Honda Civic Type R 2005 "DKHonda"

[colemauro]

Hello guys,

My name is Mauro, i'm 42 and i am from Portugal
Last March i imported an 05 EP3 from Germany., with 200000 kms. Car is totally stock, with the exception of the suspension where it has a KW V3.

The car looked in fairly good shape. Unfortunately this is not totally true, since the car seems to be heavily affected by rust.
For know i have decided to keep the car, and now (little) step by (little) step, i hope to put the car in good shape.

Interior: all good except driver's seat and steering wheel
Engine: feedback from the mechanic it looks ok. the gearbox has had maintenance
Exterior: car was rear ended and a very cheap fix was done. also front headlights need a good polish
Chassis: lots of rust below the car. even the springs have rust

Plans for it
1. Start fixing the car step by step, starting from the rear trunk, and then both axles, suspension and engine pieces with rust.
2. Give it a OEM+ treatment has i would like to use the car for some fun in local hill climbs and some track days.

 

[colemauro]

Since i got the car in March i started by replacing the front xenon lights and changed all oils, spark plugs and all filters.

When i came back from the service, my friend noticed the car was smoking from the rear tires for a few kms. It seems the rear brakes don't fully release.
Since then, the problem has got better, except when i push more in the corners, where the handbrake light flashes.
Something was clearly wrong (rust most likely) and the previous owner noticed it, since part of the rear brakes is completely new, but the problem itself clearly was not completely fixed.

I have ordered new OEM handbrake cables, and i hope that this will fix the problem.

After the handbrakes cables are fixed, i plan of attacking rusty parts . For sure, i have one or two years in front of me at least, because it has a lot of rust

I will start with the rear trunk. The car was rear ended and they did the cheapest fix possible. I think the cheapest solution, will be replacing the rear trunk.
Before doing that, i also need to check inside the rear bumper, if anything else is needed, since they did such a #$%" job with the rear trunk.

 

[beach]

Sounds like you’ve got a decent project ahead of you. It’s a shame about the rust, but there are a few on here who have went to war with it and won. @Craig82 has loads of stuff on his thread.

 

[colemauro]

Sounds like you’ve got a decent project ahead of you. It’s a shame about the rust, but there are a few on here who have went to war with it and won. @Craig82 has loads of stuff on his thread.

Thanks mate.

In the meantime the rear handbrake cables where replaced with new one's. They where in really bad shape and my mechanic had a hard time removing the old one's, to the point of hurting himself on the arm.
At fist it didn't seem to solve the problems i had (rear left brakes not realizing fully), but taking it on a 150kms trip, it got much better, and now it actually gains speed gravity allows it.

Yesterday i bought an old trunk. Tomorrow going to take it the paint shape for them to see if this trunk is good enough to replace my original trunk.
The guy who sold me the trunk, has a bunch of parts i currently have in both axles with plenty of rust. Since next friday the car is going to get an alignment i will ask them to help create a list of the rusty parts i actually need to replace, to them ask for a quote to the guy who got me the trunk.

The car really needs front brakes now, but first i want to get the trunk sorted, and lets suy if i end up buying some parts to clean an replace the rusty parts on the car.

I have seen some projects where with plenty of rust. Someone suggested me to find a clean EP3 chassis, and swap everything. Need to carry over the VIN number. Let's see if this is a valid option for the future.