The largest Civic Type R club forum

[Leejay-B]

Make no mistakes - 3rd time lucky .

I am on my 3rd Honda! This has to be 3rd time lucky.

I’m 30 and have tried various performance cars and hot hatches (rwd and fwd). Trying different cars has settled me, so I now know what I like, what I enjoy, and I now have acceptance of what I can afford (ie- no Porsche 911 or Exige lol).

My first Honda was an EP3 Type R which I sold in 2008 after 18 months. My mistake was keeping it standard.

3 cars later my second Honda – a silver FN2 Type R in 2013. This was not staying standard. Tein springs, fast road setup, GP kit, exhaust, intake, manifold and remap! Made 212 bhp with sports cat and 95 ron fuel… at Eurospec’s dyno which is harsh / realistic. 160 lb/ft was good for the K20 too.











Another major mistake – sold it in the hunt for power and speed hunting.

Had a BMW 130i for a year. Fast yes, but not hot hatchy enough. Too comfortable and cruisy, and missed revs, short gears and fwd - more forgiving and can be more aggressive on a b road without hedge fear.

Due to STILL missing the FN2, and also a great 230 bhp R53 Mini I had, I decided to go for another EP3. If I can equal the FN2 and R53 fun, then I can actually try and keep a car long term.

So I managed to find a standard EP3 – 2005 on 60k. Very nice condition. Last memory of K20 was my tuned FN2 so feels a bit flat at the moment.

Standard pictures!!!

Hi cat
















:WOOT

[Leejay-B]

Let the mods begin!

Aims –

Road fun (no track)
B road attacks
Usable
Reliable
Cost vs returns
Mid range
Top end
Sound

[Leejay-B]

Mods planned

Cat back – for sound and power with mapping
Intake – also for sound and power
Manifold and K100 mapping – for mid range and top end
Engine mount inserts – for response and manifold protection
Eibach springs – handling and looks
De badge front and rear

To do list

Replace 3 clearly rusty bolts in engine bay (ordered)
Black mesh behind bumper to protect radiator
Paint callipers black
Paint rocker cover as starting to flake bottom left corner L
Clay, polish and wax, followed by photoshoot in good location
ENJOY THE CAR AND DON’T SELL IT

***Maybe RBC and update map, will wait a year or so first.

[Leejay-B]

Begin!

Matts – original tired matts! Went plain black as think they look better without the red edges.



To this


De-badge rear to match front. Smooth and simple.





Tegiwa socks and battery strap for the bay. Also removed bonnet sound proofing and Honda warning stickers for clean smooth look.

[Leejay-B]

Tegiwa 2.5 inch cat back exhaust.
Say hi to dog – he clearly is not sure!


Standard







Fitting





Bolt holes needed widening, apparently they match modified manifolds but are very slightly off standard cat. Only needed 0.5 to 1mm off inner edges.





Nice (hanger needed bending slightly to clear arb and centralise box







Exhaust doesnt drone. Wanted quieter exhaust so as not to annoy neighbours. Also dont want car to sound faster than it is. With manifold volume could increase also.

Low revs gentle throttle only tiny bit louder than standard. Mid or heavy throttle sounds nice and bassy, can tell its there. High revs again nice sound, vtec louder but not by much, could well be loud outside car, havent driven car enough since, and hard to tell.

I also understand that even people with loud exhaust find that loud intake cover up alot of sound from inside, so Tegiwa intake should give me that changeover and vtec sound I want.

Effectively a mature bassy sound, and a little more aggression which I feel the car needed from the exhaust, without being silly!!!

[Leejay-B]

Eibach pro kit fitted!

[Leejay-B]

EP3 Eibach pro kit review.

I had the kit fitted at TGM sport in Fleet.

Seemed a decent company and treated me and the car well. Knowledgeable and helpful giving lots of advice.
Tom answered many tuning questions too... bet he is fed up of the same conversations.

I went for Honda oem geo setup/reset too.

REASON - fast road setup is ideal for some, but for me it reduces understeer and gives a more neutral balance - ie. more oversteery near the limit. I do not want that. I wont be driving on track, and wont be on the limit of grip so no benefit for me.

For the few extra % handling of fast road setup, to make that show on the road is very dangerous / stupid imo. This was the gist of the advice by Tom of TGM.

If you drive that fast on the road... there will be trouble. Plus if you are pushing too much, then a little nudge of understeer as a warning on a fwd car is what I like, NOT oversteer. I am no pro driver!

But I do appreciate everyone is different, and many will want the fast road setup, and that is great if thats what you want. I had frsu on my FN2, and you can feel a little more response and direction from the steering, but minor, and as per TGM will just wear out tyres etc quicker due to camber.

PS. if going on track then yes I can see that frsu would be great,

Plus Honda oem geo is a chunk cheaper - circa £300-400 for the kit fitted instead of £500 plus (less labour and dont need Eibach bolts / adjustors).

Ride - dont expect miracles, it is slightly better than standard, but only slight, this is a nice bonus anyway.

Height - sits low and real nice. Front height great, rear a little higher than I would like, but perfect trade off for useability and no speed bump issues etc. Any lower would just annoy me when scraping.

Handling - havent tested this properly as only driven 40 miles back from TGM, mostly motorway. But corners flatter, and seems to make the steering more responsive, not sure why, assume stiffer springs mean more instant change of direction? When you load up the suspension it definately handles better and flatter, maybe even a tad more grip too?

So all in a win win win for this EP3 mod!

[Leejay-B]

Please remember - as noted - I was confident with my choice of Honda geo as I had experienced FRSU on my FN2.

[Leejay-B]

Airbox – cant wait to fit, will be in next few weeks.

Love the Gruppe M reviews and sound, but expensive to Tegiwa to the rescue.





Yum

[Leejay-B]

Solid fabrications manifold and sports cat. Great mos to add with K100 remap I believe.

Want the ease of MOTs and legality for emissions and insurance etc.

Maybe a few bhp less than decat but seem to be good results on group buy thread.

Cant wait for this to be fitted. Add Tegiwa intake and catback Im hoping for a great mid range and top end.






Hoping for fitting and mapping mid to late April.
Also going for engine mount inserts to reduce cracking risk (even though it has a flexi section).

[JDP]

Sorry but an fn2 handles nothing like an ep3, so fast road setup on one is completely differet to the other. Jdm rear arb and frsu is a great combination on the ep3. The stock setup is garbidge, theres a lot more potential in that chassis and it will be 'safer' handling than stock. Understeer on a fwd is bad, very bad because if you ever get in a situation where you will beed that extra grip or turn in, your going to be saying hello to a ditch ad you understeer your way into it

[Leejay-B]

[Leejay-B]

Be a nice bonus if suspension settles down a tad more.

Left to do...

Fit Tegiwa intake
Manifold and K100 mapping
Engine mount inserts

Replace 3 clearly rusty bolts in engine bay (ordered)
Black mesh behind bumper to protect radiator
Paint callipers black
Paint rocker cover as starting to flake bottom left corner L
Clay, polish and wax, followed by photoshoot in good location
ENJOY THE CAR AND DON’T SELL IT

***Maybe RBC and update map, will wait a year or so first.

[Leejay-B]

Sorry but an fn2 handles nothing like an ep3, so fast road setup on one is completely differet to the other. Jdm rear arb and frsu is a great combination on the ep3. The stock setup is garbidge, theres a lot more potential in that chassis and it will be 'safer' handling than stock. Understeer on a fwd is bad, very bad because if you ever get in a situation where you will beed that extra grip or turn in, your going to be saying hello to a ditch ad you understeer your way into it

I felt the FN2 and EP3, while very different in terms of smaller details of Civics / Type R's, they are a similaroverall character and setup.
What I mean is the handling is similar imo, the FN2 certainly feels heavier and more planted at speed, and the EP3 more raw and aggressive.

Everyone is different. I agree JDM arb and frsu on an EP3 would be much better, but for me I wouldnt use it that hard on the road to make use of the benefits. On track its another story and much more useful.

In terms of understeer, I like that as a warning of being too much of an idiot. If you drive hard enough that you risk understeering into a ditch on standard setup, then even JDM arb and frsu setup, then that is a big risk imo.

Not arguing and I do see where you are coming from... some will want the frsu regardless, and Im sure even normal speeds there are small beneifts to the feel and drive.

[Leejay-B]

Standard gearshift setup



Delivery



FN2 gearknob



Tegiwa 360 degree shifter extension.







The kit is adjustable for angle and height.

Love the standard short throw so was not sure, easily reversible anyway.

After driving I now like both. Extended on minimum setting and angled towards wheel. Throw very slightly longer but only minor so still a nice short feel and still definately a K20 box. The benefit is being so close to steering wheel which makes up for the minor change. Will probably find myself switching between standard and this, both have pros and cons.

I did try a Skunk2 gearknob that I had from my FN2 but I didn’t like the heavyweight feel on the standard position or the extended one, just didn’t feel right to me.

[tomhighton]

The mods you've done so far are great. but when you talk about driving on its limits to get the most out of the fast road setup id have to disagree. JDM rear arb is the best mod for the money on an ep3 and you can feel the difference on a 30mph bend as the car will feel planted. Im not the best driver in the world but have a few suspension mods and I don't feel the cars going to oversteer if anything the speed at which it will oversteer will be higher than it would understeer with no mods.

[15repyt]

Nice mods but Imo that 360 gear stick looks

[simon_typer]

Great example mate, loving the mods!

Look forward to seeing induction fitted.

Si

[Lewisgame]

Car looks nice and a good choice of modifications :bigthumb:
As for the suspension set up. You can get it tailored to your taste. If you wanted no risk of over steer I would of kept the rear end set up as standard and on the front put on some more negative camber. But if you're happy with the set up then that's good enough!

[Leejay-B]

Nice mods but Imo that 360 gear stick looks

Agree looks odd, feels nice, as does standard! Not sure which I prefer need to get some more miles on and see.