So I'm now keeping the car and swapping engines (as well as a manual transmission conversion). I decided to show my mom the progress I've made on the rust/shaved side mouldings, and she said it'll look good when it's done and I should keep it. Then she suggested I just swap the transmission to a 5-speed. I honestly almost s**t myself when she said it (seeing as how she flipped out when I first suggested an engine swap, calling it a "waste of money").

-New (to me) oem bumpers - In my garage, 3/1/08
-Shaved side mouldings - Decided against, 3/2/08
-Rust repair - Finished, 3/4/08
-New paint (gloss black)
-Paint wheels (metallic blue)
-Re-install lowering springs - Lowered, 3/17/08 - Aligned, 3/19/08
-Replace wheel stud
-New Brakes (Summit Racing cross-drilled/slotted rotors all around)
-System (I have two 12" Treo subs and a 1 Farad Fosgate capacitor sitting in my room... I'm going to be getting a Pioneer amp soon)
-B18C swap/5-speed conversion (with LSD)
-LED Dash light conversion (green)
-Cold Cathode climate control conversion (blue)
-OEM front lip - On the car, 3/4/08
-Mugen style front lip repair





Progress

The body kit
-(2/6/08) Sanded paint from front bumper, trimmed foam on passenger-side skirt.
-(2/7/08) Re-installed headlights and short-ram intake. Also, I hacked off that bottom piece between the exhaust outlets on the rear bumper. That was fun
-(2/20/08) Finished foam filling the front bumper. I started the fiberglass work for the front bumper.
-(2/22/08) Finished fiberglassing the rear of the front bumper. Started sanding the side skirts
-(2/23/08) Re-fiberglassed the mounting flanges on the front bumper, finished one skirt, started sanding the other. Sanded down the rear bumper, finished forming the final shape out of foam.
-(2/24/08) Finished the other skirt, fiberglassed over the scoops on the front bumper.
-(2/25/08) Started smoothing out the front bumper
-(2/26/08) Finished smoothing out the front bumper, painted the front bumper. I started fiberglassing the rear bumper
-(2/27/08) Finished fiberglassing the rear bumper, smoothed it out, painted it.
-(3/1/08) Sold the body kit, put my new (to me) skirts on... it feels good to have side skirts again [8D]

Body Work/Rust Repair
-(2/9/08) Started shaving side mouldings and rust repair.
-(2/10/08) Continued sanding fiberglass for the side mouldings. Spray-painted over the bondo/fiberglass for this week until I can finish things next weekend
-(3/4/08) Finished up rust repair, primered fiberglassed areas, rattlecanned over the primer (I'm not rocking exposed primer on my car). Also, I shaved the front license plate holes.

 

than change your sig!!! lol

I'd love to have a sunroof in my hatch, but you know, you can get a sunroof in the Si hatchbacks. And power options too.

 

sig changed

and I want an EK if I get another civic (I like the body style), so I wouldn't be able to get an SI hatch... I'd love an EP3 though... but they're out of my price range and probably borderline impossible to find around here anyway... but anyway, to keep this on topic, after Christmas I'll be making an appointment to get my rear wheel bearings changed (they need it really bad... you can't turn the radio up loud enough to drown them out), and after that I'll start buying parts for the build.

 

you could always do what id like to do/trying to do.... find a decent hatchback and swap your power options over to it thats what i realy want to do but kinda hard to find a decent hatchback around for a decent price...

 

Update: edited in sound system mini-project. I don't want the best system around (because that s**t's expensive), but I just want something that sounds good.

And I installed the new Pioneer head unit today.

Pshh... who needs cd's?


It went from this (JVC):



To this:

(and Armor for Sleep pwns!)


Now I plan on ordering blue LED flexstrips (from oznium) for the guage cluster and green cathodes (also from oznium) for the climate control to match the head unit. I think the green/blue mix will look good since the buttons on the left of the head unit light up in an acid-green color (and the rest is blue). While I'm at it, I'll probably order some more cathodes/LEDs to put around the interior.

I think I'll probably end up taking out a small bank loan so I can buy everything for the transmission swap at once. Well, that and it'll help me establish credit

*edit: apparently I can't spell "pioneer" ... and I forgot to mention... the new head unit sounds a ton better than my old JVC unit. Unfortunately, it doesn't really match the interior of the car (which has no silver or brushed aluminum), but that can be fixed with a few miscellanious additions to the interior.

*another edit: night shot

you can see the green a lot better here... not to mention the pathetic stock climate control lighting

 

I just realized I've never posted a pic of the paint that's going on my car... it's a 1-step deep blue with metal-flake that I got (for free ) from a friend. The body work and paint job will be done next spring.


The shade of blue is a little hard to see in this picture... it's not as dark as it looks


You can see the actual shade of blue a little better on the paint lid

 

That paint color looks Sick....Nice [sm=hail.gif]

 

Okay, well after some consideration, I've decided not to do the transmission swap/turbo kit. There are three reasons for this:
1) I thought about the total costs: $1500 for the transmission swap (with a good clutch since I'd be turboing it) and $1500-$2000 for the complete turbo kit. That's $3000-$3500 all said and done.
2) I found out that it's very difficult if not impossible to swap the transmission without pulling the engine. I can only think of two good reasons to pull the engine, and if I'm pulling the engine, it's going to be one for of those reasons (internals or swap)
3) Why boost a SOHC D-series for $3k-$3500 when I can just swap to an H22 and get the same power levels (with less small parts I have to search for) for $2500-$3k?

If you've read in-depth on transmission swaps (or done one), you'll know there's about a bajillion little things you have to buy (various bolts, a new starter, etc.). If I do an H22 swap, most of those little misc. parts will come with the swap package; all I'll really have to buy is a shifter, shift boot, ****, pedal assembly, clutch fluid resevior, and the hydro lines (possibly two or three more things), but that list is quite a bit shorter than the transmission swap list.

Anyway, I've edited out the transmission swap (and the system... I listen to rock almost exclusively, so a system isn't really a priority to me), and I'm going to be starting to save up for the H22 soon (actually, I'll have $300-$400 when I get off my lazy **** and take my Christmas bonus paycheck to the bank and sell my td-04 turbo that's sitting in my room)

Also, I was sitting around the other day thinking about what I was going to do with my accessory switches. With interior and exterior lighting, I'll obviously need a place to put switches. Then it hit me... Why not just make a switch box? I decided where to put it, and I know I'll be making it out of polished aluminum (to match my new head unit). I made a rough prototype thing out of cardboard, and I think it'll work for me:



It'll hold three switches (interior lighting, exterior neons, angel eyes), and it should be fairly easy (and cheap) to make... I just have to find a place that carries sheets of 1/16" aluminum... I don't even need a big piece, about 12.5"x6.5" should do.


Also, I was thinking... recently, Mossy posted up a link for some cool looking guages (thread). I love those things... the digital part of it is cool, but what really caught my interest was the tinted numbers. I was thinking since I'm doing an LED light conversion (which will be brighter than stock anyway), would I be able to just use something like nightshades to tint my stock guages (like people do with their taillights)? I mean, obviously I'd have to drive with the guage lights on all the time to see the numbers, but would it work?

 

i think if the needle was lit up enough, yes

get a dummy one to play around with, to know for sure, before you ruin yours

 

I cant even find those guages!!! those are awesome!!

if you go to www.thehoffmangroup.comthey can do some guage work for you