- Messages
- 12
Update 1 ::
So we're fresh from the garage for the gasket replacement. Bit of a long week, firstly I had trouble getting booked in, the garage is really busy (bitter sweet ha). Unfortunately the exhaust manifold gasket was a miss diagnosis as it was actually the down pipe donut gasket that needed replacing, this meant an extra day separated but did reduce the bill somewhat As an added bonus...... this was the cause of my squeaking!! So no extra work needed to remove myself of that terrible noise.
She drives so well for solving the gasket issue, the throttle response is awesome and sounds much better, although much quieter than I expected. I can already feel the potential for more, its exciting! The mechanic explained how the car was over fueling due to the leak, to my delight given the amount of petrol I have put in her since purchase! I was worried about how the wife would react after she learned about our new dependants running costs ha. Hopefully i'll get a few more vtek's per tank now
Now the bad news, my sticky rear calipers have got worse and caused me a butt clenching moment on the drive to the garage, eek. The garage has explained that what I thought was uprated disks where in-fact cheap ebay disks, the rear of which have warped. They advise replacing them all round and new calipers. Thankfully I have the money remaining from my original budget, although some of the more fun upgrades will have to wait. Id rather not have the disks crack on me!
For now im going to have to drive her gently and await the quote for brake replacements. Looking around myself I've priced up Brembo disks all round and rear calipers for 350 +/- from Euros with a 30% bank holiday code and front calipers (not in stock) from GSF with a 45% code for 330 +/-. Plus labor we're under 1k hopefully, the garage I am using charge £60 per hour labor and without looking into it im assuming 2 or 3 hours? Im going to dig around and try to work out a guide price. The garage are closed weekends so its a few days before I will get a quote from them.
Still really happy with the car and feel thankful that I kept the money aside that I did. Here's hoping the brakes are the last necessary fix for the near future so I can start making her mine. As someone said in reply to the original post, it's these oddities that aid in bonding with a car, I feel oddly empathetic towards her and a great sense of satisfaction the first time I drove her without the exhaust issue. The love story continues
Original Story ::
I bought my EP3 in August 2016 as something a bit faster and smaller than I was used to, I spent the last few months unable to shake this desire to buy a Civic Type R. I instantly feel in love during the buying process and definitely over looked a few things in my excitement. I have fell into the trap a couple of times now where I needed to replace my car due to the cost of repairing and having less than ideal time to find and purchase a replacement.
I looked into the history of all the CTR's within 40 miles and where within my budget. Using type-r-owners.co.uk and other resources I got a good feel for what I was looking for and what to avoid. I had around £3k cash, the part-ex value of my current car and I wanted sub 100k miles with FSH etc.
I went for the one on my shortlist with the lowest miles for the asking price, full service history and good MOT history. It felt right despite being my least favorite colour and having a fair few body marks to resolve. I could hear a minor exhaust leak and some squeaking from the rear. I could see some minor peeling on the rear springs but the interior of the car was immaculate and had obviously been cared for, despite the body issues I felt confident I was buying a car I could invest some money into and have something great at the end.
I came home 1k under budget with the intention of getting a fresh MOT and assessing what needs doing to get her back into tip top condition.
She went in for MOT a few days after I got her home. Failing for HID headlight beam issues and ineffective parking brake. I had the HID's removed and new rear pads, I was also advised of an almost illegal tyre on the rear passenger side. Interestingly the emissions test passed without issue despite the obvious blow when putting any load on the engine. The garage said they believe I have an exhaust manifold gasket leak and since it seems to take a bit of load to blow the emissions where fine under test conditions. The garage advised I replace the rear calipers in the coming months but all in all seemed like a good car.
I left the garage after discussing the next steps and my plans. I am waiting for a quote on replacing the leaking gasket and will be putting her in to diagnose some noises that have developed while running her in. I suspect that either my exhaust hangar/mount, engine/gearbox mount or top mounts are squeaking under different circumstances. I am almost certain I also have some heat shield rattle as pointed out by some threads on this forum.
I bought the car knowing there where issues and roughly what they where. I had anticipated replacing the rear coils with OEM, liking the standard ride height, however after driving her for a week and learning her behaviors, I feel that I am best replacing shocks and springs all round, but will take the garages advise first.
This weekend I got two Toyo Proxies on the front, removing the dead bridgestone from the rear and replacing with a good Avon from the front. I am going to see how I like the Toyo's before getting the next two for the matching set, otherwise I get a second chance at getting the right tyres for my liking
Between Euro Car Parts and Demon Tweaks I have priced up TEIN 20mm lowering springs (cant find OEM fronts for the life of me) and Bilstein ** Shocks. The rears via Euros and the Fronts and Springs from Demon. With a 30% code for Euros and Demon's sale the total is about £450, which seems good!
It has been a long weekend of waiting to take her into the garage ready for diagnosis and costing. I am looking forward to driving her out to some meets and getting some miles in once she is back to full health. While I waited me and a friend washed and waxed her, identifying all of the body related marks I want to deal with. Including quite a nasty mark down the passenger side and a little bit of arch and door rust.
Once the gasket and suspension/mount noises are dealt with its time to sort the bodywork and replace the broken fog lights with cold air feeds for a yet to be decided induction kit, most like a K&N or AEM open filter. A wheel refurb is needed too as the paint is quite bad on two of them. I am considering urban camo pattern for them but am unsure.
I am going to replace the number plates with non-labeled ones and replace the broken Honda badge and Type R badges. The head lights need a good buffing and will look great.
Performance wise I would like to follow the path of suspension/bracing then Intake, Manifold/Sports Cat, HKS Hi-Power and K100 + Eurospec Map, aiming for 230/240 BHP based on my reading so far. The brakes have been upgraded to drilled and grooved all around already.
This forum has been critical in my enjoyment and confidence with the purchase and on-going experience. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to create guides and posts that help people like myself, who would otherwise be clueless!
So we're fresh from the garage for the gasket replacement. Bit of a long week, firstly I had trouble getting booked in, the garage is really busy (bitter sweet ha). Unfortunately the exhaust manifold gasket was a miss diagnosis as it was actually the down pipe donut gasket that needed replacing, this meant an extra day separated but did reduce the bill somewhat As an added bonus...... this was the cause of my squeaking!! So no extra work needed to remove myself of that terrible noise.
She drives so well for solving the gasket issue, the throttle response is awesome and sounds much better, although much quieter than I expected. I can already feel the potential for more, its exciting! The mechanic explained how the car was over fueling due to the leak, to my delight given the amount of petrol I have put in her since purchase! I was worried about how the wife would react after she learned about our new dependants running costs ha. Hopefully i'll get a few more vtek's per tank now
Now the bad news, my sticky rear calipers have got worse and caused me a butt clenching moment on the drive to the garage, eek. The garage has explained that what I thought was uprated disks where in-fact cheap ebay disks, the rear of which have warped. They advise replacing them all round and new calipers. Thankfully I have the money remaining from my original budget, although some of the more fun upgrades will have to wait. Id rather not have the disks crack on me!
For now im going to have to drive her gently and await the quote for brake replacements. Looking around myself I've priced up Brembo disks all round and rear calipers for 350 +/- from Euros with a 30% bank holiday code and front calipers (not in stock) from GSF with a 45% code for 330 +/-. Plus labor we're under 1k hopefully, the garage I am using charge £60 per hour labor and without looking into it im assuming 2 or 3 hours? Im going to dig around and try to work out a guide price. The garage are closed weekends so its a few days before I will get a quote from them.
Still really happy with the car and feel thankful that I kept the money aside that I did. Here's hoping the brakes are the last necessary fix for the near future so I can start making her mine. As someone said in reply to the original post, it's these oddities that aid in bonding with a car, I feel oddly empathetic towards her and a great sense of satisfaction the first time I drove her without the exhaust issue. The love story continues
Original Story ::
I bought my EP3 in August 2016 as something a bit faster and smaller than I was used to, I spent the last few months unable to shake this desire to buy a Civic Type R. I instantly feel in love during the buying process and definitely over looked a few things in my excitement. I have fell into the trap a couple of times now where I needed to replace my car due to the cost of repairing and having less than ideal time to find and purchase a replacement.
I looked into the history of all the CTR's within 40 miles and where within my budget. Using type-r-owners.co.uk and other resources I got a good feel for what I was looking for and what to avoid. I had around £3k cash, the part-ex value of my current car and I wanted sub 100k miles with FSH etc.
I went for the one on my shortlist with the lowest miles for the asking price, full service history and good MOT history. It felt right despite being my least favorite colour and having a fair few body marks to resolve. I could hear a minor exhaust leak and some squeaking from the rear. I could see some minor peeling on the rear springs but the interior of the car was immaculate and had obviously been cared for, despite the body issues I felt confident I was buying a car I could invest some money into and have something great at the end.
I came home 1k under budget with the intention of getting a fresh MOT and assessing what needs doing to get her back into tip top condition.
She went in for MOT a few days after I got her home. Failing for HID headlight beam issues and ineffective parking brake. I had the HID's removed and new rear pads, I was also advised of an almost illegal tyre on the rear passenger side. Interestingly the emissions test passed without issue despite the obvious blow when putting any load on the engine. The garage said they believe I have an exhaust manifold gasket leak and since it seems to take a bit of load to blow the emissions where fine under test conditions. The garage advised I replace the rear calipers in the coming months but all in all seemed like a good car.
I left the garage after discussing the next steps and my plans. I am waiting for a quote on replacing the leaking gasket and will be putting her in to diagnose some noises that have developed while running her in. I suspect that either my exhaust hangar/mount, engine/gearbox mount or top mounts are squeaking under different circumstances. I am almost certain I also have some heat shield rattle as pointed out by some threads on this forum.
I bought the car knowing there where issues and roughly what they where. I had anticipated replacing the rear coils with OEM, liking the standard ride height, however after driving her for a week and learning her behaviors, I feel that I am best replacing shocks and springs all round, but will take the garages advise first.
This weekend I got two Toyo Proxies on the front, removing the dead bridgestone from the rear and replacing with a good Avon from the front. I am going to see how I like the Toyo's before getting the next two for the matching set, otherwise I get a second chance at getting the right tyres for my liking
Between Euro Car Parts and Demon Tweaks I have priced up TEIN 20mm lowering springs (cant find OEM fronts for the life of me) and Bilstein ** Shocks. The rears via Euros and the Fronts and Springs from Demon. With a 30% code for Euros and Demon's sale the total is about £450, which seems good!
It has been a long weekend of waiting to take her into the garage ready for diagnosis and costing. I am looking forward to driving her out to some meets and getting some miles in once she is back to full health. While I waited me and a friend washed and waxed her, identifying all of the body related marks I want to deal with. Including quite a nasty mark down the passenger side and a little bit of arch and door rust.
Once the gasket and suspension/mount noises are dealt with its time to sort the bodywork and replace the broken fog lights with cold air feeds for a yet to be decided induction kit, most like a K&N or AEM open filter. A wheel refurb is needed too as the paint is quite bad on two of them. I am considering urban camo pattern for them but am unsure.
I am going to replace the number plates with non-labeled ones and replace the broken Honda badge and Type R badges. The head lights need a good buffing and will look great.
Performance wise I would like to follow the path of suspension/bracing then Intake, Manifold/Sports Cat, HKS Hi-Power and K100 + Eurospec Map, aiming for 230/240 BHP based on my reading so far. The brakes have been upgraded to drilled and grooved all around already.
This forum has been critical in my enjoyment and confidence with the purchase and on-going experience. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to create guides and posts that help people like myself, who would otherwise be clueless!
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