EJ8 build

[EJ8Metal]

So after having a tough situation buying the wrong car for an even more wrong price... Long story... I finally got back on my feet and found another car to build. Got me a '97 Civic EX coupe for DIRT money!

So here's the scoop on it to date. I bought it as a complete virgin. It was owned by a middle age woman who only drove it to school and home (School teacher) and serviced the car religiously. She sold it at 120k miles to another teacher at the school (My ex history teacher) who happened to be on the fire department with my father. Well here it is 6 years after he bought it, currently at 158k miles. Still bone stock and babied.

So now the bad news... I live in the northeast, the car has been here in the north east it's whole life... That being the case, it has a little skin cancer. More good news, the underside is under coated so the structure is absolutely flawless. The body rot... Not such a good thing. I'm working on patching it up nicely and cleaning up loose ends.

Without getting lost and rambling more... Here's the car!

First day I had it.

First thing I did (The first day I had it)... Pull out the A/C unit.

Finished up de-badging the back end.

Nice freshly painted wheels! No more rust.

As you can see, it's pretty much stock.

All I've done to it so far: Pull out the A/C system (no traces it), Change the spark plugs and the oil (e3 plugs, noticeable difference over stock, not as good as some more high end plugs though. And Royal Purple oil and K&N filter, yay high end maintenance in a beat to crap car.), did a valve adjustment with nice new top end seals, played with the ignition a little bit (try retarding it about 2 dagrees, I got a noticeable change in my car), cleaned up the wheels and just started some rust repair.

Copied and paste... Pretty good first post for a build thread so screw it.

 

[civicfan111]

is that rust that ur fixing?

 

[EJ8Metal]

Hey, look! Now it looks like the car is in one piece!

Got a quarter from a bone yard, used what I needed, my buddy welded it up and I did the rest. No it's not finalized, I had to rush it to get a sticker which, ironically enough... All of Western Mass's system that allows the printing for inspection stickers is down... So I have to go back tomorrow. I also ran out of body filler and sand paper. Trying to get a perfect seem is really rough in the middle of a flat piece of metal. But it's not out of my skill range, so I'll finish it up soon. Now I have to patch what little rust is on the other side so it doesn't get bad.

One more thing. Status is key to life. Have some Racecar status.

Carpets are still in the front, and the center console obviously. So yeah, the weight is a little more to the front but not to badly... But hey, the seats, spare and tools I took out were about 100 pounds, the trunk carpet and s**t, I just don't like... That wasn't for weight savings. LOL

 

[EJ8Metal]

is that rust that ur fixing?

Yep! Haven't dug to deep into that, it's on the to-do list but not very high up it just yet. Took the rust off the steelies though haha. Cleanest part of the car right now...

 

[civicfan111]

lol nice, personally id cut out and weld or replace rusted spots first b4 they spread. then id finish the bondo, sand it down, tape it off.. get the whole thing painted. get a swap in it, drop it and then rims..but thats how i look at any build lol.

you keeping the trunk gutted?

 

[EJ8Metal]

lol nice, personally id cut out and weld or replace rusted spots first b4 they spread. then id finish the bondo, sand it down, tape it off.. get the whole thing painted. get a swap in it, drop it and then rims..but thats how i look at any build lol.

you keeping the trunk gutted?

That's what I'm doing haha. I posted the other quarter that had a massive hole in it with no more hole in it... I just sprayed those spots because there was bare metal that I got down to so I didn't want them to rust further.

Trunks staying empty haha. It's going to be a track oriented car that I can daily and not worry about. I want to shave a lot of stuff to make it look half way decent if I park it in at a show, but nothing that's going to make it heavy haha. Like I'm hopefully going to do a wire tuck so the bay looks clean, but that's not adding any weight. So I'm down with it haha. Got a few big plans for it in the future, but for now, making 140 horse at the crank and weighing about 2400 pounds is a damn good start...

 

[EJ8Metal]

So I've pulled out more stuff, Power steering, and the cruise control. I have a set of AEM tru-power power pulleys that I HOPE will fit my motor... they're made for a d16z6 so, lets hope.

So about the steering, it still takes a LOT of effort to turn right from a stop and a lot less to turn left... Any thoughts? I was thinking maybe there is valving or something? I don't know because the system is drained out. Maybe there's some sitting inside the rack or something...

Got a few lines to pull out still and clean up, but I ran out of time and stuff...

 

[EJ8Metal]

That's one large rust hole down!

Don't mind the power steering line just sitting randomly. It's not there now haha. Just a few little things done to it, runs strong though.

 

[upnsmoke]

Nice start. I will definitely be following this one. Pulling the AC sure does open up some space. Did you pull the cruise control or did the car not come with it?

 

[antie22]

hey does the a/c unit you pulled out work and can you sell it to me??

 

[EJ8Metal]

Nice start. I will definitely be following this one. Pulling the AC sure does open up some space. Did you pull the cruise control or did the car not come with it?

Thanks man! : ) It really did, if you look through the grill and the bottom valence, you can actually see the headers haha! It's sweet. And yeah, I pulled it. In this picture the power steering line was still in, and the cruise control cable was still on, still looks really clean haha.

 

[EJ8Metal]

hey does the a/c unit you pulled out work and can you sell it to me??

One line was bent, and another had a pretty bad hole in it so I tossed it, the compressor was junk and I have no idea if the condenser is any good, but the dryer canister is gone too. : \ Sorry man.

 

[MistahJuice]

Damn looks like ur puttin in some good work, keep it up!

 

[Logan98036wa]

looking good, hope to see some more love under the hood!

 

[RoidBear]

Good progress man! good luck with this one!

 

[EJ8Metal]

Premature wheel and tire cambo going on hopefully tomorrow... I wasn't going to invest until I had some suspension work done. Seriously, f**k wheel gap. But it's to good a deal to pass up. Some tune up parts and pulleys going on soon as well just to keep this D16 running a little longer. 161k on it right now and I drive a LOT. I may see a B16/18 swap coming up in the future... And a LOT more body work to be done for the next week. Hopefully finishing the quarters, ordering some POR-15 soon so no more of this rust crap haha.

Don't want to give away all my plans, but this is still my daily, so you know, can't do everything at once... Just keeping any one watching posted!

 

[EJ8Metal]

Yeahhh, I need to lower this thing badly now. Lower, rear disks, good stuff. Haha. Probably going to powder coat the centers white too.

 

[EJ8Metal]

Got a pipe and a DC 2.5 inch muffler, gotta pick up the pipe in a little bit here, no more open header... Sadface hahaha. So at least I'll get some damn torque back... I know, Hondas and torque don't generally mix, but trust me... You notice when what little torque you have gets even smaller haha. Also I was driving yesterday, and this person was right up my ass so... I kind of stomped on it and when I did, the headlights of the car behind me showed a little more smoke then I wanted to see... I knew one of my valve seals was bad but I didn't think it was THAT bad. So ontop of every thing I got me a Z6 head (I know, like a reverse mini-me swap, stupid... I know.) And I wouldn't have done that, but I got 600 - 700 dollars worth of cylinder head for ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. That's right. The head was bought brand new, ported and polished, and assembled with stiffer springs and ti retainers. So I said screw it and snagged it. Should be doing that in about two weeks here, just have to get me some things before I do the swap. What do you guys think? Am I going to see more power? I hope so. I'm definitely going to see more rpm's.

 

[EJ8Metal]

What can I say... I like updating my build thread.

Here's a hint, final car color ; )... Though it's a little dirty from driving around, you get the idea. Stealth style!

That's right! Flat black! Deck lid is done, I just have to sand it down with some 2000 grit to get rid of any lines and what not.

De-badged, de-winged sanded down, primed filled, rust repaired annnnd well here you have it. For the record, if you want that wing, throw me an offer. It's primed and what not, ready to go on and I have the third brake wire as well.

More to come with this super slow slowness.

Oh yeah! Look! There's a pipe on it again. Haha. Doesn't sound to bad but it's buzzing... Which is driving me nuts, if it ends up being the exhaust its self, I'm getting rid of it...

 

[EJ8Metal]

Compare that to the other engine bay shot with the headers... Not to damn shabby hay? WD-40 works some f*cking miracles.

OH! And until I finish those red tails I'm going to make, I'll just leave this here. : )