Aloha all!
So recently I ran into a few issues, still piecing together my car after the theft but its running strong and getting to the point That I want to build it up.

First off.
1997 Honda Civic Ek Hatch
D16y7 / now mini-me D16z6
Coil overs dropped an hugging the road
SI's with 195/45/15 N3000's
New sounds just installed.

Second off. Running into some weird issue that my honda buddy's said is the ECU so I got a free ECU out of a 2000 auto but mine is a 1997 five speed, will that work?

Now for opinion time, I've had so many offers on my rims an tires Recently that I'll sell em an go for some diamond racing rims "white" a bit wider for better traction. Good idea or any opinions on it?

Other stuff. My car's a vanilla DX for the most part an my buddy is parting out one of his 2000 4 door EK's an offering me parts for free/cheep left an right because he finished his other EK project.
$100 for both doors "including power windows an all" sounds like a good deal. They are mint condition but how hard is changing to auto windows from manual if you just swap the whole door?

Another offer is the full front end swap. hood, finders, lights "no fogs though" bumper, supports, etc. my car had a 2000 front end before I bought it so its set up an should be a pretty quick swap. He didnt name a price so dose anybody have a rough price I should offer him? And is it really worth the time, money and energy for the swap? "Car will be painted soon ether way"

Looking at some cheap "$20 to $50" strut bars & integra seats from a friends friend who wrecked his EK Coupe. What else should I look at in the budget range, I'm trying to get my car prepped for Autocross here, strut bars an wider tires I'm pretty much set on and the same guy from before is giving me a vtec Solenoid for free an helping me finish the mini me by next weekend.

Within the next week or two I will be prepping for paint an fixing all the dents an such. Pretty excited. might go with SI blue with Lexus Pearl White accents. "Professional painter with a booth just a friends cousin that hooks it up on the side dirt cheep as in a few 6 packs and paint then he's down to do the work"


How she still looks as just a reference "before" picture

Any advice, opinions or questions always welcome. Thinking of posting updates on how the build goes if people are interested.

Mahalo all!

 

Nice find. GL with the build.

 

Diamond White Pearl is the shiz

 

Ya i get to check em out tomorrow. One is curbed up so I might buy another an use it as a spare

 

Have you ever looked at a 4 door ? No the doors or windows won't work . Harness would be obd2b and yours is obd2a . swaybars would be a good idea also

 

I hate to be "that guy", but you're starting with quite possibly the worst platform for autocross, and you're approaching it the completely wrong way. Do you seriously plan on autocrossing it, or are you just going to hang out in parking lots "looking cool"?

 

Made the thread for a discussion and opinions positive and negative. I don't want a show car an my civic is sorta "past that time in her life" of acting "cool"

Yes I plan function over appearance. The 2000 front end I wanted to know if there was anything to gain by it besides appearance. The reason I'm using this platform "EK Hatch" for Autocross is because here in Hawaii "Oahu" the only race tracks are go carts and a dirt oval (the road coarse was closed in 2006). I'm a poor collage student that has always loved cars (my mother said my first "word" was vroom" and the SCCA dose Autocross in the parking lot of the stadium where Hawaii hosts the Pro-Bowl.

Things like paint an such is because I can get it done professionally for next to free an after the theft my car needs some body and interior work, so why not?

Lastly this is my daily driver an will be for a bit as I see it, why not chase my passion in the time I have off "witch is rare". I don't plan on winning but if you have been to Hawaii you know the roads are terrible in most spots so driving fast is out of the question lol

If you were in my shoes with this car with limited resources wanted a daily driver but also wanted to use it every other weekend for auto cross how would you approach the build?

 

Would the motors work for the windows or is it just worthless for my car? When I picked up some parts from a buddy before he had a totaled "rear end collision" 2000 SI and offered me $60 for both doors/motors/glass and all but I didn't take it, stupid now that I look at it because on craigslist people sell them for as much as $300 for a set an that's just the motors, interior trim, relay/switches etc"
Also $50 for the rear disk break conversion would have been a good investment, even if I didn't sell it car parts here are so expensive I could have just sold them for a profit

 

College. Unless you're a student of arranging pictures, in which case, "collage" would be correct. While I'm nit-picking, you don't have an EK, you have an EJ6. There's a big difference.

If you're serious about wanting to do SCCA autocross, stop buying parts for your car, go to the SCCA website, and read their rules. Call and talk to one of their inspection refs. For starters, look at classes - with your mini-me engine, and the suspension parts you have, and the suspension parts you're looking at, you're liable to get yourself stuck in a class all alone (no fun), or stuck in a class you just can't keep up in (definitely no fun). Then go to some events, and look at the parts (and vehicles) that other people are running. No one has Diamond Racing steelies on the track - they're stupidly heavy, and slow your car down. The whole swapped front ends thing is completely irrelevant to your autocross goals, but hey, it's your money. It's purely appearance. Don't get too hung up on appearance, though - your paint is going to get fucked up. You might **** up and hit something. Someone else might **** up and hit you. How an actual track car looks doesn't matter.

Get your car back to stock, or as close to stock as you can. Spend a season on the track, completely stock, with a GoPro (or other similar camera) on your dash. Don't spend money on car parts until you've spent money on driving lessons - the ROI on proper track driving lessons literally cannot be beat.

 

Sorry for the spelling it has never been a strong attribute of mine. I don't know how it is on the mainland but here in Hawaii with the Autocross allot of cars are in my class and surrounding classes. Thank you for the info on the diamond rims though I didn't think they would make that much of a difference, a friend of mine might trade his slip streams with simi slicks for a set of old turntables I have an they might be better for weight. I'm not going to Autocross to win its just a place I can legally drive around fast in a closed circuit and talk with fellow car guys. The Honda/Acura scene here is huge but more so in stancing and illegal racing. I've done dirt track racing on the mainland years ago and I've been to 20+ SCCA events, ALMS races, speed vision cup, NASCAR, Indy cars, moto GP an all sorts.

Sorry for the EK comment most people around here just refer to that body style as just "an ek" so it sticks with ya. I have already spoken to people at the SCCA events "a good friend works with them here" and have a rough idea what idd be getting into. The most money I have spent on the car is just repairs needed after it being stolen, stripped & wrecked.
I have a seperate collage fund I dump money into every week an keep some on the side as play money. Like I said the paint an dent repaire I'm looking at is next to free by a professional with a booth set up so I don't think it will turn out bad, I've scene his work and its quite impressive, I want SI blue mainly because its a beautiful color but also he still has allot left after painting my friends bike and another civic recently. I wouldn't do the front end swap unless it was like $100. I see no benifits to it besides getting red of the damage to my front bumper and good without repairing them hahaha
All an all the parts I listed performance wise Through my friends is less then $250/300 and usually they go cheep an you just help them with other projects an such

 

HUH?? The 2000 frontend will fit fine.

 

I know 2 friends getting red of the full swap but like I've mentioned sense it's purely cosmetic I might not do it unless its dirt cheep. My buddy just text me an his 2000 SI clone was stolen last night an they wrecked it an left it on the side of the road so might get some new parts today lol

 

Never said it wouldn't I was talking about doors . Sedan doors won't fit a hatch/coupe

 

Have to agree with NotARacist's opinion in the fact that SCCA sanctioned Autocross events are not about looks by any means. Your mini-me will most likely put you into a class all your own or one where you won't be competitive, as mentioned before. I currently am part of the Red River Region of the SCCA in Lousiana and the only thing that is ever preached to me is "Seat time" you can buy all the go fast parts you want and do whatever to your car but it will never make up for how well you can drive your own car. I have seen too many times where someone was out driven in their own car by someone else who knew how to drive. I personally fall into the SMF class under SCCA rules (headers and straight pipe exhaust) and am by no means competitive in that class, but my times have nearly been halved just by spending a year behind the wheel and learning how to drive my ex coupe to its max capabilities. If you truely want to get serious about doing autox then the focus would definitely be on getting some seat time whenever you can and then you can look at what parts to invest that would start contributing to you becoming more competitive in your respective class.

 

If your serious about doing it right then start with the first thing your going to use all the time. Brakes! suspension is good and all but if your brakes suck you cant go faster. convert your rears to disc( no they are not more powerful but they are easier to work on!) then get some good brake pads and if you can get it a nice set of steel braided brake lines will truly let you get the best use out of your cars braking. Then maybe look at some descent rubber that is rated for more then regular passenger car activities.
All that alone will be your most valuable upgrades that are gonna do something you can notice right away....not a fancy suspension setup that you probably don't have enough tire to get the full use out of or don't have a good enough understanding of the techniques you'll need to actually get use from it.

 

Stainless brake lines are stupid. Put your reading eyes in, I'm about to hit you with some facts.

There are two types of stainless steel lines on the market. The cheaply made lines that every ricer and hard parker gets, and the expensive lines that are actually used on race cars.

These are the cheaply made lines. Yes, they are Goodridge, which most people believe is a quality brand, but they still aren't safe!


These are expensive lines. Project Mu.


The main difference (other than the color) is the outer sheath. On a "normal" braided steel line, whether it be a brake line, oil line, clutch line, or any other kind of line, the braided steel protects the rubber hose from major debris. Sounds great, but what about the minor debris? The minor debris gets stuck between the rubber and braided steel, and wear holes through the rubber until it eventually ruptures. On a standard rubber line, you can notice this wear, and catch it before it becomes critical. On a braided steel line, you can't actually see the damage until it's too late, and you're spewing brake fluid all over the road.

Cliffnotes: Be ready to spend a shitload of money on properly shrouded lines, or don't bother.

Seriously, the absolute first thing you should be spending money on is a driving class (the SCCA hosts a number of classes, for a number of different skill levels!). Get the seat time in. Go to track days and get time and experience in on the track. Shave those seconds off, and THEN start looking at performance parts.

 

haha was thinking more along the lines of stoptech ones, figured the kid wants to spend his money on something...might as well be something he would actually notice, the decrease in pedal travel that steel lines give would at least be a start.

 

i guess i'll point him towards the Road Racing/AutoX FAQ's then? anyways this will help you answer just about any question or disprove any myth you may have heard when it comes to AutoX (https://honda-tech.com/forums/road-racing-autocross-time-attack-19/faq-road-racing-autocross-forum-2574277/). As mentioned before, improving your driving skill is the best thing to invest in prior to making any actual performance puchases

 

I autoX an ek hatch in SMF and it rocks lol.

 

@Johnne625

So you sorta hit it on the head but still missing the point. I'm very familiar with the SCCA and I want membership so I have a legal avenue to use my current vehicle. The only reason I'm looking at a paint job an body work is because I can get it done professionally at an absurd price. The 2000 front end swap is more of an afterthought because the front of my EK was cosmetically damaged while the thief's took there little joyride. If I can get a great deal then I would do the swap pre paint. Back to SCCA, there are allot of amazing roads here and a few places you can go fast but I want to race around on a closed circuit safely an have fun. I don't need the fastest car there, no intention to even comprehend boosting it and if i ever even felt compelled to put 20 inch rims "stance'd" I might be committed. (No offence to anybody into any of that stuff it's just not what I want and or need in a car. I want to fix the AC because its in rush hour traffic it can take over an hour and a half to travel 12 miles. I want to fix damage cause by vandals. I want a safe legal place to let loose in my car and enjoy it for what it is.

@NotARacist
I have friends that race an work with the SCCA. Have been to many auto cross events on the island and in the states. There is no going to stock because I bought the car with upgraded suspension & intake. The class structure dosnt matter as much in my mind I guess. I could race against the S2000's an STI's an I wouldn't care if I finished last. The communal atmosphere in the pits, trying to beat your last lap time you set or your friends and just going fast for he heck of it (Legally) is why I want to go. Hawaii is so limited in motor sports its painful.
Thanks for the advice on the diamond rims though if I end up getting a set I'll make sure they are just for "looking cool" when I cruise around, track day I would bring another set on some cheepo lighter wheels. Deals come an go an right now there are allot of great ones popping up. Prices on everything in Hawaii are pretty hi so when you can get good deals you try to jump on them. I also have a few other friends that are interested in joining soon and who knows maybe the class would just be us all of us in our 96~00 Civic's.

@NubR1 I actually missed out on a full rear disk setup from a 2000 SI for $30 :Censored: same day I didn't pick up the SI doors with all the goods to set up automatic windows for $60, I'm not too familiar with the mainland price but judging by the craigslist posts for $250 or more just for the motors and switches I think it would've been a pretty good deal

 

let me tell u a couple of 3 things:

1. i suggest u invest in a Viper and a Eagle. a Viper alarm to protect ur **** (steal cars much in Hawai'i) and a Eagle Talon to DD in. no one's stealing that

2. focus on ur build and not on explaining the ins and outs of SCCA.

3. this is to everyone else: AutoCross is a Time Attack event. it is performed on a FLAT parking lot and the course is made of cones. no other drivers to bump or trade rubber with. the OP already stated the Road Course in Hawai'i is closed and the other option is Dirt which would be Rally Car events

clearly most people dont understand or have preconcieved notions of SCCA events/Road Races with 15+ drivers. very common but Hawai'i isn't

 

Thank you! Allot of people don't know that there is little to no option for people who love Motorsport. I agree with everything you said except the Talon