Enzo's Daily 2005 Facelift Civic EP3 Type R Premier Edition - Cosmic Grey

[EnzoUK]

Hi All,

I picked up my first Honda Saturday from Alloa in Scotland (the kingdom of rust), It's a 2005 Facelift Premier Edition in Cosmic Grey. I found it on eBay Friday evening, pondered it for about 10 mins and decided to message the seller, 24hrs later I'm driving back from Scotland with the car, so was a quick turnaround! I'd been looking at EP3's for a number of months recently, as I sold my E92 coupe as it was costing me a fortune in maintenance and I was trying to save up money for a house, so the two didn't mix.. So I sold up and went back to the dark world of Corsa's... It was fine for a daily though, and I done a few mods on that to get it acceptable! but I'd been doing some track days and things recently and felt I needed something that would be an acceptable compromise, I also went the Nurburgring in the summer and this changed everything for me . My cousin had an EP3 a few years ago and it was pretty mind blowing as a car, and I know how bulletproof they are, so the EP3 route made sense for me... I've also been around lots of Honda's in the family growing up so I knew what I was getting myself in for.

My Car History:
A 2005 Vauxhall Corsa C 1.0 Active - First car
A 2007 BMW E90 320i M-Sport
A 2010 BMW E92 LCI 320d M Sport
A 2012 Corsa D 1.4 SRi


The EP3 Spec:
-Lowered 30mm on Eibach Springs
- Tegiwa Cold Air Intake
- Sports Exaust
- 82k Miles
- Mixed History... Some missed with the owner claiming he'd done it himself, but if it was me, I'd have written it myself in the service book and took photographic evidence.
- Premier Edition
- Aircon
- Team Heko Wind Deflectors.
- Carbon Fibre Trim Wrapped
- Front Fog Lights
- Factory Sat Nav

It needs a lot of work...alot alot, but the clutch, gearbox, engine, interior and paintwork are all spot on, had new front headlights and with the added mods already done which I was gonna fork out for anyway the car seemed a bargain!

Things to do:
- Needs new tyres all round
- new discs and pads all round
- aircon doesn't blow cold (but does light up)
- Needs a bloody good clean, i don't think the previous owner who's had the car 12 months had spent a penny on it..
- Ideally i'd like to have it undersealed
- Needs a full service
- Rear light needs replacing
- It only has 1 key
- Slight rattle from the exaust as it's making contact with the bodywork, and it isn't sitting flush.
- All the wheels need a full refurb
- Engine bay needs some attention
- Existing calipers need some love / a refurb
- Probz gonna need a brake fluid change and i'd like braided brake lines.
- Whatever else too....I enjoy a project and I know there's a great car under there somewhere...

Anyway, i'll shut up... here's the pics:

 

[EnzoUK]

Here's some plans I have for the car also:

 

[Krzys]

Car looks decent in the photos, I'm sure once you've done the TLC bits and a few upgrades while you're there you'll have a fun weekend/track toy.

 

[Nidge76]

Car looks decent. In the best colour of course.

Also means you can put your own mark on it getting various jobs done.

Also I do like a spreadsheet!

Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

 

[EnzoUK]

So i spent today cleaning up the car as it was beyond filty inside, and under the bonnet. I also added some Honda Logo vinyls to the wheel hub caps as there wasn't any when i bought the car. I picked these up off eBay for £5. You can see from the below pics how bad the wheels are currently also. 4 and a half hours work..

Engine Bay:::::
Before:


After (still alot of work to do, but was enough for today):


Interior:::::





Wheels:::::



Boot:::::



Misc::::

 

[Joerama]

Nice car Marty

Welcome to the forum hehe

 

[EnzoUK]

Some of the expenditure so far, the below are yet to be fitted apart from the centre cap vinyls. Hoping to have the car daily ready by November 5th

 

[Krzys]

What plugs are you/have you gone for?

 

[EnzoUK]

What plugs are you/have you gone for?

these pal:

Four NGK Iridium IX Spark Plugs
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Four-NGK-...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

[Krzys]

Nice and cheap!

 

[EnzoUK]

So I bought some swade gaiters for the handbrake and the gear stick this week in an attempt to lift the interior a bit, I chose swade as i'm planning on getting the steering wheel rewrapped in this too so I thought the combo of the three with the black swade and red sticking would go nice and still kinda feel OEM tieing in with the Type R colour scheme. Some pics of the work below:

what i'd bought (on eBay)


gearstick before


looked very tired and cheap.



gearstick after


during


handbrake before


handbrake after




all done:

 

[EnzoUK]

Rear Caliper Refurb & Spark Plug Replacement

How they looked with the wheels on:




How the rear brakes looked before I did anything to them...




How they looked after i'd cleaned them up with the angle grinder and painted + coppergreased:





How they looked with the wheels on after:



Spark plug change:










I'm off the back end of this week so I'll finish up the service by changing the filters and doing an oil and filter change then. I've also got new front tyres booked in for tomorrow, two Goodyear Eagle F1's to replace the rubbish it had on when I bought it. There's two Hancocks on the rear with plenty of tread so i'm happy to leave those and let them run down over winter before putting Eagle F1's on there too.

 

[Krzys]

I'd probably put the new rubber on the back to get rid of the others quickly, if you're bothered about that.

Good work so far!

 

[EnzoUK]

I'd probably put the new rubber on the back to get rid of the others quickly, if you're bothered about that.

Good work so far!

The front is currently running a borderline illegal hankook, and a part worn michellin with tyre wall damage which I put on as I had to put the space saver on getting the car home as I had a puncture. The car is front wheel drive and the weather is getting worse here so thought i'd put the best Tyre's possible on the car. I'll be fitting new front brembo brakes this week also if my deliveries arrive.... The Once the Hankooks on the rear are dead i'll then put the fronts on the back, and get new fronts, that was my initial plan anyway, cheers!

 

[EnzoUK]

So I got some new front tyres fitting last Wednesday (2x Goodyear Eagle F1) to replace the junk on the front that was on the car when I got it, while it was up on the ramp getting sorted I got some good pics of the underneath, which is in need of attention fairly very veryy soon. Ideally I need it cleaning up and undersealing and anything else that people can suggest? I'm happy to attempt this myself, but it's something I feel would benefit more if it was done professionally! Any suggestions?

 

[EnzoUK]

After the new front tyres came an oil change, 4.5 litres of Castrol 5w 40 which was simple enough, just had to wait around 30 mins for it to fully drain out, so before putting the new oil in I went to change the filter.... here's where the problems start:

HO LEE SHIETTT would it come off? would it f#k... The last owner stated he'd serviced the car 2 weeks before my purchase, but he clearly couldn't have been lying any more, it took EVERYTHING to get this off, and WHYYYY is it in such an awkward place...




Anyway I thought last resort I'll stab a screwdriver though it, but how brittle the metal was I thought i'm just gonna make a mess here... so I decided to chisel it off while it was up on axel stands and luckly had the access, a few smacks and BOOM it moved... so kept working away and it finally come off.. (A large number of hours later...).

TWO WEEKS OLD ACCORDING TO PREVIOUS OWNER!!!!!



Anyway I picked up a new OEM Honda Civic EP3 Oil Filter off eBay which was installed when the old bugger was removed. I just need to clean up the filter in the cold air intake now, and throw in a new cabin filter (which takes 1 min, already had it out and it was grim) and the car has now had it's first full service, It really does **** me off when people don't look after their cars properly as it honestly makes working on them a nightmare... but rest assume this car will be fully sorted in the near future and will be back to it's very best :). Gearbox and brake fluid changes planned before the years end.

 

[scooby kid]

Blimey , good job you decided to give it a service yourself

 

[EnzoUK]

Final work for the moment was changing out the front brakes - new discs & pads - Brembo's. 300mm front drilled and grooved discs. I had a few days off work with my mates so we done all three cars.







It's November so the day light didn't last too long! Also the old discs were on with Philips head screws... tried everything to get them out and no chance.. ended up rounding them, so out came the drill and we drilled them out to get them off

Old discs:


Fresh one's on:



A quick look at how the front wheels look compared to when I got the car, and now:



Sitting pretty after a quick clean:

 

[Krzys]

Looks like you had fun with the oil filter, stuff goes all over the driveshaft and subframe once it finally comes off! Much better now I bet with fresh parts on.

 

[Hamza Type R]

On your next oil change use any 2 litre fizzy bottle, cut it in half,place that over your oil filter and undo,all oil and filter drop straight in without any drops