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My 30th Anniversary EP3 build

EP3 Dave

EP3 Dave

Messages
125
Hi All,

Thought it was time I started a build thread on here. First off the car is an 03 reg Satin Silver 30th Anniversary edition EP3. Currently sitting at 84k on the clock. I have currently had the car on the road for 3 weeks and I'm loving it, (I did previously have another preface NHB EP3) but I'll let you take a guess what happened to that from my avatar photo. Anyway here goes:
 
Firstly, the car as I bought. After a thorough wash, cut back, polish and wax all over.





Totally standard as I bought it, and I got a bargain so I was happy!
 
Soon after, my plans started falling into place and the money started being spent. First off a bit of bling for the rear end:



And fitted it (not the best photo)



Once this was on, I really wanted to make the car stand out from most other standard looking EP3's. With that thought I got myself some VMAXX coilovers, I went with VAMXX as theyre pretty good quality and maintain a reasonable ride quality while handling extremely well and getting the car lower to the ground. Unfortunately didn't snap a photo of the coilovers when they were boxed.

Once I had fitted the coilovers and got the car lower down, I wanted to change the wheels to something that would make the car unique and stand out from the others. So I bought a set of ROTA Torque 17x8 wheels and 205/40/17 Yoko parada spec 2 tyres to go with them.





Pretty nice. And getting away from the standard wheels was a big thing for me to get the car looking unique. They looked great, but I wanted something a bit cooler ..

So this happened:

 
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Once the wheels were all done (candy red is the colour) and the tyres were fitted giving me that little bit of stretch I was after, Time for a test fit and tracking. So it went from this (standard wheels were refurbed a few months before I got it):



To the car's current state:





The height does need to be played with a bit, but i'm planning on taking the front arch lining out as an attempt to get rid of the rubbing that currently seems to be going on, and get the arches rolled before I get it down a little more.
 
Plans for the near future:

-New GENUINE front and rear 'H' badges as the current ones are looking a little shabby around the edges.
-New GENUINE 'TypeR' boot badge as the 'R' is worn as it is on all EP3's
-Front bumper respray, as this was blistered and looked awful when I bought it (part of the reason managed to get it cheap)
-Front recess smoothing down to JDM plate size
-Mugen Wing sprayed to match the car
-Heko wind deflectors
-New darker housing preface style headlights (not smoked lenses)
-JDM plates front and rear
 
Hi

Very nice to see another 30th anniversary on here. Need to see if you can get the 30th anniversary sticker for the rear window. Look forward to see further updates.
 
Thanks guys, and i'll see if I can find one on ebay, never actually thought to look haha. More updates to come soon.
 
Quick Update:

Bad news this week, Front drivers side caliper is binding onto the disc. I have cleaned the caliper of all brake dust etc and greased the slider pins, also made sure the pads fit freely and aren't a struggle to put in place. Found out the piston is sized slightly outwards and is sticking on the disc because it isn't retracting properly. All will hopefully be well as I have bought 2 caliper rebuild kits and im going to set about replacing all seals and the pistons on both of the front calipers.

I assume this has to work as the only thing left will be the metal body and will be the same on a new caliper. I will update if the rebuild resolves the issue.

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UPDATE: Rebuilt both front callipers with new pistons and seals and re-blead. Work like brand new now! Going to rebuild the rear callipers the same way after Mimms.

Anyway: Since I haven't got any pictures of the interior of this; heres a couple:






Moving on, I have also painted and fitted my Mugen wing:





Not the greatest job it turns out, so thats getting re-done soon along with a smooth and respray of the front bumper (sadly also after Mimms).

Finally (for now); I have bought and fitted an AEM CAI



Sounds amazing and engine bay looks much better imo!

Thats all for now, more to come soon. See y'all at Mimms on Sunday
 
Little bit of mimes prep after work today, as well as finally lowering the front coilovers another 10-15mm.

Started with all the wheels looking like this:



And ending like this:



Much better!

Then I moved on to, strangely enough the spare wheel well under the boot. (It was filled with dirt / dust and a whole load of screws for some reason) so got rid of all of that and it looks much better now:



Giving the rest of the car a good clean inside and out and re polishing / waxing before Sunday. Also planning to de-wiper it before Sunday too but that depends whether I can get the right bung for the hole!
 
Thanks! And just an ebay one mate (4 point) not the greatest effort at one if i'm honest. Wish id got a Fiberworx one now.
 
Quick update. Had the front bumper fully smoothed and resprayed. Was originally thinking of having the recess smoothed to JDM plate size but decided I might as well go fully smoothed and keep the plate off as long as I can! First pic below as finished, will pop another one on in daylight too

Before:



After:



More updates to come after Xmas!
 
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