Pauls 02 satin silver ep3 CTR!

[Paulos]

Hi all,

iv been on this forum for a few months now and have decided to eventually start a progress thread.
after previously owning 3 saxos iv always been very interesting in modding my cars so obviously when i bought my ep3 i knew i wanted to start modifieing as soon as possible.

so i found this ctr for sale for a very good price, it ended up costing me £2200 in the end with 100k miles. completely standard apart from an airfilter.
here are a few pictures from when i first bought it.

the first thing i did was to put my 6000k HIDs in that i removed from my saxo, i live in the rural country side so HIDs are VERY usefull.

a few weeks after buying my ep3 i started to realise i had some serious VTEC problems, eventually found out it was the timing chain that was duff,
so got the chain and the tensioner replaced, ended up costing me 400 all in to get it sorted wich is quite good, was very happy that my vtec was back and the car certainly ran ALOT better! so i started to buy some more goodies....


the next thing i purchased was an etech front strut brace, abit of a fiddle to get around the aircon pipes, but managed eventually.

the next thing was to fit a cold air feed to try and get some cold air to the filter! bit of a squeeze to get it through to the grille, had to kinda squash the pipe to get it to fit through.

the next thing i did was some carbon wrapping, not done all of what i want to do yet, just a few bits, but will eventually get the full center console done.

i didnt particually like the wheels that come with the car so decided to buy some new ones!
bought some gun metal grey Rota Attack wheels! really nice looking wheels in my opinion, i also managed to ge them fitted and tyres swapped for free from my friend at a local garage. aswell as also myself fitting some team heko windeflectors.

saved up a few more pennies and bought a nice few little extras aswell as swapping my private plate from my saxo.
sportex 2.5'' b pipe, eibach pro kit -20mm and a rear lower tie bar.

lower tie bar fitted

springs fitted, lowered it a perfect amount for me, didnt want to be too low due to the poor roads in my area.

the next purchase was a JDM rear arb. bought this 2nd hand for a good price. car felt alot more stable at the arse end after fitting this! was really happy with it.

i had been 1/4miling in my saxo VTS before so i decided to take my ep3 for a blast down the strip at york raceway.
my saxo did the 1/4 mile in 15.00, so i was determined to beat that time, so i removed some unessasary stuff from the car just to make sure!

after having ALOT of problems with getting my car in 2nd gear i eventually managed to do some OK runs, i finished with 14.81. wanted slightly faster but was just glad i beat my saxo VTS. will get a faster time when i manage to sort my 2nd gear problem out, think it may be the clutch, but yet to be properly diagnosed!


i also recently bought a magnex backbox from a member from here, its a stainless twin pipe, similar looking to the OEM backbox, got that fitted, really happy with the sound, sounds a million times better then the horrible raspy OEM backbox.


thats currently up to where i am at the minute mods wise! its an obsolute nightmare keeping my car clean where i live, but here are some nice pictures from when i gave it a good clean (these pics were before the backbox was fitted)

let me know what you think! opinions are welcome!

thinking of buying an AEM V2 next, and also a decat manifold, and then eventually save up for a k100/kpro, hopefully get it to around 240bhp


thanks
Paul

 

[You Jay]

Nice car dude, I can remember that JDM ARB, you bought it from eBay didn't you?

Don't go for AEM V2 buddy, it will suffer from heatsoak and you'll loose power instead of gains, you are better of running with hondata airbox.

Go for AEM CAI or TegM/Gruppe M.

Enjoy the car mate!

 

[Paulos]

yes i did get it from ebay! was it yours by any chance?

and i will certainly love a gruppe M, but they are rather expensive, if one came up for a good price i would buy it ***, same with the tegiwa.

they just seem to get snaffled up quickly as soon as someone puts them up for sale!

 

[You Jay]

Yes that JDM ARB used to be mine. Ashame I sold it, now I got black crappy colour. lol

Get AEM CAI, but there is a risk of hydrolocking your engine and a big hole in your bay.

Just save up for Teg M cheaper than gruppe m but with the same gains, sounds. It's just cheaper IMO.

 

[Dc5K20]

Very nice car mater! alot better on those wheels i must say!!

 

[Paulos]

haha you cant really see the ARB anyway ; )

and i'll have a look and see if theres a Teg M for sale somewhere, and if the funds are ok at that minute then i will get one

 

[Paulos]

Very nice car mater! alot better on those wheels i must say!!

thanks mate, those old wheels weighed a ton aswell, think they were called ZCW angel alloys, but those rotas are very lightm really happy with them
just need some nice drilled and grooved disks behind them now to top them off

 

[N417H4N]

smart car, all I want to do to mine is facelift it, things are so expensive ***!

 

[mfnick]

2nd gear is probably the clutch mate. Depending on how difficult it was to get in. Would it literally not go in or was it just a bit stiff & crunched a bit? If it wouldnt go in it'll more than likely be the clutch. Get some Honda MTF3 gearbox oil too.
It being stiff is just something you'll have to get used to though im afraid. 1-2 synchros are notorious for being stiff & crunching in the CTR. But its around £1300 to get sorted so most of us just put up with it :lol:

 

[You Jay]

haha you cant really see the ARB anyway ; )

and i'll have a look and see if theres a Teg M for sale somewhere, and if the funds are ok at that minute then i will get one

If I see anything comes up, I will PM you straight away.

 

[Paulos]

2nd gear is probably the clutch mate. Depending on how difficult it was to get in. Would it literally not go in or was it just a bit stiff & crunched a bit? If it wouldnt go in it'll more than likely be the clutch. Get some Honda MTF3 gearbox oil too.
It being stiff is just something you'll have to get used to though im afraid. 1-2 synchros are notorious for being stiff & crunching in the CTR. But its around £1300 to get sorted so most of us just put up with it :lol:

It more just grinds when trying to get it in 2nd. But only when at high revs. In vtec it's almost always is difficult to get in 2nd. Think it's almost deffo the clutch. But iv got some mtf on order so that's my first step. See if it improves anything

 

[You Jay]

It more just grinds when trying to get it in 2nd. But only when at high revs. In vtec it's almost always is difficult to get in 2nd. Think it's almost deffo the clutch. But iv got some mtf on order so that's my first step. See if it improves anything

That's defo the clutch mate. But try sorting the oil first and check if anything change.

 

[Paulos]

If I see anything comes up, I will PM you straight away.

Thanks mate

 

[Paulos]

That's defo the clutch mate. But try sorting the oil first and check if anything change.

That is what I was kinda expecting it to be to be honest.
My cars on 112k now. Is it even possible for the original clutch to of lasted that long?
Considering the timing chain had to be done so the car probs hasnt had the easiest life! Lol

 

[You Jay]

That is what I was kinda expecting it to be to be honest.
My cars on 112k now. Is it even possible for the original clutch to of lasted that long?
Considering the timing chain had to be done so the car probs hasnt had the easiest life! Lol

I'm not sure if the original clutch could still be going on with that mileage.

My clutch lasted 91k since it was brand new, but in that 91k, I feel hard change of gears especially in VTEC or High RPM.

It still can go on but Tom from TGM told me that I could damage my gearbox/synchro if I don't change it asap.

 

[Paulos]

So plans for the civic are

Japseed 4-2-1 decat manifold
Gruppe m / tegiwa intake.
K100
Remap

Wanting to get the remap done by TDI north. Unless anyone knows of any other companies in the York area that would be just as good?

Aiming for 250bhp. Is that a reasonable figure to aim for with those mods?

 

[Paulos]

Update on my 2nd gear problem.

Seems to of been sorted. After gearbox oil, engine mount and some clutch adjustment. I can now take it right round to the limiter in 1st and it will slot easily straight into 2nd. Could never do this before so really happy about that!
So now to start saving up for some shiny new parts

 

[Loxy]

Good stuff!

You'll probably be looking at high 230s or low 240s with those mods. If you want more you'll be needing an RBC inlet manifold port matched to a bigger throttle body.

The Japspeed 4-2-1 isn't brilliant to be honest. It's cheap, but it's cheap for a reason. You'd be better off looking for a second hand Toda manifold or the Tegiwa one which is very similar to the Toda.

TDi are definitely the guys to see round here.

 

[Paulos]

Good stuff!

You'll probably be looking at high 230s or low 240s with those mods. If you want more you'll be needing an RBC inlet manifold port matched to a bigger throttle body.

The Japspeed 4-2-1 isn't brilliant to be honest. It's cheap, but it's cheap for a reason. You'd be better off looking for a second hand Toda manifold or the Tegiwa one which is very similar to the Toda.

TDi are definitely the guys to see round here.

Cheers loxy. Tdi are about a 2 hour drive from me so not too bad.
How much is a 2nd hand toda gonna set me back? Havnt seen many up for sale!
Then Just need to get my hands on a k100 and a gruppe m/tegiwa! (or some money first).
I'd be very happy with 240bhp.
Best get saving I suppose.

 

[You Jay]

I bought my toda manifold for 450 with good flexi still. I'm thinking they go for 400-600 depending on the condition. Cheaper manifold would be like Loxy said, Tegiwa, same
as toda.

You would be pushing 240+ with rbc, tegiwaM, decent exhaust and 4 branch manifold with decat. oh and especially the k100.