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Mike's Cosmic EP3

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1,797
It's taken me a while, apologies.

Like I said in when I joined the forum, I've had a fair number of Hondas, mostly civics. This is my second EP3 (my first being a NHB pre-facelift). This is the one I'm likely to keep a while however.



She's a 55 reg premier edition at about 80k.

So far I've:
  • Replaced rear sway bar with JDM
  • Added Dension Gateway Lite BT so I can keep the Honda head unit (amp's okay and it's nice and simple)
  • Replaced drive shaft seals (managed to get a bit of a discount due to a leak I spotted when I looked her over)
  • Replaced the coolant (honda), and the gearbox oil (Honda MTF-3)
  • Replaced all four calipers with new OEM ones (front two were seized, one rear was), painted them red, and used RBF600 for the fluid
  • Replaced brake lamps with Philips 1157 Intense Red Vision LEDs
  • Replaced the main headlight bulbs with Philips X-tremeVision halogen H1
  • Replaced the front running lights and boot light with Philips X-tremeVision LED W5W T10 6000K (what can I say, I like Philips lighting products)
  • Had her fully serviced by Honda to make sure I haven't missed anything
  • Replaced all 4 discs and pads (just Pagid, they seem to work and I don't generally thrash her too hard)

Still on my list of things to do are:
  • Tyres, probably Michelin Pilot Sport 4's. She's currently running conti sportcontact 2 on front and some godawful unknowns on the rear
  • Exhaust, I have a Legalis R inbound from Japan right now and am desperate for it to arrive
  • Polish (or replace) the front headlight assemblies
  • Fix the front fogs. One is somehow filled with grit (a few of the Premiers I saw had this issue) and the other's reflector looks damaged (as if the reflective coating has peeled or something)
  • Fix whatever the hell is making some vibrating noise in the doors next to the driver (and passenger's) shoulders
  • Get the various gouges and scrapes out of the wheels
  • ... and the list goes on

Things I'd like to do are replace the open diff with a helical (Quaife if I could afford it), new suspension (springs at least, since they're old and rust-bubbled), fast road setup (but that can wait).

For the most part I'm trying to keep it looking mostly OEM. I like the standard wheels (still think they're the prettiest standard ones out there), the normal exhaust exit (twin pipe) is simple and effective, etc. The steering wheel hasn't yet had its coating rubbed off like so many I've seen; I'm mostly happy.
 
Thank you both, she's a labour of love. I do most of the work myself if I can. I have a neighbour who does wheel refurbs who's offered to teach me too, so that should be interesting.

There's always more to work on on a car this old :)
 
Looks a tidy example mate!

Thanks, took some hunting. I was almost swayed by a JDM Champ white, but the price difference was staggering.

Nice. Soft spot for a Cosmic. :smt023

Hah, initially I was gonna retort about how we can't all find an empty car-park building at night to take the shot, but then I realised you meant you liked the paint colour :)
 
Looks good Mike and I like the plans, I'm sure the list will grow too!

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Looks good Mike and I like the plans, I'm sure the list will grow too!

Thanks TuckR, from you that means a bit (having followed your build) :)

I (literally) have a spreadsheet, I kid you not, there are more items on there too (brake lines, jazz washer jets, etc.).

I'd love to keep it tidy and mostly standard. No different wheels, no forced induction, standard interior and headunit as much as I can, etc.

I like the look of the wee thing so I figure I should try and keep it as designed.
 
Nice and sensible list of 'wants'. Keep an eye out for a DC5 LSD as they can be had for £3-400.
 
Yeah, I had the nighthawk black before, but both myself and my wife liked the cosmic so much that we made that a requirement for the next one :)

I refuse to buy red, Milano's nice and all, but red paint has a tendency to die a horrible death.
 
How is the Dension Gateway working out? Didn't realise this product existed until you posted up about it.
Was thinking of getting the Connect2 add on to enable the aux connector, but perhaps this is a better option.
 
How is the Dension Gateway working out? Didn't realise this product existed until you posted up about it.
Was thinking of getting the Connect2 add on to enable the aux connector, but perhaps this is a better option.

It's not a bad little device. I'm less sure how happy I'd be about it if I received many calls on my phone because I don't know what happens if you don't have the microphone plugged in at the time you receive a call, but for music playing it's awesome. Connect to it via bluetooth, use the next/previous track buttons to skip songs on your device playlist, simple selection of it as input via the disc-changer button on the head-unit, etc.

Also supports USB input quite happily (but I haven't even configured that).

You can't (as far as I can tell) change the BT pin on it, and it doesn't display anything on the head-unit (that only works for certain cars like the Mini I think), but given that it fulfilled my requirements I'm more than happy about it.
 
Nice and sensible list of 'wants'. Keep an eye out for a DC5 LSD as they can be had for £3-400.

I have noticed that 2nd's a little notchy, but the wife made faces when I started listing the things I'd like to do if I pull the box off (LSD, bearings, synchros) and how much it would cost (and how long it'd take me given what I have by way of garage access). Especially given how much I've just spent on the exhaust, and how much I'd be spending on tyres soon.

She's off to NZ for 5 weeks... so much temptation.
 
What she doesn't know won't hurt her :lol:

I thought I was bad enough at this kind of thing by myself, then there's you lot to "help me along".

Thing is, I'd be looking at:
LSD ~£350
4 new bearings £100
new synchros for low gears (and, if I have it cracked open, why not all of them?) £300?
sealant, mtf3, assorted £50

£800... Plus I have the exhaust coming in a few weeks that I have to pay on arrival, plus the PS4's...

She'd know :p


I found a few pics of some of my older Hondas too recently, so I might see if I can get them up somewhere (the EG VTi, BB5 Prelude and NHB EP3). Shame I didn't have any of the wife's orange SB first-gen civic or my older EF; we don't talk about the EK because it was awful.
 
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