Introducing..... well....me :P And my EK1 Civic Hatch Project :D

[DROPS]

Hey guys,

My name is actually Aaron, but you can call me Azz, Duke, or Drops, whatever works for you, I'm pretty easy like that.

Duke? WTF is that you say?

Well kiddies, gather around and let me tell you a story :P

Back when I was on my Green P Plates I owned the most god-awful abortion of a car ever made by man... that's right children, I owned a VN commodore V6 Auto...... not because I wanted to either.

Now me being young and dumb, I decided to bodywork it and spray it primer grey in preparation for a nice new paint job. Anyway, on the Mount Gambier Side of Keith SA, I was pulled over by Mr. Plod who wanted to search my car for drugs. He asked me to pop the boot (as I was nervous as **** and shaking because I'd just sculled two red bulls :D) and checked under the spare etc. for whatever he could find.

Anyway he ended up asking me to remove my subwoofer so he could look inside the box (sealed box, not ported mind you *YUCK*) at which point I said "mate I know the car's a piece of shit but I have no drugs in this heap I swear, I'm going to go now, have a nice day"

Anyway......

As I went to get back into the car, the driver's door wouldn't open. The policeman then said "Well, aren't you going to get back in the car?"

At which point, luckily I was able to jump in through the window as I had my window down. As luck would have it, a mate of mine was screaming past in his HQ ute, who saw me jump in through the window, and ever since I have had the nick name "Duke" LOL!

Oh and Drops, well that's because I love car audio.

Now onto what probably bought you here in the first place :D

I just bought my first Japanese car!

It's a 1996 Honda Civic Gli Manual. Pretty stoked to have such a nice car actually! Electric windows, digital clock, sunroof and central locking. It's actually (and I'm not lying) the nicest car I've owned to date!

http://i.imgur.com/2mZI7sV.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ZxBfpg0.jpg

Plans are to fit a Type R style grille, Mugen style front lip, side skirts (when I find some I like) and a rear lip kit, 15" mags and probably lowered 1.5-2" at this stage.

Also want a bit more noise in the exhaust, thinking two-into-ones would be great paired with a small cannon muffler, nothing milo tin-ish but you know :P

I'll need opinions on what people think works best in a civic of this year, amped 6x9s or go for a sub? I have my opinions on the matter but I also haven't owned a civic before so if anyone has either set up feel free to comment. Cheers :)

[IEVAQ8]

nice story and welcome...

[Dxs]

what suburb you from?

[DROPS]

nice story and welcome...

Thanks IEVAQ8 :)


what suburb you from?

Ahh, I current;y live in Portland Vic, but sepnd a lot of time in Ballarat and Riddell's Creek Melb.

[Dxs]

hows Portland? You enjoy it there?

[DROPS]

hows Portland? You enjoy it there?

When it's sunny...... so like maybe one week out of every year LOL

Anyway guys, today I was going to post up a photoshop pic of my civic with a rough idea of what I want to do with it but my pc crashed last night. (I do graphic design and CAD for a living) and thus all the progress made was gone.

I will have another go at it tonight. Kinda thinking I may have to colour code a lot of parts after all. plus a good cut and polish to bring the shine back out wouldn't hurt :)

[Dxs]

I would
1) Get some super light polish on the car
2) Use some plastic cleaner/shine for all the trims (look at your side skirt)
3) If getting exhaust - get a stainless steel 'catback' exhaust off ebay -they are very cheap
4) Dont buy big bling bling wheels that will kill your performance
5) Personally I would remove all the badges and prob rear wiper.
6) Primer and matt black spray your front wipers.

[DROPS]

I would
1) Get some super light polish on the car
2) Use some plastic cleaner/shine for all the trims (look at your side skirt)
3) If getting exhaust - get a stainless steel 'catback' exhaust off ebay -they are very cheap
4) Dont buy big bling bling wheels that will kill your performance
5) Personally I would remove all the badges and prob rear wiper.
6) Primer and matt black spray your front wipers.

Yeah cheers Dxs, after doing some looking around through build threads here I'm just going to tidy her up, drop her on some 15s (for now) that look similar to SI wheels and get a simple front lip kit like the ones you see on the EL8 I think it is.

Btw if anyone has the non mugen still lip kit in or around / near melb and outer suburbs for cheap let me know.

I do want to swap the grill for the type R one obviously. not a fan of the stock one but hey that may change.

Also by cat back you do mean from the stock Cat to rear? I was thinking go the whole hog, extractors and the like or is that not a good idea? forgive my inexperience I just like to see what basic stuff I can do to improve exhaust flow and intake flow aswell, beyond that mostly stock obviously.

Updates soon guys! Pics beat words any day lol!

[Dxs]

Headers (proper word for 'extractors'), high flow cat, and catback exhaust - this would improve performance.

The no name stuff on ebay isnt the greatest quality - thin walls, lower quality stainless steel etc - however, a lot of people use it without drama. There is a lot to header design too, it manages the flow characteristics of the exhaust - but the cheap stuff on ebay is all the same - i doubt there is a great designed header for a d16y engine anyway (and a good design would cost 600+).

There is no real point in changing intake stuff - it wont increase performance that much. If you start doing the intake, then might just be worth considering swapping to a B series engine - but then where does it stop.


But yeah, a cheap ebay full exhaust is prob good power per $. Weight reduction is always worth looking into too.. for example, if your air conditioning doesnt work and you never use it, then remove it and save 15kg. Prefer the cheap ebay 'spoon' / aero mirrors, well swapping them saves 1.5kg - removeing the rear wiper probaby saves 700grams - want to remove the tar soundedening, then that saves 3kg.. etc etc

[limiteR]

Welcome Drops, I think i'll call you that cause it sounds mad!

My first car was a VS Commodore, some good memories of that also haha.

whats you're plans or approach to the car? B-series or K-Series build!?

also pro tip,
when uploading image links to a post try putting https://blahblahblahblah.......
before and after the link so the image wont blow up the page width :D

I also noticed the sunroof and the sneaky 5 stud conversion :thumbsup:

Keen to see where this project goes

[DROPS]

Yeah cheers Dxs, after doing some looking around through build threads here I'm just going to tidy her up, drop her on some 15s (for now) that look similar to SI wheels and get a simple front lip kit like the ones you see on the EL8 I think it is.

Btw if anyone has the non mugen still lip kit in or around / near melb and outer suburbs for cheap let me know.

I do want to swap the grill for the type R one obviously. not a fan of the stock one but hey that may change.

Also by cat back you do mean from the stock Cat to rear? I was thinking go the whole hog, extractors and the like or is that not a good idea? forgive my inexperience I just like to see what basic stuff I can do to improve exhaust flow and intake flow aswell, beyond that mostly stock obviously.

Updates soon guys! Pics beat words any day lol!


Welcome Drops, I think i'll call you that cause it sounds mad!

My first car was a VS Commodore, some good memories of that also haha.

whats you're plans or approach to the car? B-series or K-Series build!?

also pro tip,
when uploading image links to a post try putting https://blahblahblahblah.......
before and after the link so the image wont blow up the page width :D

I also noticed the sunroof and the sneaky 5 stud conversion :thumbsup:

Keen to see where this project goes

Hey man cheers for commenting. Sorry for the mix up, there's actually no 5 stud swap here, just el-cheapo hubcaps as the stock ones were beyond rooted.
Plan is to tidy it up, dump it down on some nice wheels and fiddle with a the stereo (pics soon for that btw)

May do an engine swap at some stage but who knows.


Headers (proper word for 'extractors'), high flow cat, and catback exhaust - this would improve performance.

The no name stuff on ebay isnt the greatest quality - thin walls, lower quality stainless steel etc - however, a lot of people use it without drama. There is a lot to header design too, it manages the flow characteristics of the exhaust - but the cheap stuff on ebay is all the same - i doubt there is a great designed header for a d16y engine anyway (and a good design would cost 600+).

There is no real point in changing intake stuff - it wont increase performance that much. If you start doing the intake, then might just be worth considering swapping to a B series engine - but then where does it stop.


But yeah, a cheap ebay full exhaust is prob good power per $. Weight reduction is always worth looking into too.. for example, if your air conditioning doesnt work and you never use it, then remove it and save 15kg. Prefer the cheap ebay 'spoon' / aero mirrors, well swapping them saves 1.5kg - removeing the rear wiper probaby saves 700grams - want to remove the tar soundedening, then that saves 3kg.. etc etc

So the ebay stuff is thin walled and 90% of the time folks here say they're good to go? Okay I'd better look into it. Also, in terms of engine note will it still be legal. I like a bit of noise but not a ridiculous amount you know?

More soon guys!

[DROPS]

Hey guys, just letting you know that I will start a build thread rather than update here.

It'll be called DROPS Ride: '96 EK1 "Gizmo"

See you all there :)

[RenzokukenJ]

catch ya on the flipside