- Messages
- 14
Hi everyone new to the forum and the Civic Type R. I wanted a daily that would be fun, cheap ish and also relatively quick - the ep3 fit the bill. Previously I was commuting around 130 miles a day and had an Alfa Romeo Brera 2.4jdtm which was very nice with a few choice upgrades (AHM remap, carbonaro black wheels, swirl flap delete, egr delete and a few other bits - was very smooth and Brera's look beautiful.) However sold up and looked at a few cars and almost gave up on the Civic at one point as all the cheaper ones were in awful condition and the good ones were either ages away or more than what I wanted to spend. I appreciate you get what you pay for so I was thinking maybe the type r worth having was out of range so was considering other cars. Then I saw this one online, funnily enough at a dealer in Fareham being advertised with a full folder of history, receipts, mots etc. Long story short I had a feeling it would go fairly sharp ish so agreed a deposit over the phone until I could go and view. Ended up coming home with it. And pocketing the difference which was the plan all along...
2004 in Nighthawk Black. 169k, Overall in not bad condition, bit tatty in places but it's 15 years old and I was more interested in the mechanical condition of it than bodywork. There is a bit of lacquer peel on the N/S/F wing and a couple of scratches and dents around it. Wheels could do with a refurb too. It's got a hid kit fitted which I was initially not fond of but sorted the wiring and was forced into neatening it up with new ballasts and bulbs as they were flickering slightly and one ballast went. So for now the hid kit stays, I have already sourced the Honda bulb holders to put it back to standard - heard differing opinions on whether they get through an MOT - some say yes as they have projector style headlights on the facelifts and others say no still fails. A guy at work runs a hillclimb one that is still road legal and his has always gone through. It also has a Scorpion back box and once I had a chance to have a look an un resonated centre pipe. It's loud, drones on the motorway and whilst It doesn't actually sound bad, I'm not the biggest fan. Anyway, I digress. Here's how she sat once I got back from the dealer's
- front tyres were bordering on illegal so quickly nipped to a friend's in Fareham who had 2x Rota torques in bronze with legal tyres that he had had previously on his ep3 and then on his s2k. (the other 2 were damaged in a crash but the original rears were fine). Ordered up 2 more that night and got the tyres off the damaged wheels and got them on to complete the set.
First up on the to do list was a full service including gearbox oil (Honda MTF3), coolant (Honda type 2 premix), oil and filter(genuine), air filter(genuine), cabin fliters (genuine), brake fluid (Honda stuff), spark plugs (ngk laser iridium) and valve clearances - only needed 2 adjustments - used a genuine gasket. Whilst doing this I noticed that a couple of the coil pack studs have been snapped so need to extract those and fit new ones and a also get nuts for the coil pack cover. Also polished the headlights as were very faded and misty.
Next up was the Aux belt and looking into the cat heat shield rattling - turns out it's very corroded and will probably be removed soon. Depending on what I do exhaust wise. Aux belt wasn't in the worst condition but couldn't find any previous of it being done so for the time it takes I thought best be on the safe side.
Also fitted some LED sidelight bulbs and neatened up the ballasts and wiring for the hid kit. Then gave it a full detail to see how it would come up.
Took some other pictures too on an early morning 'spirited' drive. Great little things to drive, puts a smile on your face - more than some much more expensive machinery.
Future plans might include suspension, brakes, sorting the exhaust or changing it to another one - heard good things about the hks hi-power, test drove one with the tegiwa one. I quite like the quieter and more original looking fujitsubo one but don't like the price... options are endless it would seem... However, I'm more interested in keeping on top of the maintenance and making sure she runs great and continues to run great.
Looking forward to getting to some meets and getting involved on here.
cheers, Josh
2004 in Nighthawk Black. 169k, Overall in not bad condition, bit tatty in places but it's 15 years old and I was more interested in the mechanical condition of it than bodywork. There is a bit of lacquer peel on the N/S/F wing and a couple of scratches and dents around it. Wheels could do with a refurb too. It's got a hid kit fitted which I was initially not fond of but sorted the wiring and was forced into neatening it up with new ballasts and bulbs as they were flickering slightly and one ballast went. So for now the hid kit stays, I have already sourced the Honda bulb holders to put it back to standard - heard differing opinions on whether they get through an MOT - some say yes as they have projector style headlights on the facelifts and others say no still fails. A guy at work runs a hillclimb one that is still road legal and his has always gone through. It also has a Scorpion back box and once I had a chance to have a look an un resonated centre pipe. It's loud, drones on the motorway and whilst It doesn't actually sound bad, I'm not the biggest fan. Anyway, I digress. Here's how she sat once I got back from the dealer's
- front tyres were bordering on illegal so quickly nipped to a friend's in Fareham who had 2x Rota torques in bronze with legal tyres that he had had previously on his ep3 and then on his s2k. (the other 2 were damaged in a crash but the original rears were fine). Ordered up 2 more that night and got the tyres off the damaged wheels and got them on to complete the set.
First up on the to do list was a full service including gearbox oil (Honda MTF3), coolant (Honda type 2 premix), oil and filter(genuine), air filter(genuine), cabin fliters (genuine), brake fluid (Honda stuff), spark plugs (ngk laser iridium) and valve clearances - only needed 2 adjustments - used a genuine gasket. Whilst doing this I noticed that a couple of the coil pack studs have been snapped so need to extract those and fit new ones and a also get nuts for the coil pack cover. Also polished the headlights as were very faded and misty.
Next up was the Aux belt and looking into the cat heat shield rattling - turns out it's very corroded and will probably be removed soon. Depending on what I do exhaust wise. Aux belt wasn't in the worst condition but couldn't find any previous of it being done so for the time it takes I thought best be on the safe side.
Also fitted some LED sidelight bulbs and neatened up the ballasts and wiring for the hid kit. Then gave it a full detail to see how it would come up.
Took some other pictures too on an early morning 'spirited' drive. Great little things to drive, puts a smile on your face - more than some much more expensive machinery.
Future plans might include suspension, brakes, sorting the exhaust or changing it to another one - heard good things about the hks hi-power, test drove one with the tegiwa one. I quite like the quieter and more original looking fujitsubo one but don't like the price... options are endless it would seem... However, I'm more interested in keeping on top of the maintenance and making sure she runs great and continues to run great.
Looking forward to getting to some meets and getting involved on here.
cheers, Josh