'98 Civic Hatch GS-R: SOLD!

[HeX]

Sweet! Prior to installing the muffler, I suggest you consider painting it gloss black to spruce it up & make it look newer. I sadly didnt think of that until it was already mounted. Couple that with a good polishing of that tip & itll look great. Mine looked bad when I got it until I hit it with a brillo pad followed by metal polish.

 

[Gladiator]

Sweet! Prior to installing the muffler, I suggest you consider painting it gloss black to spruce it up & make it look newer. I sadly didnt think of that until it was already mounted. Couple that with a good polishing of that tip & itll look great. Mine looked bad when I got it until I hit it with a brillo pad followed by metal polish.

Great minds think alike! Just got finished painting it a few minutes ago. I was using a Rustoleum Satin Black, but it looks gloss black. I'm going to try and shine the chrome up pretty good on the tip - we'll see how it turns out.

 

[HeX]

Give the Rustoleum a few hours of cure time and it'll look more satin.

 

[Gladiator]

Yep, you're right - it looks more Satin black today. Going to work on cleaning/polishing the tip. Hopefully I can get it looking pretty decent. Any reason you went from the OEM tip to a MagnaFlow tip?

 

[HeX]

Yep, you're right - it looks more Satin black today. Going to work on cleaning/polishing the tip. Hopefully I can get it looking pretty decent. Any reason you went from the OEM tip to a MagnaFlow tip?

Some jerk stole my RSX-S tip and I couldn't find another used one in decent condition for a while, so I began to reconsider my options and also started searching for a weld-on tip. I came across this MagnaFlow tip at less than half the retail cost, including shipping, so I jumped on it. You may want to consider at least tack-welding it or drilling the retaining bolt through the pipe so it cant be yanked off.

 

[Gladiator]

Some jerk stole my RSX-S tip and I couldn't find another used one in decent condition for a while, so I began to reconsider my options and also started searching for a weld-on tip. I came across this MagnaFlow tip at less than half the retail cost, including shipping, so I jumped on it. You may want to consider at least tack-welding it or drilling the retaining bolt through the pipe so it cant be yanked off.

Oh wow... yeah, that'd do it. I hate a thief.

I've always tack welded my exhaust tips on my trucks but I didn't think I'd have to do that on this. Thanks for sharing that story, hate that it happened. Who does that crap?

 

[Gladiator]

Alright, so everything's in! Got the timing belt and clutch in a lot quicker than I thought I would. Also painted the muffler and polished the tip. Things are looking good! Now, I'm just waiting on Steven to let me know when to bring all of this stuff over to his shop.

 

[HeX]

...Also painted the muffler and polished the tip. Things are looking good!

Indeed! Very nice. New(ish) muffler.

 

[Gladiator]

Very productive weekend, got the motor installed and drove the car back home from Steven's shop. Several parts were installed, not everything - but just about. The car is a completely different kind of animal now. Not just because of the GSR swap, but the car rides so much better! The Skunk2 upper control arms are well worth it. Big thanks to Steven and his buddy Califf, for helping getting this thing done on Sunday. Here are some random pics...

Old cluster (reading 77k miles) vs. 99-00 Si cluster (reading 105k miles)

Spindles and brakes swapped from the EX, along with the Skunk2 UCAs

Motor is in

Ready for some exhaust work

Steven working his magic...

The car, back home

 

[Shrillin]

Clean hatch! Any recent updates on it?

 

[Gladiator]

Clean hatch! Any recent updates on it?

Thanks! Yep, just did the motor swap this past weekend!

 

[HeX]

Man, I'm loving the look of your hatch right now. I like your progress.

 

[HeX]

Old cluster (reading 77k miles) vs. 99-00 Si cluster (reading 105k miles)

Are you aware you can manually adjust the odometer to read your actual mileage?

 

[ImportFan1]

Are you aware you can manually adjust the odometer to read your actual mileage?

Ignorance on the subject matter here. Aren't there laws against changing it too? What are the specifics on it? Is there a way to prove it was modified correctly?

 

[HeX]

Ignorance on the subject matter here. Aren't there laws against changing it too? What are the specifics on it? Is there a way to prove it was modified correctly?

Encouraging to roll an odometer forward is definitely not something you want to do, but I personally dont see anything wrong with advising someone they can roll back a newly installed odometer for the sake of legal accuracy and honesty. I've personally inspected our analog odometers and see no way to identify a change. I believe the only way to know is if you scan the ECU for the mileage number and compare.

 

[Shrillin]

I need to do that too, mine says 103 when its actually more like 225 (previous owner swapped, don't know why)

 

[Gladiator]

Man, I'm loving the look of your hatch right now. I like your progress.

Thanks HeX! It's going slow and steady, and lots of cleaning! My build definitely isn't anything compared to others' on here, but I'm happy with it. Trying my best to keep it minimal and simple.

Are you aware you can manually adjust the odometer to read your actual mileage?

I had heard that, but I'm unaware of how it's done. One of these days, I'm going to take the gauge cluster back out and see if I can't replace some of the bulbs for LEDs. Not entirely sure, but I think that some of my bulbs may be burnt out.

 

[HeX]

Thanks HeX! It's going slow and steady, and lots of cleaning! My build definitely isn't anything compared to others' on here, but I'm happy with it. Trying my best to keep it minimal and simple.

We have some incredible builds here, from @CHILD's sickly detailed Civic "HX" (I dont feel right caling it an HX) to @mymmeryloss's crazy custom Mazda truck, but the forum thrives on all levels of builds, and any level of build can be unique and respected when done well. Strive for that over similarity and you'll always be hapy with the end product.

 

[R3dline]

coming along nice, very clean hatch man. si cluster looks 100% better.

 

[Gladiator]

coming along nice, very clean hatch man. si cluster looks 100% better.

Thanks! Yeah, I agree - the Si cluster looks much much better.

So, got the Acura RSX Type-S muffler installed. Good and Bad. The Bad: it don't fit. The shop did their best, but it's just too big to fit in the space for a muffler on a hatchback. I was told the coupe and the hatch were IDENTICAL underneath, yeah - that's not true. Apparently the coupe has an extra 6" or so to work with, which explains why HeX's exhaust looks amazing, and mine.... doesn't. I won't take the time to explain why the end product ended up the way it did, in short - there just wasn't enough room to make it fit like factory. The Good: it did the job. The exhaust sounds AMAZING. Quiet. Lovely lovely silence. Going down the interstate, there's no drone. I can make a phone call to my wife and not hear her nag, "What's all that noise? I can barely hear you!". The car sounds great. The motor still roars when you're pressing the skinny pedal and there's no obnoxious blast from the exhaust.

As always, pics

The car was absolutely filthy in these pics, below is after a quick rinse and wash. I've got tomorrow off, so I'll give it a thorough cleaning then - inside and out!