Ben's 2005 EP3 Civic Type AAAAAARRRRR!

[Staffs Deltic]

Just had a read through your thread and have to say it's a cracking read. Impressed with the write ups and the car is a credit to you.

You've done the same as me when it comes to turningoup at Tdi North early. Done that a few times having set off expecting the M6 to be rammed and then getting a clear run!

Brakes will be a welcome addition. People always talk power but forget stopping. One of my best mods was braking upgrade (mind you standard FN2 brakes are crap). Look forward to your write up when they are fittef.

Keep up the good work.

 

[6N2 GTI 00]

Just had a read through your thread and have to say it's a cracking read. Impressed with the write ups and the car is a credit to you.

You've done the same as me when it comes to turningoup at Tdi North early. Done that a few times having set off expecting the M6 to be rammed and then getting a clear run!

Brakes will be a welcome addition. People always talk power but forget stopping. One of my best mods was braking upgrade (mind you standard FN2 brakes are crap). Look forward to your write up when they are fittef.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks Paul appreciate it
The brakes on the EP3 are absolutely fine for day to drive driving but when braking hard & regular they tend to fade pretty quickly and don't inspire much confidence. Hopefully the Brembos will rectify that whilst offering superior stopping power too. I suppose it's a very similar upgrade to what you did with you're FN2 and the stoptech kit, both similar setups with 300mm discs but I think the stoptech calipers are a bit bigger so no doubt offer superior performance.

All being fitted on March 7th at Grinspeed so looking forward to it now

In other news I have got a set of red JDM Recaros arriving tomorrow so I can't wait to get them fitted, I have also purchased a red carpet so that should finish off the interior nicely.
The seats will need a good clean as will the carpet but I'm hoping to get them fitted on the weekend, I will get some pics posted up too!

 

[EP3 Pete]

In other news I have got a set of red JDM Recaros arriving tomorrow so I can't wait to get them fitted, I have also purchased a red carpet so that should finish off the interior nicely.
The seats will need a good clean as will the carpet but I'm hoping to get them fitted on the weekend, I will get some pics posted up too!

I hate you so much!! haha, I told you it was going to be another busy for you buddy, they are going to look superb I can't wait to see the update.

 

[6N2 GTI 00]

I hate you so much!! haha, I told you it was going to be another busy for you buddy, they are going to look superb I can't wait to see the update.

:lol:haha cheers Pete
I have gone a bit wild with the spending lately, I also have a special something waiting for me at Grinspeed but I will reveal all on the 7th
Recaros will arrive today so once cleaned up with the carpet I will get a good update posted up, spent far too much lately but it's ticked a few more things off the "to do" list.

 

[EP3 Pete]

I dont blame you mate, you only live once so spend your money on the things that make you happy, in our case throwing money at Honda's haha.

There is no way you can say that and then leave it until 7th March haha, come on spill?? lol

 

[6N2 GTI 00]

That's exactly right mate absolutely chuffed with the new seats, those coupled with the new red carpet should look great when fitted.

My lips are sealed for now Pete all will be revealed on the 7th haha, it's a nice bit of kit but I'm saying no more

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[EP3 Pete]

They will indeed mate, looking forward to seeing some pics of the seats and carpets fitted

You are a sick sick man my friend haha, you have got me very intrigued for your write up on the 7th March.

 

[6N2 GTI 00]

So these arrived yesterday
Very pleased with them, condition wise they are excellent they just need a good clean. I also need to order a replacement handle for the drivers seat but for the price I paid I'm really pleased.

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[CTR-Asch]

Nice ones!

 

[6N2 GTI 00]

I have been looking for a few months now and didn't want to settle for the Prem seats. These came along and I wasn't going to miss out

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[EP3 Pete]

Bump for Recaro's fitted and if you are going to spill about Friday? Haha

 

[6N2 GTI 00]

Bump for Recaro's fitted and if you are going to spill about Friday? Haha

Recaros are all cleaned up now mate but didn't get round to fitting them. Carpet still needs a proper clean so that will need a wet vax and a good airing before fitting.
I will try to get them both fitted at the same time as it saves me taking the seats back out again, should look good though when they are all in.

Grinspeed on Friday all will be revealed soon enough haha

 

[EP3 Pete]

Almost ready to go in then buddy, definitely makes sense to get the carpets cleaned up so you can fit everything together and save taking the seats back out.

Update Friday night or GTFO haha

 

[6N2 GTI 00]

Almost ready to go in then buddy, definitely makes sense to get the carpets cleaned up so you can fit everything together and save taking the seats back out.

Update Friday night or GTFO haha

Haha I'll do my best mate, I'm booked in at Grinspeed for half 8 so will hopefully be on my way home mid afternoon should give me plenty of time to sort out an update in the evening.

I'll definitely be getting plenty of pics

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[EP3 Pete]

So at Grinspeed for 830 and should be leaving mid afternoon hhhmmmm trying to think of what can be done in that timescale along with having the brake calipers fitted haha.

Think I will resign myself to having to wait until Friday but looking forward to seeing your update pal.

 

[6N2 GTI 00]

Bit of a big update this time, had a few new purchases recently as well as the car booked in at Grinspeed for various bits & bobs

I wanted to freshen up the car a little as bar the white wheels it looks like any other facelift EP3 so I thought I would invest in a couple of items to give it a modern touch. My rear "Type R" badge was knackered and just looked tatty so rather than replace it with like for like new one I opted for the FN2 Type R rear badge which is a little bigger and more straight cut. I ordered this from Hendy shop and it arrived within a couple of days, I hadn't finished there though as that new badge wouldn't match the side decals on the sills so I decided to buy a brand new set of OE Honda FN2 Type R decals. Managed to source these for £30 off eBay which was a good deal as they are over £60 new from Honda.





I wasn't overly keen on the "Civic" badge either so decided to de-badge that as it didn't really fit in with the new style FN2 badge which I had purchased. Unfortunately when removing the Civic badge there was a nasty paint blemish lurking underneath, at first I thought it would polish out but on closer inspection the mark was underneath the lacquer and evidently would have been present from the factory. Looks like Honda just put the "Civic" badge over the top which hid the blemish perfectly. I had originally planned to put the new "Type R" badge in it's usual stock position at the bottom of the bootlid but due to this hideous blemish I had to put it a lot higher up. At first I thought it would look awful but I must admit it has grown on me, looks better every time I see it.

Badge was fitted but I didn't want to tackle the side decals until we had some nice weather as I wanted to get them fitted crack on.


Next up was a trip to Grinspeed in Leyland, already had the car booked in for a set of DC5 Brembo brakes but a week before my visit I decided to invest in a set of Meister Zeta R Coilovers big decision which I never originally planned but after hearing lots of good reviews I just decided to go for it, Stevie supplied them and included the 10% CTRO discount so I got them for a fair price.

I was booked in at Grinspeed for the following:

- Brembo DC5 Brake Calipers
- Honda S2000 Brake Discs (Front)
- Ferodo DS2500 Front Pads
- Goodridge Front & Rear Braided Brake Lines
- Tegiwa 20mm Front Hub Centric Spacers
- Eibach 15mm Rear Hub Centric Spacers
- Meister Zeta R Coilovers
- Grinspeed Fast Road Geo - 1,3 degree neg front and 1 degree neg on the rear

I was originally booked in for 08:30 on Friday but Stevie phoned me on Thursday evening and needed to delay my booking until 11am due to a customer having clutch problems.
That wasn't a problem for me, just meant an extra couple of hours in bed which is never an issue

Jetwashed the car in the morning and arrived at Grinspeed at 10:30, that's absolutely typical of me haha.
Car was filthy by the time I got there as the roads were wet but Stevie & Lee (Grandad) got to work straight away

First up was fitting the front coilovers which were done in just over an hour, next up was the brakes so had to bleed the system and remove the old calipers, discs & lines etc.
Slight problem with the brake lines that Stevie had ordered as Tegiwa sent him a naff set of Hel braided lines (typical of them), they were far too short so he had to nip down the road and pickup a set of goodridge braided lines.
The track rod end on the offside was shot too so Stevie sourced one from a local parts supplier and they dropped it off an hour later, once they had all the bits they could carry on fitting the rest of the parts.





Old discs & calipers were removed and replaced with the S2000 discs, pads & Brembo calipers, I didn't realise how much bigger they are compared to the stock calipers until I compared them together.
Next up was for them to tackle the rear suspension and as it turned out the nearside rear shock was pretty knackered, Stevie had to cut it off which was a bit of a nightmare job but he got there in the end.










Once all the parts were fitted it was time to sort out the geo but again there was problems as the car wanted to be awkward, my EP3 makes a habbit of being difficult. Front was set up with ease but Stevie & Lee had issues adjusting the toe out on the rear, they were fiddling with it for about 2 hours but eventually got it all right and the car was ready for a test drive. Stevie took it down the road and came back for me to have a go, I took it out and all felt fine, nice and smooth with a sensible ride height. Dampers are set on 6 on the front and 4 on the rear (32 adjustable damping settings) so it's a soft sensible setup for road use.



Once I got back from the mini test drive it was getting late, it was past half 5 and the both Stevie and Lee (including myself) wanted to get home,
I left Grinspeed about 5:45 and coming out of Leyland the nearside front shock/coilover was knocking, it wasn't too bad at first but I knew something wasn't quite right.

I thought to myself perhaps it's just settling in and once I get closer to home it might bed in and sort itself out. Unfortunately this wasn't the case, as I got on the M6 heading towards the M56 the knocking progressively got worse and it was just coming from the one side (passenger front). I was tired and it was late so just wanted to get back home but knew I would have to take the car back to Grinspeed to get it looked at. When I got on the A55 I stopped off at St.Asaph to head back towards Denbigh but when I got in the 30 zones it was apparent the knocking was even worse, it sounded terrible and on the uneven town road surfaces it really was shocking (excuse the pun). Drove the rest of the journey back home really slowly and dropped Stevie a text explaining about the problem.

Stevie thinks (which I agree with) is that the coilover unit may have failed, most likely a manufacturing issue so the plan is to head back up to Grinspeed next week and get it sorted. It was frustrating that it's gone wrong but I knew it wasn't Stevie or Lee's fault as their work and attention to detail is exceptional, no doubt it will be put right on my next visit.

So the weekend was upon us and the car was sat on the drive looking sorry for itself, obviously didn't want to use it due to the knocking and won't be using it for work this week so decided to treat it to a few jobs.
The JDM recaro seats which I bought recently were begging to be fitted so late on Saturday afternoon I decided to rip out the original seats and make a start on getting the Recaros fitted.



Pretty straight forward job taking them out, I didn't bother separating the seats from the rails I just completely unbolted them together to save any fettling.
Once out the car needed a good hoover as you can see from the picture, amazing how much dust & crumbs etc you can't access when the seats are in place. Once it was cleaned up I thought I would put the drivers side Recaro in first, I was expecting it to be pretty straight forward although it turned out to be a bit of a swine to fit the rail. I just didn't want to line up for me at first, after 30 mins and plenty of swear words I eventually got it all bolted into place. Looked great too





At this point I was loosing the light as it was nearly 6pm so decided to call it a day and would finish off the interior on Sunday (today).
My good mate Jon had already agreed to have my original Type R seats off me including my old brake setup so he came to collect them in the morning, ideal for me as I was fitting the other Recaro seat today anyway.

Once Jon had been and gone I set about fitting the other seat, to my relief this one fitted without any issues and the rail lined up perfectly. It actually made me question if the other rail could possibly have been slightly bent because that one was not a straight forward fit. I was pleased this one fitted without any problems so finished the car off with another hoover and re-fitted my JDM mats. These had been out of the car for several weeks to save wear & tear in the winter months.





I'm really pleased with the interior now, looks exactly how I wanted to and the recaro seats feel great, a lot more supportive than the standard seats as well as looking the part. Interior is by no means finished though, all the rear trim & seats will be going back in shortly and I also have a JDM/Premier edition red carpet that will be added down the line. Already have it in the garage but it needs a damn good clean, a job for the summer months I think.
Anyway as the weather was so good today I thought it would be rude not to fit the new "Type R" decals to the sills, I had already removed the old decals last weekend so set about fitting the new ones. Car need a good clean first though so I gave a quick clean beforehand.



I wanted the fitting to be spot on so masked them and just went for it, there is no going back once you commit with these.
Like the badge I fitted to the rear these decals are a lot bigger than the stock decals so positioning wise they wouldn't work/look right in that position, I masked up where I thought they would look good and stuck them down. Pretty pleased with how they look





That was me done for the day, took a few snaps just to show off the new brakes & ride height











That's pretty much it for now, bit disappointed I can't use the car after having some many good parts fitted but I'm sure it will be put right this week.
I can't really review the coilovers or brakes at the moment due to the issues but when it's back running without any issues I will post a new update of how the car feels, I'm sure it will be great though

Ticked lots of things off the "To do" list now so there won't be many big updates left for the car, still got several plans for the next few months but I have spent so much on it these last 2 & half years that it's at a stage now where I am 90-95% happy.

All the other bits I would like to do are not major or anything that was top of the priority list, time to finally enjoy the car now instead of planning ways to improve it. I hope to enjoy it on several meets this year around Wales and I will be going to JAE this year so I'm really looking forward to that, wish I would have gone last year but I'm definitely going this year. Plans for the next few months will pretty much finish the car off, below is a list of things I would like to get done before JAE

- New Tyres all round (Eagle F1's)
- Rear Windows Tinted
- JDM Wind Deflectors
- Fitting my Red Carpet & Momo Steering Wheels
- Re-fitting all of the rear interior & trim
- Paint correction to remove the swirl marks
- Carbon bonnet

I will keep you guys updated

 

[CTR-Asch]

Nice mods. Especially the seats and the brakes. :twisted:
Mixed feelings about the fn2 type r stickers.

 

[6N2 GTI 00]

Nice mods. Especially the seats and the brakes. :twisted:
Mixed feelings about the fn2 type r stickers.

Thanks buddy yeah the decals & badge won't be to everyone's taste, I just think they look a little sharper and modern.

 

[Loxy]

Shame about the knocking but I'm sure Stevie will get to the bottom of it.

I enjoyed reading that though. It'll be cracking when you get it sorted. :smt023

 

[6N2 GTI 00]

Shame about the knocking but I'm sure Stevie will get to the bottom of it.

I enjoyed reading that though. It'll be cracking when you get it sorted. :smt023

Cheers Loxy looking forward to getting it back on the road, Stevie will get it sorted very shortly

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