Blandsarcasm's 98 ej6 daily

[blandsarcasm]

Current State:
stock motor. nothing special there
Progress cs2 coilovers
function 7 lower control arms
enkei jspeed2 15x8 silver
oem sir lip
oem ctr grille
oem ctr headlights
jdm dc2 recaros
k-tuned pro circuit shifter
momo monte carlo 350mm
asr hub adapter and 3" hub spacer
nrg slim quick release

Most Current Photo:
IMG_2151 by evan mclaren, on Flickr


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What's up clubcivic! Im pretty new to this forum but i've been lurking around here for a little bit and figured i might as well post up. With the exception of my very first beater being a piece of crap ford (rather not talk about that), ive owned nothing but hondas. My own loyalty to the honda brand and of course theyre reliablity has also swayed my other family members and also my girlfriend to purchase hondas. The first one i got my hands on was a black 99 hatch with an auto trans. purchased it mint with only 80k on the clock and drove it for another 200k until i sold it to a friend. After that i scooped up an 03 em2 5 sp tranny with just over 100k. That poor thing didnt last long
IMG_0146 by evan mclaren, on Flickr
IMG_0147 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

As you can see in the first photo, the sun was rising on my way to work and it was sitting right on the horizon completely blinding everyone on the highway. Someone in front of me rear ended a tractor trailer causing traffic to come to a standstill. Going from 70 mph to a dead stop completely blind was pretty sketchy. As i was sitting there, some young ass girl in a jeep cherokee slammed into the truck behind me completely destroying multiple cars in the process. Im pretty lucky that the large pick up truck was parked behind me to absorb most of the impact, otherwise id prob be a goner. The girl who hit us ended up trapped in her vehicle with the engine bay on fire. Luckily someone sprinted up with a fire extinguisher and put that out with the quickness. The whole ordeal was pretty intense. Anyways, besides the stiff neck i was pretty lucky and perfectly fine. I wasnt too bummed about the car since insurance compensated me for more that i paid and more that enough to scoop up something a little nicer. I had my heart set on a dc2 for a while so after a few weeks of searching and a couple wasted road trips to look at junk i finally came up on a decent one.
IMG_9893 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9888 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9769 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9763 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_0917 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9755 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_0634 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

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IMG_0927 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

01 gsr with a mint interior and decent exterior minus the initials someone decided to carve into the front bumper. The black one is my girlfriends that we searched for high and low about six months after i bought mine when her pos pontiac died. I wish i had taken pics of mine the day i bought it cause it was pretty hilarious. It had piece of crap halo projectors, chrome altezza style tails, busted clear corner markers, ugly ass chrome 17" motegi wheels with so many bends on stock suspension. The guy also installed some piece of crap ebay short shifter that rattled around horribly while in gear, aem cold air, and a skunk2 megapower 70mm exhaust. Thankfully he kept all the oem parts in boxes in his garage since like 2002 so they were still mint. First thing i did was grap a koni/ground control setup with function 7 lcas and ASR subframe brace and sway bar. I dropped it to the moderate height in the above pic and it handled amazing for the twisty roads i drive on the daily. I got tired of the loud ass skunk2 cannon so i slapped on a Tanabe Touring Medalion. Anyone looking for a full stainless 60mm exhaust with a nice smooth quiet tone similar to an apexi ws2, look no further. The previous owner was up front about the sub par condition of the motor and the fact that it burned a good bit of oil, so i knew it was only a matter of time before i was forced to rebuild it. It lasted just over a year before it finally gave out on me on my way to work one morning. I was just cruising along at like 35mph and it started breaking up and misfiring like crazy. I limped it to work and back home that day on only three cylinders and its been parked in my garage ever since. compression test showed 200 psi across the board except #2 which was at dead 0psi . Knowing that the motor was on its way out, id been researching different options as far as rebuilding with forged internal vs an itr swap vs b20vtec vs kswap. I chose to go with one of these

IMG_9501 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9494 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9474 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

Grabbed an 06 tsx k24a2 longblock and an 08 fa5 trans for decent prices both with ~70k miles on them. Which finally brings me to the reason im here:

IMG_9390 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9391 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

 

[blandsarcasm]

My daily! without a running car i was left scrambling trying to find a daily that wasnt too molested or a complete piece of crap. It wasnt easy but i finally found a bone stock 98 ej8 with decent mileage and no rust . When i say unmolested i mean everything bone stock including the factory radio. Thats exactly what i wanted so i didnt have to deal with problems created by someone else hacking something so i was excited. It was evident the car had been in a minor front end collision as the bumper was slightly cracked and had a small rectangle wound that looked like it could be the end of a tow hitch. A couple of the headlight tabs were also cracked and jb welded back together and the hood was a replacement with a horrible attempt at a rattlecan paint job. Since the price was low, there was no frame or suspension damage, no rust, the interior was pretty clean, and the motor purred like a kitten i was pretty hyped. First thing i did was grap an sir lip from icbmotorsports.com and throw on the blades from the gsr that i had just purchased tires for.

IMG_9413 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9418 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

Since i couldnt stand how soft the stock suspension was or being monster truck status i grabbed some progress cs2 coils with function 7 lower control arms and downstar hardware.

image1 (1) by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_0026 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_0029 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

i got bored one day while my lcas were sitting in my room so i polished them up.

IMG_9983 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_0017 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

I installed and lowered the car right before a late winter snow storm lol that was fun .

IMG_0202 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

found a set of these bnib for less than a set of used ones usually goes for so i couldnt pass em up!

IMG_0105 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_0196 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

Threw those on and hacked up the stock grille to replicate a ctr grille. wasnt happy with my crappy job but i left it for a little. Since i always have my eye out for deals i couldnt pass up on these:

IMG_9524 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

image1 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

 

[blandsarcasm]

they were from a db8 and came with the rear seats which i later sold so overall i got the fronts for stupid cheap. Im not sure what brand rails are on them but theyre def not the factory ones and i havent found anything on the internet that looks like them. The seating position is basically on the floor and i love it since im 6'2" and my head no longer rubs the head liner lol. These seats are insanely comfortable and now i cant imagine driving around sitting in stock seats ever again. With the seating position being so low and my legs being so long i didnt like having to reach so far for the wheel so i scooped up a new steering wheel and hub setup.

IMG_9809 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9756 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

ASR hub adapter with 3" spacer, nrg slim quick release, and momo monte carlo 350mm in black and red to match the seats. I threw in the k tuned pro circuit shifter i bought for my dc2 cause the bushings in the stock civic one were sloppy. This shifter is awesome in the fact that not only the height, but also the throw can be adjusted. Plus its a bling haha.

IMG_9882 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9891 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9763 (2) by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_9916 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

Also threw on some downstar hardware for the front grille since most of the little plastic pop clips were busted.

IMG_9925 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

I got bored with how the blades looked so i saved my pennies for a little and grabbed some cheap wheels. I love the way these look and you cant beat the price.

IMG_0393 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

also grabbed another bumper that wasnt quite as busted as the one i had and it came with another factory grille so i couldnt pass it up.

IMG_0733 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

Wasnt trying to go for the hellaflush slammed look but i dropped the height a little to tuck just a bit of tire. i think it looks alot better with an 8" wide wheel. Finally came across an oem ctr grille that didnt cost my soul so i snatched that up straight from osaka! So jdm yo!

IMG_0740 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_0758 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_1323 by evan mclaren, on Flickr


And thats pretty much how it sits at the moment.

 

[blandsarcasm]

the crickets are deafening in here lol... oh well. Once the weather started to get warmer around here i thought it'd be a good opportunity to test my rattle can skills. ive never had much experience attempting to make anything look halfway decent with spray paint but i figured what the hell. First thing that got hit was my disgusting brake calipers and drums. They looked like big chunks of dirt just chilling behind some wheels.
IMG_1339 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

Much better. Then i took a wire wheel and some masking tape to my fa5 trans before i threw some silver engine enamel on it.

IMG_1506 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_1512 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

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IMG_1533 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

Looks alot better to me. Since that came out decent, i gave the k24 the same treatment.

IMG_1526 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_1547 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_1542 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

Covered the vc heavily in some wrinkle black.

IMG_1549 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_1550 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_1564 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_1586 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

Dont mind my spare washer. GSR is sleeping patiently waiting for its new heart.

IMG_1588 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_1693 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

Since the busted b18c1 will eventually be getting ripped out of the integra, my plans are to get it rebuilt and hopefully make its way into the civic. From the limited research ive done, it seems that the ex model specifically a 98 is the most straightforward drop in possible. with the exception of wiring in the secondary butterflies on the intake manifold and prob extending a couple sensors, i think the stock civic harness will be pretty much plug n play right? Someone please correct me if im wrong. The research ive done is limited to a simple google search and doesnt compare to the hours upon days ive spent reading threads on what is needed to k swap. Im pretty much going backwards here diving into the most involved and costly swap first, and working my way to the simplest haha. Im sure theres plenty of people on here that could do a b into ek swap with their eyes closed so hopefully someone gives me some input. Also im debating on what internals to go with for the b18. Part of me wants to be conservative on power and just keep it oem reliable since itll continue to be my daily once the swap is done. But the other less rational side of me says forged internals with a bump in compression and good tune to make some more power.

 

[mymmeryloss]

Damn you dont mess around!

Looks like a quality build. Ill be following this one

 

[Turbo_Freak]

Great progress! I'd suggest keeping the B series stock and build the K.

 

[connies96hatchie]

watching

 

[blandsarcasm]

Thanks for the kind words guys! im pretty certain the c1 will get rebuilt to oem spec so i can just run off a stock obd1 ecu and not have to invest a ton into building and tuning. Plus the purpose of this car was to be a reliable daily and the k series to be the main black hole for my paychecks to get sucked into. When i bought this thing i told myself i was gonna leave it stock and just maintain it until the k was running, however long thats gonna take. I would be a little further along with the k swap if i hadnt caved and bought the little trinkets ive collected for the civic so far. But the biggest reason why i looked for an ek chassis was so that it could be a future home for the b series anyway, and i couldnt be satisfied driving a boring bone stock civic lol. Only thing im hoping is that the b18 block isnt completely destroyed. I havent pulled it and cracked it open yet so i really dont know what im dealing with only speculating. it still fires right up and chugs on three cylinders and those three that hold compression are fairly healthy. If its only a cracked ring, i think i could prob get away with getting the cylinders overbored a hair with new pistons, rings, bearings, seals and whatnot, and hopefully just valve seals in the head and be ok. But who knows if ill be so lucky. I prob wont pull it and find out until im closer to dropping the k in the integra and ive got a long list of parts to buy before that happens.

 

[blandsarcasm]

The hood that came on the car was a replacement from a junkyard im assuming since the original was damaged in a small collision. Besides a small dent about halfway up on the right side, it wasnt in bad shape. It had been rattlecanned in flat black pretty uneavenly and was def an eyesore so i attempted to give it some love. I grabbed a bunch of cheap duplicolor paint that matched as good as i could find and some duplicolor clear and went to town. I sanded the hood down some w 320 grit and layed a couple coats of primer down, which i then sanded with 600 and 1000 before i laid down the color. The color went down pretty uneven and some dust landed on it while it was drying but once i layed down about 5 coats of clear it wasnt as noticeable. The paint orange peeled pretty bad and i sanded the clear down as much as i could with 1000 and 2000 grit before i attempted to polish it up. Theres still some random pits in some spots from the orange peel not being sanded down far enough to make it smooth but i was afraid of sanding through the clear so screw it. theres also some fine scratches that didnt polish out thanks to the crappy sanding block i was using.

IMG_1695 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_1697 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_1700 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_2154 by evan mclaren, on Flickr


The pics make it look way better than it does up close, but its still less of an eyesore that it was to begin with. For anyone else thinking of attempting something like this, dont use this paint it sucks. It likes to spatter randomly as your spraying, but what more can be expected from cheap paint from a rattle can i guess. Plus after all the money spent on supplies to do a crappy job i prob couldve gone to an actual paint shop and only paid a little more.

 

[blandsarcasm]

I got bored the other day and randomly decided i wanted to rip out the ugly cruise control module from the engine bay. Ive never used cruise control in my life on any of the cars ive owned so i figured why not. Since that only took about 10 minutes and i was still bored i decided to make a mess...

IMG_1808 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

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IMG_1810 by evan mclaren, on Flickr


Deloomed the plugs on the shock tower and ran the headlight harness out through the fender and stuffed the big engine harness plug back inside the firewall. I ended up taking out the washer bottle to give myself enough space to cram the plugs through that little hole on the side there and just never put it back in. Ill prob just leave it out cause i dont use that much either. Didnt have to depin any connectors or extend any wires. I had just enough slack to make it work thank god. Pardon the crappy cell phone pics its the only camera i had on me when i was messing around with this. I only did the drivers side cause it got dark. ill prob end up doing the pass side next day i have some free time. Also grabbed some integra trailing arms so i can start piecing together a rear disk setup. mainly i just want it for appearance since theres actually no real benefit to it. i had purchased some energy suspension trailing arm bushings to replace the cracked ones i have now, but i figured instead of ripping off my trailing arms and putting them back on, i could just get another setup ready to go and just swap them out.

IMG_2362 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

It wont go in for a while untill i gather up some new hubs, bearings, rotors, calipers, prop valve, stainless flex lines, and possibly a bigger master cylinder. Ive also been debating on going with the type r caliper/ mini coop rotor setup for the front but im doubtfull theyll fit behind my wheels. Ive seen that they fit behind blades and other factory 15s just barely but it doesnt look like my jspeeds have quite as much room behind the spokes. Unless theres someone out there in the world that has tried and can confirm, i guess i might just have to wing it

 

[CHILD]

 

[blandsarcasm]

thanks man. looks like youre out having a blast with your coupe. thanks for making videos they get me hyped! maybe you can lend some insight.. youve had the jspeeds as well. was there any room behind them at all for the wilwood caliper you have? if those wilwoods didnt fit i highly doubt itr calipers would. at least not with weights too.


a friend of mine and i were bored the other day and decided to fashion up a makeshift intake to replace my stock air box. he just happened to have tubing made for a y7 manifold laying around and i had a filter so we said screw it lets make this work haha. we flipped the tubing around, chopped the one end off, drilled a hole for the iat sensor with a grommet and found a piece of hose for the vc breather. the only thing i was missing was a coupling for the throttle body so $8 later i had a nice little ram air. came out pretty decent for being a little ghetto.

IMG_2662 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_2663 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

the sounds this thing makes are pretty hilarious too. at half throttle it whistles so loud it sounds like a super charger, and at full throttle it howls. I also sold off the progress coils i had and picked up a set of function form type 1s.

IMG_2613 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_2640 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

while the progress were actually great quality suspension, they werent designed to go as low as i have my car. they rode and handled great, but i actually like these a little more. they feel very similar actually as far as damping goes, but im able to go alot lower without sacrificing shock travel. these also ride very good and damping feels firm but not harsh and decently matched to the spring rates. I also got a set of bwr coils for my girlfriends gsr for her birthday. they have the same spring rates as the functions but are damped noticeably softer. im not a fan but for her wanting something more comfortable, they work.

IMG_2358 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_2633 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_26361 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

 

[blandsarcasm]

once that was done i decided to stop being lazy and park my gsr in the garage to begin ripping the heart out. ive been getting increasingly bored with my coupes lack of ability to accelerate, so i figured its time to see what needs to be done to get the b18 back to health.

IMG_2655 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_2667 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

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IMG_2681 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

plenty of this was necessary

IMG_2689 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

toasted og clutch

IMG_1937 (1) by evan mclaren, on Flickr

so much vtaaack

IMG_2698 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_2697 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

i set up a little work table and began to break this thing down.

IMG_2699 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

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[blandsarcasm]

lots of oil burning going on in here

IMG_2724 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_2726 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_2729 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

at least the walls look ok

IMG_2727 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_2730 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

my crusty crusts

IMG_2735 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

and the failure...

IMG_2736 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

also this one was obviously replaced before since its not oem

IMG_2737 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

at least my fears of the cylinder walls being torn up and needing an oversized bore and pistons wasnt the case. but apparently this head likes to burn valves. im sure the crazy amounts of oil being burnt was contributing to that and the rad leak that came with the car when i bought it may have also played a role as well idk. it seems to me that the previous owner burned a valve and decided to have it fixed in the cheapest way possible just to get it running again so he could sell it. this last valve to go may have already been on its way out and after a year of daily driving it finally let go. so now my next move is to order a set of valves and seals, prob from supertech and get this head to the machine shop for a good clean and valve job. ill see what the old man has to say about it but im really hoping thats all its gonna need, unless the guides are worn which could have contributed to the oil consumption as well. i still have to tear down the block which ill prob get done tomorrow, then thats going in as well for a cleaning, hone and deck. Ill have a nice sized list of oem parts to buy to get that back together. Since this is the first time ive pulled a motor on my own, let alone broke one down and reassembled, this is becoming a super fun learning experience for me. The good ole trusty helms manual and my torque wrench are about to become my new best friends.

 

[CHILD]

Yeah man, im loving the K.

as for the j speeds...they WILL NOT clear the 11" bbk with 4pot caliper as is. The spoke design, and barrel design don't leave enough room.

 

[blandsarcasm]

Yeah man, im loving the K.

as for the j speeds...they WILL NOT clear the 11" bbk with 4pot caliper as is. The spoke design, and barrel design don't leave enough room.

yeah i didnt think so. Ive tried to find anyone whos tried to fit itr calipers behind these wheels but i havent managed to find any info. Ive seen on H-T that they barely clear behind gsr blades and just looking at the ones i have, there seems to be a little more room there than the jspeeds. stupid jspeeds. it sucks but i really like the way these wheels look and fit the fenders. guess ill just go with gsr calipers and master cylinder and some sticky pads.

 

[CHILD]

yeah i didnt think so. Ive tried to find anyone whos tried to fit itr calipers behind these wheels but i havent managed to find any info. Ive seen on H-T that they barely clear behind gsr blades and just looking at the ones i have, there seems to be a little more room there than the jspeeds. stupid jspeeds. it sucks but i really like the way these wheels look and fit the fenders. guess ill just go with gsr calipers and master cylinder and some sticky pads.

Also keep in mind that if you use the wilwood 11" bbk, that you'll gain and extra +6 to your offset. Like those j speeds sitting at +25, with the wilwood kit, it would sit like a +19.

 

[blandsarcasm]

so i continued to get the b18 torn down...

oil pan, baffle tray, and oil pickup off.

IMG_2907 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

decoding the bearing colors...

IMG_2906 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

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IMG_2917 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

all greens except for one yellow rod bearing

IMG_2919 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_2923 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

pistons out
crank next

IMG_2927 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_2925 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

some slight signs of wear on the bearings but nothing crazy thank god

guts all laid out

IMG_2924 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

dylinder walls looking pretty good

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IMG_2934 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

the pile of crap..

IMG_2929 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

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IMG_2933 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

now to order new valves and seals and send this head off to the machine shop before i order a ton of oem junk for the reassembly

 

[blandsarcasm]

picked up a few things for the coupe..

IMG_4147 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_4110 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_4148 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

IMG_4152 by evan mclaren, on Flickr

Figured since my front lca bushings are on theyre way out i could throw some new energy suspension ones in these em1 control arms and grab the sway bar to match. the fuel rail for the B is brand new for cheap and the act 12lb flywheel looks like its been barely used also dirt cheap. i have a problem saying no to deals.

 

[pmac193]

Very nice cars all around, function 7 must love you . How close does that asr spacer put the wheel towards you? I was never sure which hub or spacer to go with since I'm also 6'2.