ej8eli

(re)Introduction
What's up H-T.. just a quick [re]introduction of myself onto the forums here.. it's been quite some time since I've frequented forums in general, and honestly I'm pretty annoyed with the way thing have moved over to being primarily on Facebook.. so I'll post up a thread here and try and become more consistent on here. Don't expect this thread to move along quickly by any means, but the updates will be worth it when they're made.

By day I am a Service Advisor at the local Honda dealership here. After hours I plan and host a couple of charity car shows here locally as well as maintain a blog following our collective group of friends adventures and own shows. Amongst all of that I have an amazingly supportive girlfriend with two little boys that keep us busy busy all the time.. needless to say the plate is full and I wouldn't change it for a moment.

I've had this since 07 and this build will be an homage to my first nice car that was near and dear to my heart; I had a 97 Coupe back in 02-03 that was the first nice car I paid for by myself that ended up totaled.

The Plan
The entire premise of the rebuild/restomod/build is going to be similar to what the Europeans would consider a GT car or a road going, track friendly fun car that I will take to work randomly here and there. Also with all of this most of the mods will be period correct. Instead of a complex story I'll throw down some pictures and current mods purchased plus a little bit of the plans. so you can get an idea of where it's headed. There are absolutely no corners being cut with this build and it's all out of pocket with no CC or loans so it's very much a time consuming thing with the parts I'm choosing to run.

Exterior
- 97 CTR front end conversion w/ 99 rear bumper and added "Mugen spats" to tie the body lines together (okay I may have purchased knock offs of those because paying 7-800 for authentic ones is asinine to me)
- European rear tails with built in rear foglight
- 16x8 & 16x7 +35 SSR Type C's with R1R's or R888's still unsure on which ones I want to run or if they'll even be Toyo's

Suspension & Brakes
- KW Variant 3's
- 5 Lug conversion with Spoon claps
- Hard Race Bushings all around with Tru-Hart/Hard race camber and toe adjustment
- Comptech rear subframe brace w/ stock front sway and 23mm ITR rear
- ASR Rear LCA's as they have repositioned away bar link mounting points for better suspension geometry

Interior
- Interior will be fairly simple. CTR goodies here and there.
- European LHD center vent dash and Acura EL center console
- Autopower Race 4 point cage paint matched Formula Red
- the car will maintain AC but no cruise or PS.
- 2 Recaro Profi's for seats (may switch these out to Pole Positions.. unsure at this point but have the Profi's so will use them)

Engine
- 96 Spec B18C - owned and needs built yet
- factory rebuilt with 01 ITR intake cam
- Spoon head gasket
- Spoon Ventuli plate
- Spoon TB
- OEM 82mm P30
- 96 Spec ITR Trans

Here's how I bought it way back in 2007



Then it was this:


Which morphed into this:


and finally before the teardown it looked like this:


little old stock D series


Preston removing the steering column when it was still in the teardown process


moving the shell from my Grandpa's shop out in middle of nowhere Minnesota


and here's a few of how it sits now..







European Civic Coupe Tail lights with built in rear foglight sourced and shipped over here from The Netherlands by my man Lex!! Thanks again homie!


Stanley CTR's in dire need of refinishing.. which will happen prior to them being installed


Acura EL lower console..


European Market LHD Black Dash.. one of my favorite interior pieces I have acquired over the last few years while going through this long rebuild process..

Preston (em2preston) and my buddy Andrey is pretty gifted when it comes to welding so he opted to help me out with my core support and koyorad


I began by removing the AC Condenser mount brackets


as well as the radiator lower mounts to be moved for the full size that is going in


this was tricky to get and to have look decent haha, luckily the drill is moving at a pretty good pace


finished with the lower mounts..


While I worked on the support Andrey worked on the radiator.. we found an imperfection (small dent) in the lower end tank.. but had a rectangular piece of aluminum to patch it in and doesn't look too bad.. and will be unseen anyway


one of the factory installed radiator mount posts shaved off and polished up


removing some more of the factory installed mounts


Back to the support.. we measured the upper mount distance on the factory half size radiator.... and drilled into the support for the threads to run through and act as a dowel


mocked up and ready to get tacked on


tacky


one more


we determined it looked good visually, and measured out height wise and distance to the side of the support


...


finished product.. just needs to go off to soda blasting along with my J-Spec fenders and some misc body pieces


left side wheel line from caliper to prop valve


another angle


Right side from caliper to prop valve


BNIB USDM ITR Master Cylinder


and hardware to match


still not keen on how the lines look so they'll probably get redone before the interior goes all back in


Mocked up under the heater box to ensure clearance.. will be fastened properly during final assembly


majority of under-dash items that could pose as an interference

More recently I finished breaking down the radiator support from the front end I purchase




This tool is pretty boss, made removing spot welds pretty simple




One side of the frame rails finished


both sides complete


The entire support will be soda blasted along with the chassis prior to paint/body



shot of the suspension arms ready to go to powder coat as well

in the next couple of months it will be brought in for paint and body work, then the assembly process begins.. holy **** it's been a long time coming for this but there should be some more exiting posts here in the very near future! Tentative plan is to have it in for paint and body work in March<br /><br />

ej8eli

more updates! should be headed off to paint / body here in a couple weeks.. picking up my radiator support and bumper support from the media blaster tomorrow.. here's some updates for today.. OP was updated as well with some brake line tuck images I found in a media card


Andrey at it again helping me fab up a front tow hook for.. used a J's DC2 hook and modified it.. ordinarily I'd be sad about this.. but when it came chipped up I didn't feel too bad about it.. it will also be painted orange to blend in a little bit with the Formula Red


Andrey welding it onto the J-Spec from bumper support


This is how it should sit in the front bumper just blended in a little more with the color similarities...


Picked up some new USDM Fenders from the Honda dealer i work for


Have had these sitting around for a bit so I thought I'd snap a picture.. full Hard Race bushing setup.., purchased from Raul at CheckerdSports paired with some new hardware from Frank!

ej8eli

radiator and bumper supports from the media blaster as well as the Spoon **** bar mounting plates


radiator support all minty looking


needs a little clean up and smoothing


close up of the modified bumper support / tow hook


Spoon mounting plates.. to be refinished

averyvm

iTrader: (1)

Build is coming along nicely. I love when parts come back from blasting.

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

I love the progress, Eli. However, that tow hook... did you mount it to just 1" square tubing? I don't know if I would trust that as a tow point for a car. Maybe triangulate the tubing to the structural member, if possible.

ej8eli

it's positioned pretty close to the beef of the bumper support but yes that has crossed my mind and I feel that I need to reinforce it as well

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, a ****** strap will rip that thing right at the welds there. Gusseting it would be wise.

Brice.Hayden

iTrader: (15)

In for this.

rollinmyda

iTrader: (19)

I'm tuned in, looks like it should be a very nice car when its finished!

ej8eli

Yes sir.. that shouldn't be too hard to do before paint

Thanks gents.. I'm hoping she's what I'm envisioning as well.

StreetLethaleg6

looking good, in for this

9civichatch3

Very Nice!

REDEM1FTW

Sweet! I dig it!

90datech

very nice build

ej8eli

Thanks sirs! Still waiting for the stuff to get back from PC.. got my tires, valve stems and some more prep work done though? lol.. I'll have some more update images for y'all this weekend!

Brice.Hayden

iTrader: (15)

I love SSR Type C/Comps. I loved my old set.

GrantMC2

In for the updates .. Great work so far!

ej8eli

Well.. after far too many years in hiding she saw the light of day (well... more accurately rain but never-the-less) and is in for body work before I begin the long tedious process of reassembly!



Huge thank you to my friends Justin, Zach, Preston (em2preston), David and my Dad for helping carry this onto the trailer and off at the body shop.. wasn't heavy but isn't ever easy



Nestled into her new home for a few weeks



Preview of the new color.. Formula Red (R-77) compared to the factory Milano Red (R-81).. I must say I'm incredibly happy I decided to go with the different red. It's absolutely beautiful in person!





First day (next day) was really just getting the glass out in prep for what was ahead.. oh yeah.. and some cleaning..











Here's a couple of angles of the major body work stuff that JR, a good friend of mine whom also works for the body shop of the dealership I work for / my dad manages will be doing the major body work stuff as far as roof skin, rad support, rust repair, etc.. [a little back story about that, my Dad has been in the auto body industry my entire life. It's what he went to school for and has worked his way up from "just a body guy" to running the store for us.. pretty cool IMO.. In addition, in my opinion one of the better painters I've met.. yes I may be biased but watching him spray and seeing his fanatical attention to detail and the perfectionist attitude he puts into his paint jobs..] but I digress haha.. also.. I love how wide the front fenders look in these images...











Last night TJ and myself.. pressed in the RTA and front LCA bushings.. need a few other pieces to finish the suspension stuff.. but should be soon on all that.. before body work is complete. I'm so happy with how the wheels and suspension turned out from powdercoat and completely glad I went with the 20% satin instead of a complete flat or gloss black. I'll have some pictures posted of the wheels once they are brought to the shop..

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

Well, if your father helped in Preston's paint job, I can see why you appreciate his skills. I'm anxious to see this baby complete!

ej8eli

he is the one that has sprayed Preston's coupe the many times Preston has asked him to spray and respray it lol!

Casey

iTrader: (5)

looking great so far, love how thorough youre being.

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

lol, well then its going to be a good final product.

rollinmyda

iTrader: (19)

Awesome work so far!

ej8eli

Thanks gentlemen! I will have some pretty good updates again after this weekend

Brice.Hayden

iTrader: (15)

Hurry hurry hurry