Ok guys, finally got some time to start doing my thread on JDM conversion.
This is very easy and will show how to do this WITHOUT WELDING!
I do not take responsibility for anyone's car.
If you're not sure or don't like my idea, take it to a professional. Thank you.

Tools:

1. Wrench
2. Socket set (12mm and 14mm will be a must)
3. Screws (depends on the holes - 3/8" size)
4. 16 gauge wire - about 25ft to 50ft sill be just fine
5. Butt connector


6. Low power drill machine[
IMG]http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wMTAzOTgwNzZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg[/IMG]

7. Spot weld bit


8. DO NOT USE DRILL BIT! IT WILL TAKE YOU FOREVER TO DRILL EACH HOLES!!!


9. Electrical tape
10. Wire connectors for connecting the headlights.
Here's an example:


11. Screw driver

Hope Im not forgetting anything...if so, I'll add on next time I remember.

Ok. So now you have your tools. Now make sure you have all of your JDM conversion parts.

1. Front bumper
2. Headlights
3. Radiator support
4. Hood
5. Fenders
6. Bumper support
7. Bumper reinforcement (or you can use the USDM ones
8. Grillie (goes above the bumer, between the headlights)

Ok so now since you have all these parts, you're ready to begin.

1. First you have to take out the front bumper. You'll need a screw driver for that.
2. Unscrew the fender liners from the fenders and the bumper
3. Pull the bumper off
4. Take out all the bolts from top of the bumper support
5. Take out the headlights (SAVE THE BOLTS)
6. Unbolt the bumper support
7. Take out the fenders. There are bolts on the top and you'll find one bolt when you open the door. When you open the door, you'll spot it through the door and the fender. You'll also need to remove the stock side skirts to get to the other two bolts for the fenders.
8. And ofcourse, the hood, unbolt that off.

OK, so you're ready to start taking off the radiator support. You'll have to use the spotweld bit to remore the spot welds. There are about 40 to 50 spot welds. Trust me, with the spot weld bit, you'll have it off in a few hours.

1. Take out these spot welds


and these....


***REMEMBER, NOW YOU KNOW WHA THE SPOT WELDS LOOK LIKE, SO TAKE THEM ALL OUT. EVERY CAR HAS DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF SPOT WELDS OR WHERE THE SPOT WELDS ARE. BUT TAKE OUT ALL OF THEM ON EACH SIDES. SOME YOU WON'T HAVE TO MOVE BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT CONNECTED TO THE BODY FRAME. TO FIND THAT, JUST FEEL THE OTHER SIDE OF RADIATOR SUPPORT AND SEE IF THERE'S A BUMP AND IF NOT, THEN YOU WON' TNEED TO WORRY ABOUT THAT SPOT WELD BECAUSE IT'S NOT CONNECTED TO THE BODY FRAME***

Here are some more examples of the spot welds after they're drilled out.
Some aren't all the way drilled because it's to show you how it looks like.
The passanger side looks really bad because I didn't have the spot weld bit then and I used a regular drill and it fucked it up pretty bad and I got to a point where I started cutting the radiator support out.





http://www.we-todd-did-racing....x.jpg

2. Now that all the spot welds are cut off, its still going to be very tough to take them out and you'll new a CROWBAR to move the radiator support.

3. Put the JDM radiator support. Once you put it in place, it should look like this.


4. You will have to bend the AC line a little bit to fit the radiator support. Its very easy to do that, with your hand. Here's an example of the AC lines and how it looks after you bend it and put the radiator support on


5. Now it's time to put on the radiator support. To do that, you have to bolt it on first so you can connect the radiator on. You'll bolt it on where the USDM bumper support was originally bolted. Here's a picture of where the holes are:


6. After it's bolted on, it's going to be a lot easier for you to bolt the radiator on and see the fittings for the fenders.

7. Now it's time to cut off some parts of the body to fit the headlights on. Here's to show you where to cut from.


8. Now you are ready to put the headlights on to see how it fits. For people, that have the HID like me, there are a few more extra steps. You'll find those instructions in the end of this setup.
Here's a pic to show you an example of the headlight installed.


9. Now put on the fender to see how it fits. They should fit perfectly. Here are some pictures to show example:[
IMG]http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wMTAzOTkzNjZzNDEzZGZkMzF5NTQx.jpg[/IMG]

10. Ok, now you can take out the fenders and the headlights off to put on the bumper support then you're going to put them back in. To do that, you'll unbolt those bolts that are holding the radiator support. Then install the bumper reinforcement support and the radiator support on together. Make sure you use the factory bolts because those are not the same grade as just any bolts you'll find in Home Depot. Just those 4 bolts will hold the radiator support perfectly. We've tested it by having me and my friend sit on the radiator support. They don't move. But don't just leave the whole thing on with only 4 bolts.

11. Now you should start drilling holes on your radiator support matching the original holes you made while taking out the radiator support. Use the strongest bolts you can get from home depot or wherever you get them from.
Heres an example w/ some pictures:


12. Ok, you should be done with bolting by now.

13. Now put the headlights on first and then put the radiator support on. Once you're done, put the bumper support on. This is the support that connects to the reinforcement. Bumper support holds the front bumper.

14. You're also going to have to change the hood latch. You can either buy a 90-93 latch and cable or you can use the one from your car. Even though I have used the original cable, I am going to change it to a DA cable because it's a lot better and longer than the DC2. But the latch is perfectly fine. All you have to do is turn it around and install it. The original bolts fit in just perfectly. Here's a picture:


15. Install the hood now if you already haven't. Close it all up to see if everything fits. If so, then bolt on everything if you already haven't bolted the parts on. I did my final bolting in the end, after I saw that everything fit perfectly.

I hope this helped people. Took me 3 hours to write this up. I can't think at the moment but ill go over the whole thing to see if I'm missing anything. If so, I'll add in later. If you have any questions, just e-mail me and I will be happy to answer them for you. Thanks

Here are some final pictures after it's done!




This is what it will look like once it's done. But in candy apple red.....w/ CF hood.


***UPDATE 9/24/05***
Here's the diagram for the headlights. Originally made by <U>ZIEX73REW</U>




Modified by JDMoMo at 1:57 AM 10/17/2005

 

dont u want to weld your thing in? good write up though

 

okay heres a noob question... whats the purpose of removing the spot welds? is it so you can mount the radiator support? nice write up btw

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by freshvibes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">okay heres a noob question... whats the purpose of removing the spot welds? is it so you can mount the radiator support? nice write up btw </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea....or else you can't take out the USDM rad support....No way!

No, Im not going to weld mine on. No need. I mean, everyone talks about how it needs to be welded. I know so many people that never welded their conversion. They're running great. I haven't been autocrossing but if I do, and I find out that the body isn't stiff enough, then I'll weld it on. Other than that, i don't need it welded. This is to show how to do it w/out welding. If you want to weld it, go for it. Also, if you don't wanna go through all the trouble, look for Mase's write up. Maybe you'l like his idea.....

 

damn i woulda rather kept the 95 front than put that nasty bumper on

 

without welding it on i guarantee you that the front of that car is twisting all over the place when you are turning....... i put a new radiator support on my old civic just like that without welding and ended up twisting so much (i auto-x'ed it a-bit) that the corners of the hood and fenders rubbed each other alot and caused the paint to chip off

wont ever just bolt on the support again thats for sure

........ but if this is just for a show car then you shouldnt see a problem but if you take any corners you will have the fenders and hood bumping each other

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cjames235 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">without welding it one i guarantee you that the front of that car is twisting all over the place when you are turning....... i put a new radiator support on my old civic just like that without welding and ended up twisting so much (i auto-x'ed it a-bit) that the corners of the hood and fenders rubbed each other alot and caused the paint to chip off

wont ever just bolt on the support again thats for sure

........ but if this is just for a show car then you shouldnt see a problem but if you take any corners you will have the fenders and hood bumping each other</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'll give you updates soon as I start driving it and tell you if there's any problem...Civic body is not the same is a DC2. I've heard from a lot of DC2 owners that there's no problem with their conversion. Lets see...

 

theres a reason why honda spot welded the rad support..... good write up.... but i would take a little more effort and do it right since you already spent all that time working on the car ..... nice dc2 btw

 

very nice write up...great for DIY...

 

i honestlly think its more of a time consuming and a hasle to drill and put nuts and bolt on rather than just weld it.
imo.

there are many things, (not just cars) that i welded insted cause it was quicker to do so.

 

Nice job man!

 

nice, but i dont know about that bumper

 

good stuff !

 

nice write up yo'

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chunty Butt Kevin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice, but i dont know about that bumper</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Split Image Prez &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice write up yo'</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

very helpful

 

good man!!

 

I hope you got that bumper direct thru us.

 

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GRIP KING &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I hope you got that bumper direct thru us. </TD></TR></TABLE>

You damn right I did....I think Im also going to get the kit for my wife's 98 civic from you guys.
I like it. However, I had a few problems installing but it's cool. Haven't tried the rear bumper or the side skirts yet but I'll give u guys a call to figure that out if I have questions on installing. Thanx

 

nice info!!

 

right click, save target as......good write up yo

 

Do you need to get a JDM radiator or can you use your OEM?

Other than the fenders, radiator support, headlights, bumper & hood. What other parts would I need?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GSR2001 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Do you need to get a JDM radiator or can you use your OEM?

Other than the fenders, radiator support, headlights, bumper & hood. What other parts would I need?</TD></TR></TABLE>

YES! That's the main important part for the conversion. The rad support is not similar, well the bottom part is but not the top part. A lot of people just take out the top part, Im forgetting the correct term for it, T Bar? I dont' remember, but yea, you can change that but keeping the rad support in 1 piece would be a lot stronger IMO. Since it's holding the l ights and the hood and the the radiator.

I think I have everything that you need listed above. You'll see a list of everything that a conversion comes with.