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I braved up to rip apart the rear interior today been holding off just because i knew it was gonna be a not so fun project but figured its a nice cool day might as well get it done before it gets warmer so when i first got the car i noticed the two rear upper panels had a crack one on the outside at the top of the door jam and other in the inside along the headliner being discontinued from honda i have a buddy that keeps buying em1s on an auction site and he had 2 clean panels that i picked up off him. Wasn’t fun but im glad its done and back together
Little background story: My first car was a 99 em1 milano red and i ended up getting rid of it for my 2011 civic si in 2012, ive been searching for another one ever since. In 2014 i became serious about purchasing a 2nd vehicle and i was on the hunt for either a EBP EM1 or an S2000 needless to say its alot easier to find a clean S2000 and that's what ended up happening. While i still continued to search for EM1s never exactly found clean ones somewhat close by and reasonably priced, i would search craigslist for them about once a month or so and one sunday just happen to say ehh let me just check around and bam the car was posted 5hrs ago and i was all over it, made arrangements for the next morning and brought it back home.
Car Info: So the car is a 2000 civic si Electron Blue Pearl, 94k original miles 2 owner all stock down to shift ****, radio/cassette,exhaust,intake etc just the way i always wanted it. Also has full oem lip kit and previous owner had another trunk with the oem optional wing along with 2 sets of floor mats, 30x oem oil filters. Previous owner also had a folder with receipts for recent work on the car including timing belt, water pump, clutch master cylinder, slave cylinder, valve cover gasket, spark plugs, rotors, brake pads, all new fluids in motor and tranny, new spark plug wires, dizzy cap and rotor. battery, battery tie down/rods.
So with the car being stock and so original i really dont want to do much to it and i enjoy seeing it stock but however i do want to refresh the car so i've made a few part orders with my local honda dealer and still have a few more things to order but so far i've gotten all new window moldings, roof moldings, door pillar moldings, side mirrors glass, exhaust axleback, exhaust tip, H and CIVIC emblem for trunk, clutch master cylinder, clutch master cylinder reservoir/cap/bracket, sunvisors, hazard switch, valve cover gasket kit, spark plug cover, numerous new bolts.
Once seeing the car and going for a test drive their was two things that really stuck out to me and it was the car wasn't really loud but i could tell had a exhaust leak and also when engaging the clutch the clutch master cylinder was making a popping noise. So first thing i did was order a new axleback exhaust from honda and was a very easy install no rusted bolts or anything came out very easily about 30 min install id guess, Secondly ordered all new oem clutch master cylinder/ reservoir/cap/bracket. Didn't want to do the CMC right away because its mid summer here and i really don't like working on cars in the heat and i've only driven the car about 5-6 times since i've bought it so didn't really see the need to do it right away. But anyways ended up doing the CMC about 2 weeks ago took maybe an hour and a half with all new reservoir/cap/bracket. Sooo much smoother and enjoyable without popping noise. The CMC that was in the car was an exedy oem replacement and only had about 1-2k miles on it so i would say avoid buying at all cost lol.
Another thing that bothered me was the valve cover it was redone im guessing while the timing belt/water pump was being done and it doesn't look bad but its just glossier then the oem finish and the wrinkle is a bit thicker so i ended up finding another b16 valve cover locally and sent it to this powdercoating company in NY that i was referred to and i looked at their photos and their wrinkle black finish is on point so sent it out got it back in like 10 days and it looks amazing, haven't installed any other parts reason being i wanted to tackle the dirty jobs before installing all the pretty parts in the engine bay last thing i want to do is put new motor mounts in which i should be ordering soon and can finally start digging into this build.
End goal for this build is to remain mostly factory with the exception of a few things, coilovers not sure which yet, set of regamasters or possibly waiting to see what happens with the new M7s rumored to be releasing and lastly a set of ek9 red recaros because i can't stand the oem si seats. Doing this build thread because i did one with my s2000 and its nice to look back and see the progress.
FOLLOW MY INSTAGRAM @dwayne_fa5ias2k for more content and see my s2000 build
When i first saw the car and came back from the test drive Finally at home Needed a good cleaning/ vacuum
Before After
Before After Before degrease/wash After
Wow. Super nice. In the past I have owned 2 EM1 Honda's. They are a very complete car. Great for about anything from a daily to full show and performance. The only downside side is tourq. I have no idea why Honda didn't offer the EM1 with a B18c1?
Wow. Super nice. In the past I have owned 2 EM1 Honda's. They are a very complete car. Great for about anything from a daily to full show and performance. The only downside side is tourq. I have no idea why Honda didn't offer the EM1 with a B18c1?
yes i love everything about the car except for the lack of power lol
your attention to detail with this car is insane! love to see a clean local car keep it up man would love to have a blue em1. It be hard to no mod this thing, i love how you went oem+ in for more !
your attention to detail with this car is insane! love to see a clean local car keep it up man would love to have a blue em1. It be hard to no mod this thing, i love how you went oem+ in for more !
thanks man how local are you? And it took me so long to find a stock em1 that i really just enjoy it being stock seeing how hard to was to find one
southern nh and yea VERY hard around here, i had a ek hatch with 55k when i got it and bought it for 3k sold it cause i got bored after a full gsr swap and brakes looking to get back in the scene with an fa5 eventually.
southern nh and yea VERY hard around here, i had a ek hatch with 55k when i got it and bought it for 3k sold it cause i got bored after a full gsr swap and brakes looking to get back in the scene with an fa5 eventually.
ahh nice, i love my fa5 bought back in december 2012 with 27k miles currently at 68k havent had any issues such a nice daily ill probably keep for another few years
Call me crazy but this was the car and color that started it all for me. I have had EBP and FBP em1's and let them go like a dummy.
nope not crazy at all ebp em1 was my dream car back in high school use to ride the school bus and see one driving around time to time.. fast forward to getting my license and my first car 99 MR em1 and got to know the guy that owned the ebp i use to see driving around and he still has it till this day
nope not crazy at all ebp em1 was my dream car back in high school use to ride the school bus and see one driving around time to time.. fast forward to getting my license and my first car 99 MR em1 and got to know the guy that owned the ebp i use to see driving around and he still has it till this day
Same. High school dream car. Had this one back in 2013 with 96 spec Type R with A/C. Regret selling it although I wish it was stock everything.
So made an 8hr round trip to NY last night after work wheels were just redone from quickstrip powdercoating in NY they look amazing , usually when people redo the gunmetal it comes out too dark but these look great. Going to be a while before i do the whole 5lug swap but have been looking for a clean set of gunmetal type R wheels for a while so just picked them up to have and will get the rest of the setup down the road and go through it all
So made an 8hr round trip to NY last night after work wheels were just redone from quickstrip powdercoating in NY they look amazing , usually when people redo the gunmetal it comes out too dark but these look great. Going to be a while before i do the whole 5lug swap but have been looking for a clean set of gunmetal type R wheels for a while so just picked them up to have and will get the rest of the setup down the road and go through it all
wow! Those wheels turned out amazing! 15x6.5? Or 16's?
nah, I think the 15's look best. Go with some sticky 50 series tires and that EM1 will rail! I'm really impressed with you build. Super super nice!
thank you! Yeah im not sure about tires yet ive been away from the em1 sizing for so many years ive forgotten what fits well but ill look into when the time comes
thank you! Yeah im not sure about tires yet ive been away from the em1 sizing for so many years ive forgotten what fits well but ill look into when the time comes
Been away for so many years, tell me about it. Me too.. Im 54 lol. Currently building a EJ2 coupe. I will be installing 215/50'15's. That size tire should fit your application nicely as well given under the sheet metal the EJ2 and EM1 are for the most part identical. Keep up the great work. Im following your progress.
opps i didnt see this notification but thanks and its not too late to get back into one! I think if i found another clean ebp em1 id pull the trigger and buy another one to have.
Re: EM1 Refresh
