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Going to keep the introduction short, so basically been in the Honda scene for a about half a year now and this is the first car I've ever modified and been in the "car scene" with.
I've got a 1997 Civic EK Hatch, bought it with an original d16y4 and it all started with the contemplation of an engine swap for a b series, fast forward a couple months later I settled for a Japanese b18c. After some complications and back and forwards, finally got her going on the road and the journey has begun.
Basic specs/mods (sorry I don't know very much but I'm still learning).
Stock, unopened (yet) B18c
S80 gearbox w/ LSD
Cold Air Intake
PLM extractors
2.5" custom exhaust
Hondata s300 v3
Currently making 113KW at the wheels on pump gas
Might be missing some things but you get the gist, basically stock with the basic bolt ons.
Where I'm going with the car? Not entirely sure, for now I definitely know I'm going to do with Honda wanted and that's to keep it the NA and take it to the track (eventually). Rough power figures I'm looking toward getting is a humble 200hp/150KW at the wheels, might consider a turbo build in the future but I might get to that later down the track.
First tune, this was the last run so as to leave the most condensed version of events I've left just this video, but this is what I'm working with.
Finished product, extractors aren't as pretty as they used to be
Pretty much after it was done I road tripped about 100km up the coast with a friend for him to pick up his car from his good friend and mechanic. The trip proved the suspension needed work. The previous owner had chopped the rear springs and had coilovers at the front, which were by no definition of the word "good condition" - in good condition. The ride up was a little bit bouncy and didn't feel 100% nice. I knew the suspension needed work ASAP. Upon inspection of the existing coilovers, there was dried up oil everywhere and I didn't even need the C-spanner to adjust the height, the springs were so loose and the height adjuster thing that needs to usually be turned by the spanner was easily spun with my hands. They needed to go.
I managed to find these online from a local seller who had wrecked his d16 turbo, they were "Drag and Drift" coilovers, neither of which I ever plan on doing (:p), neither even ever heard the brand but I picked them up for $650 and they were in pretty good condition so I had to settle for them seeing as I couldn't afford expensive coilovers just yet. To this day they are holding up ok (touch wood) so I'll ride them out till I need to replace them and then hopefully put up some money for a set of Tein or Yellow Speed Racing coilovers.
The trip down the coast also revealed my front tyres were on the brink of doom. Long story short they needed to go.
Picked up a set of cheap Federal 595-R semi-slick tyres that were on special. Fitted both front ones for only $230, left the back as they are although now I wish I had gotten all 4 done. Will eventually go back for the back 2 and rotate the front, but the difference in grip was definitely immediately noticeable.
Next up was the necessity for a bigger exhaust. Went to an exhaust shop the mechanic who fitted my engine had recommended. Met with a really nice guy who looked at my car and gave me a quote. Long story short, 2 weeks later I drove out with a new exhaust my car could better breathe with (or exhaust). Had some serious issues with backfiring/bogging. To this day I'm still not sure what the issue was but my mechanic sorted it out and (touch wood) car is a lot more happy.
Basic bay picture, it's pretty bland but I'm hoping I can get around to prettying it up later down the road.
Felt like the back tended to whip out a little around long corners, I thought it was time for some suspension bits. Had an ASR sub-frame and 24mm sway bar installed. Had already done coilovers previously but the handling difference was intense compared to the no sub-frame feel I had before. Feel like I can go around pretty sharp corners with minimal breaking.
That's all for now. Next up will be injectors and a bigger/better fuel pump, I'm not entirely sure if some of the d16 bits were re-used for the new set up (as far as I know the d16 injectors were) so I definitely wanna smooth out the little bits that need to be fixed up. Also will be getting a short shifter ASAP for shorter and more smoother shifting :D - had one on my d series but I'm assuming it was trashed when the b-series shifter was installed.
I'm now tossing up between upgraded intake (ITBs or IM + TB) or working on the head - porting and installing some new springs and retainers.
Will be updating this thread/post regularly!
Last edited by ekr.; 05-15-2016 at 05:57 AM.
Reason: fixed pic
Looking good and love the way your going with this, N/A FTW.
But damn how come you dont do the work yourself on that beast?
Oh, and whats your wheel and tire specs? hehe.
It would be my dream if i could work on it myself, unfortunately I am not quite confident enough or know enough to do the work myself. I would prefer to pay for a professional to do it at this stage but I am hoping at some stage to buy a shell and completely build it myself down the track and hopefully I will learn.
Tyre specs are 195/50/15 (not sure if that means anything to you in American specs). They are quite small actually but nobody is complaining about cheap tyres #15inchlyf
The wheels came with the car i believe they are 15x8 +25 with 4x100 stud pattern
Same specs on back and front, front just look a little beefier because they are slicks.
Purchased a set of Hasport motor mounts and had them installed
The new chassis/motor stiffness is amazing. Shifting feels a lot smoother and it almost feels like vtec comes on a bit harder.
This is probably due to the extra stiffness.
In other news i also had a full sound system installed. This is probably one of my regrets. The system is great but in retrospect the money could have been used on more mods.
You live you learn I guess! Still excellent for late night/early morning cruises so I'll take it :b
Have seen a set of OEM injectors around from different sellers priced at $50 a set. Most have been pulled out in lieu of upgrade and look quite beat up.
I was pretty set on getting some good condition OEM ones but I guess they probably don't exist unless I go to Honda.
I will be picking up some K-tuned 410cc injectors for $435 in the next couple weeks and hopefully shortly followed by a 255lph fuel pump and new fuel rails.
Have also been offered a set of near new grams 550cc injectors that are up for sale for $150 due to the seller selling his civic and never installing them. Will require new o-rings though and I would want to get genuine ones from grams for this application and me and patience unfortunately dont go together since they are all on back order and out of stock.
Also hate private sales I've always preferred paying a little more for peace of mind but I could probably save a lot if I bought these and had them installed
113WHp is low for a Type R motor. A general ref would be 20% lesser than the advertised BHP figures.
Different dyno's measure differently but generally if you follow the above you will be close to a realistic figure.
If your not chasing numbers and dont mind the loud induction sound then I would go for the ITB's with a set of big cams. You will love the throttle response and the driveability.
Make sure you get it tuned on a dyno by someone who knows what they are doing. Do it right the 1st time, will save you a lot of time and money.
113WHp is low for a Type R motor. A general ref would be 20% lesser than the advertised BHP figures.
Different dyno's measure differently but generally if you follow the above you will be close to a realistic figure.
If your not chasing numbers and dont mind the loud induction sound then I would go for the ITB's with a set of big cams. You will love the throttle response and the driveability.
Make sure you get it tuned on a dyno by someone who knows what they are doing. Do it right the 1st time, will save you a lot of time and money.
Jignesh
It's 113 kw not hp so if I'm not mistaken it's about 150hp atw which sounds about right. Stock ones are about 200hp/147KW but I'm assuming this is at the engine and not to the road. Power is lost through the drive train?
I love induction noise, I will be stripping out the interior at some point so I'm ready for noise hahaha and I'm all for throttle response.
I'll most likely start with valvetrain and head work. Probably purchase a set of dual springs and titanium retainers.
Update: Will be purchasing 410cc K-tuned RDX injectors and Fuel Pump and will be having them installed by 21/4 (or 4/21 for the Americans). Stoked and can't wait to finally get the shitty d16 reused injectors out of there.
Will talk to the mechanic about what he thinks the next best route to go is, might do a lighter fly-wheel or upgrade valvetrain after (springs/retainers). Will also be doing a service to change out fluids and get everything bled and topped up. I know the last guy used quite thick oil so interested to see how it will run with thinner 5-40 or 10-40 oil.
So I purchased a K-Tuned short shifter last weekend, will be installing it this weekend.
Can't wait to drive it with the new shifter on, I imagine it's gonna change the whole driving experience with a shorter throw.
Photos of it on the car to come this weekend.
Still need to get around to doing the injectors. My clutch is also due to come out it seems to get jammed and not release gears sometimes. Will probably do a lighter flywheel while I'm at it ($$$ ).
Haven't posted in a while - have been busy with work and other duties.
Did get around to installing the shifter though, feels like a sequential box now compared to the old shifter. It definitely changed the driving experience.
Also sits nicely at the new height compared to where it was. Gear **** also fit and looks a lot nicer. Will hopefully get a lighter one down the road but it will do for now. But god damn that steering wheel is ugly. Hoping to pick up an AP1 S2000 wheel or a momo soon. Not overly urgent but will depend on what my budget looks like and whether or not I can afford an expensive wheel because I can't justify it for no real gain other than it being more aesthetic to look at.
Picked up some oil temp/pressure gauges this morning at a performance store 1 hour away from my place, was pissing down rain which made the trip less enjoyable but oh well, got them in the end for a good price and the sandwich plate was thrown in as a complimentary. Great guys, thanks Just Jap!
Ended up going down the coast again with a couple of good friends, who introduced me to my now also good friend and mechanic who gave my car some TLC and fixed up some of the rough edges (and also installed the shifter). Found out I will need to replace my tie rods fairly soon as well as there is a lot of play with it.
The trip up the coast was great, I was given a lot of consolidation to my ideas and now know where I am wanting to go with this build.
More to come soon, next up I'm hoping to have the gauges installed, will be purchasing an oil cooler and replacing my dizzy cap and spark leads.
I want to get OEM Honda leads but they are so expensive here, tossing up whether or not to get the NGK Blues or paying the premium on OEM ones. If anyone has an opinion on this please feel free to let me know what they think. I'm not looking or any power or necessarily the so called "better spark" rather just for daily and occasional track use. I'm not longer hunting for more power so it'll still be the relatively stock set up.
Quick update - agrh so facebook has decided to delete all my photos so unfortunately most of it went with it.
Can't be bothered re-uploading at this point so if you're not up to speed you're going to have to read
Updates for this month:
Power Steering - Wasn't really planning on this but happened to find a completed ek4 set up so hoping this will bolt up ok to my engine and everything. Managed to measure up/check the engine mount/bracket seems to fit up well. Hoping to get it on as soon as possible
Doesn't look too shabby, I'm hoping everything will fit up ok.
Gauges gauges gauges!!!! I got an oil temp gauge and pressure gauge. Extremely excited to get these in, waiting for an availability with my friend who looks after my car to come up to be able to get them installed
Absolutely can't wait for these, very excited to be able to monitor temperatures for my car.
Just some service items, have purchased a new OEM distributor cap, NGK spark plugs and looking for some new NGK leads (RC-HE64 (just leaving part# here for my own reference)). Can't wait to get these in too not sure how old my current are but the leads definitely look a little beat up cosmetically.
In other news, my brakes are wearing and I noticed my brake/clutch fluid is on the verge of running pretty low so definitely time to pay special attention to it. Will be buying some new pads for the brakes and will be bleeding the system to get some fresh fluid in there.
In the works I'm contemplating upgrading the rotors and replacing them with new DBA OE replacement 262mm rotors and/or looking for a bigger brake set up without having to completely convert to 5 stud.
I've heard Prelude calipers are pretty good and will fit with minor modification to the rotor. Will have to look into it, but definitely want to get some beefier brakes.
ALSO CONFIRMING A SPOT FOR A TRACK BOOKING SOON, HOPEFULLY I CAN SECURE A TICKET BY NEXT WEEK!
If this goes ahead I'll also buy a gopro to document the day :D.
Hopefully more pictures to come. Suggestions/advise welcome as usual.
Hey guys been a while since the last update but everything's still been moving. Lots of pictures to come.
So first thing's first I've organised a track day for the 26th of September, this gives me a deadline of 3 months to get everything sorted before the day which should hopefully be more than enough but it's slowly coming together so I'm happy as anything.
This post is gonna cover a few new additions that are sitting around waiting to be installed.
First thing's first I got rid of the sound system I blew more than I care to discuss at the start of the year. Few adjustments around the car meant I got rid of some weight that I didn't need, but I'm not entirely sure if I want to completely strip it out at the moment, with the sound system gone, spare tyre and some other things that didn't need to be in there I think we've probably gotten rid of around 30kgs which is a good start and hopefully brings us below 1 tonne.
Next to go are probably the floor mats among some other minor things but the interior is still fairly intact.
Moving on - I purchased some new spark plugs (NGK BKR7EIX-11) and had them newly installed along with a distributor cap that needed replacing due to a crack along with some new NGK leads. Most importantly I managed to replace them by myself with the help of a couple friends which although minor, says a lot because I'm terribly incompetent when it comes to working on my own car . Nonetheless satisfying though.
Some minor servicing details aside and some light duty cleaning and the new engine bay looked a little cleaner. Also got rid of the spark plug cover so the leads looks sorta nice.
aaand everybody loves genuine Honda bits :D
To more exciting news, after some deliberation I decided I needed to get a new brake system going. At first (being an impulsive buyer) I was pretty set on getting a big brake kit because I'm a sucker for huge calipers and I was really keen to getting a set. Uncharacteristically however I decided to pull myself in and decided it was too much money to spend on a set up making about stock power so I've decided to settle for a DC2R style-setup while retaining the 4x100 pcd. After a bit of research I weighed up the pros and cons and figured this is the best way to go.
tl;dr my new (uninstalled) brake set up will consist of the following:
Honda (or Acura since most of you are American) DC2R Front Calipers
Project Mu HC+ front brake pads rated up to 800 degrees (Celcius) with Project Mu NS400 rear brake pads
HEL Braided Brake Lines
RDA slotted front rotors 282mm dimpled pattern re-drilled to suit 4x100 pcd
RDA rear blank rotors - still running the stock calipers
I was actually very impressed with the calipers - seeing them on a normal DC2R isn't as impressive as what they would look like on a tiny civic. I will definitely settle happy with what I've got now.
All I want to do as my own DIY project is to get them painted (still undecided on the colour) and get some nice Type R or Honda decals on them. Will hopefully be done in the next 2 weeks or so.
Some ideas I had for caliper colour were:
-Red (although I'd probably like to stay away from red since it's such a common colour/generic)
-Yellow (a really rich yellow, I think it'd look really nice)
-Purple (a really deep purple, again not entirely sure because I'm not sure if it'd suit everything but I'll need to do some research and look at some pictures to see what it might look like)
Also wanted to paint the rotors - probably black or silver though.
Front pads
Front rotors
Will get some new pictures once the calipers are painted and ready to go, and definitely a picture of how it fits once it's installed. I'm currently looking for new wheels at the moment but it will depend on the budget after the main stuff is done.
To go is just a baffled sump, a single din radio delete panel for where my radio (which I'm waiting to receive (yay another genuine Honda part)) used to be as it's just a hollow hole at the moment and an oil cooler.
After I have my oil cooler installed I can wire up my gauges as well and hopefully get the power steering sorted so I'm happy it's all coming along.
I have 3 months to get it going so there'll definitely be some more updates imminent.
nice update, im going the the type r brake upgrade too - it looks like you'll be doing yours before me so hope it goes well for you!
what master cylinder are you running? i'm interested to see how your new brake setup responds to more serious pads in the front along with the rotor and caliper upgrade, you might find it is a lot more bias toward the front brakes than the oem setup
nice update, im going the the type r brake upgrade too - it looks like you'll be doing yours before me so hope it goes well for you!
what master cylinder are you running? i'm interested to see how your new brake setup responds to more serious pads in the front along with the rotor and caliper upgrade, you might find it is a lot more bias toward the front brakes than the oem setup
I'm currently running the stock master cylinder, and plan to be when I put the ITR brakes in. As far as I'm aware or have been told everything should bolt up ok.
I am however looking for an ITR brake booster (1 inch or something?), apparently it will give quite a firm pedal feel but that's also why I've gone with the braided lines.
My mechanic has indicated he can make it work, I've asked both the supplier of the set up and my mechanic who've said the master cylinder won't need to be changed unless there's an issue with it (I'm assuming he means if something is broken or defective, not entirely sure but will address it when/if an issue happens).
I'll definitely let you know how I go and keep the thread updated with pictures of installation though I'm not anticipating having it installed until the middle of next month (need to save some money again to pay for installation etc).
Been ages since my last update but I am still going with it
Some new updates since the last post...
I noticed my dc2r calipers were collecting a bit of rust sitting out doing nothing, the existing paint was pretty rough so I decided I'd tend to them. A couple youtube videos later and I managed to paint them. Unfortunately I never found the shade of yellow I was looking for so I figured black will be fine - so now I have black calipers.
I still haven't painted my rotors, but hopefully I'll get around to that before I install my brakes, I'll probably just do them silver to keep it simple since I didn't fancy it up with the calipers.
I have some more prats in transit at the moment hoping to receive them in the next 2 or so weeks...
Spoon baffled sump
Spoon reservoir covers
Spoon gear ****
a fork (sorry I guess it needed to be said)
So I decided to get the baffled oil pan/sump and got a bit carried away with the "bling" so I have a few neat accessories on the way as well.
do do do what else
Oh also getting new tyres this week, mine are pretty much edging on the canvas/balding. Unfortunately this means the tyres are gonna be a bit worn out by the time I get to the track day, which is a shame because I was hoping to have fresh tyres for the track day but unfortunately circumstances mean that for safety reasons I need to get them sorted sooner... unfortunately this also means an unplanned $500 will need to be spent now on new rubber which will push installation of parts back another 2 weeks until I get paid again
Some maintenance points:
Not sure when my timing belt was last done so this is gonna need to be done before the track day probably in the pre-track day service
Probably a new water pump while I'm at it
Driver side CV boot inner seems to have exploded/worn away, currently very slowly leaking grease so I need to get this sorted as soon as I can to avoid losing too much and needing a new set of driveshafts
Hardrace tie rods were installed which is super exciting because my old ones were literally bent and had so much play in them, the new tie rods literally feel like I've got power steering now and there's 0 play in the steering wheel going over the shitty roads so I'm real happy about that
Chopped my cold air intake in half as a custom job and made it a short ram intake to sit inside the engine bay. Extremely happy with how this turned out because this means I can finally drive hassle free in the rain. Had a bad experience with the rain bogging down my engine through what I can only guess was sucking up of water/vapour through the intake which must have choked it so I had to put my foot down and ensure it was done ASAP
I raised my car about 2 or 3 inches. I'm loving how it sits now it looks so much more "tough" and less ricey. I have also stopped scraping the bottom of my car on most things normal cars get over which I'm super excited about. Hopefully this means I'll stop destroying my expensive exhaust and undercarriage... Pictures of new ride height to come once I'm ready to do the reveal :D
So it looks like there's a few other unforeseen expenses coming my way, I'm hoping there's probably only under $500 or $600 worth of parts remaining before I'll hopefully "be ready" but the bulk of it has been purchased so I need to start getting it on my car. Just under 2 months till the track day which means I have about 3 more paychecks. I think it will be close in terms of what I'm allowed to budget on my car but it should be done and where I want it to be (at least for the track) by the track day.
(hopefully)
In other news I'm going to soon be looking for a new set of wheels, I'm very set on the Enkei RPF1... they're quite a common wheel here but I believe they are extremely good bang for buck. I think they're made of forged aluminium, extremely good quality and plenty of sizes to go with my civic. Might even up the wheel size to 16s but I'll have to see what it will look like on my car beforehand. These retail brand new for about $1250 AUD in 15x8 size... which is dirt cheap converted to USD for you american bastards with good currency exchange rates. the $AUD is performing rubbish as it usually does...
No pretty pictures with this post unfortunately, nothing has really been done since the last post except purchase some stuff I haven't received yet. Will definitely post up a few pictures of the oil pan when it arrives, am super excited about it.
Need to get around to respraying my rocker cover...
Other than that I'm excited about it coming together. The intake sits extremely flush really happy with how that came out too... anyway thanks for tuning in as always if anyone wants to pitch any ideas or thoughts please feel free to...
Another project will be to pretty up the engine pay a little bit, hopefully I'll get around to it soon. Need new hose clamps and hopefully i'll get to spray them a nice colour too and colour code/match the bay. A nicely painted rocker cover will definitely contribute so I have a bit of work to do in the aesthetic department.
Been over a month since the last update but have gotten heaps done.
First thing's first, tomorrow is the track day - unfortunately I didn't get the gopro sorted so I'll probably not have any track footage which is disappointing, unless I can get something decent on my phone (pretty much ran over my spending budget for the car so I'll have to do without). Looking forward to the day, I feel like everything has lead to this so let's get out there and see how I go.
To give you guys a brief summary of what the track looks like...
Located about 200km from the city (~90 or so miles) so it's gonna be a bit of a drive but fortunately the weather is generally colder where I'm going so it should be good for the cars.
On to the progress..
So over the course of the last month I had a bit of a pre-track check list or things I wanted to get through, some more urgent than others but nonetheless
Brakes - old ones were pretty old and cooked, not much stopping power. I purchase a 4x100 redrilled set of 282mm slotted rotors for the front with dc2r calipers and 600 degree pads and braided lines to go on the front, and replacement blank rotors to go on the rear with 400 degree pads.
Power Steering - Found a cheap set up for $100 - should make steering and turning easier
Baffled Oil Pan - Figured it would help with any starvation issues, hopefully won't experience any issues with pistons not receiving oil
Timing Belt/Water Pump - No history of when it was last done, more of a maintenance thing
Bucket Seats - self explanatory
Gauges - Oil temp/pressure. More for monitoring, the normal stuff
Bushing replacements
New Tyres - Semi slicks - Federal 595 RSR
think that's about everything?
The only thing from that list we didn't get around to was the timing belt and water pump unfortunately, we had difficulties removing the crank pulley nut so unfortunately for another day.
I guess I'll keep the post short and queue some photos - didn't get as many as I'd hoped to but we were pretty on edge with getting everything done 5 days before the track day, and had one of my drive shaft nuts snap in the process.
Overall, the car dynamic feels amazing, the new shifters, power steering and brakes have made the car more enjoyable to drive.
Seats were a pair of genuine Lemans Recaros I picked up from a local guy for a good price. The rails are low and I sit right into the car and everything is practically just an arms length. Love the new feel.
Anyway, don't really feel like making this a long one so here are some photos from the work.
Headers Off
Quick Interior Shot after seats fitted
Lighter shift **** - some spoon bling
more spoon bling
spoon bling in a parcel I love parcels
baffled sump fitted
long night
brakes fitted
Next up -
Purchase a 4-point half cage - currently being made about ~3 weeks left till hopefully it's in
Steering wheel + boss kit - currently driving a bus
Tinting the windows - after I get the roll cage in and I strip the car out I'd like to be less visible from outside
Update - track day went awesome. The drive to and from sucked so hopefully I can find a more local track.
I'm pretty novice as it turned out, but I wasn't really aiming for a great lap time more so just a good experience. Will definitely hit it a bit harder the next few - I didn't bother removing anything from the car for this one (bags, cases boxes etc) and had a passenger for most of my runs (which was good).
Touch wood everything went pretty much to plan.
More work to come - as mentioned above roll cage should be in within the next month or so, will be hopefully doing some work on the interior with a new steering wheel/boss kit, getting some race harnesses and hopefully get around to prettying up the engine bay and degreasing the block so the aluminium shines like it should.
After that will get to work on the handling, replace my trailing arms and get some camber arms to change the alignment for more front camber than the rear.
In the woodworks and more as a long term thing I'll also be picking up a turbo soon for the eventual turbo build, and also want to raise the suspension a bit so I can rock so bigger tyres (possibly 17s) so I'm going to buy some flares so I can run a wider body and get some fatter wheels.
Keeps more oil at the bottom of the sump - helps with any (potential) oil starvation issues (i.e pistons not receiving oil during hard/heavy cornering).
Essentially means during peaks of heavy g-force there should always be oil available at the bottom of the sump across all internals.
tl;dr - hopefully it will stop me from throwing a main bearing - more a precaution than a necessity :]. Better to be safe than sorry, for a couple hundred dollars I'm hoping it'll save me a couple thousand.
03-17-2016, 03:28 PM
97 Civic EK Hatch - B18C Build Thread
