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afcbjoshd's EP3

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
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- 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.

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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.



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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.



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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.



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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.




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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
 
Thanks. Yeah like the black. Colour wasn't really a factor but I'm glad I've got it now

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You looking to keep it street biased or more track focused down the line?

And yeah it wasn't for me either, but I love it now especially when it's clean and shiny. Once waxed and sealed it is pretty easy to clean and keep that way as well.
 
You looking to keep it street biased or more track focused down the line?

And yeah it wasn't for me either, but I love it now especially when it's clean and shiny. Once waxed and sealed it is pretty easy to clean and keep that way as well.
Depends really. At the moment it's the 'daily' but I don't drive it everyday since I'm close enough to cycle to work. So it's still my only car for now (except the Mrs). I'll just play it by ear see how it goes. Few bits to sort but hopefully nothing major.



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Depends really. At the moment it's the 'daily' but I don't drive it everyday since I'm close enough to cycle to work. So it's still my only car for now (except the Mrs). I'll just play it by ear see how it goes. Few bits to sort but hopefully nothing major.



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Track slag
 
So, recently I've noticed a coolant leak dripping underneath the car and after a few brief searches whilst maintaining the level I got the car up and the bumper off to have a proper search. I have ruled out the water pump as couldn't see it leaking from there, then ruled out the radiator as couldn't see it leaking or any cracks or splits, looked over all the pipework and expansion and still couldn't find the leak at all. Gave the radiator and pipework a good spray down as there was coolant everywhere pooled so that it would make it easier to assertain the source of the leak. Not so. Couldn't see a leak anywhere, had the car running, up to temperature, fan cycles so thermostat works.

After putting it back together I took it to a local garage to my work to get it pressure tested. They too couldn't see where the leak was coming from but could see when up to full system pressure it leaks from the radiator so advised me to change that.

Ordered up a Nissens 68114 off of eBay it will arrive next week. I'll change that and hopefully it will sort it. Amazon had it available on prime which would have been perfect but it was out of stock with no guarantee on how long it would take to restock. I'd considered the aluminium ones from mishimoto or tegiwa but decided against it for now as the Nissens was 70 quid and the tegiwa was 165 with a longer wait time and mishimoto was 200+ even on sale. Could have searched for a used ali one but couldn't be bothered to be honest.

And once I've done this hopefully that will be it maintenance wise for a while. MOT is due March.
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Very nice lad. Good to see you keeping on top of everything and looking after it right.

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Very nice lad. Good to see you keeping on top of everything and looking after it right.

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Thanks. I think it's best to keep on top of it all and keep it running right.

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Radiator changed earlier today. Hopefully will solve the slight coolant leak. Tips - the right hand fan as you look at it stays in the car and be sure to unmount it from the bottom of the radiator and angle the bottom of the fan towards the back of the car so that the mounting points, clips and drain point on the radiator can fit up and over. Undo and remove the AC condenser bolts so you gain that space by moving it forward, (be careful not to move it around too much as the AC pipes on the bottom are rigid) undo and remove the bonnet latch bolts as the radiator comes out Infront of that and it can't fit with the latch there. Left hand fan stays on and comes out with the radiator. I could do a guide if there is enough interest I suppose. They were just my findings when I did it.

As I said hopefully that solves the mystery leak and gives me time to enjoy it a bit!
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