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Cosmic Grey EP3

AndrewEP3

AndrewEP3

Messages
74
Hey, I'm Andrew. I've been lurking around this forum for just over a year now and decided to start my own build thread.

After owning a very problematic Polo Gti 6n2, which spent more time in the garage than it did on the road I decided to save my money and look for an EP3 as I've always wanted one since they came out. I had my heart set on either a nighthawk black or cosmic grey facelift version, but after a month of looking I couldn't find exactly what I wanted mileage and colour wise and I needed a new car pretty quickly as my Polo was in the garage yet again with more problems and I needed a car to get to work. One day I happened to be at the local Honda dealer as my parents had Hondas for nearly 15 years and asked them if they could find me one.

After turning down several cars they found me a 54 plate facelift in cosmic grey with two previous owners, full Honda service history from new and 58k miles on the clock. I jumped at the chance and a week later it was mine. Honda gave me free MOT's for life and a years warranty, which unfortunately meant I couldn't modify the car until the warranty was up.

Here is the car when I picked it up






Fast forward a year and I decided to start. First I took a trip to the Hel Performance warehouse as my break lines were on the way out, which is a 10 minute drive from my house and they made them then and there as I waited in my choice of dark red and only charged me £60.



Next I decided to purchase some 30mm ABP/Eibach springs, Eibach front camber bolts and Buddyclub rear camber adjusters






I then purchased a Skunk 2 gear nob as Tegiwa has some Christmas discounts going, which improved the gear changes I think quite a bit. I then had all the ball joint dust covers replaced as apparently they were all in very bad condition. I then needed 4 new tyres as the Michelin Pilot 3's I had on the car were knackered and the road noise was terrible, especially motorway driving. I managed to get myself a set of 4 brand new Yokohama S-Drive's for the grand sum of £293 as Yokohama just happened to have an offer on at the time I enquired, which was great.



Was slightly bored one day so went and bought some Demon Shine Snowfoam as I wash my car atleast once or twice a week (or more, bird crap dependant), the car absolutely gleams after a wash.





Also bought some new genuine EP3 Honda matts from ebay for £25 and gave the seats a good clean.




I then had the springs fitted and the FRSU done at a local garage and wow! The car feels like a go-kart, handling has massively improved, feels extremely well planted to the road. The springs still need to fully settle, but so far I am very happy with the drop.

I had the usual geometry of

-1 camber all way round
2mm toe in at rear
1mm toe out at front





A pic with my friend Chris's JDM Prelude




That's it so far, things may go a bit quiet for a while as I'm saving up for a few things, but i'll keep it updated :)
 
Thank you :) saving up for new wheels, Tegiwa induction and catback.

If anyone has any wheel suggestions feel free to say, kind of want to refurb these in black, but I'm undecided.
 
Youl love the induction kit mate got it on mine mate and each to there own with wheels mine was oem gloss black but i sold them for rota grids in flat black

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 
Yeah Grids look great on pretty much any car, especially on EP's. They are one of my choices, been looking at the Rota Torques and Titans aswell or Grid Drifts. It's hard to choose haha
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Finally a slight update!

I was currently saving for an M2 Spoon N1 rep, which I was going to buy as soon as I got paid on the 15th, but as luck would have it I logged onto facebook one day to find several of my friends had tagged me in a post of a guy selling a genuine Spoon N1 for £145 due to writing his car off the previous morning.

So naturally I was straight on that and a 25 minute drive later I was the proud owner of a Spoon N1 :)

Looking to have it fitted later today






 
Thanks :) still loads to do to it yet. Been looking at DC5 recaros. Need to start saving for new wheels, intake, back bumper needs a respray, possible engine mods/remap
next year.
 
Couple more updates, replaced all the discs and pads last week, got the whole lot through my friend for £93, instead of £150 full price.



I also entered the 1/4 mile drag event at Dakota Raceway in Smeatharpe Devon, which is about a half hour drive from my house. At the end of the day I came 22nd overall out of 31 in my class, pretty happy with that considering I was one of about 4 n/a engine cars with no engine mods. Were quite a few tuned Hondas there, unfortunately I got paired up with crazy bhp scoobys, Audi,s and Supras most of the time. Was a fantastic day out and one of the funnest things I have ever done.



 
Looks so tidy mate, love the suspension set up, how is it for clearance,catching etc, becayse i was either looking at the same kit but 15mm drop but the 30mm does look good.
 
Hardly catches atall really mate, although if you have two people in the back it has very briefly scraped on the arch round tight corners. Other than that ive only slightly scraped on those horrible "sleeping policemen" style speed humps as the b-pipe hangs lowish on EP's. If you take them slowly and carefully you'll be fine.

I was worried about scraping, but it happens so rarely its not worth worrying about :)
 
Nice looking EP bud.

I really like the sportlines,I think it's the best compromise between usability and looks. Really sporty feeling springs, without any major headaches.
 
I have so many plans for it :)

Ive found some DC2 recaros in black that i want to put in my car, are their any rails that will fit them straight in? I dont really want to go drilling my existing frames
 
As far as I know EP rails are unique, and a b*stard to modify. I've spent time in both DC2 and EP3 seats; the EP3 seats were far superior in every way, regardless of age and wear. They are some of the best OEM seats ever sold. If you want to upgrade go for buckets or high quality recliners.
 
Ah ok, thanks man. I think i shall keep my money and spend it on something else then.

Currently putting money back for the Tegiwa Intake and a mugen rep wing, may go with a mugen grille aswell. Also planning to repaint the rocker cover at some point. Then i'll probably think about wheels.
 
Hi if u don't mind how much are one of these cosmics worth? I been looking for about 3 months now my budget is 4k for this price will I be able to get one between 70-80k miles with FSH on a 2004-2005??
 
Straight answer. No not a nice one

you would get a cat d maybe or a lemon
there harder to find with that mileage. It took me 2 months to find one my standard with that mileage
i found 3, 1 was a dog, 1 got written off the day after i put the deposit on and the other i now own

If you up your budget to 5k you will find one

i bought mine for 4395 after alot of bartering and spent nearly 200 traveling
with 82k
 
There was one sold just recently 55 plate premier edition 59k miles full Honda history for 4500. 5000 was asking there only worth 4-4500 as far as I know.
 
On auto trader there all over 5 grand for that mileage.
It also depends where your buying it. Cars are abit more were i am.
If i head 2 hours north there usually a grand cheaper but its the risk you take if its a dog when you get there

there getting harder to get good ones low mileage as most of them are over 100k now or been bent/trashed
 
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