Some of you may remember my last coupe ( https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2034610 ), which I had for almost five years (first car, pride and joy). The car was stolen in October of 2007 (less than two weeks before my 21st birthday) and was confirmed has having been taken to Mexico. I bought an Audi S4 ( https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2282292 ) to get me by, but I soon realized the headache of German cars (blown turbos, amongst a horde of other **** that went wrong). Fixed that car up, sold it, and after a long search, I finally found another coupe with *relatively* low miles (127k).

Page 1: Introduction, parts, coilovers and wheels installed
Page 2: Personal steering wheel, NRG hub/quick release, FLP shifter, Prothane bushings, Good-USA rear camber kits, suspension headache
Page 3: RTA bushings, a few shots after a full detail
Page 4: Special order FRONT LIP TEASER
Page 6: New Hweelz.


Here it was when I bought it (original paint too, always garaged )





Well, I got ahold of some suspension parts from my buddy's company that I'm testing out...


Among which, I also have all of this:


Not pictured are the ITR rear LCAs, but both front and rear LCAs have spherical bearings in place.. The only rubber is the dust seals Also in store, are roll-center adjusters, custom front/rear camber kits, rear toe adjusters, and rear trailing arm bushings (spherical bearings, of course), as well as modified tie rods, compliance bushings (hardest rubber available), and sway bar bushings and end links.

The rear of the car will be treated with an ASR subframe brace along with their 24mm sway bar and spherical end links.

For interior, I opted to go with simple things for now (no crazy JDM conversions here). A Personal NeoGrinta 350mm steering wheel, ITR shift boot (it was part of the package lol), NRG hub and quick release, Blox shift **** (not too thrilled about it, but whatever), and an optional center console. I originally ordered a Buddy Club short shifter, but it was a single bend so I traded that for a Skunk2 shifter. I decided to change my route and ordered a brand new Type R shifter, but came across an offer I couldn't pass up... So soon to be arriving at my house is a FastLine Performance RR shifter, that I'll mate up with some Energy Suspension shifter bushings. Oh yeah, and tomorrow I'm getting the alarm taken care off, which will include everything available, with a stealth install, as well as a standalone GPS unit (Dear Mexico, you're not getting my car this time).

Powerwise, oh well. I'm not doing much because I currently enjoy my 38mpg average. I took off the resonator for the intake, and picked up a J-spec Type R exhaust that had the rear section (tail pipe) lengthened to fit coupes/sedans (that's the only difference, for those who didn't know).

For the footwork, I picked up some black 16x7 SSR Type Cs wrapped in 215/45 Falken RT-615s. (I don't care that it's 0.6% out of spec -- it will be taken to the track). I also scavenged up some rear disks, that I'll piece together with a 91 Civic EX 15/16 master cylinder, as well as a non-abs 40-40 proportioning valve. In the near future, I *may* decide to order a Wilwood front/rear upgrade from FastBrakes.com.

As for exterior, it's stock right now. I *may* get it painted soon (considering I cant stand driving a red car), but that's $3500 I can't justify spending right now when it's gonna see the track. And no, no cheap paint jobs because if you see my last cars, I'm a perfectionist. I'd rather have a 9/10 oem red paint job than a $500 paint job that looks good from 30 feet away. I also have a "special" lip on order from Japan, so I'll see that in about 6-8 more weeks. Pictures will be posted when it's installed; until then, it's on the DL.

Anyway, today I was tired of staring at a huge pile of crap in my room, so first things first, I grabbed the coilovers and let my back bake in the sun for six hours while I tried to figure out how to mount the reservoirs. Oh yeah, I also decided to pull out my cruise control while I was at it, as I was contemplating using a hole saw so I could place the reservoirs on the shock tower and it was in the way. Either way, I didn't need cruise control because the steering wheel's going on soon anyway.

Here's the stance (I haven't adjusted the height at all yet, but I will asap when I get the adjusting wrenches from my friend) :






And here's how I mounted the rear (under the trunk)


I still have to dial in the suspension (its got high/low speed dampening adjustment on the reservoirs, which you can see in the above picture, as well as the rebound or whatever on the top of the shock itself) and I have to run to Ace tomorrow to get some of those D clamp brackets to hold the hoses in place better.

Updates will be in the near future as I start piecing it together more.


Modified by SoCal EJ1 at 9:13 AM 9/6/2008


Modified by SoCal EJ1 at 7:48 PM 9/29/2008

 

I bet that rides awsome

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by m00nr0ck Si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I bet that rides awsome</TD></TR></TABLE>
No idea yet lol. I've only taken it out and backed it into the spot. Right now, in the front, the hoses to the reservoirs aren't secured so they're making contact with the tire (bad news). Should be fixed tomorrow. Just remind me to take a bath in sun screen beforehand because my back's as red as the car

 

Nice job so far and I love all those suspension pieces. Really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out...your old coupe was one of my favs

 

badmuthaf***** ***! cant wait for more!

 

sick suspension

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Silvertc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sick suspension </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Thanks guys

 

[QUOTE=SoCal EJ1][QUOTE]
what the f^%k where think mounting the reservoirs there? all race teams mount them in the engine bay; ease of adjustment, safety. come on now your better than this.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by zacatkings &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
what the f^%k where think mounting the reservoirs there? all race teams mount them in the engine bay; ease of adjustment, safety. come on now your better than this.</TD></TR></TABLE>All adjustments are easily within reach, and it may just be temporary. When I do a wire tuck and get a hole saw and trim for the metal, I may relocate them. Oh they also don't have like four feet of cable like Motons do, so it's not like I have infinite places to put them.

 

interesting. what suspension is that

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by donut. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">interesting. what suspension is that</TD></TR></TABLE>
Sig.

 

Oh, I took the time to clean my whole engine bay today, removed my windshield reservoir and lines, as well as my wipers.

I adjusted the front suspension up about 1" and switched the mounting points for the reservoirs to the front of the frame, running the hose behind the splash guard keeping it completely out of the wheel well.

 

damn gotta give u props on not giving up on the ej1's and them sick *** suspension. your coupe is nicely slam

 

DAMN BUMP FOR A EJ1 ITS SITTIN CLEAN WITH THE SUSPENSOIN NICE WORK

 

Thanks for the props, guys.

I got the car up and running today. The front's about an inch higher than the pix posted. Let me say, with just the coilovers and NO tuning for them yet (no adjusting on *****) they ride phenomenally. Not bad at all for 12k springs front and rear.

 

Oh yeah, I haven't even rubbed my tires or had my control arm hit the shock tower *knock on wood* and I've hit some nice bumps too lol

 

a little before/after of the engine... nothing special, but IMO I think it looks a little better

Before


After:

 

Oh, a new shot of how I mounted the front reservoirs:

 

Also put some new shoes on it. Lugs are just temporary for the day. I'm no photographer so I apologize in advance







I'll be rolling and flaring the front fenders within the next day or so.

 

rims look good...what size and offset are they if u dont mind me asking?

 

16x7. I think they're +42 or 44.

 

Nice Upgrades.......what's next?... ....LOL

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EJ1 LS guy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Nice Upgrades.......what's next?... ....LOL</TD></TR></TABLE>
Just gotta work on everything that's already mentioned in the first post. Still have to find a 40/40 non-abs prop. valve, then the rear disks are going on. I have all the parts waiting to go on, minus the FLP shifter that'll be here by Tuesday, and my lip that should be here in a month or so. After that, who knows. I just want the car to be fun; I'm not out to build a high horsepower car because I want (and need) reliability. I'm already having a blast in it and it's been one day with the suspension.

 

Dude you are nuts putting your reservoir there. That is right where all the mud, water, rocks and dirt come flying.

Get over having to bust out a hole saw. You can always weld a plug back in. Use a hole saw and put a large solid grommit thing in there to cover it back up. Will be sealed off and hardly noticeable..