I finished the brake conversion. 9.5" on top, 10.3" with dual piston Legend calipers on bottom. I used the stock DX knuckle, and had a few mm shaved off the caliper bracket. Stock blank rotors and some ceramic pads... it stops alright, but I need to do rear disk brakes and maybe a brake booster and master cylinder upgrade.




Soooo... clearance of an H2B in a 4th gen Civic is really tight. REALLY tight. Here's my spacers installed...






It's a little bit ridiculous, I know. It'll do for now.

Oh yeah, and uhh... Screw Bisi. :P
I installed my PLM header and it is ****! However... my alternator wasn't going to clear the header... I had to ditch the ESP bracket and order the Innovative bracket, which mounts the alternator right where the AC would go.

Even using the Innovative bracket, I had to clearance the frame a tiny bit, and swap a D series pulley onto the H series alt. Yeah, it fits apparently.









Here we have H, B, and D respectively. Mounting is slightly different between all of them. All the pulleys interchange, but they're all OBD1, so OBD0 might be different.




Like I said, it's a really tight fit... If I didn't do the balance shaft delete, it wouldn't fit without massive changes to the frame.




So now she's all together, running, but my 2.5" header will in no way hook up to my 2.25" exhaust... properly. I bolted them together and lived with the exhaust leak for a while. I figured it was time to take her out for a drive...

First impressions: What the hell did I do. There's like... zero traction WOT in first and second. YAY.

A few minutes of driving and it shut down. My battery died. Alternator wasn't charging. Burnt myself on the header when I checked the alternator belt's tension. I had to boost it, drive it home, and troubleshoot... Had 2 wires flipped at the alternator. She's good to go.






It's been a long couple years with this car... I'll have owned this car for 3 years coming in July. It's been through a lot ha ha.




I haven't posted in a long time. I've been busy with school and having fun with this beast... I've put a few thousand KM on it, and I've loved every minute of it.


I'll update again, I still have moar piktures!


OH and here's a decent bay shot... I have a more updated one but I'll save it for another day.

 

Is that alternator plug right against the runner? ... Bro that's gonna melt on day 1, you've gotta relocate or shield that plug somehow.

 

^ Yes.

But dat header tho. That thing looks awesome!

 

The first pic is with the ESP bracket, where the wires are directly contacting the header. The second pic is with the innovative bracket. It has a few inches of clearance now.

I was super lucky to get that header. The Honda scene is really small around here. I'm possibly the only one in the province with an H2b. This PLM header is specific for this swap, but a local guy bought it from PLM thinking it'll work for his h22 swap. I got it for a good price.

 

Alright, so it was finally time to get rid of that old stock exhaust that has been plaguing my car for 3 years... I mean, it sounds alright, but who wants to sport 2" exhaust forever?



As they say, out with the old, and in with the new... and shiny...

I ended up buying a Thermal R&D exhaust. It was way more expensive with shipping than I wanted it to be... Oh well, that's life I guess. I picked the 3" "Turbo" exhaust, which has a 4" tip. That should suffice, providing me with all the mad gains yo.

Here's my rant about UPS and their major suck-age.

UPS does this thing, where they charge "brokerage" fees for getting the package over the boarder. It's a scam, is what I found out. They wanted something like 4x what the taxes actually cost... I had to refuse the first delivery, then self-clear the package myself, by bringing an invoice to the Boarder Inspection Point (which was right by the airport, not at the Canada-USA boarder). Even after I had paid my taxes on it, UPS transferred the package to Purolator, which was STILL asking me to pay brokerage fees... I called UPS and complained... They told me to pick it up from the warehouse. I went to the warehouse, and the lady there told me I still had to pay brokerage, even after showing her the receipt for paying the taxes.

I bickered with her for a bit, before finally saying "I will call UPS right now and you can explain to them why you aren't giving me my package." So I did. She even argued with UPS that fees still had to be paid...

God f*cking damnit, I hate postal workers! In the end, she surrendered, and I received my package. NO BROKERAGE FEES. WOO.

Here is some pics.



Piping is Shi-tzu sized.




I measured it out, and it is a true 3" exhaust! Woop. This should go well with my 2.5" collector on my header... I never took a picture of the actual piping when it wasn't installed.




I couldn't find a 2.5" flange for the header locally, so I made one for temporary usage while I wait for my flange to arrive...



What I actually needed.




Here's my epic MIG welding skills. I don't weld much, can you tell?







So, at this point, I drove the the car for a few weeks with a leaky exhaust... it sounded horribly loud until I welded a new flange in place, and replaced the gasket... At least it is more quiet than an open header.

 

Hey guys, long time no see.

I wanted to give you guys an update on this. I haven't been on here in FOREVER! Having a build thread was a great idea. I read through it again, and I've sure come a long ways with this car.

Sadly, I still own this car. :P

I say sadly, because I'm starting to get tired of it, and really want to buy an MR2 and K swap it.

I did "finish" this project, and now I'm trying to keep up with the maintenance.

My sunroof leaked, so I replaced the whole roof skin, and had a body shop paint it. I had my spoiler and hatch painted as well, to fix the small dent I had in the hatch. Here's some pics:



I removed the windshield using a wire slicer thingy. This took forever. Started drilling out spotwelds on the roof. Originally I was going to install the Si roof, but I would have to replace the piece that ties the A pillars together.



Roof fully removed. Gave up on drilling out spot welds. It is much more effective to use a chisel and a hammer.









Donor roof was more rusty than I'd like... but I made it work. It was a slow process chiseling and drilling spot welds, and cutting the layers of metal back so I'm left with just the roof skin.



I almost gave up quite honestly... but once I set the roof in place, I knew I could finish it.



This was after welding it in place. Filling all the spot weld holes with weld... It has held up so far, fingers crossed. I'm not a professional. I used a few jacks and 2x4's to hold the braces to the roof while I attached them with some poly.

Off to the body shop... I drove it down the highway with no windshield, no hood, and no hatch installed. I wore my motorcycle helmet. It was a fun experience. I had a lot of really funny looks from people!



First day back from the shop. New wheels BTW. Konig Retrack, and I've wrapped them in falken azenies. 205 50 r15 I believe. I had them install a new windshield. Mine has been cracked since I first bought the car.









Neck and neck with the Skyline, but wrecked the V6 Mustang.



Overall, the roof experience wasn't fun, but it was definitely a good experience.

The H2B runs GREAT. I love driving this thing. All of my LCA bushings are shot now, and my axles need replacing, and I have an exhaust leak, but that's simple stuff to fix!



I love this car. I bought a del sol too, and am undecided if I should build it up. It is the VTEC model at least, and has basically zero rust. Needs a rear filler/garnish piece, some dent repair, front and rear bumper need repair, and a new driver's seat. otherwise it is in pretty good shape.



Remeber everyone. We all come from humble beginnings. Stick with your project, and it won't stop making you happy. I love this car. I've built a solid relationship with it over the last few years. I can't get rid of it.

 

Seems like most of the OGs are gone these days. I'm in the same boat, got tired of the car but I still have it.

Glad to see that the project was finished though.

 

I'm still around. Sign on almost everyday. I don't own a Honda/Acura anymore though. Sold the integra almost two years ago (I think?).

That roof stuff is crazy. props to you for actually doing that. Not sure if I would have been able to do the same. The EF is looking good. Hey, at least you finished it and didn't give up!

I was like you, wanted something a bit more fun. Bought a Miata back in August, now I'm eyeing up a Mazdaspeed Miata. Sliding around turns can be addictive. I ended up going with the Miata over the MR2 only because they were cheaper, more available in my area, and the fact that the MR2 has almost no space for anything besides 2 humans made my decision to go for the Miata. I've fit $70 worth of groceries in the trunk at one point! However, the handful of MR2 spyders I drove felt like rockets through corners. Almost too nimble weaving through traffic haha

The car in the sig (as of 2.16.17) is not what it looks like now. Hardtop is on, car is lowered, and a few other little things.

 

I was so damn close to giving up on this car so many times... I'm pricing out new suspension components. New bushings all around, new front UCA, rear LCA, disk brake swap (have most of the parts for it)...

I like the Miatas. They're actually a little harder to find around here. New ones are nice. The older ones can accept a K24 if you miss VTEC and whatever ha ha. They're nice looking cars! A guy around here had an SR20 swapped one that he drifted. Even the MR2 Spyders are neat, because again, they can accept a K24.

Hardtop conversions look great. Reminds me of a little S2000!... or a RWD Del Sol

 

I haven't driven this thing in about a year. I've been busy with renos and stuff.

I have a short list of things to do/fix.

1) Replace my bent steering knuckle.

- The knuckle has been probably since I bought the car. I only noticed it with the new adjustable UCA.

2) Replace every LCA bushing, UCA bushing, and ball joint.

- This is done now. New OEM LCA bushings all around, new adjustable UCAs from HardRace with new bushings too.

3) Delete my useless catch can and fix my PCV valve.

- Did this. Installed an Evolution PCV relocation thingy. Ripped out catch can. Yay.

4) Fix my leaky oil pan, relocate the drain to the front for proper drainage.

- New pan, welded an o2 bung to the front, new gasket. Good to go.

5) Replace my alternator relocation bracket.

- After many years, my innovative bracket finally started to bend. Alt always squeals. I'm waiting for QSD to have some in stock so I can buy one from them.

6) Completely re-do my battery box/wiring/cut-off switch

I did start this at least. I've had issues with my car turning over since relocating the battery and stuff... I thought it was the PC680. This year, it sounded like the starter had a bad connection. I've been waiting for PWJDM to finally produce more battery boxes so I can move the battery up front. Here we are, over a year later, and they still don't have any battery boxes! F*** that company, and their run-around "It'll be ready next month" crap.



I made my own. $17 box from Portable Power, $2 hunk of steel, some bolts and nuts, DONE. I suck at welding, but IDGAF, this was cheap as heck. I even got it powdercoated.







I ripped out the 0 gauge wiring, and the cut off switch. I ran 4 gauge to the back for the amp. 4 gauge to the starter. 4 gauge for the ground, 4 gauge from starter to fuse box. 4 gauge from alt to starter. It should be fiiiiine.

When I pulled my old starter wire off, the lug wasn't fully crimped on... there's part of my starting issue.

I'm probably going to move this whole thread over to an Imgur gallery. Forums seem to be slowly and sadly dying. Facebook and Reddit are killing it.