such and im also broke so i dont think ill be doing it anytime soon..

BTW what did that run yah??

For the complete trailing arms, a arms, ebrake cables, calipers, rotors, etc, plus a 40/40 proportioning valve, shipped (50lbs+ worth of stuff) from Portland, OR to Little Rock, AR was $305. BUT, the seller didn't ship the 40/40 prop valve, so I got screwed like $30. He's making me mad because he never answers PMs on HT, but I have his AIM SN.

For the complete trailing arms, a arms, ebrake cables, calipers, rotors, etc, plus a 40/40 proportioning valve, shipped (50lbs+ worth of stuff) from Portland, OR to Little Rock, AR was $305. BUT, the seller didn't ship the 40/40 prop valve, so I got screwed like $30. He's making me mad because he never answers PMs on HT, but I have his AIM SN.



for the sake of a clean looking installation and a guarantee that they'll work good, you should replace the rotors (only cost $25 a piece at auto zone/advance auto parts. you should also replace the pads. Wearever Silver pads will work fine, and they're $20 at the most for the full rear set.

Also, you should remove the dust shields behind the rotors (you'll see how to do this once the rotors are off), and paint the entire trailing arms flat black.


Also, to keep the hubs of the rotors looking good, you can paint the entire rotor (edges and all). Try to get as little paint as possible on the braking surface, but it really won't matter because it'll get burnt right off. That's what I did (painted the entire rotors black and then drove them and the paint on the surface burnt off). Now I have clean rotor surfaces with black rotor hubs and rotor edges that don't rust.

for the sake of a clean looking installation and a guarantee that they'll work good, you should replace the rotors (only cost $25 a piece at auto zone/advance auto parts. you should also replace the pads. Wearever Silver pads will work fine, and they're $20 at the most for the full rear set.

Also, you should remove the dust shields behind the rotors (you'll see how to do this once the rotors are off), and paint the entire trailing arms flat black.

I'll get there. Still don't know which pads or rotors to buy because the seller won't tell me what car these came off of. Dunno if it matters.

I've been cleaning the drivers side trailing arm. Once you get through all the dirt, the stock black paint looks fine. If they both clean up this well, I may leave them like they are.

edited my post for more info, check it out

Well, just got to a parts store with the pads that came with the parts. Just ask to see the pads from a 96-00 Civic with rear disc and if those aren't the same, check 92-95 4dr with ABS (they had rear disc), or check 94-01 integra with rear disc. If nothing try 91-93 integra.

Do you see any numbers on the trailing arms themselves?

Do you see any numbers on the trailing arms themselves?

Once I wiped some road dirt off, I found "9H03A" stamped in white on the middle of the inside of the drivers side trailing arm. Still looking for more markings. That number appears on both trailing arms in the same place.

[edit] On the calipers, I see "7CLP13S".

Look for numbers on the calipers.

Edited other post. It appears the calipers are for 99-00 Si, CRX Si or 90-01 Integra. So, the brakes came from one of those.

[edit] Reading > me.

Back brakes use solid rotors, front brakes use ventilated rotors. That's why they look different to me. They ARE different. Woo! I'm learning!

Well, if all 3 of those use the same calipers, the rotors and pads for all 3 of those cars should be the same.



well maybe not, i'm not sure.

also, you should remove the dust shields behind the rotors (you'll see how to do this once the rotors are off), and paint the entire trailing arms flat black.


As in, completely remove them? But they appear to be serving a good purpose. As nasty as these are, they are protecting parts.

As in, completely remove them? But they appear to be serving a good purpose. As nasty as these are, they are protecting parts.

As far as I know, they don't do much. They're there to route airflow to the rotor, but they actually restrict airflow.

All they really do for you is look ugly, which is the reason many people remove them.

Great news. Seller got back to me and let me know the donor car was a 2000 Civic Si, which means I've got a perfect match for my 2000 LX wannabe Si. Everything, even brake lines, will bolt right up and be perfect. Also, he shipped two rear disc brake setups out at once, my Si and another one's GSR. Looks like the GSR guy got a free 40/40 prop valve. He's looking into options.

These things cleaned up alright. I took them to the car wash, sprayed them with engine cleaner/degreaser, waited a few minutes, then paid my $1.25 to blast the sh!t out of them. The top one (driver's side) is the one I've been working on more so far. I cleaned it by hand after the spray down. Once I get them completely back down to the stock paint, I don't think I'll even have to repaint them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01624a.jpg

I used to have that same exact tool kit.


That one trailing arm looks way better.

o just paint em ;) will be alot easier to paint them off the car, caliper and rotor and all....

Man....i got behind on this build lol! That Civic Badge looks pretty sweet in the grille, and the paint matches really well :D Definitely a better use for that emblem than sitting around my house.

And i agree, just paint the stuff while its off the car ;)

Ok, so I lied when I said the car was completely de-riced. I tend to forget those awful hub caps. Well, I was digging in the garage today and found the old stockers. I immediately grabbed the tire iron and went to work.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01628a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01629a.jpg

I have NOW unpimped ze auto. The 4 ricey hub caps and the 1 spare hub cap are now sitting out by the street with the rest of the plastic recycling stuff. I'll keep the stockers on until the rear disc brake conversion is done and I find some suspension parts I can afford. Then the rims go on until i find some Si rims.

Remember kids: "Anything is better than stock" = EPIC FAIL

why not try and sell the old hubcaps?

why not try and sell the old hubcaps?

The capitalist in me wanted to, but the EXACT same ones are $14 new at WalMart. These were 3 years old, slightly curbed, really dirty, and sh!t, I didn't want to go to the trouble of cleaning them to sell. Plus, I will not encourage ricing out another car with those. They went from my 92 EX to my 2000 DX to my 2000 LX. The cycle must be broken.

well when you pull those stockers off send them to me ;) i need some for my civic. but i also need 4tires for the 14inch steelies i have.

Ok, so I lied when I said the car was completely de-riced. I tend to forget those awful hub caps. Well, I was digging in the garage today and found the old stockers. I immediately grabbed the tire iron and went to work.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01628a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01629a.jpg

I have NOW unpimped ze auto. The 4 ricey hub caps and the 1 spare hub cap are now sitting out by the street with the rest of the plastic recycling stuff. I'll keep the stockers on until the rear disc brake conversion is done and I find some suspension parts I can afford. Then the rims go on until i find some Si rims.

Remember kids: "Anything is better than stock" = EPIC FAIL


lol, takeing stuff from my old sig now huh? lol. but yes, the stock caps look way better, but i still have a thing for the steelieessssss. :)

lol, takeing stuff from my old sig now huh? lol. but yes, the stock caps look way better, but i still have a thing for the steelieessssss. :)

I knew it was someone on this forum that had that sigged. It's TRUTH!

Steelies + stock ride height + surface rust and faded paint on the steelies = get laughed at as you drive by around here.

In strange news... someone snagged the hub caps off the side of the road. Wtf? they left the metal rings that hold them in place!

probly wanted to go make flavaa flav necklaces. lol.

Wtf? they left the metal rings that hold them in place!

Everyone knows ricers are stupid. DUH

Photoshoot 2: The Sequel, also known as Photoshoot 2: BRADLEY PUT HIS DAMN RIMS ON.
http://www.hondacivicforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=633448 (http://www.hondacivicforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=633448)

[edit] So... I knew having 17x7 rims would be different, but I didn't realize I would feel the impact like THIS. It takes longer to stop. I can feel that it takes more pressure from the calipers to stop and I can hear the grinding more loudly. There's much more road noise now (but there's a lot more surface area on the tires...) I like that the car grips the road more now.

Anyways, to build progress. I found a guy with Si rims. Bought them. They need some TLC, so it'll be a side project to get them back into shape. Also picked up a spare set of OEM headlights. I will be painting some eyelids on these with what's left of my color matched paint. Hopefully, I'll be able to actually ADJUST these headlights. That'll mean I have some OEMs to trade off. Which means I can trade this local guy for some projector headlights as a side project.

Recently, I've learned that car modification is truly a virus. Once you catch it, its a slippery slope. You do one thing then another, then another just for looks, then you put something back to stock, then it has to be custom, and it keeps going and going and going. I may never be done with this car now, but that means it'll be much more fun and I can appreciate that I did so much of the work myself. I've dropped around $800 just this month in parts! ARGH! I could have bought some hookers or something for that, but at least I'll have something to show other than herpes or teh AIDS.

o ya the heavier wheels are some what noticable... BUT when you take a hard corner it feels good because your stock tires tend to roll and flex alot more and feels pretty loose at least IMO it does...

tho its a bit harder to do a burn out... and almost imposible with a automatic D.LOL i never smoked my tires/rims before until i put them on my 96 5speed.. and still didnt smoke em to good.

eventually ill get some si wheels. i like my old 17s alot but already sold them and now id prefere some 15s for a more comfortable ride.

you did a good job on painting the wheels, It will look good with a drop! Did you do the rear disc brake conv yet?

Not yet. I need to find some local forum guys with a nice driveway or a shop.

Oh man. Such an incredible difference when your headlights are PROPERLY aligned instead of having one aim up and one aim down.

I picked up a set of spare headlights and put those on the Civic because they'll actually adjust. Now I have a bartering piece. I was planning to paint eyelids on the headlights and keep the backup just in case of epic failure, but instead I think I'll trade this local guy for some projectors. They're not halo projectors, just black housing projectors. They may end up on the car, they may get modified, they may end up traded. Who knows?

Woo parts!

My parts corner is getting more and more full. I had to stack everything creatively, then it all fell over, so part of it is in boxes and the rest is sitting right there.. what? whats that? Do you guys Si what I Si?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01669a.jpg

Looks like some new rims to play with.

I put two of them on the trailing arms to knock some of the the rust off the old rotors while they spin. I think one of the rotors is warped because it doesn't drag all the way around. Also, one of the rims is somewhat warped. Is there any way to fix that? It wobbles as it spins, and it's noticeable. I'm wondering if it's something I can smack around with a hammer or heat up and slap a bit. That's about the only problem. The rest is cosmetic.

Do you guys Si what I Si?



Youre gay. Lol. I like this project and I like how its coming along. Good work keep it up!

Can't fix a bent rim. Sorry.

Get a refund.

Can't fix a bent rim. Sorry.

Get a refund.

I think instead, I'll just buy a new one. 3 of them are still fine, so I can use the bent one as a toy. I'll probably beat the crap out of it and see if it can be forced straight enough to be used as a full sized spare. I just found out it's only $155 to get a replacement Si rim shipped to my door. Money isn't an issue on parts. I just usually don't wanna spend it. (That's why I still don't have a front hood seal.)

Sorry to hear that one of those is bent :( Btw whatever profession you have let me get that job lol. Money isn't an issue. God I wish that was a problem I had.

I don't make much a year, but I manage it very well. My life is simple. No girlfriend, just the car. Women are expensive, yo.

I got the rims to the shop today and had them checked. 3 out of 4 are perfect, it turns out. The 1 is a little rough, but the shop owner said he'd rock it on the right rear of his own car. I think I'll still buy a replacement and use it as a full size spare.

While I was there, I had Daniel rebalance the 17s. That ironed out the wobble at 60+mph. There was some feathering on two of the tires so I'll forever have noise on those two. They're on the back now.

I also found that both of my trailing arm bushings are SHOT. Trashed, cracked, dang. Guess it's nice that i happen to have a couple of spare trailing arms sitting around... someday I'll put them on. It was nice to have the car up on a lift so I could examine the underside of the car. DEFINITELY in 4 accidents. The frame has obvious repair damage on the driver's rear.

One of the guys on my local forum offered to sell me his project CRX with an incomplete b18 swap for $350.I WANT IT SO BAD but I have nowhere to store a project CRX... OH MAN. Right now I can afford to buy it AND finish it AND have it running in a couple of weeks. But I had to tell him no for now while I look for an apartment or house.

ill buy it for $400. lol. gimmie this guys number.

Ok, so I went a little off course from the Si conversion. I didn't want this to be a Civic SiR, but I have spare headlights and matte black paint. It was only a matter of time before the two decided to go spawn some bastard love child. I knew this was a possibility, so I put the matte black paint in a box. Unfortunately it escaped.




I first realized something was amiss when I found this...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01670a.jpg

Something wasn't quite right. Then I found THIS.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01676a.jpg

SIN!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01679a.jpg

We'll see if they rock or suck. If they suck, I have more paint! You know, it was ridiculously easy to get them apart. I kept reading all the DIYs about how to put them in the oven if you have an oven that is big enough and all that, but all I did was use a hair dryer. I put it on the low blower setting and the high heat setting, stuck it in the hole for the headlight bulb (after removing the rubber seal), and let all the exhaust heat come out of the turn signal bulb hole. After about 5 minutes the lens was hot to the touch so I started prying and pulling and viola! pieces of headlights. The seal goo came right apart. While I was at it, I polished the inside of the headlight lens with Meguiar's PlastX to get rid of the oxidation and they're pretty much mint now. I'll post more later when it's back together and done.

hum... guess i had some screwie headlights. mine where a pita to pull apart!

looks good so far.
i also tinted my yellow reflector when i had mine apart.

Well, here's how they turned out. They look like every other CTR and black housing headlight I've ever seen. Man, resealing them was a pain! Pics of them on the car a bit later.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01681a.jpg

That looks pretty sweet! how did you reseal them?

I resealed them with adhesive caulk. It's about the same consistency. And now... on the car:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01683a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01682a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01684a.jpg

I'm still lukewarm on them. They match the rims and the window tint pretty well, blend in with the upper and lower grilles alright... But I won't always have those rims. And the lips are gonna be painted this summer. Its not too late to throw and eyelid on each one, but I think I'll hold off for a bit. Wait until more paint is ordered.

Not going to lie to you, i am not feeling them. But on the bright side, the headlights match your rims.

well they will always match your tint ;) but id still like to see them with painted eyelids.

im actually going to be buying some black headlights tomorrow morning for 50bucks.... i dont like how mine baked apart turned out! ill be painting some eye lids on them when i paint the car also....

if your not sure about the eye lids looks lasting then get some vinyl and put that on the headlights and paint the vinyl to match just to check out the looks... if you dont like it just peel off the vinyl and its like its never been there! or if you like it either keep it till it flakes off or just paint them.

I think they look great.

Only thing I would say to do is make the foglight covers (or shrouds, idk) the same color, to give the lights on the front end some more consistency (in appearance)

But I... just... painted the fog light bezels...

Okay. Fine.
For Sale: 1 set of 99-00 DIY CTR headlights...

LMFAO just pop them apart again and paint them with chrome paint ;)

Not sure if this would look good BUT...........try painting them a charcoal gray or any other dark shade of gray. Could look like crap or you might really like it, not sure lol.

I've never seen it done and i think it could go really well with the gold

I have to reseal the drivers side one, but they're really starting to grow on me as they are. I think I'll let them stay like this for now and move on to painting lips and side skirts.

In other news, my damn fog lights stopped working again. The relay is engaging fine. I dunno why the lights wont work right. Last time, it was the ground. I cleaned the ground and they worked again. This time, dunno. Could be anything.

Just a suggestion :) I like them! I think i'd like them more in real life

are the fogs OEM or no? i never had any problems with my oem ones i had. eventually ill buy some oem ones for my current civic to. i just like the bettery plug and play.

Mine are ebay ones... They suck just a little.

You can buy a vinyl insert online for $15 plus shipping, or you can google image search Civic Logo, find the logo in a decent size, work with it in photoshop, make it black and white, resize it just right, print it, and put it into the 3rd brake light. You have to pull the rear deck, pull the light assembly off, take the red lens out, cut the logo to fit, and put it all back together.

(Told you I worked on a budget.)

the paper lettering is a crafty idea, looks cool. I like the tail lights too, big improvement from stock. sucks about the clear coat gash though. i bet if you used some high grit wet sand paper and ordered some color matched paint/clearcoat, you could do it yourself for much less. I just painted my spoiler, and got color matched paint from http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray_paint.asp

The match was perfect, and cheapest i could find online. shipping is slow though. mine was yr525m-4, there is another yr525m with diff number at end, not sure what yours is.

Looks pretty sweet so far, good luck, I know how it is on a college budget.

^^^^^^^ loooks liek someone needs a sig change.... lol. more than one gold civic on HCF now itinerant.

Haha, done. Glad we have another titanium metallic civic in the mix.

the paper lettering is a crafty idea, looks cool. I like the tail lights too, big improvement from stock. sucks about the clear coat gash though. i bet if you used some high grit wet sand paper and ordered some color matched paint/clearcoat, you could do it yourself for much less. I just painted my spoiler, and got color matched paint from http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray_paint.asp

The match was perfect, and cheapest i could find online. shipping is slow though. mine was yr525m-4, there is another yr525m with diff number at end, not sure what yours is.

Looks pretty sweet so far, good luck, I know how it is on a college budget.

heh, my progress thread has been going on for awhile. The clear coat got fixed awhile back. That site is great. I did a lot of my color matching with paint from them. My paint is just YR-525M, no number after. You could paint all of your black trim with one or two cans. I'll be doing the same soon.

God, I need to start looking at these projects more often lol... the car looks amazing with the 17's, Brad... and the headlights turned out great :D

Paint questions here.

http://www.hondacivicforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=636964

Alright. I've ordered another $100 in paint supplies. 3 cans of YR-525M, 2 cans of clear, and 1 can of adhesion promoter. If I need more, Autozone is just down the street. I still have about 1/8th of a can of YR-525M and a half a can of clear from the other painting adventure. This should give me enough to complete the exterior paint!

change your sig! I wanna see those lights on the car :D

ninja edit: well, on your car in the sig....

Well guys, the car now sends out a puff of blue smoke every time I start the car. (Well, after it sits for 8 hours or so.) So... damn. An engine might have just been bumped higher on the list than I thought.

B16A its a dohc(Dual overhead cam) would be really nice for your car man.
Went through all your pages nice ride.

I am getting a 93 civic sometime and I plan on doing something like this. But putting a tiptronic transmission in it =].

nice car keep up the work.

B16A its a dohc(Dual overhead cam) would be really nice for your car man.
Went through all your pages nice ride.


b16's suck and are a waste of money as a swap. For the same price, you could have a built B18B1 (LS) swap with more torque and horsepower.

/story

Fog lights are back up! There were 2 problems.

1: the wire coming off the plug on the fuse box had come off the plug.
2: the fuse on the power wire from the fuse box had melted. Looks like it might have even boiled from heat. The fuse itself was still good. Well, good in the sense that it hadn't blown. But it was deformed and trash. I'll monitor the new one to see what happens.

b16's suck and are a waste of money as a swap. For the same price, you could have a built B18B1 (LS) swap with more torque and horsepower.

/story

I heard people that roll b18s have handling problems.

I heard people that roll b18s have handling problems.

Not really...

I heard people that roll b18s have handling problems.

They have problems if they don't upgrade the suspension to handle the bigger, heavier engine. Some people have budget issues and don't do all the necessary upgrades.

I like how you painted your fog lights to match the car, where did you get the paint from again?

I just got a set and was contemplating painting them black but maybe a color match red will look nice.

I like how you painted your fog lights to match the car, where did you get the paint from again?

I just got a set and was contemplating painting them black but maybe a color match red will look nice.

http://www.automotivetouchup.com/

Sweet, i need to get one can of paint and one "promoter" is that right?

Honestly, on mine I just very lightly sanded with fine sand paper. Worked fine.

They have problems if they don't upgrade the suspension to handle the bigger, heavier engine. Some people have budget issues and don't do all the necessary upgrades.

Nahh I heard even with suspension upgrades that it still has ****ty handling. I read about it in a cb7 forum.

I personally wouldn't want an h22 in my civic top end isn't really a priority to me.

Have you read it anywhere else? Because of course if one person says it on the internet, it must be true! What kind of suspension upgrades did they have? maybe a link would be helpful.....

Have you read it anywhere else? Because of course if one person says it on the internet, it must be true! What kind of suspension upgrades did they have? maybe a link would be helpful.....

http://hondaswap.com/hybrid-eg-ek-dc/h22-swap-into-97-civic-dx-hatch-10051/


"the H22 sucks ass.... the handling is not terrible for normal driving but when pushing the car to its limits through corners the H22 will make the civic handle like a mid 90's ford taurus"

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:OsL1kF5e0wsJ:www.jdmcivic.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-2962.html+h22a+in+civic+handling+sucks&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

"The reason we went with a B series motor instaed of a H series was be cause of the weight. A H series puts additional weight in the front of the car which would have thrown off the handling characteristices of the car making it too nose heavy. Plus the H series motor would have required a little fabrication in order to get all the amenities to work like power sterring and AC. We have a Civic HB and Coupe in our group that already have H22's in them and we just did not like the way they handled. A B series motor is a litle more manageable in terms of a striaght forward swap."

http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-34727.html

spoondc2
H22A is heavier and you'll get crap handling
My fd's fd in US done it before and he regret it so much

thats cool. i was thinking maybe a k20a as well.. but i guess i was sort of on a tight bdget thats why i'm choosing between h22a and b18c but i guess from what i've heard it's not a good idea putting a h22a into a civic b coz the handling wll be shockingly shocking lol

Want me to post more about the handling?

Maybe just get a B18C and spend some money to work on the engine

You're missing something... something big. The credibility of these sources is trivial. Anyone, even you, can get on the internet and spew as much BS as you want.


The first source the guy has like 15,000 posts so he probably knows quite a bit, but post count doesn't necessarily mean that. He probably knows what he's talking about since he's been there as long as he has but it's possible he might not. He also never states how he knows what he's talking about. Misinformation is spread around the internet a lot. Such as the rumor that a B16 is a great engine, or the rumor that the D-series are incapable of decent power.

The second source is an exaggeration. It has been proven than an H22 weighs barely more than a B16. The weight difference can easily be offset by using carbon fiber hood.

The third source is completely from a thread where we do not know any details about the poster and it could be someone who has no idea what they are talking about.


As for me, I personally know a guy who had an H22 swapped EG coupe. He mentioned that it was a little heavier but said that the loss of handling was very minimal. If that isn't a credible source then I don't know what is.


But check this out... for sake of argument, I am going to do what you did but in reverse... but notice that these are people who actually own and drive an H22 swapped Civic.


http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=362984

"I like my swap alot, around where I live not too many people have b series swap not to mention h series swaps. I drive my h22 hatch everyday to/from work 40miles total and the only dislike I have are the following.
1. vibration, not as bad as my b16 ef though so I'm kinda use to it.
2. constant CEL for the dam EGR.
3. loss of traction, I could be in 1st or 2nd and just floor it and it breaks lose.
4. I find my self speeding constantly. 0-100 1st..2nd...3rd....4th......(speed govenor)in about xx seconds.
5. while getting my dose of spirited driving my MPG take a ****.
6. at every meet I go to I find myself repeating everything about 30 times.

Now for what I do like.
1. its dam fast.
2. did I mention it's fast?
3. all the torque I could ever need.
4. I love the shifting alot better than the rod assembly, havent missed a shift yet.
5. handeling is not bad at all.
6. The look on peoples faces when I pop the hood.
7. quiter than my b16.
8. oh BTW it fast."


"S2kcord, GO AWAY. You are the ruiner of a perfectly good thread. I have posted before on H22, specifically in an EK, all I have got is bashed. Mostly on the handling issues, but it doesnt seem ot be an issue. This thread is sex for an inmate good. Keep postin. THANK YOU ALL"


"Suspension wise my car handles great. I really wish some of you people lived closer so you could see for yourself. I great misonception that people dont realize also is that most 5th gen hatches bushing are usually very worn by the time you decide to swap in an engine. Havine worn or cracked bushing even with upgrades suspension will give you a bad responding ride.. Also check them when doing a swap to make sure that they are good. I know mine were real bad when I did my rear disc conversion.. Good thing for those new GSR ones in the rear.

Anymore questions..
And yes I have the Type S-spec h22a with factory LSD"


"I own a eg with a h22 and after doing the swap I can honestly say that I will never go back to b-series, for a stock motor its incredable. Torque wize, and power wize its an incredible motor when swaped into a civic. About the umors with weight its only 80 pounds hevier than b-series, like you guys said "your not throwing sandbags into your car", I would'nt say my cars the handle master cauze I have wooptie-wop coil-overs and kyb shocks and everything else is stock. My freind also has a eg with h-series, and he has better coil-overs wiht koni yellows and his eg handles good.Axles are the only real problem but when you get into real power your not exactly gonna put your life on those stock axles, you also cant expect to get traction in the rain. I havent timed it yet but I recently ran a ek with crv-tec with a built top end, we were both on street tires (except his were azines) and I took by atleast a car."


"- Chassis flex! I've road raced my car a couple of times on the road course (do a search for a link for the first time I took it out back in May, and what others thought about it after they test drove it around the track a few times). Needless to say, with the proper suspension setup, it kicks ass on the road course. But there is a lot of chassis flex in a Civic hatchback. If you plan to get out onto the road course a lot, get a cage and stiffen up the car. Even on some on/offramps, when banking on turns, you can feel my stripped hatchback's chassis flexing a little bit. Not the best thing since that would sometimes allow the rear end to swing out (but rear sway and some Azenis tires quickly helped that out)."


"4. Extra weight up front.

Yeah I know it's "only 80lbs" but when you are really pushing your car hard it will make a difference. I currently run Koni OTS Yellows (stock, not revalved) and with my current springrates on them I am pushing the max springrate that they can handle even with a B motor in my car. If I had an H22A this suspension set-up would not work for me. I would have to pay to have the Konis revalved to handle much stiffer springs, or buy some expensive full coil-overs with custom rates front and rear and that **** gets costly in a hurry. I'm confident that you can make an H22A Civic handle pretty good, but the car with less weight up front will always have an advantage - period."






http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=684550

"H = 123lb short block
B = 104lb short block
D = 100lb short block + oil pan

So with totaly fair comparisons... the H is 19lb heavier in the short block.

NOW lets move on... the big word that I always hear is that its the H TRANS IS SOOOO HEAVY!!! Lets take a little peak here...

H trans = 96lb
B trans = 90lb

OK.. thats 6 lb... so we have a 25lb weight increase so far with the H22.

I will post here within a day or two as I weigh the assembled cylinder heads, as the H head is definatly heavier... but I would guess 10 lb heavier.

As for the rest of the crap... who cares. Intake manifolds are light for any motor and come in different flavors, same with headers and all that BS. Accessories are up to the owner of the car. Everything else hardly applies... flywheels are up to the user, axles, clutch, aluminum or steel oilpans, etc etc all this **** is up to the owner of the car so that crap doesnt need to be part of the comparison.

So what it comes down to is unless that H head is REALLY that much heavier... we are talking about

35 LB INCREASE!! Thats about how much weight off my ass I need to loose so I would be a hypocrite to be hard on the H."






http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=626892


"I think thats bull****. With the proper suspension set up I think you wouldnt even notice it(I dont). I have heard from people that track H-powered civics, and all they say is how good it ran around the track. B-series+turbo = H22 weight."

Uh, guys... Can we keep the arguments out of my project thread? There's a section called General Civic Talk for that. I have no plans to swap an H22 or B18C into my car anymore. They're too expensive.

Uh, guys... Can we keep the arguments out of my project thread? There's a section called General Civic Talk for that. I have no plans to swap an H22 or B18C into my car anymore. They're too expensive.

LOL! sorry :o Do you really need a new engine? Ad what are you thinking of getting?

The engine started giving me blue smoke at 109K. It's still too young, but it seems really worn. A can of Restore stopped the smoke for now, but I dunno. The engine probably needs a rebuild.

I wanted to convert this to a 4 door Si. That meant OEM spec stuff. I intended to do a B16a2 swap, but everyone keeps steering me away from it. I'm probably leaning towards an LS/VTEC swap. But I have to find an engine somewhere in Central Arkansas first. That's the hard part.

Since I'm moving to an apartment soon, the rear disc brakes probably wont get installed for awhile. I'll be losing $600 a month of money to play with. I haven't forgotten about suspension, brakes, and tires for the Si rims. I just have to be patient and manage my money a lot better. That means no more Starbucks, beer, wine, xbox games, fast food, car extras, etc damn it.

dam sorry to hear.... i remember those rent checks.... they took away all of my moding money!

Sorry for no updates. I just moved out of my parents house into an apartment with my best friend. They don't allow automotive work on the premises. (Can't even change a tire. Sheesh. No washing the car either.)

I've got paint sitting in my closet just waiting to be put on the car. Unfortunately I have nowhere to paint now. Plus, it has rained every day for the past week and a half and rain is predicted for the next 3 days at least. So my hands are tied. I wish I knew someone in the Central Arkansas area with a paint booth.

So, until I can get time, place, and good weather to paint... the project is stalled on the paint front.

Also since I don't have a place to install my rear disc brakes, I was gonna have a shop do it. The guy there said it would be around $300 max for the install. Lots of labor involved in the swap, then theres the whole brake bleeding process, then all the little adjustments that have to be done, then I'll need an alignment. Gets expensive.

Tires are still in the works for those Si rims. It's just gonna take some time now that I've got $300 in rent, $110 for phone, $120 for insurance, plus groceries, gas, electricity, internet, and cable to pay.

****, being all independent is expensive.

Whew. Sorry I've been dead to the forum for like the past month or so. Moving has been crazy, I'm still trying to unpack. My laptop was dead and I had to send it to a bigger geek than me to fix it. Work has been crazy because I work at a university police department and we had graduation preparations to work out. And to top it off, it has been raining every night and sometimes during the day for the past 3 and a half weeks. Literally, not joking.

Every. Friggin. Day.

This isn't Seattle. This is Little Rock. The weather is not supposed to be like this. But there is good news! We have clear skies and moderate temperatures for today, tomorrow, and Tuesday. I'm off Mon-Tues, which means I am going to try my hardest to get the lips, side skirts, and handles painted TOMORROW.

From beginning to end, can you please list all your steps (in detail) about your painting processes. i would like to paint some things but i want to do it right

From beginning to end, can you please list all your steps (in detail) about your painting processes. i would like to paint some things but i want to do it right

Step 1: Choose a color that matches the area you are painting. For example, if the area is grey, you wouldn't want to use baby blue paint.

From beginning to end, can you please list all your steps (in detail) about your painting processes. i would like to paint some things but i want to do it right

It's not hard. The steps I listed from the other thread will suffice for about any application.

Okay, got some paint done today. I am very happy with how the front turned out. I'm alright with how the back turned out. I am appalled and angry at how BAD the side skirts turned out. They look like complete poop. I may not even put them back on until I can sand back to plastic and start over. My GOD, they're awful. If I wasn't so emotionally dead, I'd cry. Really. The adhesion promoter wouldn't go on evenly. It gave me some bad orange peel. Then when I sanded it down smooth and sprayed base over it, the pattern turned into something like snake skin. Came right through the paint. And now, even after HOURS of sanding, the clear coat simply will NOT go on smooth. Polyurethane takes paint nicely. ABS plastic tries to spit it back at you.

Argh, I'm so frustrated. I just have to walk away for a bit.

Pics of the good will follow at some point tonight.

I was so mad at those side skirts that they're still sitting on my parent's back deck. I went home without them and will deal with them tomorrow. I plan on getting up early (as long as I'm not hung over) and sanding them down to plastic, then starting over. Then I'll do handles on the car. Fcuk trying to take them off to paint them. I'll just tape the hell out of the doors so there's no overspray. I might also paint a few other bits while I'm at it.

Anyways, to the pics from today.

Front all prepped and masked, with adhesion promoter...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01698a.jpg

A few layers in...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01702a.jpg

Sitting in the only sunny place left so the paint can dry...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01707a.jpg

Back all prepped, with adhesion promoter...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01706a.jpg

First layer on...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01709a.jpg

Done-ish...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01722a.jpg

Putting it back together...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01717a.jpg

Front is done...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01725a.jpg

Back is reinstalled...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01726a.jpg

Teaser picture of what it might look like once I finish...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01731a.jpg

And now, more bad. It seems that a previous owner bottomed this car out on a few speed bumps. There's some body damage under the side skirts. The side skirts themselves are also a little damaged, but as they say, "it'll buff out."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01719.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01720.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01721.jpg

So there you have it. I'm glad to be moving forward again. I'll work more tomorrow and will hopefully finish. More pics to come, more progress to come.

Si rims will look better on this car with this new paint. Just have to order tires. I'm gonna have my local shop install the rear disc brakes, bleed the system, and realign everything. They'll also end up doing the tires. It'll be a day project but it's coming soon.

looks good, i suck at painting.

What are you suspension plans? I still want to see what your car looks like slammed since you spent all that work painting the wheels. Looking really good tho keep it up.

What are you suspension plans? I still want to see what your car looks like slammed since you spent all that work painting the wheels. Looking really good tho keep it up.

Those plans are still in the works. i need to lose some weight in the back of the car. The sub boxes are too heavy. I also need to take a GOOD look at the rest of the car to make sure any further modification is worth it. I'm sick of finding more and more hidden damage.

well that damage can easily be from a shop lifting the civic up... either on a lift or with some jacks or jack stands. i wouldnt worry about it IMO. thats very common damage on a unibody!

This wasn't lifting damage. I wish I had gotten a pic of how the exhaust pipe is bent in the same place as the other two major dents, straight across. Minor bend, but you can see a slight crescent straight across from one side to the other. heh.

Im about to head over to my parents house via autozone for more sandpaper. This time I'm bringing some spot glazing putty with me to do some scratch repair. Might as well fix something while I'm at it.

Very nice job.....when you took a pic of the side of your civic, those door handles just scream paint me.

What a day. Whew.

Started right back up where I stopped yesterday: Side skirts! Sanding was a DAMNED PAIN. Back to plastic, glazing and spot putty, fixed all the scratches, repainted.

BOOM. That's what I'm taking about.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01735a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01748a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01749a.jpg

While I was painting... side project...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01736a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01750a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01751a.jpg

While the side skirts were drying, I masked off the handles and went to work...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01738a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01744a.jpg

Base coat...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01746a.jpg

Base + clear...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01745a.jpg

Then I peeled all the tape off to see how it ended up. The flash and the light makes the new paint look too light. When you look at it all in person, it's like a 98% match. I dunno why the flash makes it look so off.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01741a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01742a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01747a.jpg

At this point, it was time to wash the car off. That's when tragedy struck... Here's what happened.

I went to the car wash to spray the doors down. When I got to the back bumper, there were these odd green spots. I figured some bird had some drippy sh!t so I aimed and blasted it away.

It wasn't bird stuff. It was paint from another car. Some asshat nudged my bumper. Well, I sprayed the green paint away. Unfortunately I also blasted a ton of my clear coat off. Damn it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01755a.jpg

Yeah, there you have it. A somewhat accurate representation of the female reproductive system on the back bumper of my car. Luckily I had clear coat in a rattle can so I resprayed it. Unfortunately you can still see the outline. I'm not gonna worry about any more paint until I get ready to have the whole thing resprayed in Electron Blue Pearl. That'll be over a year from now.

And now, for the mini-impromptu-bad-lighting-end-of-the-day photoshoot. Not really a photoshoot. Just some pics at the old standby location that show where the car is now... the transitional state. Just think of how the Si rims will look on it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01758a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01759a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01761a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01764a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01765a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Trim%20painting/DSC01766a.jpg

Whew. Last updates on the project for a bit.

[edit]
Oh, and I do have blockoff caps for that bumper. its just that the holes have been made so huge that the plugs wont fit. So I have to fill the holes and redrill. Or, maybe use Addiction's Trick: the Hot Glue Gun.

Looking clean
I know you must of heard this a 100 times......but it really need a drop.

That looks great. I actually like this color now.

I know I need to drop it, but I'm holding off for several reasons.

1. I want to do it right and that means not cheaping out. I can't afford to do it right at the moment.

2. Arkansas is VERY hilly. The cities of Little Rock, North Little Rock, Conway, and Jacksonville are all full of hills, twists, turns, etc. Those are the cities I frequent here in central Arkansas. The roads are bad too. Pot holes everywhere. There are so many driveways that go up hill, so many that go down hill. I've dragged my front lip several times at stock height. I'm almost afraid to drop because I could rip parts off the car.

do a .5" drop with H&R OE Sport Springs.. you won't even need aftermarket shocks (I would still get them though... maybe some KYB GR-2's or Tokico Blues.)

And you gotta take dips at angles.

well for the front bumper plugs i would take them to the front of the bumper and with the bumper off the car use some plastic epoxy and pour it thru the holes in the back and let dry. ;) i wouldnt use hot glue since a high pressure car wash COULD rip them off and send them flying! regular epoxy would also work but id think the plastic epoxy might stick better.

I know I said there would be no more updates for awhile, but it looks like I may be getting my rear disc brakes on the car Tuesday...

Maybe...

I know I need to drop it, but I'm holding off for several reasons.

1. I want to do it right and that means not cheaping out. I can't afford to do it right at the moment.

2. Arkansas is VERY hilly. The cities of Little Rock, North Little Rock, Conway, and Jacksonville are all full of hills, twists, turns, etc. Those are the cities I frequent here in central Arkansas. The roads are bad too. Pot holes everywhere. There are so many driveways that go up hill, so many that go down hill. I've dragged my front lip several times at stock height. I'm almost afraid to drop because I could rip parts off the car.



AIRBAGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol.

wow, looks good. How many cans of paint did you buy for the whole job? I'm thinking of doing the same to my car.

wow, looks good. How many cans of paint did you buy for the whole job? I'm thinking of doing the same to my car.

For the side skirts, lips, and handles: 3 rattle cans base, 2 rattle cans clear, 1 rattle can adhesion promoter.

For the mirrors, fog bezels, and grille: 2 rattle cans base, 1 rattle can clear.

Today is rear disc brake day. I'm supposed to be up at the shop around 8:30am to meet up with Daniel and the guys for the install. They say it could take around 4 hours or more, depending on whether or not I need to have my rotors turned and if my pads need to be changed out, and depending on how long it friggin takes to bleed the brakes then realign everything. I sure hope we don't run into any snags.

Go Mgic!

HCF's Well Fed Hobo








lol super jealous haha

lol super jealous haha

Uh chief, you got those backwards.

Anyways, to the progress. Got the brakes installed today. It went without a hitch. The install even took much less time than they expected. Turns out that the rotors didn't need to be turned and the pads were fine. Everything just needed to be worked a little. Once they were on the car and spinning, the terrible noise stopped. Guess they were just rusty as hell.

New prop valve, yeah it looks the same:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01776a.jpg

Goodbye drums!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01781a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01777a.jpg

The guys double teaming the brakes starting with the ebrake cables and A arms:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01784a.jpg

Driver's side gone:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01786a.jpg

Passenger side on the way out:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01787a.jpg

Bye bye drums! The guys at the shop are sending a team to that 24 hours of Lemons race. From what I understand, these are better than what they've got on their car (4th gen Civic sedan, D16a6 5 speed, ...really stinky car. Not a lot of paint.) and they don't leak so they'll be swapped in. At least in part.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01791a.jpg

This is how bad the bushings were. Well, the other one was worse.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01792a.jpg

Halfway bolted up:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01789a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01790a.jpg

All bolted in:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01796a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01795a.jpg

From here, we refilled the system with Wearever Synthetic DOT3 brake fluid and bled the system. Next step was an alignment.

Ready to head off to the alignment shop:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01797a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01798a.jpg

Daniel took it down the street to his buddy's shop where they do all the alignment work and exhaust work. Got an alignment and MY STEERING WHEEL IS STRAIGHT NOW. lol. Got it back and drove it around. Works fine. My brakes are both weaker and stronger. They feel more solid now but you have to press the pedal closer to the floor to get power. It's strange and will take a bit to get used to. They will work fine as is, but at some point I'll want to upgrade to the larger master cylinder.

Awesome!!! I wish I had a lift when I did mine. Keep it up!

Nice work, did you spring some beer's for your friends after the swap was done?

Uh chief, you got those backwards.

no. you guys have them backwards :D

no. you guys have them backwards :D

Uh, no...
itinerant = HCF's well fed hobo
trustdestruction = go magic!

And SPLAT, instead of giving him beer, I gave him the old trailing arms with almost new brake shoes.

Nice work! I can't wait until mine are installed. Now you can drive around town and show them off!

I am disappointed with this last batch of paint. The cans all say don't wax or thoroughly wash for a month, supposedly so the paint can properly cure. Well... as the days have gone by the paint has "cured" lighter and lighter. Day 1, the color match was 95%. Now, it's closer to 85%. The lips have a distinct bronze tone to them in direct sun. You can especially tell the difference at night where there's not much light to work with.

I dunno what's up with this paint. The base coat looked SPOT ON when there was no clear coat on it. I don't know if I should have just slathered clear coat on it 6 or 7 times or what. It's driving me nuts. I'm hating my paint more and more every day.

When do you plan on having the car professionally painted?

well the paint COULD be from the previous accidents... you said your cars had a few wrecks that you can see flaws, well when the painted it then the paint they used could have been slightly off as well. so it might not be different than stock. but if its only a slight shade most people would never notice it... hell my trucks front grill people at work didnt realize that it didnt match and its been a few months since i rattle canned it the color i thought was close. i know to me it looks way off and bad but most people dont notice it until you point it out. i wouldnt worry about it to much..... but if it really buggs you then remove your fog light bezel and cut a piece thats behind them off thats painted and take to a paint shop that can computer match some paint for you and just buy a quart of real paint and clear and redo them...
i plan on just buying silver paint for my civics front end now and im just going to cut a chunk outta the old hood for them to match ;)

I hope to get the car repainted professionally a year or so from now when I can afford it. And, all of the paint on the body matched. It's all the stuff I have recently painted that no longer matches.

Cross post from the HCF sticker thread!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01802.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/itinerant/Honda/DSC01801.jpg

Those take away from the clean look, but I'll sacrifice clean to represent my peoples. And I suck at straight lines, but those are BUBBLE FREE.

Where did you get that sticker.

...
http://www.hondacivicforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75816

Wow, I'm spending a lot of money lately.

Okay, here's the thing. I wanted leather seats. Well, my buddy at my local shop just picked up a totalled 97 Integra 4dr. He didn't really need it, but it was an Acura so he figured "hey parts" and got it. it's kinda rough. The frame is straight as the word "so".

SO, it has leather seats. They're dark grey, not black, but they can be reconditioned and it's rumored that I can use dye to make them black. For $175, I get all 4 seats and the side bolster things for the rear seat. I can't pass that up. Should have them in hand Saturday, maybe Monday.

The other thing that really gets me is that the engine in this Teg was swapped. It has a B18 auto with just over 20K on it. He only wants $800 for the whole complete swap, valve cover to oil pan including axles, ecu, wiring harness, everything. Once more, I am stuck with NO PLACE to store an engine. I have to pass it up. It HURTS to pass it up because I could buy it 3 times right now but still have nowhere to store it.

Anyone know of any other cool goodies that would port over from an Integra to a Civic?

ARGH AND IT HAS 4 ALMOST MINT LS MESH WHEELS! -_-

sounds like you need to go rent a dam storage area ;)

4 door teg rear seats don't fit 4 door civics i don't think. I think you need 2 door rear seats.

^been trying to research that like crazy. Argh, it's tough to find real information on the internet. Everything is hearsay. On H-T, I read that they fit. Then they don't fit. Then they fit. Then only the sides and bottom fit, you need the back from a coupe. Then you have to remove the leather and recover your old seats. Then you have to just swap the Teg seats in and modify the rear deck support. Then you have to swap out hardware from the Civic rear into the Teg rear.

Jesus Christ, there is no DIY on the subject.

rent a storage space? It could double as a place for you to work on ur car...hehe