my first ep3 bought today, cosmic grey facelift

so this is my first civic type r, but, I have owned,

a dc2 type r




then an s2000





so the civic! I was going to go for a milano red, but the paint fade troubles put me off. got this for a bargain, needs a bit of attention to get it how I want and I dont really have a couple of days spare to sort it in one go, so will update this thread as I go along. Im pretty mental I think and plan on getting as perfect as possible, will be updating this thread with progress as I go


previous owner did a reasonable job of cleaning it, was atleast nice to see some effort was put in. as you can see its very good condition for the year (2004) and the mileage (71k)












mot done just last week, wheels recently refurbed and new brakes

tidy interior




so there the good bits, heres the stuff ide like to tidy up and please if you have any product recommendations jump in.
engine bay pretty grimey, plan on using ag engine degreaser






interior handles, a normal problem, going to prime paint and laquer

cant see well in picture but gearknob a bit shoddy

headlights need possibly a wet sand, going to try metal polish first

lot of tar around front of car, will tardis clay and iron x the car to clean well


exhaust needs good polish, plan on mixing up between chemical guys metal wax and megs metal polish

type r badge bit battered

few stone chips down to the metal, with small rust inside;





any ideas on the stone chips? can you get a laquer touch up pen or owt to protect the metal?


anyways, all thoughts on the purchase welcome, anyone used a polish or wax thats worked rather well with this colour and car?


the plan is to foam, 2 bucket+apc, tardis, iron x, clay, carlack nano then couple layers of hd wax

then drive the sucker!!
thanks, tom

Great car and great colour, look forward to seeing the car after your detail, welcome to the forum

car looks great, and your bonnet and bumper are in better condition than mine!

Cheers chaps, did some shopping this morning for couple cleaning products. Next to buy paint for interior bits.

The Megs 3 Stage kit works great on Cosmics, all colours really, but seemed to really bring out the blue flake in my cosmic. As for the chips, you're probably best getting them done properly as it is a 3 stage paint with a base layer, middle colour and then metallic top coat.

Ok cheers nya. Im thinking of buying a da so I can do a real good job, its in great condition so would be nice to improve/ maintain it well. For the stone chips im hesitant to have a repair done as there never going to match the paint well. I think im going to laquer pen the chips carefully to protect against further rust etc in there and stop the paint picking off with the jet wash etc

made a start today, got some progress pics but will try not to turn this thread into a monster

engine bay degreased
covers off; oh my

getting there

covers all back on

used back to black on the rubber and plastics

had a go at sorting the headlights with metal polish, nearly there, got some plastrx on the way so will re do, but good for now



did all the underneath of arches etc, missed getting a picture once done but they were caked;


while wheels were off gave them thorough clean back and front, then protected with some turtlewax wheel protector, spray on buff off job'y



then megs endurance gel tyre shine.

so this is where im at now, just the paint and glass to go, was so tired after this lot I called it a day. more to follow!

Just did forst bit of shopping, couple more detailing products, auto finesse for the trim that looks a bit of a state, apme plastrx for the lights, still a bit of haze left and some empty bottles! Fed up of having to empty out some tardis mixed up because I need a water spray.
Also got a sloppy gearstick so bought solid shifter bushings, short shifter and a nice new duracon gear knob while I was there lol

Looks great . How do you find the EP3 compared to the S2000 and DC2? I am looking at possibly getting an S2000 next so would be good to hear your thoughts.

Looks great mate

Nice clean example you got yourself there

Darc


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honestly a bit boring atm :lol: the dc2 is a lot wilder, makes a racket, you feel every inch of the road. the s2000 is in the middle, alot more refined than the dc2, still makes great noise when going for it and you really cant beat vtec with the roof down. I miss it dearly, I sold it because I needed the money at the time and this was a cheaper option to insure and mod. modifying the s2k is a waste of time unless youve got real deep pockets, very small amount of uk made parts, all jdm with pricetags to match.

ultimately the s2000 is the biggest smiles per mile car ive owned by a long shot. Ide turn up every where grinning from ear to ear (and with burning brake pads lol)

ultimately the s2000 is the biggest smiles per mile car ive owned by a long shot. Ide turn up every where grinning from ear to ear (and with burning brake pads lol)

Click to expand...

Thanks, just what I wanted to hear

yeah no worries. I wouldnt say it was much faster in a straight line, infact the k20a has better tuning potential and Ide bet theres bundles of ep3's out there n/a going faster in a straight line, but the poise and balance of the s2000 mid corner with rwd is just awesome, though a bit twitchy if you mess with the throttle too much, trick was to driving it very smoothly

I'd be interested to know how you fair with the chips. I have this issue. I was considering just scratching away the rust, and using a 3 point pen kit I found at Halfords in silver. It won't match perfect, but won't be able to see. It has a filler, some paint, and some lacquer. Had it for a while but haven't dared to touch the body work, lol.

Car looks good. Always nice to see one looked after well. Smaller details add up to a really clean car.

The initial plan was to buy paint from paints4u on top of a rust inhibitor, then polish level with a da, seen some amazing results on detailing world. However the purchase of a da has been somewhat delayed lol, bought aome other **** basically. Halfords touch up pens, ive seen the results of these and fook me I would not bother honestly, really a waste of time

A little rust spot. Do you believe it has much chance of spreading much in the next year or so?

If you are bored with the EP3, as I read you were compared to the DC2 and S2K (understandably), i recommend some form of induction kit. I was bored until I bought this. As you probably already know, VTEC get's transformed with the noise.

No not particularly, especially if covered in some wax. The inhibitor is more to help the paint bond to the panel as fark all sticks to rust. Yeah I plan on doing the hondata airbox mod

First time logging in here for a while (civinfo represent!), but makes me miss my cosmic grey EP3 to bits. take care of it!

i had the same problem with my headlights and used plastx and a polishing cloth......made it a bit better but not perfect how long did you do it for i did it for approx 1 hour......maybe i need to do it more???? :/

nice example there buddy. I was thinking of a DC2 for my next car, I have an EP3 now. This car feels mental compared to my last car (MK4 GTI), I like the idea of something well bonkers!