Making a body kit
 

has anyone attempted to make a body kit? all the kits i have seen, i haven't really liked so i started designing my own. ive been fiberglassing since i started working at an audio shop when i was 16, but it has only been pieces that wouldnt see any type of weather. is there different materials involved in building a body kit or is it pretty much the same process? any suggestions on what type of mar-glass i should use as well as long or short stranded?

Nobody here really doesn body kits. We aren't very fond of them.

im with this guy

well, i need to fix my 93 front and rear bumpers. i like the style, just want to make it more sporty, add a lip and add some contour lines. i dont like the real rice kits either, and thats why i want to make my own.

Your looking to talk to reaper2022. He is the man on HCF when it comes to fiberglassing.

i'm not usually fond of body kits either but since you're MAKING one yourself and you want it to be clean looking i'm sure it'll turn out good.

reaper2022 is definitely who you need to talk to, maybe he'll post in this thread soon

i had a body kit once didnt hold up very well and it looks better to have OEM now anyways. But that is just my view. Do whatever you want man.

well, i just got ahold of a 93 del sol front end... i think thats whats going to be the basis for the body kit. i've always liked them especially the front end, but i havent been able to find one for sale that wasn't in a junkyard... there's gonna be a lot of cutting and fitting ahead now.


im gonna get some hate mail for this probably

this certainly will be unique. i've never seen anyone swap a del sol front end onto anything.

i will tell you though from getting to know my car that you are gonna have to do a lot of work to mount the fog lights on the chassis so that you don't have empty holes in the bumper.

custom body kit, sounds good lol, especially using the sol as the base. keep it up. you should sketch it out and post it up, keep us updated

this is usually where i would say somethign along the lines of "are you a F***ing idiot why would you ever think of that even?!?!?" bbut i read the whole thread, and im already intrigued, and do want to see where you're going with this. deff keep us updated and draw up some sketches.

good thing im extremely proficient with a body saw, and have access to a plasma cutter. i just need to remember to unplug the airbag before cutting anything. i learned that the hard way. https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ons/icon10.gif

however im not that great drawing with pen and paper. ill try it, if not, ill put some hours in and do it on autocad. i have school tomorrow, im hoping to get working on the swap this weekend. im just glad this car isnt my dd.

haveing more than one car helps so much, your lucky!

like i said, im no artist, but here's what i came up with so far.
Attachment 22089
im gonna push out the bottom of the bumper to go for a little bit more aggressive front. also im going to lower the turn signal/ marker lights so i have enough room to build out the area around the lights, looking at it, its going to take alot of cutting, or a little bit of molding to get the lights to fit in right. it'll make the nose stick out a little more, hopefully it'll look good... what do you all think? other than i suck at drawing... ill try to get a side view drawn at some point.

i like it
i see that you're gonna be using the JDM corner trim or something similar, correct?

i wouldn't push the bottom of the front of the bumper out too much though (though a little more than stock does sound good), you don't want it to start looking like this...
http://www.spoilershop.com.au/images..._kit_front.jpg

yeah, no, nothing like that.. thats pretty hideous... enough rice to feed asia right there... so the job looks like im gonna be cutting fenders.. or since im going custom, i might just mold and make some... not sure what im going to be doing with the rear end yet though. any suggestions?

Since it's a 4-door, I think it'd be pretty cool if you converted the rear trunk lid and the parts of the body around that so that it resembles the 2 door rear end.
(on the 4-door the trunk just curves towards the front of the car at the top of the lid, but on the 2-door it sticks out like a mini-spoiler).

then maybe mold in a mugen or type-r rear lip

what else would be badass is if you put ferio rear seats in it! (armrest console takes the place of the middle rear seat)

yeah, i wanna make people take a 2nd and 3rd look at the car. im also taking rear door handles and putting them in the front, to delete the keyhole... but thats a minor project im probably gonna do tomorrow. i need to do some work to the rear fenders, i have the typical honda rust... the previous owner wasn't to nice to her... so ill be modifying the rear end some too. there's another wrecked del sol at the yard that has from the driver doors back in almost perfect condition... man, this is starting to get extensive... oh well, ill have a 4 door civic del sol.

I am intrigued by this thread. Good luck OP.

Keep it up. I wasn't to fond of the the body kit at first but now me likey!

i found a set of the mouldings today that lead up the back window of a sol... should i snag them and put them on the car.. or is that a little overdoing it? im thinking im gonna start a thread in the "extensive projects" section. and i also got some shop space finally... talked to my boss and he's letting me build in the bay, instead of at home... so close... yet still so very far away.

if you make the back window flat like on a del sol, the rear sail panels might look cool

idk if that's too much work though. if you're not going to do that, i'd skip the sail panels

vtec, check your pm box :D

Thanks again Reaper. im ready to start crackin on this project. maybe ill have some pics up by this weekend. any other suggestions of what could be done to make this civic have a little more Sol?

takes some pics of the civic now beforee you do anything

looking for a sol driver fender and fog lights. im going out junkyardin tomorrow to look for some, but if i dont have any luck, ill be looking to buy some.

stock del sol fog lights are fugly and suck
get these, i love them (they're the same fitment). you'll just need the foglight mounting frames/screws/springs from the junkyard and the bulb harnesses

for bulbs i recommend Raybrig 1157 bulbs. (i think it's 1157...) They're pretty much a pure white color, as opposed to the goldish color any other bulbs you'll find are.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/93-94...Q5fAccessories

yeah.. i think tomorrow, ill look for that bracket and hope they have the fender... if not, ill just stop by certifit on my way home and pick it up "for the shop"

oh, btw i like those lights. ive been browsing for some sol headlights too, and i think i came across a pair of some smoked projector lights. i figure keep with the black theme. and ill have pictures up of the 4door in the next couple of days, once i can push it out of the garage... the engine is kinda f***** right now.

they don't make projector headlights for del sols.
i have seen one set in my life, not even in person, but it was a custom retrofit.

i thought i saw a set, but probably didnt.. just my mind wanting to see something that isnt there. well looks like im ordering the smoked JDM ones then, if i cant find them tomorrow.

sweet, i like those.

just an FYI, if you're talking about the "JDM" headlights on eBay they're not really JDM, it's just a trick eBay sellers use to either add excitement to people who don't know any better to make the product sound better, or to actually make you think it's JDM if you don't know any better.

They're still quality headlights though. Pretty much all headlights on eBay are fine, you just have to seal them around the edges of the clear lens with clear silicone sealant. Otherwise, they'll likely fog up on the inside.


Just thought about this, since you mentioned rear del sol conversion, idk if you're doing it or not though...
If you ever need taillights from a del Sol for your project, my local junkyard has a del Sol with a mint set of them on it. I'll call them and check at the time before we do anything, but you could paypal me the money they want for them + shipping to you + like $5 for me going out there to get them off the car and stuff and i could go pick them up for you and mail them.
I think the junkyard only wanted like $30 for them, or some ridiculously low price, which is why i'm bringing it up.
If you ever want to do that though, you have my word that I won't screw you over, and we can use paypal so in the event that i did screw you over (which i won't, lol, just mentioning this so you know it's safe) you would just file a claim on paypal and get your money back.

I went there for some door wire harnesses and saw the taillights and they were like "$30" or something and i was like damn, this is a good deal, too bad i don't need them for anything. lol

so there was finally a nice clear day to push the car out of the garage to take some pics before i pushed her back in. i took like 40 pics, but i figure i only need like 4 posted.
Attachment 21952

Attachment 21953

Attachment 21954

bought it wrecked 200 dollars... the whole front end was messed up. along with the sides this is the work i've done so far and im takin off the front bumper and fenders soon


Attachment 21955
i dont wanna hear it... i know its rice tail lights... im replacing them soon... Very Soon.
the exhaust sticks out too much as well... another thing to add to the list, or i might just have the bumper drop straight down instead of curving in...
but yeah so thats what the sled looks like before any mods im doing to it... gotta wait til this weekend to start tearing into the bodywork :)

^about the exhaust, just get the axle back shortened a few inches right behind the muffler. I had the same exact problem and i got it fixed today for $50.

Is that the apex-i active silencer?

yup. i bought an N1 and thought i was too loud, so i bought the ATS. its pretty good, it works and keeps the LEO's off my case. ill cut it and weld it eventually. i also have to re-weld a hanger. i went down the wrong road and broke it on a speed bump. lol. and i was even going slow!

For the record, I really can't wait to see how this turns out :D

Regarding the tails, are you keeping the car black? If so, you could always just black out the taillights you have; you saw how my mustang is in the headlights thread... I'm thinking blacked out tails would look pretty good on a black civic. Also, you need to lower the car lol

Wronnggg <3

Ive seen a retrofit for sale actually the other day. 1000 Canadian if i remember correct.

and here's ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/CRX-DEL-SOL-92-97...ayphotohosting

^retrofit

now you've seen 2 ;)

yeah, the car is staying black. once i get everything done im gonna paint it single stage black so it has the flat finish. also painting the chrome window trim. i was looking for some VHT niteshades spray, but i couldnt find it anywhere. well at the autozone and oreilly's around here they dont have it...