EP3 Type R

**doosra** · 09-09-2013 10:41 PM

Originally Posted by LD_Mart

15,990ono
yeh probs just a hard time to sell a car, its a pretty specific market but was hoping to have more interest in it.
Theres only 3 cheaper in sydney and one has no air con, the other 2 have more kms and are only 15,500

Yea I've been monitoring car sales just to know how easy it is to sell but seems like its quiet tough at the moment and value is dropping... And since I've spent so much on mods, I may as well keep it for a while until they get fairly cheap that there's lots more interest

**charliebrown** · 09-09-2013 10:41 PM

way too many shitty EP3s out there ruining the market

most buyers dont even care about accident history or genuine kms anymore

was trying to sell my daily for a long time. kept having people tell me they can buy a sportivo for the same price. told them to stop wasting my time and buy it then.

just be patient, if your car is actually clean, hopefully someone will appreciate it and pay top dollar

**Adam_NA** · 10-09-2013 12:07 AM

Hi, I bought an EP3 last week, got delivered today

I bought it from my brother, he had only had it for a few months but reckoned it was the most fun car he's owned.

Unfortunately the reason I was able to buy it from him was that someone smashed one of the back windows a couple of weeks ago and torched it

Looks like it was mainly the seat fabric in the back that went up, luckily the fire brigade got there about two minutes after a guy walking his dog noticed it was on fire. A lot of the interior plastics are toast, rear seat is stuffed and most of the fabric on the back of the Recaros, plus some of the front fabric, windscreen cracked from heat and some of the thin plastic bits in the front warped a bit, the cup holder next to the drivers door is completely melted for some reason when it was nowhere near the fire haha.

I've given it a scrub inside today, I think a lot of the undamaged panels will need a bit more elbow grease to get smoke stains out. That might not be a huge deal though because it was deemed a total loss, so I can't reregister it anyway.

I do have a plan though... Obviously the chances of finding an EP3 shell with a dead motor are kind of slim, so I'll have to put the K20A in something else. My heart kind of wants an EK, but everyone has one of them. Same with DC2 and DC5 Integras, plus I'm kind of after something that won't attract too much attention these days, I've had imports pretty much constantly the last ten years. I was thinking about finding a nice straight manual Accord Euro, my brother had one a few years ago and it was a nice car, very nice interior, and I could use the engine to turn it into a replica Accord Euro-R, I haven't really seen that done here before, or I could use the head to have a Euro with a Frankenstein. I'm not sure how you'd go trying to use the Civic box and LSD in the wider Accord though, whether the Accord driveshafts would work or if it would need custom ones etc, plus the chances of being able to use everything else like the suspension and brakes might be low.

Then it hit me... If I use an Australian delivered EU-1 5 door, I'd basically be using a slightly longer EP3, and as such pretty much everything ought to fit in it. A bit of research seems to suggest that the entire subframe can go from the EP3 into an EU-1 and pretty much the only thing that needs changing is I believe the gearbox mount because the K series and D series rotate in opposite directions and therefore sit on opposite sides of the engine bay, but it should be easy enough to cut it out and buy a new one from the US, or possibly cut the one out of the EP3 and use that, I'm not entirely sure yet. I should also be able to pretty much bolt the suspension and brakes straight in, I think I'd just have to swap the looms and might be able to get away with extending the exhaust for the longer EU-1... I've got the standard exhaust from the EP3 and also a custom one from Exhaust Technology thats only a couple of months old, they look like theres not a lot of stuff protruding under the car for the exhaust to bend around, so adding a few inches in the middle might work.

As well as using all the mechanicals, I'm hoping I can also use the front and rear bumper extensions, the front grille, hopefully the mirrors and the centre console which somehow doesn't seem to have any heat related damage which is great because I don't think the EU-1 has anything down between the seats aside from the handbrake. Its a pity the sideskirts won't fit though

Hopefully I should end up with something like this

Which looks a lot better than the standard EU-1.

I'm hoping to get cracking on this in November, I've got a lot of uni work to do before then, and once thats done I need to pull the turbo kit, coilovers etc out of my MX5 Clubman so I can sell it and all its parts so I won't feel guilty about building the Civic. I've sunk a lot of time and money into the MX5 but I've barely driven it in the last few years so... time to go

I've also got a mint DR30 Skyline, but thats staying, I like the idea of having two of the most interesting 2 litre 4 cylinder engines to have come out of Japan, with the FJ20ET and the K20A

Can't wait to feel some NA throttle response

**NightRyder** · 10-09-2013 06:58 PM

Adam, good luck with the project man, would be interested to see the progress and the final frankenstein...

But most importantly, finish your uni work first.

**LD_Mart** · 10-09-2013 07:37 PM

Out of interest sake, does an aussie EU front bumper fit on EP3. Obviously the front spoiler doesn't come on an EU bumper but can you just attach it later?

**viett** · 10-09-2013 07:49 PM

If you plan on parting out the car, letme know yeah?

And I think the previous owner also posted on this thread, so unfortunate

**u mad?** · 10-09-2013 08:55 PM

just part it out and make some dosh

**Adam_NA** · 10-09-2013 09:16 PM

I have plenty of dosh lol. I know I could make a couple of grand parting it out but I'd like to have a car thats comfortable, reliable and fun for once, and hatchbacks seem to be just about the only cars that have enough headroom for me. My head is against the hardtop in the MX5 even with half the foam cut out of the seat, I have to tilt it to the side to fit in the DR30 and I pretty much can't fit in dads NSXR, even Falcons and other cars that you think ought to have some room aren't great, but hatches pretty much always fit for some reason. I had Jap import Charades for a while, a GTti and a Detomaso and then later a locally delivered 5 door G102 hatch that had the bigger engine from an Applause fitted, thats the car that I miss the most, and I think if I do this it will have the same things I liked about that, just be a lot faster, sharper and nicer inside (although I think EU's are only about half as nice inside as EP3's).

I'm half thinking about a FD2R replica because the FD2 Sport was sold here with a cooking spec K20 so it would be realllly easy to stick the one I have in it, but they're not a hatchback and they're still about twice the price of an EU