Hi from a Honda virgin ...

[MrED]

Hi All

I'm in the process of fixing up an ED hatch with my son.

Now I have a confession ... I'm a Ford guy. My main interest is XA-C Coupes which I've had 12 over the years including a Mad Max Pursuit replica. I am in the process of building a RatRod style XC ute with an LTD front. That said I've had several TA22 Celicas, K55 Corolla, GSR Subaru ('75) ... probably 60 or 70 cars over the last 30 years.

I got involved with Honda's to help out my 20 yo son.

He is at uni so on a tight budget. He had a nice, low km ED auto sedan that we got from a mate with 90,0000kms, one little old lady owner, following a minor front accident. We then picked up a sedan that had been hit in the back from Ebay and spent a couple of weekends swapping bits. He ended up with a super cheap, super reliable runaround with 10 months rego for under a hundred bucks ... tha Frankencivic was born ... what could possibly go wrong?

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/28022010318.jpg

Three weeks later some a#se clown took his eye off the road and rearended the civic. Bummer.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/13299_379930809659_721344659_353625.jpg

A small payout from insurance later we picked up an ED Hatch from Ebay. It has some front end damage and a tired interior ... but hell ... we now have quite a collection of Civic front panels lol ... .

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Bs1WgCQmkKGrHqEOKiUEvMlcVuPKBL5gEmI.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Bs1TwEGkKGrHqYOKiIEvPUIcrBL5hDkRRlw.jpg

So we are in the process of getting Frankencivic Mk2 on the road. Currently stripped of front panels and radiator (the pic was prior to pulling the radiator)it's probably two or three weekend from being regoed.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/IMG_0072.jpg

I've picked up some parts from the super helpful Androo ... Bonnet and Front bar (the two we have are for a sedan) ... plus carpet, parcel tray, lots of handy little bits and a passengers seat. The seat was stripped of it's backrest cover and foam and that was swapped to the, as usual, damaged driver's backrest ... elcheapo retrim!

I'll post pics of the progress if anyone's interested.

Cheers

Pete (Mr ED)

[DLO01]

Welcome mate! I used to have a Couple of TA22's and 2 RA28's, great cars.

Have fun with the car. :thumbsup:

[Penga89]

Welcome to ozhonda!!!

looks like fun!!

[androo]

=] glad I helped good luck!

[IEVAQ8]

welcome and good on ya for being supportive and helpful of ur sons interest in cars...

[MrED]

Thanks for the encouraging words ... I enjoy working on cars with my son ... even if his fave expression is JDM !! :o

Even the family hound wanted to lend a paw removing the old, very worn, carpet ...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture075.jpg

Well worth changing and only mildly frustrating.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture130.jpg

So we pulled the old upholstery off the damaged driver's seat ... didn't get a pic on the seat ...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture192.jpg

and replaced it with the foam and upholstery from the passenger seat we got from Androo ... happy with the result. Not happy with the camera on my iPhone!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture023.jpg

Pulled off the blanking panel on the dash for the electric mirrors having seen some spare wieing in the doors and lo and behold the loom for the mirror control was there so swapped out the control and electric mirrors .... required a couple of mounting holes to be re drilled ... from the donor sedan.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture148.jpg

The rear hatch with broom support ...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture053.jpg

and after with struts replaced.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture165.jpg

New headunit fitted

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture129.jpg

Fusion speakers replacing standards in door. Fitting of rears next weekend.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture219.jpg

After initial banging and pulling trial fitted the bonnet and front clip. Still more to do here. Did I mention that I hate the crap camera on my iphone.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture214.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture222.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Picture066.jpg

Trial fitted fat fives ... anyone got some cheap lowered springs or coil-overs ... lol

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Honda002.jpg

Only had one day this weekend so hopefully get a good run at it next weekend.

The plan is to do the bonnet, front and rear bumpers in satin black ... did someone say JDM.

Pete

[IEVAQ8]

i got come coilover sleeves which will be a cheap and nice alternative to having this thing looking nice...

[MrED]

Hi IEVAQ-8

Despite being WAAAYYY over budget ... how much do you want for the coils posted to Sydney?

Cheers

Pete

[integragsi96]

Welcome to Ozhonda mate!!

Nice too see that you are helping your son fix up a car..
my car which is a 96 Integra Gsi..me and my dad also have also made it our project as the front of my car when bought was damaged..
which is nearly finished other than needing paint.
you will find hondas to be a fun car to drive and to work on
brownie points to you Sir!!

Sam

[markismaximus]

Welcome to Ozhonda, you gotta love the old EDs. Can I also add its creepy your name is Pete.

Another Peter on here has pretty much rebuilt his ED. It can be found in the build section and has alot of useful info

[MrED]

Thanks guys ... it's no chore working on the car with my son ... he's a great kid and is a true petrol head. I blame myself as he's been hanging around the garage and been dragged around carshows since he was a toddler ... don't tell DOCS.

Markismaximus ... Creepy? ... Me? .... Never !... I've looked at both your and Peter's resto threads ... I am not worthy in Wayne and Garth style!!!

What you guys achieved in your back yard / garages is truely awe inspiring. If we do an engine swap it'll just be the low km motor from the sedan if the hatch turns out to be shagged. Jim, my son is keen on a VTEC ... or was till I showed hm your threads and what's involved.

A question or two ... do the fat-fives use the standard steel rim wheel nuts or is there a specific 'mag' wheel nut? Do you have a spare reflector 'civic' panel?

And having read Peter's thread I now know who'se beating me to the good ED stuff at P&P lol

Pete

[markismaximus]

Do you have a spare reflector 'civic' panel?

Pete

Unfortunately I don't. The one I have is actually the only one I've ever seen at the wreckers... not sure why some models came with them and some didn't

[IEVAQ8]

Hi IEVAQ-8

Despite being WAAAYYY over budget ... how much do you want for the coils posted to Sydney?

Cheers

Pete

wat eva i have them advertised for i will include shipping to u in SYD..

[MrED]

I only saw the link to your for sale page as I trailed the mouse to reply to this post ... Doh! Well I am a newbie ...

Sounds fair enough to me. PM me your bank details and I'll send you my address when the $ reach you.

Out of interest ... and so I dont screw up the install ... what are the collection of o-rings for?

[IEVAQ8]

I only saw the link to your for sale page as I trailed the mouse to reply to this post ... Doh! Well I am a newbie ...

Sounds fair enough to me. PM me your bank details and I'll send you my address when the $ reach you.

Out of interest ... and so I dont screw up the install ... what are the collection of o-rings for?

pm sent

[MrED]

Only a little progress this weekend. Work and life got in the way.

I had a pair of new 6" Sony Explodes sitting around for my own project but that is on the back burner so decided to put them in the ED.

I got a really nice uncut parcel shelf from Androo which I was reluctant to cut. But when I looked at the side trim pieces it was obvious that I'd be left with gaping holes if I mounted them diret to the trims. I also didn't want to cover or interfere with the seat belts.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Honda006.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Honda001-1.jpg

It became obvious that I needed to make a cover for the trims so I made a cardboard template and cut up some scrap ply that was lying around waiting 'to come in handy'.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Honda009.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Honda005.jpg

I then hit the ply with some spray adhvesive and covered it with some black vinyl that I had. I made the mistake of rounding off the upper edges which resulted in some tricky compound curves to stretch the vinyl over ... it's a far from perfect job but lookds better that the ply would have if I'd just hit it with some rattle can black as originally planned.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Honda002-1.jpg

While rummaging around I found some speaker spacers that had been bought for my old Hilux but never installed. Score! These also gave me more space for the seat belts to function.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Honda003-1.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Honda008.jpg


I will wire them up next weekend ... hopefully.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/Honda004.jpg

On the negative front I've just realised that the radiator supports / headlamp mounts are too mangled for my megre panel straightening skills so I'm cutting these off the sedan and which are straight and welding them to the hatch. This involves going out to buy a welder on Saturday ... I've wanted my own for ages and this is the perfect excuse. Hare and Forbes at Parramatta have this one which fits my needs and only stretches the budget well beyond breaking point.

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Products?stockCode=W184

If anyone has had experience with this brand I'd appreciate feedback.

Cheers

Pete

[MrED]

Oh yes ... does anyone know where I can get a front lip like either of these? The white one is a car on ebay and the other is from Ebay US but would work out around $300 landed ... more than I paid for the car lol

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/BwpyjiQBmkKGrHqZjQEv10DO3sBMJ-ukIfg.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/Eltwisto/civic/BoCV-BWkKGrHqYOKnMEvyFrzmUrBMOWUrIh.jpg

Pete