Hello,

My name is Josh and this is my EG Civic. The following is a direct copy from my OzHonda build thread, so I apologise for a few of the lines.


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After much arm twisting by a few members, I have decided I will finally start a build thread.

A few people know me, but for those who don't, my name is Josh & I am a qualified mechanic by trade. This is a quick run down of how my car came to be so far.

Now to cut a long story short, I purchased a nice and clean EG hatch just over 18 months ago from a member on here with the intentions of having a weekend/track car to play with, while I daily drove my ute. It came with a JDM B18C2 and a few other mods. This is how I picked it up when I first purchased the EG.







Now after driving it around for a while, as I ended up loving the car so much I daily drove it, I decided a few things required changing. I started with front & rear camber kits, changing the coilovers from D2 to Tein Monoflex and some braided brake lines.

A couple of mountain runs later, I decided I needed some new tyres, seats and a steering wheel, so the Sportmaxx's made way for set of Volk Racing RE30 15x7 +35 with 205/50R15 Toyo R1R, I picked up a pair of Recaro SR3's and fitted a nice Nardi Deep Cone 330mm steering wheel.









After driving for a bit more, it came to the time where I had to decide to keep the EG on the road and pay rego, or let it lapse and dedicate it to track. I chose the later and got under way preparing it slowly to head to the track and start the testing.

Headed out to a test and tune day on Good Friday last year at Winton to get a feel for the car to prepare for the EXE day coming up a couple a weeks later and lucky I did, as the water pump let go on me in the last session of the day.

Exe day at Winton was a good test day. I was able to gather alot of information in regards to the grip levels and tyre pressure setting for the R1R's & how the Monoflex's go on the track. I realised that my front pad choice not the best and decided to upgrade for the next day.

After the EXE day I sat down and re-evaluated where I wanted to go with my build. Do I stay N/A or go F/I? Do I build a tuff as B series of go down the K swap route? For a few months I was undecided, so I decided to keep going on suspension, wheels/tyres & brake development.

So in the mean time, I placed an order for Whiteline front and rear swaybars, ASR sub frame brace, Function 7 rear lca's, RDA Gold slotted and dimpled rotors, Project Mu Club racer front pads, Volk Racing TE37V's (F: 16x8 +23 R: 15x7 +18) and a set of Yokohama Advan A050 (F:225/45R16 R: 205/50R15). I also guttered the interior, removed all sound deadening & went the hack on any "excess baggage" the dash had.

This is how it looked a couple of days before the Tampered Motorsport day.

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After getting everything fitted up, I sent the car off to Chris at Centreline Suspension for a nice set-up for Winton after discussing how I would like the car to drive. Now it was time to head out to the Tampered Motorsport day (Melbourne Cup day, 2011) for some more testing.

After spending the majority of the day playing with tyre pressures and working out exactly how the A050's like to be treated, in the second last session I decided to start playing with my rear swaybar, as the car was not turning in as well as I wanted.

Quickest lap for the day was a 1:43.89. Not bad considering I hadn't driven the car in almost 6 months and I was still running standard 4.4fd & NO LSD.

Pictures from Tampered Motorsport day.







Christmas and new years came and went and I finally decided what direction the heart of my build was going to go. I decided to source a good quality K series to keep up with the times and also this is when it came to light that I should get the ball in motion to start my own business.

A nice pic of my car a mate had shot.



After looking around for a JDM K20A in Melbourne and being unsuccessful, I found a JDM K20A engine package in NSW. A few weeks later and I was on my way home with my new engine and now the fun times have begun to get the car ready, so I can debut the car at Honda Nationals later this year.

At the moment, the car is in pieces getting prepared for the K20A to go in, so once I have gotten a bit more done, I will update.

 

11.03.2012
Took some pictures of the engine bay the other day. Cleaning out all the panel filler to get it ready for seam welding and new engine bay paint

Picture of engine bay
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Picture in front of RH strut tower
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Picture in front of LH strut tower
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21.03.2012
Picked up fuel rail, pressure regulator & Karcepts A/C & P/steering delete kit on the weekend. Still waiting on 4-2-1 headers and Hybrid Racing shifter box to arrive. I've had a couple of customers cars to finish before I can get back onto mine, as I need to finish preparing the engine bay for seam welding & painting, remove my front subframe to re-paint it and order a 40/40 prop valve.

Tomorrow will be a good day. Have Rob from FABRaiCATIONS coming to quote me on a custom roll cage. I have also been in talks with an automotive aerodynamics specialist regarding a custom aero kit, but that will wait until later in the year once some good test days & Honda Nationals are over and done with. Also have been trying to find a titanium fabricator, but so far from my small searching, I have been unable to find one...


24.03.2012
I had Rob from FABRaiCATIONS come out to work yesterday and run thru with me his advice on what I was looking for in a cage. Have decided to go for a strut to strut cage with side intrusions and a double V in the roof. Will be sending the car off just after easter to get it installed.


23.04.2012
Not much of an update as I have been getting everything sorted.

I spoke to Rob at FABRaiCATIONS to get an update on how the cage is going today. They have welded in the main hoop, have constructed both side intrusions and have just about everything else ready to be fitted and will be starting on the front strut supports in the next day or two.

Finally found some time last week to get my engine up on a stand and start prepping it to go back together. I'm waiting on my sump baffle and a few other pieces to arrive later this week so I will get back into it over the weekend.

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The engine is a bit dirty, but it will get a nice wash before it goes back in. Also got a few other bits and pieces on Friday in the form of an Exedy Sports Ceramic clutch kit, new clutch slave cylinder & Irridium spark plugs.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...54616574_n.jpg

 

06.05.2012
So during the week, I decided to pull the pin on the EXE track day, as I was still waiting on the car to get back from FABRaiCATIONS & waiting for alot of parts to arrive that got held up.

In the end tho, Thursday afternoon I picked up my Koyo 36mm RSX radiator from the Post office and this started a mini trend. Friday I got the car delivered from FABRaiCATIONS and the cage came up tops. I am very impressed with the results





















I also had my swap headers, shifter box/cables & sump baffling arrive on Friday, so this will allow me to get the last couple of things sorted on the engine and get it in hopefully by the end of the week, as I am now aiming to go to Winton for the Tampered Motorsport day on Queens Birthday weekend.


15.09.2012
So it has been a while since I have updated. Change of jobs, change of house etc etc has cause the buzz box to sit idle for a couple of months, but the last couple of weeks I have finally found time to get stuck back into it and I'm going to run with it.

The Civic ended up sitting out the front of my old house for a couple of months under a very poor quality car cover, and surface rust started to form on the roll cage. Since moving house the Civic has now found a very loving garage to sit idle in and I have decided to give her a paint job. Also there is a test day coming up in just over 6 weeks, so the plan is to have everything completed and get out there for some testing.

Some pics of the Civic in it's new home with the doors & quarter panels stripped.












And some pics of the Civic being rubbed back for paint. I will be going an almost Kermit green and the roll cage will be painted black.
















I have also sent my doors & front quarter panels off to be moulded for carbon fibre items, tho I will not see the finished products until early December, so stay tuned =]

 

30.09.2012
Just a tease




09.10.2012
Ok so finally I can release the pics (after waiting to long for them to upload). I'm not going to say much other than a massive thank you to Andy for all your help especially with the all nighter last thursday night to get it ready for the booth on saturday morning. I couldn't really care if people like the colour or not, as at the end of the day, it's for publicity more than anything.


Exterior has been Hi-Filled and rubbed back:










Interior Hi-Filled & Cage painted:










Off she goes to get a new skin:






Me painting away in the booth (I had never sprayed a car before in my life and the owner of Body Shop Paint Supplies Bayswater was very impressed with the quality of the finished product)

 

09.10.2012
And FINALLY.......The finished product (well sort of)






















Now i need to sleep so I will finish my update tomorrow.....

 

05.2013

So I realised that it has been over a month since H Nationals and I am probably due for an update.


Firstly, I would like to congratulate Tom, Michael and everyone who volunteered for organising and running H Nationals. It was a top class event that, I believe, should be run once a year in Melbourne (possibly under a different name tho) as it was such a good sight seeing the Honda community out in action doing all the things we love to do in a safe and controlled environment.


Where to begin.... The lead up to H Nationals was crazy to say the least. I moved house a month before. Was trying to get into a new workshop and trying to get the Civic ready all at once. There were alot of late nights and a couple of points where I almost said no, but it the end I made it (more just for the satisfaction of being able to get out and do a shakedown and to drive it as it had been to long since it was last tracked).

In the couple of months leading up to H Nationals, I had organised a few new goodies, along with a couple of goodies I had sitting around since last year. The new goodies that I had gotten together are as follows:

- Velo Apex Racing seat
- Carbon Plus carbon tailgate
- KW coilovers (purchased before I became a dealer for H.Drive Racing)
- Kpro
- Prototype SPMR K Swap intake
- ASR rear swaybar endlinks
- K Tuned swivel neck thermostat housing
- x2 225/45R16 Yokohama Advan A050

Earlier in the year I had gotten a 3in exhaust made up for the EG and I was on a good path to get the K swap finished, then as life does, it put me in a situation where I had to move house and find a workshop in the matter of a couple of weeks. This made it tough to get time to work on the EG, but i kept pushing thru. In the fortnight leading up to H Nationals, I still had to get the car started, get my intake made up, get the car tuned and put some panels & my windscreen put on the car. Everything got finished on the Thursday before H Nationals and on the Friday the car got put on the dyno @ Chequered Tuning.


A qucik pic of the engine bay while we were fabbing up the intake




After getting the car on the dyno, we were having some issues getting the car to idle, only to find that the IACV had stuck shut. We quickly knocked up a IACV block off plate and were able to continue with the tune. End results was 145kw/203nm @ the hubs on Chequered Tuning's Dynapack. I cannot thank Trent & Cat enough for staying back until 11:30pm on the eve of H Nationals to help me get the last part of the car finished.


H Nationals

I missed the first session as I had to rewire brake lights and was sorting out a couple of last minute things I realised I had not completed in my preparation, but I was not stressed, as listening to everyone roar around was good music to keep me going first thing in the morning.

Second session of the day, I head out and spent my out lap chuckling to myself as to how much faster the car was with the new engine and how well the car responded with the addition of the roll cage and new coilovers. I spent the rest of the session getting acquainted with my new best friend and trying to get a feel of the braking points and what lines suit the new traits the car has.

Third session of the day, get back out there and start pushing a little more but nothing to serious as I was still trying out a few things and getting my confidence back up.

Fourth session of the day, get out there and I had started to find a bit of a groove 2nd lap in but then I started to get what seemed to be a rev cut for a slight second which would go away if you released and re-applied the throttle. This kept happening for the next couple of laps intermittently so I brought the car in early to find out what was going on. Kpro was not showing anything out of the ordinary, so I thought I may have been getting a bit of fuel surge, as the cut out always happened just after coming off the ripple strips. Topped up with a bit more fuel and thought I would give another half session ago.

Fifth session of the day, get out and first flying lap was the same again. Did another couple of laps then decided to bring it in. Again, the datalogs didnt show me anything out of the ordinary and I was starting to suspect possibly a bad TPS or a bad earth. Decided to call it a day as there wasn't much I was able to do up there.

Overall, I never intended to pay too much attention to my times (as they were fairly average to say the least) but it was good getting out there, getting some new data and looking at where, I myself need to improve, as the car is definitely at a level, where with some more seat time, is capable of doing a high 1:3x with some more seat time and a bit of a tweak in the alignment department.

I am trying to find some time at the moment to get into the EG to work out what the issue was, but being a one man army & working 7 days a week, the business is taking priority at the moment. Hopefully I can get some time in the next couple of weeks to sit down and re-check all the wiring and get the car sorted, so I can get back out and try get the times down.

Lastly, here are some pictures that popped up after H Nationals of the car:

 

24.102.2013

Haltech Pro Plug & Play (to suit EP3R) arrived today. I will slowly be adding additional sensor inputs to log just about anything you can think of, along with a Racepak dash.




Also have an RSP sitting here waiting for the prototype CAI to be fabricated and dyno tested.

Carbon doors and roof are not far off and I have also started on basic aero design concepts that I will expand on to create my own complete aero kit. I will be running a Voltex Type V rear wing and the rest of the aero kit will be developed in house. I have worked out offsets for the new wheel combination for when I upgrade to 5 stud, so I need to get that done before I can start on the aero kit.

In the mean time tho, I will be designing a front splitter & canard set up (based off the OEM front bar) to work with the Type V wing so I can get some data on aero to work out a few things