TracerAcer2.2L

***Forward***

I'm tired of seeing the same tired builds over and over AND OVER again. Airwalker/C-West/OEM bumper, championship white, Volks or Rotas over Spoon calipers, B or K swap.....I don't care how "clean" they are, they are all basically the same. That was the original inspiration for this build.

I desire to give God glory in every aspect of my life, including my car building, by creating a marvel of simple yet superlative performance and unique beauty, thus representing the unique beauty and talents in each of us when one comes to know Christ.

It doesn't look like much in the beginning, but join me in watching this car make its transformation from rice to perfection.- STH



Introduction:

Hey Honda-Tech, TracerAcer here. I've been a long time lurker, and have gained a vast wealth of knowledge by searching old threads for the past couple years. So, seeing as my car is about to be running and tuned soon, I decided to finally register and create a build thread to show y'all what you've been missing out on, and unknowingly helping me with for some time.

I'll start from the beginning. I didn't grow up with cars. My mother drove a Ford Taurus, and when I would see my dad, he would be driving some old work truck. No one I knew had an awesome car, either. Awesome trucks? It's Texas, of course, there's the best trucks in the world here. But in my small town of Uvalde, the best eye candy you'll get is a G'd out Mustang or primered Civic with a homemade exhaust.

All this changed when I went to college though, and first laid eyes on the Mazda RX-8. I'll never forget the first car I drooled over; it was the one definitive moment where my passion began. But alas, the RX-8 was well beyond my grasp, with it's well over 20k price tag. I was crushed, though not for long, as I soon had my sights set on a more reasonable car: the Honda Civic. Why this car? Well, haven't you seen The Fast & The Furious?

After dropping out of college and getting hired in the oil field (college is way too much debt that I don't need), I soon found a 1996 Civic Ex in my posession, complete with an H series swap. I had no idea what the H series was, or what any Honda motor was for that matter; all I know is that thing MOVED. After only having it for a few months, and driving it only a few times, I decided, without doing any research whatsoever, that the time had come to "supe" it up. As you vetrans already know, bad idea. I soon removed the motor, and the car remained on stands for a whole year as I aquired parts and planned and re-planned my build. Thankfully, publications like Honda Tuning started to give me some sort of direction, and I found that valuable information was to be found on great forums such as this one.

Now, after two years of much research, planning, and work, my build is finally going in the direction I envision. So, without further ado, my H-swapped Civic.


Edit: It is worthy of note that I will be completing this build in three different "stages".
Stage 1: Get the car street presentable. Get the motor running good with a strong tune, new exterior paint and body panels, occasional suspension/interior upgrades. New wheel setup is also in the works.

Stage 2: New suspension, bucket seats, new transmission (which will not be revealed at this time), repaint interior and engine bay. Aero upgrades (J's fenders and possibly a wing?).

Stage 3: Pull the motor for the sickest street N/A build.

TracerAcer2.2L

Yep, that's it. Some no-name, Buddy Club-style body kit and Feel's style wing, with 17" Tenzo R's (crummy american made wheels, from what I understand). Oh, lets not forget it's lowered on some no-name coilovers and camber kits, too. Unfortunately, I don't have any more pics of the car with the bumper still on and not on jack stands...er...wait a sec...is that unfortunate? I for one will not miss the look.

The shifter had on some weird short shifter attachment and so the plastic piece that goes around it would not fit. You aren't missing much by not seeing the interior, just OEM everything stained by having to take your kids everywhere in it.
Whoever did the swap before me did an "ok" job, you just wouldn't know it because the owner let it go to waste. I believe it was leaking some oil from the valve cover, distributor, and possibly EGR.
Please excuse picture quality, I took these off a crummy phone a couple years ago, they get better (a little).

TracerAcer2.2L

First order of business: take the motor out. NOT. If you are new to this, I highly suggest that you do other modifications first if at all possible. Why? Well, in my case, I took the motor out, and having no real certain plan or direction, it stayed out for over a year, while I could have been actually enjoying driving my car. I should have started small. And from what I've seen of the new guys on here, I should think that would do them well too
And check out that bay....

TracerAcer2.2L

Over the next several months (May '12-Feb '13) I focused on cleaning the interior and engine bay as well as save and buy some parts. Pictured is a Rywire proportioning valve relocation kit and Competition Clutch 10lb steel flywheel and stage 2 clutch. I'll be really transparent with y'all, and tell you that that was not the first clutch flywheel combo I bought. I first bought a ClutchMasters clutch/flywheel....for a D-series. Can you say newb? I still have that combo BTW...hint hint...
I unfortunately couldn't dig up any pics of the "good" paint job in the bay, but thats ok as y'all will see it later when I took the engine out a SECOND time.

TracerAcer2.2L

Here you can see I stripped the interior and painted. My only regret is not taking the sound deadening material off, but oh well, the interior will be re-stripped and painted in stage 2 of the build anyway. Believe it or not, I actually just painted with Duplicolor and Rustoleum clear coat, and for the price I definitely couldn't be happier. But this is no budget build, and will be redone properly in due time.
Oh, and happened to dig up a lil' pic of the bay, too
During this time I also sent my harness to Swap Shop Racing so they could make me a new one. The swap was a little sketch, so I wanted to make sure I had my bases covered. But for $445, do yourself a favor and just buy a good tucked harness from WireWorx or Rywire.

TracerAcer2.2L

Ok, if you've read this far, congratulations, you've made it to the juicy part! In November '12, Skunk2 had a special for Thanksgiving (I believe). Buy a certain dollar amount of their parts, and be in a drawing for one of ten "golden tickets." "Well I got a golden ticket!" (singing)(thanks God ). The golden ticket let you have....a rediculously large percentage off of one total purchase, I think like 40%. So I bought cam gears, shift ****, short shifter, K2H and K2B adapters and some other junk, and got my cams basically for free
One thing I can say I did do good back then was purchase those cams. They are just Tuner 1's, but a drop in cam making 10-15 HP? Yes please.
Also got a KaizenSpeed manual tensioner...
Cams were installed with Torco MPZ lubricant

TracerAcer2.2L

The same day I installed the cams, I also installed a new water pump, Gates Racing timing belt, and the crank pulley spacer from a KaizenSpeed balance shaft elimination kit, and just took off the belt. You'd be surprised how heavy that little gear pulley for the balance shafts is...
Also installed but not pictured is a UR underdrive pulley with the grooves for PS, I thought I would keep PS but decided recently to ditch it.
And theres a pic of the nasty lookin' motor installed.... it is, however, supported by Innovative black anodized mounts and utilizes Innovatives H-swap axles.
P.S.: I know I didn't set the motor to TDC for the cam install. I was still quite newbish. Thankfully, when I did put it on TDC after install, they were DEAD ON. But as much as I wish I could take credit for this great feat, I'm gonna have to swallow my pride, thank God, and move on. Just enjoy the pretty pics and flame me in a PM

TracerAcer2.2L

I first dropped the motor back in the car last year, I think in June/July '13. For the next year I would just buy parts here and there, bought a new truck (Cummins), and worked on the car every now and then. The major buys during this time was all new Downstar hardware, new JDM distributor, new wires, plugs, all new OEM sensors, Skunk2 k-series intake manifold, etc. Now, just recently in April '14, as a precaution of course, and to set the motor to TDC, I naturally went to turn the engine over by hand a couple times. This is where I found out I had to pull the motor again. Remember I told you you'd get to see the bay painted! Anyways, I got a quarter rotation on the crank before it just stopped. My heart sunk, and I immediately pulled it to find the culprit. Sure enough, I had installed the flywheel wrong 2 years earlier, and hadn't aligned the crankshaft dowel with the flywheel. That's the last newb thing I did, promise!lol
My spirits raised as I found the easy fix, and the engine was back in its home the following day.
If you're doing a swap this large into a small chassis, do yourself a favor and spend the $35-$50 on an OTC engine leveler. You'll thank yourself.

TracerAcer2.2L

And here is how she currently sits. New additions include new OEM valve cover, EvoInd PCV valve relocator, and Seeker oil cap. Also pictured below is a Vision Technica carbon fiber intake that I got from ICB Around the time of my cam install. It fits great using an S2000 intake tube, just need to make a bracket for it. Below that is a J-Blood bumper, also purchased very recently from ICB ( they were having the $100 gift card deal, and I had my eye on the bumper for a long time so I jumped on it).

TracerAcer2.2L

This may go in the Appearance Builds forum, idk. Mods move it if wanted/needed

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

I would have put it in the age specific forum. Appearance with engine mods seems strange, but that could be a proper place. I can tell you Hybrid engines refers to something else though. It's like Frankenstein monster motors.

Anyways. I like your build. "Start by taking the motor out. NOT" hahaha. I couldn't agree more. I had my car in my drive way for about 6 months when I did my first swap. I was clueless. But you have to get it under your belt before you can move on.

TracerAcer2.2L

Preach. I'm so glad I'm past that stage now. I mean there's a lot I have to learn, But I'm not clueless, I feel my pasion can really shine now lol. The reason I said appearance, is because I read its rules and it said its for showing "every" aspect of the build, and since "build" is in the forum title, I thought maybe it was specifically for builds. Idk this is prolly the right spot

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

You'll be fine. The mods are good here. If they move it, you'll get a notice and a reason.

As for the motor swap, it's always a pain doing it your first time. I know I spent more time worrying about doing something wrong than trying things. Looking back, it's super easy. Very straight forward. There isn't any magic that goes into it.

Keep posting it up. Your images are a little big, but that could just be my PC.

TracerAcer2.2L

Yeah after taking the engine out and back in a couple times, I think I was only really nervous the first time I took it out. Gotta start somewhere right. And yeah I think the pics are big, I have no idea why though, I'm not really a computer wiz. But looking at this on the mobile site on my phone, they all look perfect size on here

wutthebun

iTrader: (2)

wow nice parts! very detailed... keep up the good work!

TracerAcer2.2L

Thank you sir!

TracerAcer2.2L

Mini update: Desmond Regamaster Evos and 4x114.3 ITR lug swap are in transit to me right now. Actually, the Evos should be here already, but I won't be back from work for a couple days. I got the Desmonds from Skidmarks Wheel and Tire, and let me tell you these wheels are very good condition. I had a very good experience with Skidmarks, and will recommend them to anyone looking for old school rare wheels. I purchased the lug conversion from JSHMotors, whom I also had a good experience with. Fast and helpful customer service and a pretty low price compared to what I was seeing on eBay

wutthebun

iTrader: (2)

holy crap, you are doing 4x114 conversion as well? same as me!

TracerAcer2.2L

No way?! We're like twinsies! Jk. But for real that's cool. It's not a popular swap, mind telling me your reasoning? Or have you answered that in your build thread lol. I'm swapping because those wheels were gotta-have, and came in the uncommon 4x114 config

wutthebun

iTrader: (2)

i am originally from the "accord" community & they have alot of better deals for 4x114, better offsets, & biggest factor for choosing this was still utilizing the same hub hearings & pad as the regular integra dc brakes.

TracerAcer2.2L

Ah cool. Wonder if there is any performance benefit over 4x100? Seems like moving the lugs out farther would affect performance, I don't know if it would be positive or negative though.....

So, work has been crazy, after working for 12 days I got to come home for 1 day, and now I'm back at work for another...3 weeks? I did get to unbox my Desmonds though I'll upload pics when I get the chance. Needless to say I won't be getting any work done for some weeks, BUT that just means more funding for parts I guess haha

ShinsenTuner

iTrader: (1)

You get larger front brake rotors and calipers from what I remember (11" rotors? I think so)

TracerAcer2.2L

Oh well yes, of course, it is a "BBK" if you will. But what I mean is, the farther spaced lug bolts (114.3mm) will apply torque differently to the wheel than the smaller (100mm). Seems like that would affect power transfer to the ground, I just don't know how. If I find something out I'll post it up

ShinsenTuner

iTrader: (1)

In theory yes, the increase in length with the applied amount of force will have an increase of torque... however I don't really know if that was the intention since it would be so small (44.3mm x 16 with machinery, design work, short quantities, etc...) but I wouldn't doubt that back then Honda did go the extra mile on things like the ITR.

Bently_Coop

Just read through this. Great start and glad you got that valve cover swapped out. It looks much better.