Hailchristian's EF (picture Intensive)
 

I would really like to make this thread to document where I have gone with my car since I got it and also document the new stuff being added to it.

Admins, If you would like to move this thread please feel free to do so.


Here are the original images off the craigslist ad....Paint was fresh, nice rims. A solid looking car.

Had 163,000 miles on it. Stock 4 speed transmission pared up with a 62hp beast of an engine. Sohc D15b1. Dual Port Fuel Injection. Aside from the 16" Konig Cobra rims, the car was completely stock. We picked it up with a busted break booster. Ended up replacing the master cylinder, and calipers before we finally found out it was the booster. If you search hard, you could probably find the thread on it.

I picked her up for $1,800 dollars.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...62CkQPC324.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...htvrvKRi8y.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...B4gKxFY9bI.jpg

Here is an interior shot of my car. A nice brown color.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG2414.jpg

Some cool seat covers I picked up at autozone.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG2415.jpg

The car came with an enclosure for a 15" sub woofer, but the previous owner pulled it out before hand....so Here is my 100 dollar autozone set up that I installed.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...mage_00028.jpg



And then the Ricing Began.


http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG3914.jpg

Underglow, Projector halo headlights, altezzas. I think I may have bought every aftermarket part on ebay.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG4383.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG4371.jpg

Then I made this mistake.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG4417.jpg

Came out decent I guess...i regret it now.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG4418.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG4467.jpg

Had one of these bad boys for a while.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG4257.jpg

Glow shift tachometer.

Some of these

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...mage_00116.jpg

what a beautiful job I was doing with my car.


http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG4128.jpg

Then I made this cool contraption.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG3967.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/CIMG3965.jpg

So by this point my car was pretty riced out. I still had the 62hp under the hood...also had a KN cold air intake...not that it helped.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/CIMG5621.jpg

Rear disc break swap. Picked up everything for it at the junkyard for about 100 bucks.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/CIMG5745.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/CIMG5785.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/CIMG5794.jpg

This is when I started wanting more power and got more interested in building engine/swaps and all that jazz. I did my research and finally picked up a DOHC zc engine for 300 bucks.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ictures006.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ictures004.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ictures007.jpg


I found a 5 speed DX transmission at the local junkyard. Got some new parts for it.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/CIMG6138.jpg

did some valve cover work

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/CIMG0001.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/CIMG0002.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/CIMG6095.jpg

Here is the engine finally assembled. Learned a lot about how an engine works and all that.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/CIMG6260.jpg

Out with the old

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/CIMG6309.jpg

Cleaned some stuff up.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/CIMG6315.jpg


Painted my valve cover.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/IMG_0080.jpg

Lookin good

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/IMG_0150.jpg

So finally got the engine in and it wouldn't start. I have a thread about this somewhere as well. We finally gave in and took it to a mechanic. He diagnosed the problem as a wrong crank gear. I called the guy who sold me the engine asking if he had the correct one and he insisted that the one he gave me was correct. This is a JDM engine...so tracking down this part wasn't easy. Finally got one about 2 months later. They got my car to start but it smoked..... a lot

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/IMG_0176.jpg

So..figured it was the head gasket....

Nope

Had the head resurfaced..

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/IMG_0649.jpg

Nope

Had the block decked.

Which involved this monstrosity

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...d/IMG_0314.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...d/IMG_0330.jpg

Nope.

Finally figured it was the rings/cross hatching in the cylinders. So...my car sat for a while.

But while it sad I did manage do some stuff.

Fog lights

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...fog-lights.gif

New head unit.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/IMG_0060.jpg

New speakers

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/IMG_0037.jpg

New Seats

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...s/IMG_0031.jpg

Also got a full set of black interior (aside from one door panel).

Installed that. Picked up some SI seats. Also smoked my taillights.

So were looking something like this

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...y/IMG_0754.jpg

I used my graduation money and swapped in a SOHC zc that I picked up from Ni-Mo.com I think it was about 500 bucks shipped. Swapped it in. Never had a problem with it. Car basically had no modifications for a year. It was my first year of college

I did manage to sand down my tail lights..they still need to be finished..but you get the Idea, back to stock. Same thing with my head lights. Put the stock ones back in...started the De-ricing process again.

Picture of my car

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...Picture313.jpg

I couldn't afford new tires for my rims so I picked up a set of steelies at the junk yard. Also, stripped my bumper...im not sure why..

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5751300_n.jpg

So that was cool and dandy. Again..did nothing with my car until about Halloween 2009. Some drunk ass hole keyed my car and my roomates. Now by this time, my paint was oxidizing heavily being it sat for 6 months in fresno heat when the dohc zc didn't work out.

Besides the point, i was pissed. We knew who it was so we threatened to call the cops unless he paid us to have our cars fixed. Maaco quoted me 600 to remove the scratch but told me that they would paint my entire car for the price. So I got my 600 dollars and...

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/IMG_7187.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...IMG_7185-1.jpg

Notice the middle light is still smoked kinda..ha...thats fixed now.

add some pin striping
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/IMG_7246.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/sigpaint.jpg

Shortly after my paint job, my sohc zc blew. It spun a bearing. So....For Christmas I got a new engine. This time a DOHC ZC from Hmotorsonline.com

Installed it no problems.

Then this mess happened

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/IMG_8638.jpg


soooooo


RSR exhaust system.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/IMG_8630.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/IMG_8637.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7586081_n.jpg


reppin the HCF
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/IMG_8653.jpg

I got some LS meshes, they didn't last too long

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3080194_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1531804_n.jpg

I had an accadent where I hit a curb at about 20-25 MPH.

This resulted in a bent front cross member, bent steering rack. Snapped radius rod, bent LCA, and basically the entire front sub frame being damaged. I managed to get all the replacement parts for about 150 bucks from a friend.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/c01911a9.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/2da5d4eb.jpg
This left me 3 flat tires, and 1 cracked rim...so back to steelies.

I also messed up my driver side fender a little bit, still working on getting it fixed.

Car does run great as of now and this is currently where I am at with my car.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...IMG_8719-1.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/IMG_8718.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...3/IMG_8891.jpg


Future plans.

Firstly, I wanna work on getting my car looking good again. I am looking to pick up a JDM front end in a couple months from a buddy of mine. I also plan to polish my LS mesh rims (after finding a 4th one) and getting them back on the car.

I wanna get my seats and carpet redone along with the headliner.

New suspension is on the list as well, Hopefully I will be able to tackle that by christmas time.

Engine wise, I am looking to boost the ZC I am running now at somewhere between 8-10lbs. I need to get a new transmission being the DX transmission simply does not do the trick with an engine like this.

I plan on updating this thread regularly, and I will try to get some better pictures of my car soon.

i really liked the yellow before it was riced. i think we all went there, i know i did haha. hell, i still have some evidence on my car haha. but it looks pretty clean now! thumbs up!

i like the progress. :D cant wait for more

This cars been through a lot! Can't wait to see some more progress.

You really like your stereo systems, don't you?

I like the progress. If you don't mind, I'm going to move this to the project section; I think it deserves a place there.

NIce build. black looks better.. welcome to the black hatch side, LOL
did you get it lowered any? or is it stock springs?

Lol you dedicated your life to your 20 year old car, awesome, I love every piece of this thread, glad I know your progress now, I will stay tuned!

I love the black paint with the red pinstripe. you've done some good work with the car...post all the rice

Haha..yeah. It let me use all my electronics knowledge and spend all my money. I remember with my first setup I wired 6 RCA cables into dpdt switches and used it as a mixer between my 1996 Sony cd player and MP3 player. It was pretty bad ass...Current setup is the Dual head unit with Bluetooth, which is awesome. I usually just have it auto pair and then listen to pandora in the car.
Thank you sir

You know, im really not sure. Im pretty sure its on cut coils, but not positive.

Thanks!

nice thread
 

nice project, just ball park it, how much have you spent on that 20 year old hatch? and how long have you had it?

Damn 3 motors! I agree though black definitely looks better!

Subscribed! moar posts! =D

Glad to see you back with a project thread to document your build. I always liked the hatch.

I got it when I was 16..so October 2006....so almost 4 years.

How much have I spent on it....oh man....probably a couple thousand. I am usually pretty good about finding pretty good deals on parts..but it adds up.

Still A lot more money to put into it though.

Got a little carried away with the sticker machine this weekend.

ha..


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5454656_n.jpg

Thinking about ripping them all off..not sure yet.

Save the HCF one

thats too many

That's a $500 ticket here in Arkansas. I write those all the time. Handicapped spots are one of the things I enforce pretty hard.

yes....everytime I look at it I dislike it more and more......but at the same time..i like stickers.

Ill figure something out.

Damn this car has been on all ends of the civic spectrum but it has landed itself in a good spot, i like where its headed :) i love that you went all black with the paint and the red pin stripe is perfect. If i ever end up with a ef (sedan) one day i wanna paint it either silver or black w/ the red stripe i love that look. Even with your steelies it looks awesome. I love your hatch sir keep up the good work bud!

No such thing as too many stickers, haha, I love your car, even with the stickers. Pinstripe looks so good on it!!

Wow for a 20 year old hatch you did an excellent job so far and happy you went through and out of your Rice stage. With a beautiful set of wheels and some coilovers that will be one sexy ef, subscribed!

Time for some updates...YAY!


I have been driving a lot lately. Made a trip down to SD 2 weeks ago (about 800 miles round trip) and another trip to the bay area last weekend (600 miles round trip) and to my surprise got 37mpg both trips...booyah!

And today...Friday after a long week at work...our company secretary hits my car. Awesome.

Carnage here:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...7_529700_n.jpg

Only thing that looks messed up is the bumper...still, my paint job is less than a year ago. So that means I get to find another bumper, paint it and send the bill to our secretary.

Instead, I think I will go the JDM route and pay the difference between the jdm front end and the regular bumper front end. I have a friend who is selling his for 750, with a J's racing front lip. It is sweet looking. Only thing he is missing is the fenders..which Kinda sucks because I need a drivers side fender. Im thinking if I can talk him down to 700 I could hit up the junkyard, get a fender, get some JDM side moldings and my car would be sweet.

Opinions?

If you can get a good deal on a JDM front, go for it. If not, I'd spend the extra money else where, like on wheels. Thats some crap luck man.

^^+1 looks like those tires have a little camber, eh?

Pics of the bumper/lip/fenders you are referring to?

Good stuff for 37mpg! I have been hitting an all-time-high of 32 mpg recently, so I am a little jealous!

I agree with Plethoric...if the jdm deal falls through just spend that money on a nice set of wheels :) And go oem with the bumper and put a sexy lip on it ;)

Well, I talked to my homie up the block. And the guy offered it to him for 600. So he will get it for me and give it to me for 600. They have been long time friends, it really doesn't hurt my feelings anymore.

Im headed to maaco on monday to get two quotes. 1 for fixing my bumper by them and one for how much it would be to paint just a bumper. I plan on showing my secretary the first quote and being this is how much it would cost, and then being like im a nice guy and ill charge you something considerably less. She writes my pay checks, I don't really want to get on her bad side.

Ill try to get some pics of it. I know its in decent condition cause I saw it once before. Only thing I remember is that it has a hole for a parking pole. So I need to get one of those. HA

Update time:

Well, Still no luck getting a hold of the guy with the JDM front end. I got a financial aid check in the mail 2 weeks ago...and have been letting that sit specifically for this jdm front end. He also said he has some RS*R headers which would be nice to go with the full catback setup.

I have a bunch of people trying to get a hold of him, but his phone is shut off and I doubt he has internet. We will see with that. Our secretary says her nephew or brother in law or someone in her family slings honda parts so I told her to ask if he has a jdm fron end for my car...who knows.


As for everything else, I am trying to figure out what to do next. The Turbo idea popped into my head tonight..I still have my first DOHC zc on the side of the house waiting for a rebuild. Also, after the Gorgeous EG hatch thread opened up I have been wanting the fully polished retracks. They sell them for 550 with a 3 inch lip. Havn't decided if I could pull them off yet.

pic for reference:

http://www.jlbmotorsports.com/blog/w...RACK%20VMF.jpg

Hopefully I will order something this next couple weeks. I really want to get my front end situated so I can move on to better things.

Question:

I have been reading on turbo setups and they all suggest converting to OBD1 for better tuning and such.

I know they sell the jumper harnesses for 50-100 bucks, but is there any reason I couldn't just depin my harness and pop them into the OBD1 plugs? Any information on that would be helpful. Probably going to upgrade to obd1 regardless so I can get a custom rom for the ZC

yes you can repin, but its a pita so they made the plug n play conversion plug.

I think you could definitely pull those rims off :cool:

Sucks about the front end. Hopefully you get it figured out asap

Thank you. I plan on making a custom harness. One that is wire tuck compatible. Was planning on going to the junkyard, grabbing a complete harness and then going from there tearing it apart and what not. I have pretty good experience at wiring through work and plenty of wire there so I don't see it being a problem, just had trouble finding information on if you could do it that way.

Well. Did a small tune up today.

Car was bogging a little bit. Every now and then the idle would drop down to about 400 at a stop light or stall altogether if i didn't get the gas in time.

new sparkplugs, bled the coolant system (new radiator about 3 months back..figured it was time to give it a 2nd bleed), One can of seafoam and a very smoky neighborhood.

Idle is dialed back in at about 900. Also swapped my downpipe gasket (between the downpipe and exhaust manifold) because last time I seafoamed had a ton of smoke coming out there. Really quited down my car. All I have left is to fix my rattling test pipe which sounds like ****.

Still havn't heard back from the guy with the JDM front end...might go to LA and see what I can find if he doesn't come out of the rock he his hiding under.

Will be driving my car up to san fran this weekend (about 350 miles one way). Should be a nice ride after my tuneup.

thats an 8 hour drive. what are you doing in sf?

I got my numbers confused. 3.5 hour drive. Not 350 miles....its 210 miles. Bingo.

Girlfriend is headed up from LA to San Luis Obispo. Then I am driving us up to SF to see our mutual friend in an opera. Opera sounds boring, drinking afterwords is the appeal to me.

http://images.craigslist.org/3mf3p23...1e2a55159d.jpg
http://images.craigslist.org/3ne3k93...9a523c1e86.jpg

should be picking this up thrusday!

^tell me about this front bumper. jdm? and i adore those wheels. very classy.

Yeah, I think that that is a SIR front end. Where'd you find that gem?

This would be the JDM front end for my car.

craigslist yo!

excellent! i love it. i wish all us fifth gen guys could get together sometime. ur in cali, im in bama, idk where drew is. we are all spread out.