I had the unfortunate experience of waking up to my Civic looking like this.









Thankfully I still have the car, but I'm still annoyed that I've to deal with the aftermath. Someone was nice enough to donate a door to me. I'll transfer all my stuff onto the new door.

I found a replacement ignition barrel too. It comes with the key, but I'll have to see if its possible to rekey the barrel to take my old key. I don't want to deal with having 2 keys and 1 that doesn't work with my doors and trunk.

I haven't looked at the damage properly and I'm not in any mood to. My steering wheel seems straight, but the whole column is twisted clockwise... You can see in the photo the switches, height adjust and plastic surround are dipped to 1 side. Why is that? Again, I haven't looked at it too closely.

My steering lock still works by the way. I can't start the car because the immobiliser is on. Receiver is destroyed and ECU assumes theres no key.

Any advice is appreciated. I've never dealt with something like this happening.

 

Been there. It sucks. Sorry man, I totally understand how violated you feel.

Column is trash. They bend easily when the lock gets pried off. Unfortunately the mount is probably tweaked too, when I replaced my column it still sits just a little off. Any 96-00 Civic column is a direct swap. 92-95 or 94-01 Integra will fit but you’ll have to get a new hub for your steering wheel because the spline count is different.

you can 100% re-key your new lock with your old tumblers. Just take apart the old cylinder, line up the tumblers in order as you do and put them into the new cylinder in the same order. There are YouTube videos and other how-tos out there. It’s much better if you still have the old cylinder and can recycle the tumblers, so don’t throw out your old cylinder and decide to fix it later. Been there too, the tumblers are available at the dealer but come in bags of ten if you don’t ask correctly so beware.

No advice on the immobi. Normally I’d recommend modding the ecu to delete it, but looks like it saved your car in this case. Pretty positive it’s coded at the ecu side and you just need a new receiver.

 

I can get another column. Someone has offered me one. Hopefully I can get the Civic back looking and feeling like nothing happened.

I forget to mention, my barrel is completely destroyed. It looks like they tried starting my car with a screwdriver. That didn't work, so they yanked the barrel until it snapped. I didn't clean the car. Not gone near it since Sunday when it happened. So all the broken parts are still inside.

The factory immobiliser definitely saved the car, as did the quick release. The steering wheel was just hanging on the hub. Thank god for UK spec. If it was a JDM import, the car would definitely not be on my driveway. I'm guessing the idiots thought it was and that it would be an easy target. I can tell it wasn't for monetary gain, like selling parts. Broken into for joyriding purposes. I had a full set of wheels in the back and of course the expensive Recaro. Nothing was taken.

 

Damn factory Civics got the immobilizer from the factory in Ireland? The US models didn't even get it while similar year 99-01 Integras, TLs, Odysseys got it.

 

All the European ones, yeah. I wasn't sure what you guys got in the US. Japan definitely doesn't have it, hence why they're the most targeted.

The thieves must have assumed my car is Japanese because of the square number plates and the flipped wiper switch. My car is still made in America, but assembled in the UK I'm guessing. Not many European countries use right hand drive.

 

SCUMBAGS

 

Got my hands on a new barrel with the receiver unit. Plugs into my car fine, but the Civic still won't start. I'm assuming the receiver is coded to match the ECU, that way no one can walk up to my car and plug their own barrel in, to steal it.

I got another steering column too. One that isn't twisted. Slightly different from mine, but should work.

 

One of my friends donated this door to me. Its relatively bare, so I’ll strip my old door down and put everything onto this one.



Invested in some cameras. This one watches my driveway and sends me alerts whenever someone steps foot on the driveway. The Civic is under the cover and I have my mom’s Insight blocking it in.



I’m gonna 100% install an alarm. I even bought an add-on proximity sensor. Killswitch to the fuel pump.

I’m not sure what to do with the factory immobiliser because thats preventing me from starting the car. I can call someone out to disable it completely, but then I’ll be relying on the new alarm’s immobiliser.

I’ll be going down to Ireland’s own Honda headquarters soon. spAdam mentioned replacement tumblers are available. Have to make sure that applies to Ireland too.

 

Driveway camera is always a solid investment. Mine even helped me catch which neighbor was letting their giant dog **** in my yard every other day!

 

After wasting my time at Honda because Irish dealers apparently can't get replacement tumblers, I went trawling on old forum threads, trying to find a guide. Nothing concrete, so I tried something myself.

I guessed that the receiver on the barrel wasn't coded, unlike the chipped key and ECU. I still had the damaged barrel on the car. Plugged the car's wiring into the new barrel. Stabbed my original key in that matches the ECU. Cranked the car using the damaged barrel and the Civic fired right up. What this means is the receiver is a generic part. I no longer have to go get the car coded again and I get to keep the factory immobiliser. Pat on the back for me.

With that in mind, the only thing I need to do is rekey my ignition lock. Here's a picture of the new barrel with the receiver attached.



These are the remains of my old barrel that I picked up from my footwell. Bagged it all up, so I don't lose anything.



There's no guide for this exact style barrel, so I was pretty much guessing as I went. Got the new lock to slide out the main part.



My old lock was snapped in two, but I did manage to save all the tumblers. So far, one of them looks bent. If the new lock has an appropriate donor, I'll use it.



Unfortunately, I couldn't continue. I don't have a 1.5mm pin punch to hammer out the pin that keeps the lock in place. I'm not drilling it either because I rather keep damage to a minimum. I've a punch ordered, so just have to wait, but this is a step in the right direction.

 

Sadness!
I am glad you are getting your ride back in order...

 

It has been a long process, hunting down parts. Hondas of this generation are hard to come by now in Ireland. I'm getting good and bad attention driving this loud EM1 around, so it was bound to happen. Surprisingly, I've gone 3 years without any crap happening.

I'll probably be back driving it in the next 2 weeks.

 

I got my pin punch in the post. Good tools make such a difference.



Completely disassembled.



I cleaned all the parts.



Reassembled with my old tumblers. One of them was bent, but it was enough to make it not slot into the cylinder correctly. Tapped it with a hammer and that was no good. Got some pliers and bent it to straight, going by eye. Works good now.



The next problem was the cylinder not being able to rotate because the tumblers were catching. You can see some of the tumblers are slightly raised.



I used some 220 grit sandpaper and just sanded down the troublesome tumblers, until the cylinder worked properly. It works as it should now and its as if nothing happened.

 

Excellent, nice work! Not so hard once you get in there, just a little fiddly, eh?

 

I have small and steady enough hands, so it wasn't too much of a pain in terms of rebuilding it. I got impatient towards the end because I was sat at my desk, slowly sanding away the tumblers.

Would I have paid a locksmith to do this? Nah.

 

Took apart the dash, to get the column out. The wiring is a mess, so I'll need to clean it up.


Column out. It's twisted so obviously. Because it's twisted, the height adjustment doesn't work, so trying to work with stuff above the column was challenging, like reaching my hands in to unplug the harnesses to the lights and wipers.


The new column I got didn't work. Found out I bought a JDM one and it doesn't suit the EDM barrel. The EDM column has an oval slot for the barrel to sit into, so the steering lock works. The JDM column however has a circle slot. I'm not sure about USDM cars, but this was an issue I didn't expect. In the end, I did trade in the JDM column for the correct one.


Next difference I didn't realise is the barrels. You can see the new one is shaped differently to my original one. The new one doesn't sit on the column at all because the opening is too small. Maybe its a 96-98 vs 99-00 thing. The new barrel is from an EDM car too.


Not to worry though because I acquired another barrel. Made sure to check clearly this time.


The harness from my EM1 was toast and I didn't know until I took it out. Glad the new new barrel has a harness.


This time I didn't have to mess with tumblers. Simply took the lock from the other barrel and slipped it in. No problems. That's the ignition barrel complete.

 

Plugged in the barrel and it works perfectly.



Took apart my old column and this was the only thing wrong with it. Would be nice if Honda sold this part, but they don't



Here's the new column. I took it apart, cleaned it, greased it and put it back together.



Spent a few hours today in the cold, just locked in hahaha. Got a lot of stuff done without realising it. Column bolted up. Ignition barrel on with new shear bolts. Refitted the stalks, clock spring, hub and quick release.



Here's a closer look. Everything works. I was worried about the column not fitting correctly since the shape is different. Car is able to move now, so big win I wired in a kill switch to the main relay that you'll never be able to see. All thats left is the alarm and to fix the door.

 

Removed the door card and door visor. I didn't want to break either when pulling the door straight.



Its better, but not watertight I called a friend over and both him and I were pulling the door. We got it to where the spot weld on the door frame is past its original spot, but theres still a gap between the door and the body? I'm not going to mess with it too much since I'm ditching it soon for the orange door. I got the glass to come down and it's ok to remove now, thats the important point.



My EM1 is getting painted next month I need to finish the alarm install. Been kind of difficult digging up info since the car is wired differently than US cars. Yes, my EM1 is technically a US shell, but everything attached is UK/JDM.

 

Those bogans really f'd you over. That sucks. Is it better just to get a whole other door shell if you're repainting anyway? Dunno how rare that is where you are, or in general these days.

 

One of my previous posts haha. This door is sitting in my shed, ready to go onto the car. The main goal of bending the current door is to safely extract the glass. The new door is completely bare.

Doors are still attainable here. Coupe specific parts, like the trunk, are another story. I actually need a trunk because my one has seen better days. 7 holes from spoiler mounting. Some genius hacked up the inside, so he could thread nuts onto bolts, to hold the number plate.

 

I've really neglected to update this thread... It's all good news anyway guys. I'll start from where I last left off.

I labelled the door harness, making sure I know which plug does what. Photo was for reference too, so I know how the harness is routed.



Stripped the door of everything.




Here's where the door has essentially 'snapped'.



Cleaned up the door harness by wrapping it in some cloth tape. Replaced any broken clips.




Took the orange door out of storage and stripped it also.






Had the pleasure of taking off all the butyl residue.



Cleaned the door with grime remover and snow foam. It came up good. I let it fully dry for a day before installing the donor parts.




Pretty much installed everything from the green door.






Called a friend to help with installing the door. Took the wing off to get access to the hinge bolts.



Some time later, with a lot of cursing, it's on. Fitted the glass too, which was nerve-racking. Trying to not drop it and have it blow up into a million pieces.




Door card on with all the other pieces.



Steering column area restored. The plastic cover is missing one mounting point, so I will need to source another one at some stage. It'll work for now anyway.

 

Now onto the interesting part~ I dropped my car off at a good friend's on 18 April, so this has been going on for a month.



He sanded some suspicious spots on the orange door and found rust hiding underneath the paint. It's probably from not using an epoxy, to seal the metal.



Paint stripper applied.





He owns a fancy dent puller that welds onto metal. I don't know the correct name, but he got the door pretty straight.



Flattening.



Body filler.



He marked all the dents on the bonnet, some I never noticed.



My whole front end prepped and inside the booth.



Epoxy on.



High build primer.



If you didn't know, I'm sticking with Clover Green. I think the colour looks unbelievable in the sun and with the correct colour accents.



He edged all the mismatched panels, so when I open the bonnet or door, I'm not going to see anything but green.





Colour match is spot on.



I did find a silver coupe in a scrapyard. I swapped my poor condition green boot lid for the one on the silver car. It's not hacked up. That's the important part. Anyway, my friend flushed all the holes where the OEM spoiler mounts to.



He noticed some rust around the rear glass, so the glass had to be taken out, to properly treat the area. Since we're painting the whole car, we decided to go the whole way.




The rust wasn't too bad. It was rubbed back, treated and then some epoxy applied over the area.



Rest of my car in the booth.






These are only teaser pics. I haven't seen the rest of the car yet. JDM Stanley lights and Tactical Art bumper duct installed.



Mode Parfume mirrors on.



I did order a brand new OEM rear glass moulding. The fitment is a bit... You can see the gap... The guy tried to stretch the moulding as much as he could, but I'm gonna have to live with it. As long as it doesn't let water in, I'm ok with it. It was over €300 for the moulding and glass installer's labour...



That's it for now. I'm picking the car up this Sunday. I won't forget to post pictures of the complete car on this thread haha.

 

Coming out great. I love that you guys got CGP on the EM1 trim out there. It works great on these cars 👍🏼

 

Looking good! A lot of work and expense, but it will certainly be worth it, when you have her all buttoned up, and looking fresh!

 

You guys only got it for the EX right? I have a brand new Si emblem to go on. I love the USDM branding on the car. The European VTi stuff is pretty lame.

Thanks My friend gave me a heavy discount on the paintwork. He spent 60 hours on it in total. Still a lot of money Can't wait to get her back tomorrow. Going to be very nervous, driving back from one end of the country to the other. It's 175 miles.