E V Roller

Er, so i had an email from Todd (thanks man! ) and it appears i have some caster plates ordered.

TBH these are way too nice for my car, but it will be an awesome addition. An excuse to make sure everything else is of a standard to compliment them.

E V Roller

Hell yeah! These things are epic:





Think customs lost my adjustment tool though, but not going to worry too much.
Also got adjustable tie rods coming from a UK shop, don't want to fit the plates and run out of toe correction during the alignment.

Not looking forward to fitting the rods one little bit Found a cheap universal wrench that will hopefully fit:



Taking a gamble that the thin wall will clear the bolts that secure the tie rod bracket to the rack. Reviews complain of the teeth not gripping, and the general design not allowing it to clamp securely without slipping. Planning duct tape on the rod hex for more purchase, and a cable tie round the whole thing to hold it tight.

The other issue stems from the fact (like a retard) i goosed the hexes in the top of the damper shafts when making sure the top hats were torqued

Kind of makes for a problem, but to keep options open there is a left handed thread tap on its way, and got some left hand threaded bolts with nuts to help support them.
Not keen on tapping the shafts really, i do have an electric impact wrench but 330 ft lbs in the hands of a moron risks damage to the struts or plates, so ordered a 45 ft lb torque stick which is on its way from the US of A God knows if that will work though.

So yeah, scary times ahead. Off work next week so the fun can begin...

Deetz

Any interior pictures? Just curious how the inside looks compared to the usdm ep3

Thanks, looks like a good project!

E V Roller

Thanks buddy! It has potential at least

Was embarrassingly untidy, but got some pics of the grey Civic interior for the sale adverts (which is identical apart from a few buttons on the dash)




Sheesh! Surprised it sold with pics that bad!

The Type S has half leather and sort of waffle weave cloth centre sections and door cards which you can see better on this picture of the burned seat i swapped out:



The wagon/5 door has a longer wheelbase (not far short of a CL9) to give more rear leg room. Maybe less well braced than a 3 door, but more stable and less pronounced front/rear weight transfer i guess.
With the body everything including and after the A pillar is different to a 3 door, the roof line is higher for more head room and such.

The engine bay is the same, and all front end parts are interchangeable, including the motor hehe!

E V Roller

Well that tie rod tool arrived, no joy though as i doubt it will fit past the bracket bolt heads

Got these too though:



Sweeet! Just gonna have to estimate what 40 ft lbs feels like when fitting the inner ends.

E V Roller

Well the plans for fitting all these bits went out the window somewhat, struggled with the inner tie rod ends and ended up running out of time before getting them undone. Since then, between various things there ended up being no time to lavish on the car.
Kind of blows having a bunch of kick *** parts and no window of opportunity large enough to fit them before needing the car on the road again.

Did get one of these though:



A machined brass steering rack slider, after 112K the old plastic one is sounding a bit worse for wear.

Having had a look at access to the inner tie rods, i reckon attempting to remove the steering rack heat shield thing as well as the lower strut brace might be an idea for improving available space to work.
Hope not to have to wait until next year to get it all done!

E V Roller

Well, i had to wait until next year after all...

Our warehouse got closed down in April, so with a bit of time spare it fell to finally fitting the parts that had sat so long.

Thought i'd get some EP3 R LCA's from the local breakers, free sway bar and £40 for the lot!



Popped the old bushings out in a blacksmith friends workshop:



Superpro caster increase bushings:



Back to the workshop to press them in:



Not maybe the best way, but he'd got rid of his press so needs must.

All done with some lovely retro carpet too:



A lick of paint:



And fitted:



Next was the stoopid tie rods.
No fooling with the lock washers, brutal pipe wrench overcame them:



Already had the lower strut brace out:



The other tie rod needed the pesky heat shield out. Already tried to make space by cutting a piece out of it:



Yay for space! Sort of...



Bewm!



All went well until the second bracket bolt rounded off...



Bolt grips:



Victory!



Cut one rack boot securing band and dislodged the boot:



Old slider exposed:



Seen better days:



Old parts into new brass slider and into place:



New adjustable tie rods:



Would need to alter the coilovers to fit the caster plates, after two UK winters they were seized solid...



Ordered new lower collars and spanners (the old ones got goosed trying to budge the corroded collars)



Tried to shift the bottom brackets with help from a neighbours vice, nope!

New brackets ordered, no job, no income, getting pricey...



Workbench, epic:



Cut guides with the grinder:



Many breaks and some cooling assistance:



After splitting them with a chisel, borrowed the vice again and got them off by various means:



Nothing against the coilies, should have greased them before fitting, but being a noob i was not aware of the need, no stopping the onslaught:



Collars next, protected the strut threads and ground a piece out of the chamfer:



Nighty night collars:





New stuff on, plenty of grease this time:



Rounded off the hex in the damper shafts checking the top mounts were torqued a while back, so impact gun came in handy to get the top hats off:



Cleaned all the parts and lubed the bearings, had a 45lb ft torque stick from the US so as not to trash the new parts:



Caster plates on:



Used one washer as in Todd's instructions, the new nuts were not flush, but still more thread in contact with the damper shaft than the previous top hats, so hopefully okay:



One down:




Filthy car, but finally installed:



Dynamic camber...



During all this found that the RCA boots were done, and had been for a while. Not wanting to risk the chance of dirt in the joints some more RCA's were ordered, Hardrace this time:



Kind of preferred the Buddyclub for being longer and pushing the LCA lower as SHG EasyE pointed out, but hey...

Old joints:



New:



Was pretty happy for a dude who had hardly changed a wheel two years ago.

All this done it came to doing some much needed cleaning to prepare for a place on a forum show stand at a national event known as Japfest.

Wiped down the engine bay carefully and went for a drive later in the day, all good.
Started up again, CEL came on! Oh noes!

Car still ran fine and was hoping that it might just be a bit of moisture that would dry out by next day. No such luck! Reset the ECU, but the light was still on and now the motor was cutting out when coming to a halt.
Went to get front toe aligned, they had old style gauges and the car was too low to use them! They did do a diagnostic check though and it gave codes relating to the primary o2 sensor.

Got a Denso sensor ordered, and a relay to replace the o2 heater circuit relay, just in case!
The new parts arrived the last day before the show, fitted the sensor, reset the ECU and somehow it seemed to be fixed!
A bit of time running to get the idle speed sorted and a drive on varied roads to settle the fuel trims, then off to the show next day without any issues

There we are, sorry about that, but just getting things updated to current status.

E V Roller

Yes, me again! Just got the toe corrected. Need to play with camber a little bit, both caster plates are set to minimum camber:


Caster specs look pretty full on at least!!

A few pics of how things sit: