hi guys,
i've been lurking around ht for quite a while now and finally decided to sign up and make a build thread for myself.

i'm 19 and i've been into old school cars my whole life. i got my license about 4 months ago but i had been looking for a good daily/wkend car for more than a year. i used to assosciate hondas with ricer kids as i was more into the european retro ford scene but this changed when i saw pictures of a stanced and fitted ef and fell in love with it.

over time i acquired a taste for clean hondas (up until 7th gen) but the ef and eg chasis were always my favourite. being my first car i couldn't afford an eg so an ef was my definite next choice. finding a rustproof example took painstakingly long and meant that i had to wait a full month after i got my license in order to get my car.

in the end i managed to find a one-owner, bone-stock, practically rust free '90 ec8 (europe's std equivalent with a meager 1.3 carby) which had never slept without a roof over it's head.

here's my baseline after a thorough cleanup:


although the bumpers were a bit sh*t in certain areas (especially the rear one), the body was very straight with only two very minor blemishes. paintwork was also in quite a good condition (nothing a good polishing couldn't fix).

passenger side was ok


driver's side mirror has seen better days though :/


a pic of the 'bay:


and a phone pic of the front accenting the 4x4 status:


1'st thing i did was paint the cam cover letters in gold (red is too mainstream. )



progress on this build will be slow because i'm a broke college student but i spend all i have on my car and i'll try to keep it interesting

i snatched a set of rims for a bargain with the help of my dad and a set of pirellis from an awesome mate of mine



they are are 7Jx15" Volk Rays TE37 Replicas dressed in pirelli 195 50s. not an aggressive setup by any measure, however i dont want to roll my fenders. this could be taken care of by camber but for now they would definitely do the job.

for those of you wondering why the car looks even higher than when it had the standard 4.5Js on, its because i stupidly took the pic right after we had lowered the thing down from the jack and so the dampers hadn't yet set.

cleaned rims waiting for some rubber:


dressed in rubber and fitted:


then i decided to get a couple of side bumper strips, a couple of door visors, a new side mirror and a golf mk3 front lip:




took a couple of pics with my mate's metro:



edited a pic to get an idea of what i was going for


added a set of cf centre caps:


then i made a decision which landed me a week of mayhem and tension.

i decided to do some bodywork including colour coding the bumpers and set myself a deadline for a local show a couple of weeks later.
bad weather and my sprayer's tight schedule meant that i ended up polishing the lacquer less than eight hours from the start of the show.
anyway, on to the pics:

the front bumper filler had to be touched because of a slight warp


the rear bumper was removed and re attached after straightening the support and mounts. it also had a crack which was plastic welded and re shaped.
from the pic you can clearly see the difference between the old position and the original one. (plastic welding is on the far right)


it was also realigned with the arch and the rear drums were done in black


the right rear mud guard had a little mark where the previous owner had hit it with a gate. this was pulled.


on to the removal of the bumpers:

imo it looks meaner without the license plate:



front and rear bumpers were removed and went off to the sprayer on thursday (a week and some before the show on sunday)..

 

Looking awesome so far. Glad to see you taking an interest in it! Great starting point for sure. Wish I could find something like that reasonably priced here.

 

i also did the front hubs in gold


left the calipers black though


finally the front bumper was ready friday (3 days before the show)

test fitting it in position:


front bumper and gold hubs looking awesome imo :3


the rear bumper was done but the license number backplate and the rear mudguard were sprayed on friday evening


saturday morning the rear bumper was fitted


and the front bumper including license plate was also fitted



clearly in need of a polish:


in the late evening the masking tape came off the side and the whole car was polished and waxed at the sprayer's garage in preparation for the show the next day.

though the weather was absolute sh*t raining showers all day, i managed to snap a good pic


I had been debating between coils and lowering springs but as soon as i felt the difference i made up my mind.

i started debating what to get. i read bad reviews on D2s and horrible one on K-Sport. a good set of skunk2s were out of budget but then i discovered BC Racing. i have yet to find a bad review on these coilovers and now i know why.

so i started saving up and ordered BCs by late december..

snapped a couple more pics in the process...




then i came upon a dilemma.. i had to choose between fork type and eyelet type coilovers.. i would have gone with eyelet type if they weren't so fkin expensive to get a set of aftermarket lcas. function7s were way out of budget and since i had barely been able to save enough for the coils, i got a set of megans. now i know everybody hates megans but i figured they didn't cost much bushes are replaceable and i wouldn't mind changing them if the need arises.

coils and lcas arrived a couple of weeks ago and as soon as i fitted them i was completely stunned by the difference in the ride. i expected it to stiffen a lot but it was nowhere near the stiffness of a set of D2s. the car feels so much better in corners and the steering is definitely sharper.

i'm currently running two fingers wheel gap in the front and three in the back.
will probably go lower in the future but i need to daily it and it scrapes speedbumps as it is.

here's a couple more pics after a cleaning..








and my favourite pic yet


future plans include rear lip + mudflaps, tiebars swaybars and braces, a nardi, a rear wing, some tlc to the interior and a swap to a b or something boosted

constructive criticism is welcome

 

thanks !
it was hard to find.. took me over 7 months lol.. it was only decently priced because the previous owner was like 90 years old

 

Looks sick so far. How does it run in the cold weather with it being carberated ?

 

thanks

it's actually pretty reliable.. sometimes it hesitates until it heats up..
on a really cold day, it's hard on startup but no major issues.

 

Keep up the good work man. Cant wait to see the finished product.

 

Loving this. Good work.

 

thanks guys..
i'm currently debating between oem rear lip + mudflaps or a clutch to replace my slippy one..
it's getting pretty unbearable (sometimes unsafe even) to drive at times with all the slipping in 4th gear and on the other hand i've been looking for the lip for ages and i've found an oem one in very good condition for a reasonable price..

i guess i'll replace the clutch and try to leave a deposit on the lip until i can afford it

 

nice. glad to see that even though your a broke college student, you are still using decent/good parts. alot of people get clean cars, the shop for ebay crap and completely screw their cars up.

Good job!

 

thanks mate.

i know what you mean. i would've ended up going down the same route if it werent for ht. i've seen some pretty horrible side effects of ebay parts on ht and while cheap parts may seem perfect sometimes i wouldn't cheap out on my life.

patience is very important variable in this matter. sometimes when you want something bad it's hard to wait until you save enough money for a good quality product. up until now i have managed to be patient and i try to choose decent parts. i hope ebay will never get the better of me

 

i have just finished reading a good writeup on a d series clutch installation and it looks like i had assumed wrong.. it looks quite straightforward and i might try the installation myself if i find all the required tools in the garage. this would save me at least a hundred bucks of installation fees which i really need.

 

awesome ride! I got the same color hatch as well, 90 SI though, just waiting on some money to get it running. I really like ur ride height as it is now, that's what I was planning to do, maybe go 2 finger gap in the back as well.

 

Looks like it's in great shape. Also well taken care of. In my opinion I'd like to see a single cam with a turbo on it. Not done rarely, if ever from what I've seen lately. Doing the clutch should be no problem as you seem to have a nice amount of tools. If you get a buddy and a manual for your car you should be just fine.

 

thanks mate
my current ride height is just about as low as i can go in order to be able to daily it because of the sh*tty maltese roads.. i was going to lower the rear too actually but currently the lowest point of the car are the front mudflaps and i scrape them a couple of times every time i enter/exit the garage. lowering the rear would cause them to sit even lower
good luck with your build mate and if you're changing suspension components dont cheap out because your life is involved

i hope so hehe.. i will be changing the clutch next week probably. the only thing that i'm expecting trouble from are the axles. i've heard about them being a bitch to remove and i'm still doing my research.
as for the turbo idea, i don't really think it's worth the money and hassle especially since it's a carby. i plan to swap to a b16 or a tuned 3stage d15 in a year or so.. it really lacks in power currently but i'm trying to stiffen up the chassis and upgrade the suspension and brakes in order to prepare for the added power.

i will be ordering the lip and fitting the clutch next week hopefully

i also wanted to ask you guys whether any your e brake handles have turned green like mine lol


update: i've just ordered oem rear lip and mudflaps.. hoping they'll be here next week :D

 

it's been too long since i've updated the thread but i've finally got round to doing it.

my progress on modifications has been halted lately because of the need for some maintenance work . apart from the clutch which should go in next week or so, i think the alternator is dying. whenever i let it idle (especially in the cold), the battery warning light on the dash is lighting up. it stays on for about three seconds and increases idle speed then goes back off only to turn back on again doing the same thing over and over again. it's annoying as hell



have any of you ever encountered such symptoms? i am suspecting that the alternator is at fault here and i'm hopefully going to get it checked tomorrow at a technician.

on to the good stuff:
the oem si rear lip and crx rear mudflaps arrived a couple of weeks ago...

i prepped and resprayed the rear lip in satin to match my black bumper strips and i'm really happy with the results... it took me a long time to find one let alone in such good nick.
installation was also a breeze. i used 10mm bolts&nuts and some washers.
forgive the crappy cell pic but crappy weather and school meant no time for a real camera.



on the other hand, installation of the crx rear mudflaps wasn't as straightforward as i had hoped
i will certainly have to trim them a lot in order to fit neatly. currently they're too tall and leave a sizeable gap between the front bumper and themselves because of the lip.
if anybody has some clues on how to do this, please share as i still can't figure out how i'm going to make them work. i still haven't taken a knife at them because i don't wish to damage them beyond repair.
i apologize for the lack of pictures regarding this matter but i'll try to snap some later in order to show you what i mean.

i'm hoping that by the end of february i'll have managed to fix everything up.

until the next update, here is a pic i took with my crappy phone which i thought turned out unexpectedly well:

 

i love your Ef!
its super clean
regards

 

Woah, really tidy

 

I'm in love with this hatch. Keep up the good work.

 

thank you very much! my aim is to keep it as clean as possible and mods shall be done in an oem+ fashion wherever possible.

update:

i took it to the electrician today and we checked the alternator. it seems fine and is keeping the battery at perfect voltage at all times. just to be sure, i'll probably open up the alternator this wkend and check its brushes. i also plan to buy the clutch kit tomorrow.
i can't wait to get rid of the old clutch and the alternator issue. if all goes to plan, next mods on the list are a nardi or a rear wing (maybe both? )

i'm also currently trying to polish up this billiard cue ball which i will drill&thread as the gear ****

 

update 4: mudflaps and such bullsh!te


so, i've ditched the cueball gearknob because of two factors:

1. i've changed my mind on the interior look i'm going for. at first i was thinking about a classic woodgrain nardi and the cueball gearknob. now i've changed my mind to a black nardi which wouldn't go well with a cream gearknob imo. my plans now are to keep everything black in order to achieve that oem+ look that i love so much.

2. the thread on the gearstick is too tall and i'm not about to cut it.

i dont have any pictures depicting this... so on to what i do have pictures of...

first, these are my crx rear mudflaps which i plan to modify in order to fit my rear lip. they are oem honda and in pretty good nick and this makes me feel guilty every time i think about cutting them up




i don't know how i'll do them yet because i'm waiting for a friend to tell me exactly how he did his but from what i worked out, i'll have to do two major modifications.

firstly, they are too tall because the rex bumper is taller than a hatch one


which leaves a major gap.....


i therefore lower the mudflaps so that the tops are roughly at the position where the hatch ones reach in order to check how it will look...


and boom there's my bigger problem.... there's still a gap between the mudflap and the bumper. a big gap. and we dont like gaps.


so after some head scratching i've come to the conclusion that these modifications should be made to the flaps in order to fit well


today we also re calibrated the carb as it was running too rich on fuel and checked it with an afr gauge and made sure idle speed was on point.

naked pgm-carb posing for playmanifold magazine



also here's a pic of the replaced mc i previously failed to mention



the more eagle eyed viewers might have spotted the battery tie paint was in poor condition. this was resprayed in gold recently for the extra bhp...


i just love the way these babies look.


the pesky fkn alternator which wont stop giving me problems. replacing regulator nxt tue hopefully



i also covered the ground cable because it looked like **** before. (can be seen in old engine bay shot. too lazy to repost.)



this was meant to be a before picture for the cueball gearknob but it shows proof to an annoying phenomenon/life fact which is:
females will easily turn your interior into a dump but will go crazy over an untidy closet. males, on the other hand, are generally the opposite.
cue the dirtiest passanger footwell and f'ed up mat FUUUUUU


my single biggest interior flaw. i don't know how the previous owner managed to do this. he was so short he probably wouldn't even be able to reach this spot while driving.
i've got theories.
they shouldn't be shared.


my door lock replacement tape


which actually is fluorescent tape used on old fighter planes i found laying around. no lie. this means they can withstand the mach1 speeds reached by the angry d13.


my (upgraded) stereo which looks sorta like oem and imo fits the 90's styling. this isn't valuble enough to encourage thieves to break in for but supplies 50w on each channel and is no more than i really need with my two tiny hidden 6inch 130watters.
unless they're cheap bastards.


the left corner of my rear lip which i resprayed because the paint ran a bit the first time around. looking sexy now, aye?


voila: cleaned the whole carpet. developed a temprorary hatred for red curly hair. cleaned the mats and replaced the passanger's.


fun fact: many climate control panels on 4th gens are broken from removal. mine isnt :D


sad fact: haven't yet driven on a road long enough to exceed 150kph (malta is a tiny tiny island)


sad fact2: it's only a shitty little d13 carby but the fuel gauge needle drops like lead. (hoonhoonhoon)


that's about it. c&c's are welcome as always. hoping that by next update alternator is fixed and new clutch is in.

 

I've been going through your entire thread trying to figure out where you are located. You finally said "Malta". lol.

I'm pretty sure I've sent an item there from a sale on eBay.
Looks good so far!!

 

thanks!
it definitely could be. hondas have practically took over here in malta and the honda scene is really expanding. shame we don't really have a choice of 4g hondas available here. only hatches, shuttles, rexs and accords were imported back in the day if i'm not mistaken...
i've never actually seen a live da in fact. i really love those things

 

not much of an update..
battery died down on me because the damn alternator wouldn't charge it so we opened the ****** up. It then went on a date with the BFH and when she came back we cleaned it up and boom. fixed.
i'll still be getting an extra for replacement whenever it decides to be a bitch again tho.

in other news,
i'm currently installing a couple of new ball joints and this exedy.. (not this one actually because i got it by mistake. my engine is a d13b1 but it's gearbox is apparently from a d13b2 which takes a larger clutch )
[/url]
[/url]
[/url]

 

Super clean ride....what lower rear arms do you have?