CX-Adam

Just be aware that your speedometer will be slightly off. Your VSS doesn't know you're turning a larger wheel when it's measuring the differential RPM.

DumpdEJ6

Thanks for the tip, I will adjust my speedometer to match whatever my GPS says. Anyone know a better way to adjust the speedometer besides what I do? (Take the speedo needle off, drive 60mph according to the gps, then stick it back on) I mean, it works, but it's kind of a pain in the *** to get it back on exactly right, usually takes a few tries...it's my suspension's fault, lol. Stiff suspension + trying to stick a needle on a tiny shaft while maintaining perfect speed = not easy.

Badcopyinc

if you can get your hands on a signal generator or know someone who has one ask them to put you ten mph under.

if you lived close to my shop i would tell you to stop in with the cluster already pulled and i would do it. we'd crank it up to 60 then adjust to where you want pretty much.

i always take my clusters out and adjust my gas needle to read empty when i still have 1/8th left.

DumpdEJ6

I have since "adjusted" it by removing the needle, driving at a steady 60mph and then sticking the needle back on. Pretty low-tech, but I've checked my speed via GPS at multiple ranges of speeds and it seems to be pretty accurate. Although once I get new tires I'll probably take your advice, Badcopyinc.

So I figured I'd take my own advice and update this more than twice a year, I'll show what I did next. At this point, the stock headlights had started getting hazy again after I polished them, and I wanted to get some CTR headlights anyway. Then I got stuck on doing a custom HID retrofit, which I was NOT going to do to $1200 headlights, so I bought some CTR replica headlights from eBay. Having had "ebay china special" headlights before, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the beam pattern, it's a little scattered but I would say about 85% as good as OEM headlights.

Old and meh headlights



New and shiny headlights:







I NEEDED the eyelids back on, so I went back to the tint guy who did them originally and he redid them, but a little larger, which I like even better. Then I decided to get a little ricey and installed LED strips inside them, behind the eyelids so they were hidden. I love them and most everyone seems to like them as well, but I'd welcome any opinions from you guys.




It's hard to get good pictures of them because just like my wheels, the purple doesn't seem to come out as well in photos as it does IRL. Rest assured, they are not as pink as they appear to be here, they are a nice solid purple and IMO look amazingly mean at night parked at a meet. I can have them on along with my headlights, but you can't even tell they are on until I turn the headlights off.

I also went full retard and installed some LED strips under the dash for that inclusive Fast and Furious feel. On a side note, I desperately need to get some better seats. Jesus Christ there is zero lateral support in stock 96-00 seats.




This is what I *was* greeted by (when I was using a car cover) every weekend when I unlocked her to go tear the streets up. Now there's no car cover so it's not as "ominous" a sight.

DumpdEJ6

Then I got tired of popping the hood and seeing that old stripped valve cover, so I figured it was time to freshen up the bay a little.

I ground down the "H" and "Honda Motor Co." to shave the VC a little bit. I debated on doing a full shave, but the DOHC VTEC is just so iconic to "performance Honda" that I couldn't bring myself to do it.




And a little before and after: (don't mind the missing VC nut, I broke the stud and have since installed a new one and a nut)





By the way, to put a little more "tech" in the thread, here is a super simple solution to keep your sexy little Skunk2 VC retainers from seeping oil.

Get new, slightly thicker o-rings, then put a little RTV on the retainers.




Let it set up for 15 minutes and then install everything. Wipe off the excess RTV that gets squished up from the screws. That's it! I loved the look of the retainers but I hated the seepage. After using thicker o-rings and it not helping, I tried a little RTV and the VC has been oil free since.

DumpdEJ6

This last update will bring us..well, up to date. This is the latest modification I have done, and one that I like the most.



I’ve wanted a rear diffuser for a long time, but I couldn’t find one I really liked online. Plus, I didn’t have the money to overnight parts from Japan, so…I embarked on a quest to build my own, having almost no idea what I was doing.



I started with cardboard to cut and tape into a template.





Once I had that pretty much to my liking, I sourced a 4x8 sheet of 1/8” thick ABS plastic from a local place for $60. I started cutting out the fins, I decided to have 6 of them to help keep the air nice and straight exiting the vehicle. Fin placement was tricky, as I knew I was going to have to have a huge gap on the right hand side for the muffler to rest.




Once I had them all cut out, I clamped them together in a vice to grind them flush with each other. BTW I did this whole project with a heat gun, a grinder with a metal cutting wheel, a drill, and a rivet gun. Not exactly high tech!





I wasn’t sure how exactly I was actually going to attach the fins, I knew I wanted it to have as little obstruction as possible on the underside. I eventually came up with the idea of cutting long slits in the undertray and then attaching the fins on the top at predetermined heights to keep them all level. I then had to fabricate 90 degree brackets to hold the fins. Well, I didn’t HAVE to, but I wanted to use the ABS material for it and I also was doing this on a very tight budget. So what I ended up doing was cutting 1½”x3” strips of ABS, scoring them down the middle with the grinder wheel, then clamping them in the vice, heating them with the heat gun, folding them over to a 90 degree bend, holding them in place on the fins while drilling them for rivets, then riveting them on.

4 brackets per fin, x6…24 little brackets, x 2 holes per bracket, = 48 near misses of my fingertips with the drill whilst desperately gripping them in place. This part took a while.









Here it is in its un-attached glory. There was still a lot of work to do getting it attached to the car, then cutting out space for the muffler.





Test fitment.





I wanted it to be removable so no rivets attaching it. I used body panel hardware at first like it shows here, then ended up using those little plastic push pin things that hold down plastic interior panels and carpet and stuff.





Attached.





Then I really needed to put my muffler back on because it was loud as **** with just straight pipe and the one Yonaka inline resonator. But I didn’t want to put the Yonaka muffler back on because of how big it was and how much I would have to cut the diffuser. I ended up buying an 18” “muffler” that is really just a resonator and had it welded on to the end of the exhaust. I was really worried about how it would sound with basically just two resonators in a straight pipe, but honestly…I ******* LOVE it. It is louder than before, but the second resonator really mellowed it out from just straight pipe BRAAAAAPing. It pops and burbles, with a very deep tone up until around 4k, then it just gets angry and shrieks, crackles in between shifts occasionally, and just all around sounds awesome. It reminds me of an 80’s purpose built racecar, as silly as that sounds.

I needed to fabricate a heat shield because I was worried about the ABS sagging from the heat, so I got a small sheet of very thin stainless steel at my local hardware store and drilled and screwed it to the “muffler”, leaving about ¼”- ½” of air space around it to act as an insulator.





In order to cut as little as possible to the diffuser, I bent and folded the heat shield where it comes through, and painted it with high-temp header paint. The exhaust shop gave me a little piece of tubing to use as a tip for now, I will eventually replace it with more stylish tip.







Well, that brings us pretty much up to date! Funds permitting, I’m planning on several possibilities for the next update. I’m either going to do a custom HID retrofit, professionally plasti-dip the whole car so I can stop trying to get the paint perfect which it will NEVER be, or upgrade the tires to R888s. Money is tight so that might be a while. Let me know what you think! I’ll throw some more pictures on here later of the overall car as it sits instead of these bits and pieces of it.

tony_2018

Nicely done.

jdblock

Sick!

petr0lb0mb

This is better than binge-watching Sopranos. Nice work!

DumpdEJ6

Thank you! It's been a lot of time, sweat, money, and sacrifice, but I love it.

Aaaaand I just realized I sound like a parent. lmao

CX-Adam

94 Civic Si

Dude!

94 Civic Si

Okay, I won't go quoting entire posts, but I love those wheels. I would like to find some for my little EH3 some day. I probably wouldn't go so wide that I need to roll the lip, but close. And I love the color...

I had the GSR tranny in mine, hated the 5th gear RPM on the interstate b/c I was going between Denver and New Mexico and was rolling 80+ MPH most of the time. LS tranny is mo betta, GSR tranny plus LS 5th would probably be the best option.

jdblock

Wondering how you're going to top that diffuser.

DumpdEJ6

If you hated the GSR transmission, you'd loathe the B16. In my head, I know that this engine can take sustained 4k rpm. But in my heart, it hurts me a little. Plus it's annoying that I can't really cruise at anything over 70mph. 80mph and we're getting close to VTEC at 4800. Hopefully the new tires I get at some point will mitigate that somewhat.



Me too, lol. Next plan is to add a splitter in the front that extends back to where the diffuser stops, essentially making a full flat bottom.

94 Civic Si

I am doing a very conservative quote, so as not to draw the ire of @CX-Adam

First, holy sheep **** - I cannot believe those springs. The ride must have been awful! Do you still like the suspension set up you chose?

Again, I really dig that color. I have always liked the Rota Grid V wheel, that color sets them off with the black... If I end up with some $ to play with I could see doing a 15x7. Is the +20 an offset to get them flush? I do not want to roll wheel lips. I would also want to find a tire that gives a little shoulder out beyond the wheel lip. A friend at work got a wheel/tire combo like what you have pictures and has ground quite a bit of lip off his wheels. They look 'spensive (BMW).

Nice work!

94 Civic Si

Kitties make the best engines. Loki looks to be quite skilled...

94 Civic Si

I remember when you told me that story when I was crying about my head gasket. I really appreciate the encouragement! https://honda-tech.com/forums/engine.../#post51228317

DumpdEJ6

They do, and he is! He takes after his dad.

No problem man, we all have setbacks. I've had at least my fair share, although sometimes it feels like more than my fair share, lol.

DumpdEJ6

Had a small whoopsie on the highway yesterday driving to a friends house to help out with his brakes. I don't know what exactly it was that I hit, all I know is it was about 3" tall and that's about 2" too tall, lol. I think it might have been one of those big rubber weights that they put on the traffic barrels to weigh them down and keep them from moving, but there wasn't a barrel in sight so IDK for sure. It was dark grey and the road was dark grey so I didn't see it until I was right up on it, no time to swerve. I already ordered another Chargespeed replica lip. I still stand fully by my decision to only use replica lips after looking up the price for a legit Chargespeed...$1,080. Are you shitting me?? That's for trailer queens and show cars. No way in hell I'm putting over $1000 one inch from the ground and driving around.

Anyway, I have actually been wanting to replace the lip for a while now, I wasn't perfectly happy with the way I had the old one mounted. Luckily there was very little damage to the actual bumper, there is a 6" crack in the bottom of it but the lip will go on over that part anyway so I'm not too worried about it. Stay tuned, this new lip will have some extra modifications to it...

jdblock

Oh snap!

DumpdEJ6

Yeah that's pretty much the noise it made.

kingcdk87

Awesome build !

DumpdEJ6

Thanks!