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EP3, Diamond in the rough????

Messages
15
Hi All.

So i am a toyota guy.. i'll get that out there straight away :)

I have had many different cars, but never a honda.. so it came time to take my MK3 mr2 off the road to build my ultimate sprint car, currently racing a RX8 but want to get back to MR2s

So i wanted a new daily between £2-4K fun and not silly on fuel, jap and i could tinker.. and importantly 4 seats
The corolla did not interest me, so i looked around and decided on a civic, choice then was an EP3 or FN2.
I have driven a few FN2's but never been in an EP3. I suspected it would be the EP3 i wanted, and the wifes always wanted one.
So the hunt began, prices vaired soo much, some cat write offs, some no mot, then loads with EML lights.

I then made the desision to go full mighty car mods style.
cheapest car within 100miles with MOT, not cat write off and no EML lights. went and had a look, fell in love.. but it needed much love. I had the same owner for last 8 years doing 3kmiles a year living under a tree. but always been serviced yearly and underneath was mint with no signs of any leaks and 106k on the clock.
At first i walked away see what else there was,, but two days later i was back handed over some monies and drove this very dirty car home..
first off Vtec makes me giggle :)

So this is what i brought home and this was what i was starting with, as i knew i had some money to play with.

the rear quarter
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Last drive in the MR2 was to get a loads of bits for the CTR
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So first job was to sort the paint, clean the interior..
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It got
2 bucket wash
Snow foam
Clay Bar
Polish (not heavy as honda paint is soft!)
Finishing polish
2 coats of wax
Headlights polished
Interior full hoover and detailed
New Sony stereo
New wiper blades Aero style


I am very pleased with first stage of how its come up
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guessing some point someone spilt something in the boot, i checked with jet wash no water is getting in, so i have Kur rusted the boot floor.. it looks like i scared it
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Next jobs are
full serive
new brakes and discs all round
clean engine bay
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Find new wheels and tyres or just tyres (haven't decided yet
and tonight i am off to go pick up and exhaust as this one has a hole in it


Have fun ill let you know what happens next
 
Nice work so far (and welcome) :)

The boot/spare-well rust could be due to the rear light foam/seals. You might want to pull the rear clusters and check if water's getting in that way or just outright replace the foam (otherwise you're just going to have to repeat the kurust process all over again next time water gets in there).
 
Nice work so far (and welcome) :)

The boot/spare-well rust could be due to the rear light foam/seals. You might want to pull the rear clusters and check if water's getting in that way or just outright replace the foam (otherwise you're just going to have to repeat the kurust process all over again next time water gets in there).

thanks i had heard it can come in there.
I did spray all the rear and got nothing through. ill pull them out and check
 
Nice work so far..
Love to see a car restored to it’s former glory. Keep up the good work:smt023
 
Welcome to the fold, seems like you got the fastest colour too! Best of luck with the project, I shall subscribe :)
 
Thanks for the comments people.
Some updates for you.

the exhaust started blowing pretty badly, i already knew it was on its way out, the joys of living by the sea.
There was a "ep3 breaker" in romford the had a blitz NUr spec and Spoon exhaust, so travelled up to go look at these..
The blitz one internals rattled and the spoon was missing the spoon badge.. so needless to say i left them.I also suspected the Spoon would be too loud for my 5am starts or coming homer from nights.

then when about 10 miles from home.. "vtec kicked in yo"
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So a quick ring to the wife who sent our mate up with some welding wire, tied it up to get me home.

Got home and ordered a scorpion cat back non res system. that was Monday

yesterday arrived home from work.. very happy pile of stuff
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there we have my new engine crane, new R stickers for the badges, new number plates, and new exhaust
So after the normal running around in the late afternoons afterschool club etc. I got to work about 5.30 on the car.

i hate day work. i normally work shifts which gives me plenty of car playing time..anyways.
First the easy job.
New R sticker

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Pleased with them for the cost..

Next up, Jack up your car :) :)

car in the air and old exhaust out

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Unboxing!
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Really pleased with the fitment! made my own gasket cat to centre pipe. need some slightly longer back rubbers to drop the tail pipe slightly
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well while it was up in the air..
Rear brake discs and pads changed..
Front pads changed.. (i could not do the front discs.. but i will show reasons when i do the fix)
New brake fluid throughout, the fluid came out looks like cokecola!!
Oil and filter changed
and new Pollen filter added, When i took out the carrier there was no pollen filter in there at all, yuk!

I have a KnN typhoon on the way, ill see what i think of it, i may make my own cold air/heat shield for it (i'm electrical maintenance engineer at a factory with full workshop). but its only a daily not a track car, that is what the MR2 is for. I just want to enjoy the car on the road not get every single tenth out of it..

Dropped back to the floor and tested, took out for a run, all finished about half 9 just as its starting to get darker.. sounds nice a quiet on idle, and easy on the ears at normal driving.. but give it the beans it goes nuts.. so very please with the exhaust results and how it is starting to feel.

Justin ( an old school friend) own JDT tuning in kent so some point he is going to check the valve clearances and check over the car generally for me, as Hondas are new to me.

Next up,
MOT on Friday, and fitting new tyres all round. putting tyres on these wheels for now and will eventually get some wheels for it.
Gone for Rainsports, they are what i use as my go to wet weather track tyre, but gone for the XL, for the stiffer sidewall.
Found on ebay from demon tweeks for £277, the wife had a discount code got all 4 delivered for £222!!!!!!!!!!!!!
being fitted before the MOT.

Then after that will sort the caliper issue, basically someone has stripped the thread in the carrier, used a bold from inside and welded to inside the carrier and cut the head off, then a nut on the back of carrier, so the disc and carrier have to come off together, rather than take it off and bodge back on i have a new carrier on the way, do it once, do it right!!Idiots, Ill get pics when i take it off to show what i mean


On another note, now the MR2 is off the road, it is booked in for it cage to be built and fitted onthe 5th august by Caged LAser engineering.. cannot wait.. so next few weeks will be stripping the interior out of that, if anyone is interested ill throw some pictures up
 
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Nice work so far, never seen exhaust tips quite as rusty as those :eek:

Definitely interested in the MR2 pics, get them up!

There's someone on here with a stupidly powerful track MR2, can't find the link right now, but it's worth a look
 
Well if anyone is interested in following on pistonheads is my build thread for the MR2
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=47&t=1806811&i=999999

Friday saw New mot on the civic, passed with flying colours, also had the uniroyal rainsport 3s fitted so now have nice matching tyres
then we picked up the wifes new car
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great little thing

just after all that my mate patrick came down with his FN2 with an exhaust that had been blowing since october, he looked at changing it before but got scared cos of all the rusty bolts..
We put it in the air he was still unsure... so i cut it with the angle grinder (the exhuast blow was annoying me at every sprint event)
After several hours of cutting and drilling he has a new cat back m2 exhaust
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I have also fitted the typoon induction kit to my car.. and yes i love the noise!
 
Nice work on the car, looks like it's in good hands with you! A previous owner fitted a K&N Typhoon kit to my EP3 with a cold air feed from the bumper. I have been considering making a heat shield for mine, so would be interested to see if you do.
 
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