Awesome post man...pretty much hit everything dead on. I have a Great Neck torque wrench and it works fine. I recently obtained a 309 piece Craftsman tool set (wrenches, ratchets, sockets) for Christmas cuz I was tired of breaking cheap tools. It can really be a pain and cause needless bloody knuckles.

One of the best tools in my box is a nice 1/2" drive Husky breaker bar, coupled with PB B'Laster. I haven't encountered a fastener that that combo wouldn't undo (except my axle nut...but hey, that's an axle nut).

Good advice for everyone though man, thanks for the super informative post

 

Np, just trying to spread the knowledge! Yeah I left out PB blaster but I have a can of that, it works good, spray on, let it sit, spray some more, let it sit. That works good if repeated like that. I need a 1/2'' drive breaker bar for those pesky suspension bolts.

It started getting long so I just ended it haha. Theres random tools that you might need once so I didn't really list those but like an o2 sensor socket or oil filter wrench come in hand at times.

Add a funnel, tire pressure gauge, voltage meter, rags, gloves, clear tubing to fill fluids/bleeding fluids, etc etc etc

 

Yup, and let's not forget the infamous home-brew tools. I have a customized water bottle with clear tubing for bleeding hydraulics, and a spark plug socket with a hole cut in the side for valve keeper removal. But that's nothing...I've seen guys welding and making all kinds of special tools.

 

My buddy that gave me a ride to pick up my car from the bodyshop brought his camera and I had completely forgotten about them and I asked him for it and luckily for me he still had em! Here they are, the car looked stunning when I picked it up, I was stoked! Barely any orange peel whatsoever.












I wanted to put the sticker on myself when I picked it up as a finishing touch but realized I should of had given it to the painter lol. So my Jesse's friend's dad used to do bodywork and we drove up the street and he put it on for me =]



Mad dusty already lol... Here are the homies chillin!




Heres a shot of Jesse's hatch, he had it painted in the same shop, thats why I went there, looks super clean and I don't think it had ever been washed since he picked it up 2 months before lol. Super fresh. They do great work over there.

 

That shop does good work man, the car looks great!

 

Wow, both yours and his looks amazing.

 

Seems like it was such a long time ago lol.

 

Thanks for my soon-to-be shopping list
Also, flare wrenche(s?) for spark plugs. Can't wait to make my own build thread, very excited

 

Yeah from bimmers to bentleys to benzes and hatches

It does, we gotta make it happen this year for more good times
Np. Theres more stuff that isn't listed that but thats a budget friendly list. Flare wrenches are nice if you can get a set of them, they basically do a better job of getting better grip on a bolt which would prevent them from stripping.

Updates:

Picked up a new slave cylinder at Autozone for $18 bucks for anyone wondering and a bottle of brake fluid just to be sure I didn't run out but I ended up having plenty.



Should of gotten this a long time ago.



Leaky icky slave cylinder and valve cover making everything super dirty. It was pretty hard to get the line out because it was seized in there and I ended up having to use vicegrips. It was a pain in the *** but I was able to after I sprayed some PB blaster a few times. Overall it wasn't that bad and anyone can do it. Remove those 2 12mm bolts and then the 2 10mm bolts on the line bracket.






Side by side, no difference. Fits great.


Beat up the fitting nut but it doesn't matter, next time I mess with it is will be for replacing it haha.


I kept having a problem getting the bracket to meet the tranny bracket and I found out it was because the fitting twisted the line a bit when I got it off but I twisted it back and problem solved. Put some fresh grease on the shift fork and put the cover over, tightened everything back up and bled the clutch. Still haven't driven it but its working and no leaks

 

 

ae chefe, cada vez mais bonito o carro....
abraços

 

good work on this and a very clean hatch dude. very nice.

ive spent some time over the last day and a half to go through this whole thread and read it. i found myself subscribing ant waiting for more from you.

youre story is a bit inspiring due to the fact that you saved up for this car and bought it your junior year of highschool. i am a junior in high school currently and purches a 95 ex coupe in september. the car is now sititng with groundcontrol coils and rotas with some other aftermarket parts. for my age i give myself props due to my car being nicer than most of the kids i go to school with haha ( not to sound conceited or anything just an imo) i find your thread inspiring cause i see how you arnt rich or anything as you have stated in your postings and doing it slow just as the funds rolled in what your hatch has turned out to be.

youve done a great job here and im looking forward to reading more of your build. great work

 

That right there pretty much sums it up! I've liked EG hatches since I saw it on Gran Turismo in 2000 and have always digged them. Then I've always wanted one since probably 7th grade which was in 2003. I absolutely couldn't wait any longer by the time sophomore year came around. I was always searching for one and every year I would see maybe 3-5 that I would wanted to buy but they were either too mint and going for 5-6k or sold already. All I remember was working my first job as a host and just thinking about how each table that I wiped would bring me closer to one. I sacrificed a lot by not going out as much and pretty much saving 80% of what I got. By junior year I had been able to save about 6k. I couldn't find anything that I wanted to get. I just wanted an Si with little or no rust and that was stock. I came across mine on craigslist and it didn't look too good from the tiny pics and it had been posted for a while, I thought for sure it would be gone. I was going to work and I was like whatever, I'll just call. I just wanted to test drive it really. I called the guy and he said he still had it, I asked him a few questions about it and the next day my sister drove me 2 hrs there to take a look at it. I get there and I saw it parked on the street it looked good. I talked to him for a bit, he showed me the bay, the rear, the interior and whatnot. So then I go for a test drive and it was a bit loud. At this point I had driven maybe 10 miles my entire life, 7 of those were on a manual around the parking lot. I didn't even have my license or anything but I knew what to do exactly. I started driving it and had no problems. Took it around the block, I didn't want to rev high because it was loud but I took it to 4,5k and it pulled good. At that point I looked at it and realized that I wasn't going to find anything much better so I bought it right there and then and drove it home with his plates about 80 miles. Best 80 miles of my life! Drove it mad carefully and parked it in storage where it would sit until I had a garage or a license to register it. That day came in October of 08 and I used AAA and had it towed to our new place that had a garage. All the money I had saved was spent in storage fees and the car. Turns out I only registered the car I want to say 10 months later? Even then I didn't have a license and just drove like that to work and back for maybe 6 months with no problems. All the hard work and waiting had paid off. Thats probably why I love my car so much and wouldn't get rid of it. It means too much to me. The whole time just broke but I'm happy with where my car is now. Its been pretty slow but it will pick up this year. I just wanted to learn how to work on cars with mine and I try to do most of the stuff myself if possible. I've never taken it to a mechanic or had someone else but me change the oil. I've had the help of a few friends to do work on it which is cool. I thought the same way as you, I didn't want to drive around a POS buick like every other high school kid did. I wanted to have a nice EG hatch that fit my budget, was good on gas, great to learn how to drive and work on,etc. I'm definitely not done here and plan on going keeping it for life so it will always be getting improvements. I just don't want to half-*** anything so thats just how I try to go about it. Its important to prioritize what you need. Otherwise I would of been stuck on the side of the road with a bunch of aesthetic parts. Gotta get the car running good firsthand. Sounds like you have a good car to start with, good luck with it! Appreciate the kind words

 

Oh and I made this too lol.

 

Haha awesome..^^^

Car is looking mighty fresh man good work so minty I could eat out off it love how your interior is soo clean...

 

I dont no how you lasted that long with stock eg front seats. I hated those seats with a passion!

 

Yeah I had a bit of a problem because I have scoliosis and my lower back just hurts sitting on these seats. I was happy to get a bucket seat, it was much more comfortable. They're not that bad though, I noticed that my seats are pretty firm compared to other OEM EG seats. I'll be putting the bucket back in the spring and have been contemplating selling my seat and my interior which would pretty much pay for an EG6 interior conversion. Just not sure if I'm willing to give up my minty interior for a beat up EG6 one. I like the bucket too but just don't feel its right without the harness being tight against my lap. I need to do something like Evan did and get the buckle to mount lower. Ideally I think for a street interior I would love to have some JDM Recaros (black) with the rear ITR DB8 seats. I like how the striped pattern interior looks though and its actually one of the things my car that doesn't really need to change anytime soon.

 

damn, you make me want to paint my hatch black.

 

I don't blame you! Its not easy to keep it clean you, but when it is...hrmmm

 

Psst. You make it look easy lol

 

It's nice to see a cleaaaan & local EH3. My boy has a white one that was just painted not too long ago. You don't really see too many black one's nowadays..

 

I dont see many eH's around period. Nevermind SI's.

 

Nice progress. @ First I looked at the body shop pics without reading and said to myself, "short-sleeves...no snow...o_o something is wrong here" Can't wait to see what's next.

 

You just have to be on point. Car washes take a bit longer than most IMO because you can see any flaws in drying it, fingerprints, dust and even brake dust are all very noticeable.
Yeah pretty much. Not that an Si is anything special but its just hard to come across one around here in any condition. Thanks Stylez.

Haha yeah, my buddy had those pictures in his cam and I never got them until now.

 

True story.