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This build has been ongoing slowly for a few years. I originally purchased this car as a daily driver / beater car to keep the miles off my 07 STi. Long story short the STi was sold and the Civic turned into a project car.... I can’t leave well enough alone.

The car is a 1995 DX automatic. Shortly after I bought the HB, I bought a 95 EX coupe manual tranny. My original plan was to swap the engine, transmission and power accessories from the coupe to the hatch back. Then put the parts off the hatch on the coupe and resell it. Well I had the coupe for 3 weeks and it was totaled by a head on with a drunk driver. Luckily no injuries and everything I needed on the EX Coupe was undamaged. So I bought it back from insurance and used it as a parts car for my build (manual engine mount, shift base, pedals, wires for the conversions ect)

I am still working on the build, but getting close to being done. I will start this journal from the beginning though. I will work on this as the weeks go to get caught up to its current state. I have a very strong background in the automotive field, restoring, fabrication and high performance, both professionally and personally. I am very picky and particular about my work, and I hope it shows up with the end result.

The car will be somewhat of a Resto~mod style build, no crazy shaved bays, or k-swap. I want to keep it looking like a car that you could have purchased from the factory. And I want the quality of work to look as good or better than anything the factory could do. No short cuts will be taken. Enough talk, on to the pictures and mods.

Current Mod List:

Engine

B18C1 GSR block .50mm overbore
Fully balanced
JDM type r pistons with coated skirts (12:1 compression with milled head & single gasket)
OEM GSR ARP rod bolts
ARP headstuds
Ishera Johnson crank scraper
Custom oil pan baffles
Custom screening on windage tray
OEM piston squirters
OEM type R oil pump
OEM type R oil cooler
1 layer headgasket
PR3 B16A head
Minor bowl blend, deburr & port matched
New 3 angle valve job
Skunk2 pro3 camshafts
Buddy Club cam gears
Supertech dual valve springs
Titanium valve spring retainers
Gates racing timing belt
P73 Type R intake manifold
Blox 70mm throttle body
Password JDM cam seal
Password JDM carbon fiber spark plug cover
Password JDM vtec sol cover
JDM type r valve cover
Magnacore 8.5mm plug wires
AEM under-drive pulley set
Energy suspension engine mount inserts
in all 5 mounts
Hytech rep header w 2.5" v band
Kteller 2.5" stainless steel exhaust
Vibrant stealth 2.5" muffler
2.5" resonator added to mid pipe
Password JDM magnetic drain plugs in engine & trans
B&M fuel pressure regulator
B&M fuel pressure gauge
Custom 3" cold air intake with velocity stack and K&N filter
Aluminum Radiator with OEM fan


Engine management

P28 ECU with Moates Demon & Neptune
Custom knock gauge
AEM UEGO Wide band 02 sensor


Transmission

JDM 98+ Type R 4.78 LSD Tranny
Excedy OEM style clutch
Stainless steel clutch line
B&M dual bend short shifter
Skunk2 shift ****
Polyurethane shifter bushings


Body

Shaved antenna
(Hidden antenna on interior)
Shaved trunk key hole
Rolled rear fenders
Sedan rear keyless door handles
Smoothed engine bay
Pained stratus grey metallic (OEM BMW Color) paint code is 440
Clear turn signals
LED taillights
All new OEM seals and Molding's
JDM Power Folding Mirrors (not yet painted)
JDM thin side Moldings
Blacked out factory "H" emblems
Custom black "JDM" vinyl badging
Downstar engine bay dress up bolts


Chassis

95 Integra rear disk conversion
95 Integra front knuckles
95 Integra front sway bar
95 Integra rear sway bar
95 Integra front sub frame brace
2006 S2000 CR front brake rotors and calipers
Integra 40/40 proportioning valve
Full energy suspension poly bushing kit
Koni sport yellows
Ground control coil over kit
Extended shock top hats F&R
Stainless steel brake lines
16x7 Rota grids
215/45/16 Kumho Escta XS tires
Black extended aluminum lug nuts


Interior

95 civic ex power windows
95 civic ex power mirrors
95 civic ex cruise control
95 civic ex door panels
95 civic ex front seats
Fully functioning AC system
Brand new OEM floor mats
OEM center arm rest
OEM Integra front map light
Alcantara arm rest cover
Alcantara door panel inserts
Alcantara shift boot
Alcantara head liner
JVC radio
Extensive custom alarm
JDM gathers dual rear speaker kit





The car shortly after purchasing it. Overall it was a very clean, UNMOLESTED rust free car.

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The only previous damage was on the front core support. I did not want to fuss with the old one so I decided to replace it with a OEM Honda core support.


Getting the egine bay ready, already had the engine out before the camera was out.. lol










The hood cable was rerouted for theft protection.






I added a small piece of angle iron at the back where the cable goes into the cabin to block it off. At the front i ran the cable through a small piece of tube so it is fully protected.








Got the new core support welded in place








I took the manual tranny passenger side engine mount off the frame from the wrecked EX coupe, and welded it on to my Auto DX chassis. I also cleaned up the seam sealer and preped the engine bay for a slight smoothing and repaint.

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On to the engine bay.... I have previous experience in body shops, and lucklily the shop I worked at had a body shop, so I made full use of its access.

Body work done, primed and block sanded down.




Base coat laid down. The color is "Stratus Grey Metallic" a rare OEM BMW color




Clear on and finished








Core support painted

H.I CTR

WOW. The bay looks awesome!

ChadB

This looks a cool project.. Can't wait to see more.

speedjunkie_g35

Very nice!!! I can't wait to start on the body work on my hatch!

crxtc_vtec

iTrader: (2)

Really motivates me to do more work on my hatch!

damiank46

looks great cant wait for more pics

j.red

Nice work with the bay. Where's the pictures of the rest of the mods in the list?

sleeperEG1

Looking nice in for more

HalFastTeg

iTrader: (1)

Nice work! What brand paint did you use?

jazzRS

looks good but that is way too much cam

fullcircle

Thanks for the complements,




In due time, the car is further along right now, but far from finished. You probably peeked at your presents early didnt you? lol




The paint is a product made by Spies Hecker, I used PPG Shop Line for the clear coat, and build primer.

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The car still had its original paint, but it was not only badly faded, but was starting to "check" or crack. I did not trust the original base enough to paint over it. The best option was to strip the car down to bare metal.

Using chemical stripper I took the majority of the paint off the car leaving just the edges. I came back afterwards with a DA with 80 grit and got the remaining paint off the edges. Once I got the paint stipped off I was happy to see that the car was 100% rust free, not a hint of rust at the rear quarters! And also had no other previous body work done. This car was completly untouched.










The antenna has always bothered me, and the OEM block off plate was not going to satisfy my needs, so I decided to shave it. I will use a small universal hidden antenna on the inside, I have had great luck with them in the past.











I also am going to run the rear door handle off a sedan due to the lack of lock cyl on the handle, and I thought it would be appropriate to shave the trunk lock cyl. Therefore I have no external lock cylinders on the car. I do have a backup system in place to allow me access inside the car if the locks or battery fails. So lock outs wont be a issue.








I then removed all the glass from the car and primed it with a epoxy primer to prevent any corrosion. All the body work will be done over the primer. I chose to use PPG DP90 to protect the car and be the foundation of the paint job.






Since this chassis was originally a auto car, I had no provisions for the rubber shift boot. Luckily I cut this section of floor out of the wrecked EX sedan, I drilled out all the spot welds and took the extra layers of floor off. I trimmed the EX shift base, and DX floor to fit. I then welded it in and sealed with some seam sealer. I will go over it all with undercoating later.

The holes on this piece were all from the spot welds I drilled out to free it from the other sheets of metal. I just used those existing holes to rosette weld it on the car.

ChadB

can't wait to see what's next..

scamp91ex

Liking this! Subscribed!

usdm-honda-r18

that looks sweet!! awsome that there isn't any rust!!

DB8 RHD

Crazy clean build, so far.

dRaiL

Subscribed! looks very promising!

406EVO

great job so far

SMALLZ

GOOD LUCK WITH THE BUILD GREAT WORK SO FAR

slow-4dr

subscribed for looks like an epic build in progress

r_Senik

Does the rear sedan handle work on your doors?

hybridpatient95

^^ yes they fit into his doors

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I knew the car was very solid as i was looking over it to purchase it, but I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. The car spent it entire life in Colorado, which although gets a good amount of snow in the winter, it is a very dry climate. Very low humidity in the air year round...... keeps cars in very good condition.

Also since the car was a auto it was unmolested, unmodified and in really great condition overall. The interior is mint. I am convinced that if it was a 5sp it would not have been in such condition.



Yes rear sedan door handles are the exact same size and shape as the fronts. The front mounting hole is in the exact same spot. The rear mounting hole is in a different location. On the front door handles it is on the top back section. The tab comes down from the top rear edge of the door. On the rear door handles the tab is on the side at the rear of the handle. You could build a bracket of some sort to get it mounted and secured. But since I was doing a full repaint i carefully cut the tab off the door and rewelded it on the side like it would be on a rear door to allow the cleanest install of the handles. All the linkages are exactly the same..


Here is the driver side sedan rear door handle after modifications and you can see how I moved the rear mounting tab




Here I have the screw driver where the mounting tab used to be for the original front door handles.