eat's AT Civic

[e-at]

So whilst on the lookout for a Civic to stick my DA1's running gear into I found one with a twincam already installed... I just happened to do a quick search in the Quokka and came across an AT Civic Si. So I gave the seller a call, asked a few questions and went and had a look. Next day I'm driving home in my new Civic! It's has had a respray at some stage that still looks good from 20 metres away. It's got a few k's on the clock, a holey exhaust, AC doesn't work but it's very original, drives ok and it's unique. I love it.
I'm going to use this as a bit of a log to keep track of what I've done or plan to do to the car in the future. It will probably be quite boring, but I know I find other people’s owners threads interesting, even if they're only documenting an oil change, or change of tyres, etc. so don't expect too much action!

The previous owner is an older local Perth guy, he's a nice bloke with a good knowledge and passion for 80's Hondas. He bought the civic in 2000, buying it from the original Australian owner who had it imported (from NZ!). Probably under the old 15y.o. import rule.

He drove it daily as well as tackling some epic journeys such as driving across the Nullarbor all the way to far North Qld and back! Something like 9000kms in one trip! So it's been well used as much as it's been well loved. It's survived a few incidents with some Aussie fauna too, having hit a wombat and having a kangaroo go up and over the roof at some stage too! It looks to have been repaired well in the past, but I guess until you dig deeper by taking bumpers and trim off or getting it on a hoist that you can tell for sure.

It's had a respray at some time in its standard polar white, along with judicious use of a touch up pen along the way too! Anyway, having since retired, and needing to downsize his fleet, the Civic was put up for sale. That's where I join the story. Anyway, here's a quick photo, if it works...

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20161116_181824_zpsefhvjg3t.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20161116_181824_zpsefhvjg3t.jpg.html)

[e-at]

That pic shows the Civic in it’s current state (hasn’t changed in a while). I purchased the car mid-April 2015, so coming up to two years of ownership. Will now continue to get you guys up to date with what’s happened to the little nugget since buying it. These updates will be based on posts from back in the day on the Perth CRX club forum ;)

[e-at]

Mods on the car when I bought it included random jap multi-stud alloys (14x6 inch with 185/60 tyres; DA9? Front seats; 90’s Alpine head unit (with remote control!) and KYB excel G shocks.

Post-purchase photos:

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_153829_zpsafgywcop.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_153829_zpsafgywcop.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_153904_zps97aeyncq.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_153904_zps97aeyncq.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_153929_zpsiqsul6lu.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_153929_zpsiqsul6lu.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_154612_zpszmmcnfag.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_154612_zpszmmcnfag.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_160147_zpsngxpwpos.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_160147_zpsngxpwpos.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_154308_zps9a3goihw.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_154308_zps9a3goihw.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_154017_zpszt6netp9.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_154017_zpszt6netp9.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_154636_zps5xgdx1lk.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_154636_zps5xgdx1lk.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_155046_zpsit8jsz0f.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Original%20civic%20purchase%20photos/20150418_155046_zpsit8jsz0f.jpg.html)

Things currently needing attention include: a new air intake tube; exhaust repaired; AC looked at; immobiliser fitting and new gear shifter bushes (it’s hard to tell what gear you’re in some time!). In the mean-time, I'll probably slot in the bushes from the Integra as they're in better nick, but long term I think I'll get hold of some Chedda’s Auto shifter bushes along with an Energy Suspensions full bushing set which I think comes with the remaining shifter bushes needed.

Future modifications I'd like to do include installing anything suspension wise from my DA1 that is an upgrade for the Civic, an exhaust upgrade, and probably a long time down the track an Osaka JDM rear spoiler, purple speed front spoiler, 14x6.5 inch Watanabe wheels with 185/55 tyres!

[beeza]

Looks real nice. Love the history,good to know she has been used for what it was built for. Go the civic's!!!

Sunroofs are awesome too.

[lolmclol]

http://i.imgur.com/3YRBUQw.jpg

that's one fat mother fuker

nice hondie as well

[ep3rsteve]

Very nice :honda:

:thumbsup:

[e-at]

How'd you even spot that lol... neighbour's cat photobombing

[EKVTIR-T]

Welcome pal,theres a user here obsessed with AT's


but....what is THIS???

https://s21.postimg.org/6qm1e22on/20150418_153904_zps97aeyncq.jpg



interdimensional illuminati devil!!!!??

http://techtutorz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/illuminati-devil.jpg

[beeza]

Damn.Be careful round there man,black cats and a perched little devil Oh my!

[Dxs]

cool ride

[e-at]

Welcome pal,theres a user here obsessed with AT's


but....what is THIS???

https://s21.postimg.org/6qm1e22on/20150418_153904_zps97aeyncq.jpg



interdimensional illuminati devil!!!!??

http://techtutorz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/illuminati-devil.jpg

bahahahaha
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/owl_zpsh3qqihco.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/owl_zpsh3qqihco.jpg.html)
I swear when we moved in to that place it's eyes followed you...

[e-at]

So, brake pedal used to travel so far and needed to tighten the loose hand brake. So reefed on the hand brake in reverse a few times to adjust the shoes and a couple of turn on the main handbrake adjuster nut and was met with grinding sounds from the right rear with any sort of braking. So decide to inspect further.

With the drums off I was met with a sopping wet mess of brake fluid soaked shoes, drums and wrinkled paint.

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/20150618_105554_zpsmpcqiqbn.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/20150618_105554_zpsmpcqiqbn.jpg.html)

So wheel cylinders were pretty much seized and had been leaking for a while. Compared to the Civic's 180mm rear drums, the DA1 had 200mm drums. They were in much better condition with only one of the two cylinders just starting to leak. Shoes and drums all dry though. So quick trip to Perth Brake Parts got me two new wheel cylinders. Swapped all the civic brake gear to the DA1’s larger stuff, gave it a flush and bleed.

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/20150618_153433_zpsdb7trpba.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/20150618_153433_zpsdb7trpba.jpg.html)

A test drive gave a much better pedal height, no more graunching and grinding and much more effective braking. Once the shoes were adjusted a bit closer to the drums and a final bleed was done they were much better.

Only thing is I hope that my master cylinder holds out as there's wrinkled paint below it on the booster from what I hope is only the result of an old leak. Once I'm able, I'll probably buy new 180mm shoes and swap the standard drums back in. Wheel cylinders are the same for both sizes.

Whilst working on the brakes I compared the AT's fronts to the DA1's. Same sized vented rotors but callipers are a bit different, including different pad shape and size... weird. Not sure what the go is there. Guessing pistons are same size as non-vented ones maybe, and they use the same bore master? the DA1 caliper looks stiffer with the pad holder having the bridge thing??

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/20150618_102535_zps23y29o98.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/20150618_102535_zps23y29o98.jpg.html)

The only other mod I'd done at this stage was sticking the DA1 rear springs in. I’d chopped 1.5 coils off which left the rear about 15-20mm higher than standard. Ended up taking off another half a coil off which brought the rear back to standard Civic height. And it’s still captive too.

[Austro]

Seems pretty mint overall, nice.

[beeza]

Chopped springs = Nasty.

We love pics,so keep em coming!

[e-at]

Thanks to a local Perth CRX member I found a replacement JDM intake tube... turns out I couldn't have used an Aussie Integra one as the ZC has the larger diameter twin throttle body.

The original was held together with some sticky black silicone which looked ok from the top, but underneath was completely cracked apart. Hopefully the engine has not been ingesting unfiltered air for too long!

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/20150626_110355_zpsxufflyaa.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/20150626_110355_zpsxufflyaa.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/20150626_105632_1_zpsutosjpvr.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/20150626_105632_1_zpsutosjpvr.jpg.html)

In other news I tackled the sloppy shifter. Upon inspection, there was slight play in nearly every possible joint in the system, but the major source of slop was the actual shifter shaft coming out of the transaxle. The roll pin although still tight in the transaxle shaft had badly worn at either end allowing the shifter rod to move about which wore the transaxle shaft down so that there was no longer a neat fit between the two.
It's hard to tell, but you can sort of make out the wear mark in this pic:

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/20150626_180234_zpsholfzaqb.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/20150626_180234_zpsholfzaqb.jpg.html)

I ended up cutting off the standard universal joint off the shifter rod and welded in a standard steering column universal joint to replace it. As the splined end of the joint is split and has a bolt & nut, it can be clamped onto the worn-down transaxle shaft to make for a tight fit in addition to the roll pin locating it side-to-side & fore and aft. This also removed any play in the uni-joint too. After a bit of trial and error I got the gear stick in a good position and the shifter is 200% more precise.

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/20150630_132827_zpstk1grdcs.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/20150630_132827_zpstk1grdcs.jpg.html)

Before you couldn’t tell if the car was in gear or not as there was as much side-to-side play whether in gear or not! This sorta shows the process I went through:

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/PhotoGrid_1435746346240_zpslgzrp9lc.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/PhotoGrid_1435746346240_zpslgzrp9lc.jpg.html)

Also finally got around to cutting another half coil off the rear springs. That's two coils off in total now and I'm happy with how it sits at the moment.

[e-at]

First did a quick mock-up to decide where the're going to sit. Don't mind the pot plants - no plants were harmed in the making of this project! Decided on about half-way between edge of number plate and outside edges of the lower air intake opening of bumper. I hope they don't block too much airflow to the radiator cooling all those ZC horse powaz!

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/20150817_105344_zps83cx6zjp.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/20150817_105344_zps83cx6zjp.jpg.html)

Pulled the bumper off to work out some way of mounting them. Cut a piece of box section, which attaches to three bolts joining the plastic bumper to the pressed steel bumper supports. This box section is hidden from the outside. Two brackets attach to the box section which drop down and provide a mount for the fog lights to hang off. A bit of trimming to the bumper plastic here and there aaaaand...

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/20150818_152513_zpskufo9p2e.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/20150818_152513_zpskufo9p2e.jpg.html)

...from the front! The LHS bracket can be seen through the opening (there's no plastic between the louvres on that side) whilst the RHS cannot.

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/20150818_154021_zpssj2cb1ls.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/20150818_154021_zpssj2cb1ls.jpg.html)

Painted the mounts black so it's well hidden once all reassembled:

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/20150821_082614_zpsgajn6oct.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/20150821_082614_zpsgajn6oct.jpg.html)

Aaaaaand finished product:

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/20160221_103615_zpsirivbh6n.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/20160221_103615_zpsirivbh6n.jpg.html)

[e-at]

Plus bought this fog light switch off ebay (which I think may be an EF number) but it's close to standard & fits in ok!

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20150923_171648_zps9nutqzag.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20150923_171648_zps9nutqzag.jpg.html)

Pity it didn't work but. Only made intermittent connection when pushed in. So pulled it apart, cleaned the contacts and it worked much better. But once back together the button wouldn't stay depressed! So after pulling apart, fiddling with the internals and reassembling a few times it is now working! Let's hope it stays that way! Yay for buying a 30 year old switch for too many $$$ that didn't work!


Made up a simple head-rest camera mount from a piece of box section and a pair of u bolts...

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/20160221_135034_zpshw9gr6kb.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/20160221_135034_zpshw9gr6kb.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Civic/20160221_135115_zpstfcgz2jq.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Civic/20160221_135115_zpstfcgz2jq.jpg.html)

[e-at]

Often I'm too lazy to do anything mechanics wise on the car so why not dress it up a bit...

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/PhotoGrid_1451015185906_zpsgle1edkf.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/PhotoGrid_1451015185906_zpsgle1edkf.jpg.html)

More coming... and soon will be up to date :)

[beeza]

Yeah man,your pretty handy! Well done.

Fog lights = WIN.

[e-at]

Cheers, I love the foggies, even if I never really use 'em! purely for posing ;)

Suspension-wise there’s not a lot of cheap options for the old torsion bar cars. So far I’ve done all the cheap tricks I can. Pulled the torsion bars out and here’s how they compare to an Integra’s:

Teg: 21mm dia; 651mm long
Civic: 20.2mm dia; 612mm long

Not much difference diameter-wise. At least the length doesn't have as big an effect as the increase in diameter. So, I put them in along with the longer torsion tubes for now. With the rear torsion tube caps now sitting 40mm further back I screwed them down with some self-tapping screws.

I removed the keyway from the Integra torsion tubes & indexed the Integra bars one notch lower. This lowered the front around 20mm which has levelled it up nicely (2 coils removed from the rear in total now).

I removed front brake line brackets & notched the damper bodies up higher to drop them down the knuckles regaining some bump travel.

A handy mod for these civics is fitting front lower control arms from an Integra which are slightly longer – giving a smidge more negative camber. Was nice to find that at some stage in its life the civic had received a pair. (Although it meant I wouldn’t be getting that easy camber gain I was hanging out for ☹)

Rear sway bar mk1 consisted of a 14mm EG? Civic rear bar clamped to the rear axle with muffler clamps lol. Made up some nut plates that slid into the chassis rails to which the mounting brackets for the drop links bolted onto. Used a pair of random sway bar links found in the shed. This was more of a proof of concept than a real solution as it was all sorts of dodgy. The clamps weren’t strong enough and the EG bar ends were designed for bushes sandwiched by a fork, not a single pin mount. End links were too long… quite embarrassing really!

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20160125_185054_zps2k9k57sq.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160125_185054_zps2k9k57sq.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20160125_184328_zpsxpb5hjct.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160125_184328_zpsxpb5hjct.jpg.html)

[e-at]

Rear sway bar mk2 was slightly improved… The chassis rail mounts were the only part of the original setup to remain. I picked up a 22mm Whiteline adjustable sway bar (heavy bugger), a pair of adjustable length end links. The muffler clamps were not going to cut it, so I welded two bosses straight to the axle beam to which the sway bar bush clamps will bolt to. Much betterer!

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/ad_1453766310017_zpsn7c2kaaf.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/ad_1453766310017_zpsn7c2kaaf.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20160814_094748_zpsh65ieumw.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160814_094748_zpsh65ieumw.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20160814_095515_zpsvioh8guj.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160814_095515_zpsvioh8guj.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20160814_102032_zpshs6dlwml.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160814_102032_zpshs6dlwml.jpg.html)

Shortened the end links a bit after this, but you get the idea!

[e-at]

Got a set of alloys off a mate and started cleaning them up ready for some semi-slicks

This is one mounted on my super expensive custom wheel lathe (Worksafe need not apply):

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20160131_152208_zpsrpkdqshu.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160131_152208_zpsrpkdqshu.jpg.html)

And progress! Background is before; foreground is after sanding through to 2000 grit:

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20160131_074344_zpsfuvttzaa.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160131_074344_zpsfuvttzaa.jpg.html)

Don't mind the toes haha. Next will be back on the "lathe" and onto polishing with some compound. Then who knows? Maybe the centres will get some love with a bit of colour...

Aaaaand the finished product – after a few hours of applying polish, very sore fingers and a fresh coat of gunmetal grey on the centres:

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20160807_075047_zpstgakfuzm.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160807_075047_zpstgakfuzm.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20160806_171527_zpsigcvit6h.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160806_171527_zpsigcvit6h.jpg.html)

But... semislicks fell through unfortunately. But found some RE001s and Advan AD07s which will hopefully provide some semblance of grip at least as good or better than my old tyres!

[e-at]

After doing a few autokhanas with a local car club I stared looking for ways to decrease times with my limited budget. I began thinking of ways to increase acceleration and thought of reducing the rolling diameter of my wheels i.e. going to a lower profile tyre or even going to 13 inch wheels. The other option was to change the final drive ratio.
After confirming the civic’s FD ratio was 3.866:1, I pulled the gearbox off a spare DA1 engine I had stored in the shed ready to clean up and count ratios before swapping in. Turns out the Integra box had a final drive of 4.066:1. Enough of a difference to bother with? Maybe. So out with the box ready for the Integra one to go in

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20160612_091020_zpsjwid6kd0.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160612_091020_zpsjwid6kd0.jpg.html)

Dirty box out, clean one ready to go in!

So once everything was back together and after topping up the gearbox fluid I gave the old bread van a wash and a test drive which has proved to show a nice improvement in gear ratios even from a quick zip around at town speeds.

[e-at]

New exhaust system… "what size exhaust piping should I use? posts on the interwebz" a topic fraught with extremes of opinion ranging from deep scientifically backed up and measured data, to "my mate said 5 inch piping equals 500hp easy" which doesn't really help the average guy who wants to balance power output, noise, cost and not to mention the evil foe (or is it best-friend?) back pressure! I decided upon 2.5 inch in the end which still fits easily, doesn't cost much more that 2 or 2.25 inch, looks tough, hopefully still muffles some dB and sure won’t restrict the power output.

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20161009_180521_zpsjmgbtgwa.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20161009_180521_zpsjmgbtgwa.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20161009_180559_zpsiuxuk21n.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20161009_180559_zpsiuxuk21n.jpg.html)

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20161009_180538_zpsxi64edhv.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20161009_180538_zpsxi64edhv.jpg.html)

Have gone with an 18" hotdog as shown along with a straight through 16" rear muffler. Going to be loud, but earplugs are cheap right?!

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20161011_182400_zpsdcaeryfl.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20161011_182400_zpsdcaeryfl.jpg.html)

2.5” Redback megaflow offset/centre straight-through muffler 8x4x16". Probably should have gone with a baffled or chambered one (not actually sure of the difference between those two) but will give it a go.
Ended up going with twin tips (1.75 inch up from 1.5 inch). Keeps the whole thing very standard-looking. Even found some chrome tips to add too! This is the new axle-back next to the original.

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20161026_175350_zpsyyczywis.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20161026_175350_zpsyyczywis.jpg.html)

I know that the benefits of mandrel bends are probably offset by the number of joins, each with potential weld penetrations inside the piping, not to mention cheap mandrel bends not maintaining perfect cross section throughout their entire length. But I really wanted to have a go myself. I must say it's not as easy as I thought it would be! The amount of issues you have to keep in mind is huge. Cutting bends at the right angle, getting lengths correct and rotations of various bends right at each join is tricky. As well as making sure that you clear everything on the underside of the car, including moving suspension parts! But hopefully the finished product is satisfactory! I now know why good fabricators charge an arm and a leg... and they have my respect!

The money shot, sorta… bit wonky:

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20161116_182313_zpsrdc3l7rg.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20161116_182313_zpsrdc3l7rg.jpg.html)

Ended up going sans-cat for now. Has a nice note to it. Semi-loud outside, surprisingly quiet and not droney (is that a word?) inside. Wishing there was a bit of crackle on the overrun, but I guess the hot dog removes that... so much quieter than I was expecting which makes me happy.

Twin tips need shortening and tweaking a bit and need a shorter rubber hanger for one end of the rear muffler as it sits a bit crooked, so will tackle soon. Was chuffed that I found a pair of chrome tips a little larger but similar to the originals which finish it off nicely.

[e-at]

After all that I bought the civic a little present:

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn298/geno_555/Mobile%20Uploads/20160910_145318_zpsn5yalejb.jpg (http://s307.photobucket.com/user/geno_555/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160910_145318_zpsn5yalejb.jpg.html)

Which almost brings the story up to date. Have been collecting parts like axles and mounts, stripped the donor of it's running gear and trying to figure out how I'll tackle things like the hydraulic clutch conversion and the wiring! Fun times:cool:

[beeza]

Wow busy,very good read.

[SHOGUNOVDDRK]

I
Love
Your
Thread.

That looks like a genuine foglight switch.

I'm sure with Iain and Michael local the B-swap will be a sinch.

Sent from my SM-G925I using Tapatalk

[NervD]

This is a treasure.

I cant wait to see what you do to it.

From what i have seen i am sure it will be tasteful.

[Austro]

Wheels suit it. Surprised you didn't go for a smaller exhaust though, but not a biggie since you're going B now haha.

[Jasemas]

Dis gonna be good!

[markismaximus]

Nice find mate, this thing looks immaculate. Keen to follow the build so provide updates

[e-at]

Cheers guys! The phone camera photos are actually quite flattering to the old bus!


I
Love
Your
Thread.

That looks like a genuine foglight switch.

I'm sure with Iain and Michael local the B-swap will be a sinch.

Sent from my SM-G925I using Tapatalk

They're good blokes. Have checked out Ian's B series car and made some notes. Super keen to get into the swap! Pretty sure the fog switch will go unnoticed except for an absolute honda nut.


Wheels suit it. Surprised you didn't go for a smaller exhaust though, but not a biggie since you're going B now haha.

It's funny how quiet the 2.5 inch exhaust is with the ZC. Hopefully it doesn't howl too loud when in vtec with the B16 :cool:

[e-at]

Have recently pulled the interior apart and begun pulling the ZC from the civic. Anyone want a ZC? These cars are so unpopular/rare that no one knows what it is or wants to modify them! Would prefer a local buyer, but could possibly put it on a pallet for someone interstate... and no it won't bolt into an EG...