vinmotors

wow sickness. kswap!!! do it!

cen805cal

Nice progress sir can't wait to see how it turnes out

OldSkoolDa91

def in for a midori build. fresh paint looks really good!

willimo

Been a while and not really a whole happened....

Except it's home from paint, finally. A couple buddies and I went down to pick it up with one of their awesome huge Dodge Diesels and the other's motorcycle. Well, at least some of us were prepared... The bumpers, fenders, and other parts were coming home on another trip which made loading it up nice and easy.





Loaded up and ready to head home.





So I started putting together what I could, mostly the latches and stuff so the doors would close and stay closed safely. I am replacing all the visible bolts with stainless fasteners, and for some of these components I already had bolts for. The striker will need bigger washers, though, and other latches I still need to find bolts for. But this gives you an idea of where I'm going.





I also rerouted the release cable for the hatch. For some reason - presumably because in Japan the release on the right side - the cable swings across the car, under the rear seat, and then back across under the trim to the striker. So I just pulled it up, looped it inside the rear quarter to take up the slack, and the ran it as much through the body as I could. This is all that will be visible when it's done. Lousy, upside down, picture sorry.



A couple weeks later, the rest of the stuff was ready, so I took my wife's Fit down to the body shop and brought home the rest of the parts. Here is a lousy picture of me annoying my wife, followed by a picture of all the stuff out of the livingroom.





The parts for the mirrors came home, too, so I spent an hour or two putting them together.









After they were together, I tested them. The passenger side opens and closes, but the driver side does not. I will have to take it apart and figure out what the problem is. My fingers are crossed that it is just a bad wire or connection or something, because I do not really know what I'll do if I have to replace some major component like a motor. Yuck.

While I was putting the mirrors together, it rained a couple of days so the car stayed safe under it's cover. Finally, I borrowed my friend's Power Probe so that I could run the windows up and down and install the glass. Well, the door glass. The side windows are still out but I covered the holes to keep the rain out. They will be plenty of protection while the car is under the cover. But since all the major opening were covered, I went ahead and gave her a bath to get all the body shop dust off. That stuff was everywhere! And the car looked so much better clean...







While everything else was getting done, I got the something or another eBay replica fake lip painted, as well as an eBay Type R replica grill painted. The lip I am happy with - let's be reasonable, that's really just on there to save the bumper, right? But the grill I am not. It doesn't fit right. I may get a real Type R part and have it painted instead.



I also asked them to paint the inside of the hatch area, too. I will have this PWJDM bar installed, just like the one that will be in the front. I also took apart the rear seatbacks while the car was gone, and refinished the metal back. The black paint looks way better than the rust, and since it will all be visible, it was important that this was fixed up. I wish I had some before pictures, because though it was just light surface rust, they looked just awful! As you can see, I trimmed away the interior panels. I will have the speaker grills installed and supported, as well as a cargo cover, so that when the hatch is closed it will look stock. Open it up, and everything will be exposed. I would also like to install my battery back here, but that is up in the air so far.





And finally, the newest addition to the family, I got a steering wheel. Interior work is kinda down the line but I was eager to get this, and when I saw a slightly better than retail deal, I just couldn't hold myself back. I had really been wanting an OEM wheel out of an SiR or R but I just couldn't find one I was happy about that I was willing to pay for, so I finally decided I wouldn't keep the SRS in the car, and instead I would get this and a carbon fiber airbag block off for the passenger side.



Thanks for looking guys! I appreciate your time and your feedback.

Keep the shiny side up.

WhiteSlips

All that beautiful paint work and then an E-Bay lip

Car looks super nice though.

H2BOOST

not bad! i think it would look much better with a genuine Ek4 SI-R lip, and no wetsand/buff?

Phyro

Looks great, I absolutely love Midori green.

willimo

Yeah, I figured I'd get some flack for an eBay lip but I really can't justify spending the money on a genuine Honda part that will just get torn up the first time I try to roll out of my driveway. I would love it, don't get me wrong, just can't convince myself it's a good use of money.

Rickcrx

Looks good, i would paint the center of the grill black and a sir lip. That lip is taking away so much from the car look.

VegaS10

My midori came with a jdmshit.com lip, and it fit great and looked nice.

However in my area, the roads are rough and more suited towards trucks.

I removed the lip and it looks great without it (IMO).

Take yours off and see what it looks like.

Either way, I'm glad to see another midori coming back to life.

Boosting EG

very nice

willimo

So, not a whole to do, but I did try get something done today before I go meet some friends to watch LSU stomp all over Auburn.

A couple weekends ago I scavenged all the suspension and brakes from the silver car since the parts are mostly only a couple years old and I don't really want to buy them all again. I put the stock CX parts from my Midori on the silver car, so that it has stock brakes all except for a rear disc conversion. When I had it all together and drove it home, I couldn't believe how it felt! I knew that having the '99 Si master cylinder and proportioning valve to augment the rear disc conversion and the Fastbrakes front brake setup made a difference but I had no idea how big a difference! I am glad I did it right and that I will do it right again on my new car - the full setup is totally worth it.

I started putting the engine bay together today. I put in the S2000 clutch master cylinder in, with a Checkerd Sports spacer. I also have a Chasebays flexible clutch line since not only is it a nice part, but it has a 45 degree banjo fitting, which makes it fit nicely and solve the problem of the outlet facing the wrong way.



I cleaned, sanded, and painted the brake booster. You can see in the previous picture that the brake and fuel hard lines are green from when it was painted, so I painted those too. I installed a rivnut in the driver strut tower so I could bolt the master cylinder brace in place. I just drilled out an existing hole bigger for the rivnut, and use an existing threaded hole for the other end. I want a nylon cap for the the bolt where it contacts the master cylinder. I'm using caphead bolts wherever I can. I didn't want to tuck the brakes, but I did want to make them look nicer, so I have the caphead bolts for my proportioning valve, and will get some Baller Bolts for the master cylinder where it attaches to the booster.







I also got my radiator installed, though I will take it out before I put the motor in. I drilled out the spotwelds holding the bottom mounts in place, and then used rivnuts to bolt them back on in the right spots. I have a pair of PWJDM upper mounts that I also have bolted into rivnuts in the top of the radiator support. I am crazy with the rivnuts, I guess.



I also took some time to steal some ideas from Gabebauman from the forum.



Man, my parts look so junky in pictures...



I wanted to do something cool with my steering wheel so I got a Momo hub and an aluminum adapter. I took the adapter to a machinist and had him cut out a relief in the middle so I could fit a piece of carbon fiber in the middle and sandwich it between the rest of the adapter and the wheel. You can see the raw metal in the center where he machined the adapter. I had a little carbon fiber left over from the shifter, and cut it pretty close with a motor tool, and then spend almost an entire football game while sanding it little by little until in perfectly fit in the center of the adapter.





Since my wheel didn't have countersunk holes, I couldn't get the typical bolts that people use for steering wheels. I got some titanium tapered caphead bolts from Baller Bolts to hold the wheel to the adapter. I think all together, this looks really great (yeah I just tooted my own horn).



Thanks for looking, y'all.

getlifted

iTrader: (1)

I always loved midori green. I would have went with a sir lip too to keep it classy. Can't wait for the completion

H.I CTR

looks good man! I wish I was about the same place youre at. I still gotta rebuild my suspension

willimo

Thanks! I'm not so far along. My garage floor looks like this:



My wife wants to move in a few months, and I hate deadlines!

ChadB

IS DONE YET?

Brice.Hayden

iTrader: (15)

Looks good. I'd rather see no lip to be honest.

LOL WUT?

Nice build. Keep it coming

willimo

Not super much to report but I've done some little things.

A few weeks ago I went and put the suspension all on. I painted a bunch of it - the front subframe and the rear lower control arms for starters - before putting it all together. I had to paint the steering rack too, because it all had some green overspray. It's cool though, and it looks nice now though it will be hard to see when it's all finally together. I didn't repaint my calipers yet because I am still undecided how I'm going on that, and please excuse my old dirty Tokico's and Ground Control parts; while I am not 100% happy with them for racing anymore (they are a little oversprung and tired) they are plenty good and will serve until I can get something else. I was thinking AMR Engineering but may go BuddyClub in the end, but that is kind of on the other end of my shopping list since suspension is easy peasy to replace and can be done any time after the call is all "complete."





Front brakes Integra calipers on a Fastbrakes bracket, with the Volkswagen rotors they recommend. The rears are just Integra disc. No biggie. I left my CTR sway bar off the rear because I want to get an ASR bar to go with my ASR subframe brace. I have a factory Si front bar that I will leave off until after my first autocross, since I've never used a front and want to baseline with a setup close to what I am used to before making such a big change.





I "tucked" the harness in the trunk that goes to the taillights. I initially ran it behind the quarter panel, and then later ran it out the back of the body through some existing holes and back in near the other taillight, so the wiring would be less obtrusive in the hatch area which I will be leaving mostly bare. It took me a good amount of time, so I am sad that I will probably redo it, extending the harness where it runs under the rear bumper, so it can go out the sides and be even more hidden. I still need to figure out what I want to do with the trunk release cable... I'm not entirely satisfied with the way it looks now.





(Holy crap it's filthy back there!)

I thought I had a really great idea. I got some matt black vinyl and I was going to use it to cover the belt line trim which had come apart and turned shiny silver. I figured it would be better than paint and would be easy. I did it, and it looks ok from far away, but it wasn't as easy as I expected and I was loath to remove too much of the old black plastic that had been crumbling off; it seems that the plastic was molded around the metal and the seals where it touches the glass and the body are integrated... so it looks not quite right. I will eventually get replacement parts from Honda when this starts to peel and wonk out.



I also stuck the mirrors on, and as you can see, one works and the other doesn't. Still haven't wired them but was trying to operate them with a Power Probe. Oh well. I guess I will take apart the driver side mirror and figure out what is wrong and repair it, but I am not looking forward to that.





I also went a little fastener happy, painted these little brackets and bolted them in with stainless cap head bolts...



And used some Bolt Boys fender washers to hold in my fuse box (with painted bracket in the back), and even some stainless cap head bolts for all the fasteners inside the fuse box... (I need to stop!)



I will be doing a vague tuck of the wires, using a Rywire harness probably but I will still run it through the stock hole in the firewall, and I am leaving the fuse box and battery under the hood. At some point I will have the battery tray narrowed to fit an Odyssey batter and all that stuff - make it look like it was intended to be that way, tidier than stock but not crazy. The super tucked empty bays make me wince.

I know hardly anyone looks and no one reads but a couple questions to throw out there:

1. Does anyone make a "tuck" harness that works for a stock USDM motor with emissions parts? I plan on putting in a B18C, but hope to use it with a US oil pump for the crank sensor and American emissions parts with a stock US Type R ECU.

2. Does anyone know how to repair the power folding mirrors? If someone's done it, it could save me a lot of trouble.

2b. Does anyone have the Honda wiring diagram for them? It's gotta be out there.

Thanks for looking, y'all.

Brice.Hayden

iTrader: (15)

Chasebays will make any version of any harness you need.

Rude Awakening

If you dont want to pay OEM prices for a lip, get a replica SiR or Type R lip. Nothing detracts from a Civic/Teg build more than having that obvious 99-00 Civic style lip. Believe me, they stand out to anyone in .00001 second.

I use to have an EK that came with the correct year style replica. So much better:

willimo

I like the lip, but I do like the '96 ones better... we'll see but it's not a high priority right now.

Not much done to the car. Wife and I got our house broken into, we moved, I sold my silver coupe with the LS-Vtec in it, quit my job and got a new one, and I've been generally unmotivated to work on the car through it all. I had the car on two old fake RNRs, a steelie, and a donut and had to keep rolling it in and out of the garage to move our stuff in, and had to wait until we finally got our new washer/dryer in before I could pick the car back up and put it on stands. I did get a set of spacers from motorsport-tech.com so that the 6ULs would fit over my brakes, so I finally was able to put the wheels on the car that I've been dreaming about for what feels like forever. I think they look fantastic, but while the garage has plenty of room for working around the car, there isn't much for pictures and I still haven't figured out how to use my fancy new camera, so forgive these two crummy pictures.





For it to be in my garage like that is pretty motivating, so maybe I will start getting some things done soon.

whitesihatch

sir lip would set this thing off, nice wheel choice.

imbillkamal

nice build so far keep up the great work

willimo

I'm mostly saving up for my motor, so not much is going on. But I did a couple things this weekend.

I scored a butcher block top for my box. For as much as Snap-On wanted for a top, I never thought it was worth it, but I was at Sears and they had a top on sale for fifty bucks. I had to lop off a foot and a half but it was a steal. There are some of the other parts I have been collecting laying around or hanging from my pegboard. I was really excited about the new ASR LCAs; I had been wanting Function 7 LCAs but was always a little sad they wouldn't match the ASR subframe. And the bolt holes for the end links on the bottom of the arm is an excellent idea. Plus, they are pretty as hell.



I got a '98 ITR computer for nothing. No one wants them because they're OBD2 and have the immobilizer but I am going to use the immobilizer and leave the motor stock, so works for me. I painted the chassis and covers black and used some stainless hardware on it. I'm kinda putting the cart before the horse but for free it gave me something to do.



I got some Hella Supertones, like a Subaru guy. I mounted them like a Subaru guy. I left them red like a Subaru guy, but I am not sure if they'll stay red. It's a little ricer, but I kinda like it. We'll see. I also got rid of the lip because everyone was giving me grief. I got an SiR replica lip, but haven't put it on because I have no hardware. I'll make them one day.





I don't want to get crazy with this car, tucking all the wires and the lines and whatnot; just wanted to leave everything in a pretty stock location but clean it up. How I imagine Honda would have made it with a little more money. This is what I came up with. The battery mount came polished, so I felt bad sandblasting some guy's hard work. Anyway, it looks better black and with the factory tray trimmed and painted black, too. Everything with stainless hardware. Put on the Hybrid Racing ground wire. I had these on my last car and liked them a lot, so I got some for this one too.





While I was screwing around with my buddy's sandblaster, I cleaned up a spare I had from an older Insight. A friend of mine had gotten a pair of these wheels to use as rear runners on his drag Civic, but when he couldn't find tires to fit them, he gave me one. Unfortunately, he had painted it silver, so I had to take the paint off, and respray it. I used parking lot striping paint because it was the right color, but it was a pain in the *** to work with. Eventually I got it looking nice. I also used a 949Racing aluminum valve stem so it would match the other eight on my 6ULs.





While I was in the back, I put some rivnuts in to mount the second bracket for the speaker grill. I have to make a metal intermediate piece to screw to the bracket and then screw the speaker grills to. I am unsure if I want to make it hold a speaker too. Probably a good idea to do it now than redo it later.





And while I was in the interior, I put the steering wheel on. I had originally gotten a Momo hub, but I sit close to the pedals and the Momo hub put the wheel in an uncomfortable position. I got an NRG hub instead, and it's way better. I also love my K-tuned shifter, but it doesn't work with my CF shifter plate with the rubber Fit boot, so I am on the hunt for a boot with white stitching to match my wheel.



Thanks for looking. One day I will have big updates. But in the mean time, the little things here and there are fun and if I treat each little thing like a big project, I'll have a nice car in the end.