I figured it was time to start a thread detailing the build of my 98 Honda Civic CX.

I sold my S2000 and ended up picking up this hatchback off a buddy I know. I drive to Georgia every month and the S2000 wasn't cutting it on comfort on the 8 hour drive.

I know some you know or have heard of Level7 and Jesse Vaughn. He has been a part of some Honda Tuning builds and I'm thrilled that he's doing the work on my hatchback. This car started as just something I was going to put miles on, but has turned into much more then that. I've already forged some great friendships with everyone I've met during this process and its not even close to being done.

I'm gonna go ahead an thank

God for providing everything I need.
Jesse Vaughn, Drew Bowdler, and Chris Lacey
Level7 Motorsports
My supportive girlfriend, Taylor
Zerolift AutoLabs
ICB
HMotors
The State of Illinois for paying me big bucks LOL

This was my S2000 that I sold, loved the car, just wasn't what I needed right now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6804246853/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6662307567/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6758203985/
Ended up shipping it out to a gentlemen in Las Vegas. This is what I ended up with.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6945657459/
Its a 98 Honda Civic CX that has been spray painted green then vinyl wrapped beige. Don't ask me why. Needless to say, my girlfriend wasn't super happy with me and I even questioned my decision. The car had to be trailered to Level7 on account of some broken wheels studs. I had started the car before I purchased it, but it wasn't safe to take for a drive with the missing studs. The engine bay had been rhino lined, but the engine seemed to be decent.

This is/was the modification list when I purchased the car

B16A engine (85,xxx miles)
Skunk 2 Stage 1 cams
Skunk 2 Intake manifold
Chipped P30 ECU with OBD2A to OBD1 conversion harness
Innovative Solid Track mounts (black bushings)
CUSCO solid exhaust mounts
Spoon Sports solid shift linkage bushings
A'PEXi GT spec Civic Type R header
HKS Hi Power cat back exhaust
GSR transmission (freshly rebuilt)
Clutchmaster Stage 2 clutch
ACT 12 lb flywheel
Civic Type R shift linkage
SAMCO black radiator hoses
Integra full size radiator
NGK spark plug wires
AGX struts with rebuilt Ground Control coils
SKUNK 2 front camber kit
Megan Racing rear camber kit
PIC Performance rear LCAs
Integra rear disc conversion
Stainless steel brake lines


http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6887687108/

The next day we replaced all the front wheel studs on both front wheels, installed steel braided brake lines up front, bled the brakes and took it for a spin.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6775109644/

It was throwing some codes and stumbling on itself upon acceleration. 2nd gear syncro's are missing upon deceleration. At this point I was devastated. Jesse reassured me that everything would check out, just let him go through the car on Monday



Monday rolls around, he checks it over, rewires the conversion harness, wires the O2 sensor that was cut, adjusts the timing, puts new plugs in and fresh gas and its running like a top, excpet for 2nd gear, boooo


After seeing some damage to the core support, the decision was made to go SiR front and rear. We sourced a front cut from ZeroLift AutoLabs in Cinni, OH.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6921225845/
So we tore into it and man was it messed up. After removing several screws holding on the core support, we ended up just tearing it off by hand. The frame rail was somewhat bent, and parts of the car were just missing welds all together. There was about a 2 inch hold in the firewall that was covered by what look to be some sort of foil and caulk. I was depressed to say the least. Here are some pictures, its pretty rough.

We started the day like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6954471409/
Found some of these

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6957852621/
Then this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6811743952/
Ripped it off by hand

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6811742270/

gave us this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6811700130/
Drew Bowdler did some high quality motor pulling in 34 minutes we had this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6957810635/
and then ended the day like this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6811744308/
Needless to say, I was into the build at this point, and it didn't matter to me what was wrong. I am determined to see this build through.


While all this was happening I was ordering some little stuff here and there for the interior.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6812943062/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6957803583/
The next order of business was removing the rhino liner from the bay. We used some chemical coating remover and then had the engine bay sandblasted. All in all, not that hard to remove.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6887714820/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/7033814411/
That ended up leaving us with this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/7033814485/
The sandblasting did reveal that both the front wheel houses needed replacing.

At this point I didn't care at all anymore. I'm in it now. Might was well see it through.

After that, the vinyl was next to go. I will never EVER buy another vinyl wrapped car in my life. After three 10-12 hour days of peeling, heating and steaming. The vinyl was off. Special thanks to C. Lacey and C. Baker for helping with the vinyl




During this time, Jesse had made a trip up to Chicago and found myself a nice set of wheels for an awesome price (Thanks Brandon )

16x7 SSR Type C's


http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6823740924/
Here are some more shots of the last of the vinyl peeling

courtesy of C. Baker. Thanks :D

http://www.flickr.com/photos/colten_b/6978163077/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/colten_b/6978168713/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colten_b/6978170053/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colten_b/6978171071/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colten_b/6978172157/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colten_b/6832045876/

Ordered a SiR rear bumper, new SiR moldings for the front bumper, thin side moldings, and a new SiR lip! Thanks ICB and Hmotors!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6980922335/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6834796536/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6834795372/
After the vinyl was completely removed, it left us with the residue from the glue. Most of that has been removed though. We ended up fitting the front end onto the car. At this point I was just glad it was looking like a car again.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/7001549261/
I started breaking down the engine for a good cleaning.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/7001544657/



I ordered a Private Label narrow header, as this will be a car I need A/C in as I will be driving from Illinois to Georgia and back on the reg.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/7004426241/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/6858308500/
In the mean time, I finished up getting a fresh coat of paint on the engine and I ordered another little piece for the interior. Thanks Steve @ Hmotors

Just need a new valve cover now


http://www.flickr.com/photos/skittle_107/7012593149/


And that brings us up to date. I'll be continuing to update this thread as work progresses on my car. This car will be in the booth at IA this summer in NC so say hi!

 

Yea I was thinking "wtf" on your decision lol looks good so far, keep it up

 

Definitely a good start off. Can't wait to see what you bring for it in the future!

 

looks like a good start, but i would of keeped the s2k

 

I wish I had the money to tear into my car like that! There's no way this car won't turn out well.

 

Drove S2000 from Seattle to Daytona beach last year for my buddy that bought one on EBay.... I agree with your switch XD 3500 miles straight in a s2k, no bueno! Lol and to add to this, I now own a ej7..
your hatch lookin dope tho man gl and enjoy fluffy seats now

 

looking good so far on the progress.
cant wait to see more

 

Its nice having a car you can put dings in and not worry about it. haha

 

Thanks!

Me either! lol
I needed something bigger. I can go buy an S2000 later

thank you!

yea, I loved driving the s2k but not 8 hours at a time.

thanks!

sadly this won't be that car. i have a truck for that

 

Your off to a good start.Good luck with your build brah.

 

Wow, nice job restoring the car from such a poor state. This should be an interesting turn around. Best of luck with the future projects.

 

i miss the S2K but the Hatch is looking good!!
good luck!!

 

S2K over the hatch anyday but good work and determination, you girlfriend must hate you for getting rid of the S2K for a hatch.

 

glad to see your building coming along, can't wait to see the end product. bring it down for a wki meet when you're done.

 

Yeah when I first read you traded an S2000 for an EK I was shocked, but this looks like it's going to be an extremely fun build. Good luck with everything!

 

definitely in for this build good luck man on the right track, love the header, what color are you going with for the car? the wheels will look great

 

thank you sir!
means a lot coming from an OG like yourself introduce yourself at IA if you go!
thanks!
she's not happy still lol, but the hatch is more what I need at the moment. I'll eventually pick up another s2k, but only when I don't have to daily it
are you going to the Level 7 meet? sadly its the same day as the BAM meet though.
thank you!
The color is still up in the air. I've narrowed it down to two choices but haven't decided for sure yet

 

I'm in for this! Thanks for posting my orange wall, lol.

 

nice when it comes to the sir set up thats such a hard choice, but i think madori is an awesome choice. though i cant believe you traded a s2k for an ek hatch, i drove a ap1 today and thought..."how much do i like my ek?" haha well regardless cant wait to see this come out

 

Can't make the BAM meet, uncle sams got me in standby all weekend so I'm staying in Arkansas. Didn't know you guys were having a meet. If there's anymore this spring I'll try to come. There's rumor of a big Wki meet possibly happening this summer, we'll see what happens.

 

LOL I haven't taken any of my own pictures of the wheels yet lol
Midori was a color I had thought about, but ruled it out. This car will hopefully be just as fun in the curves with the correct set up

I'll be down for that, as long as its not on the weekend of IA

 

Nice build so far! Keep up the good work and keep us posted with pictures.

 

Very nice build, loved your old s2k though!!

 

Looking good so far!

 

im a curves guy myself im currently running the gc knoi set up on the ots rates, but i want to upgrade to something a little stiffer with a complete bushing upgrade to either hardrace or spoon/mugen bushings. Ive been doing research on amr coilover, seen nothing but good reviews you should look into those