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[billster]

Hi,

I've only had this car a couple of weeks- I bought it from Dan (Bud on the forum).

As you all probably know, Dan modified it a fair bit. When I started looking for an EP3, I made myself a list of mods that I'd want to do, and luckily for me Dan's done most of them!

There's a couple of niggly things I'd like to get sorted out. The small matter of a big loan to pay off, and then I may well start doing a few bits here and there, but most likely nothing major for a good while.

So far I've:
-Softened off the coilovers (The hardest setting is a little too hard for the country lanes round here- nothing to do with my old creaky back I promise!!)

-Put on fresh wipers (Honda OEM) The front ones were the blade type which look nice, but one was fouling the windscreen pillar, and I think the one on the back was the original wiper from new it was so worn!

-Washed it properly. I'm just starting getting into this detailing/washing stuff properly as this is the first car that I've actually cared about the paintwork/bodywork. No more washing up liquid and a scabby old sponge for this car. But unfortunately more money to spend itself!

-Got addicted to Vtec!

My list of things to do to the car is growing by the day, but seeing as this is the modifications zone I'll list those:

-Raise ride height (maybe 10mm??) I love the low stance it has now, but it's going get expensive as every speed bump I go over seems to scrape the exhaust, and that surely won't last very long!

-Upgrade the speakers from OEM

-Fit one of those steering arm relocation brackets

-Fit a short shift kit and new metal bushes for the gear change

-No Dan, I'm not going to supercharge it! (not just yet anyway)


I'm also planning to do the servicing etc myself to save a few ££££s and learn a bit about the car. So look out for loads of noob questions from me (the how-to guides look REALLY good though, so thanks for all that help).

I look forward to making to one of the local get togethers and meeting some of you in person!

That's all for now, I'll stick some pics up once I've waxed it and raised the ride height a bit.

Bill

[bluntcap]

Ahh buds car, good choice, he took good care with that car :cooldude:

1 thing, get those bladed wipers back on they are 100 times better than the OEMs every one that has them has the passenger one fouling slightly, it's just 1 inch to big but it's no issue mate, mine have been like that for over 3 years

Plans sound good as well :salut:

[OZ 82]

Ahh buds car, good choice, he took good care with that car :cooldude:

1 thing, get those bladed wipers back on they are 100 times better than the OEMs every one that has them has the passenger one fouling slightly, it's just 1 inch to big but it's no issue mate, mine have been like that for over 3 years

Plans sound good as well :salut:

This

[billster]

I've had the car a few months now and have done one or two bits to it, but nothing major yet. Still no sign of a supercharger....

I had a problem where both ballasts for the HIDs blew, so I switched them back to standard bulbs (might help it when MOT comes around as well!). I also switched the front side lights over to clear as I had some led bulbs free and the amber ones apparently don't pass MOTs either!

Done a quick oil and filter change (how-to guide on here was REALLY helpful!)

Cleaned and re-oiled the air filter from the Gruppe M

I've got even more addicted to V-tec (and got stopped a few weeks ago for "driving round a roundabout very aggressively" )

I fitted some hybrid racing bushes to the gearshift linkage in the engine bay. - Slightly improved the feel of the gear change, but think I might get the bushes that go in the cabin too.

I got a set of vibra-technic engine mounts and got the guys at Japtech in Southampton to fit them as it looked a bit fiddly and I need my car for work 6 days a week at the moment so I didn't want to risk running out of daylight to do the job. This was because the whole engine was making some nasty banging noise if I changed down into second over a certain speed without blipping the throttle. This noise has stopped completely now. It's been replaced by the noise of the slam panel rubbing the RBC every time I come off the throttle and use any engine-braking. Must trim slam panel or reposition so it fits nicely. I think the vibra-tecnic mounts must just hold the engine that fraction higher so there's even less clearance than there was before.. :boxing:

I switched over the front and rear tyres to even out the wear - I'll be getting new tyres all round soon and want to replace all 4 at the same time.

I raised the ride height to the Tein recommended settings on the front and rear - not that far from where Dan had it set to be honest, but it was just too low for the roads round here, and it's made such a difference to the ride. There's this bump on the motorway I go over every day. After I raised up the front I hardly noticed it, and wasn't even sure I'd been over it, but before I did this it felt like the car was going to bounce about a foot in the air!
I did love the slammed look, but it was going to get expensive with the exhaust and my back needing replacing!

Before:




After:




I had to replace the locking wheel nuts as one of them was seized on and it boggered up the locking key thingy. That took a whole afternoon to get them off :bad-words: as it was one of the high security ones with the sleeve the old bang a socket on there and twist it off didn't work..... bad times.

[Bud]

Bump for my old car

Ahh i miss it so much

Glad to see your looking after her Bill. I still think you should supercharge her, clutch and LSD already in

[Bud]

These pictures dont help either :bigcry:

[EPsamm]

Very nice milano

subtle ftw

[paulydixon]

Love that...when it's clean!

[billster]

Nice pics there bud.
I'm really loving this car!

Did you get a DC5 in the end Bud? And you're missing this one?
Consider a swap??

It's a constant struggle to keep her clean as I work six days a week and use it to drive almost 20 miles to work each day!

I just love the power delivery, and the LSD. Brings such a smile every time I drive it.

Believe me, I would LOVE a supercharger, but my wife would kill me if I splashed that sort of cash on it, and there's a whole load of little jobs I want to do at the moment that keep me busy enough....

[billster]

Right, about time for a bit of an update on the car....

As some of you may know I had a bit of an engine problem on the way back from Japfest in May, but it is all sorted now and back to full fitness with a few extras thrown in for good measure lol!

Before Japfest I was just doing general maintenance as it came up and the odd minor mod here and there.

I replaced the original mirror glass as it was pretty badly scratched:






Removed the HIDs as the ballast went on one side (and then the other ballast also went when I swapped it over). The wiring was a bit suspect as well and a bit worried about MOT coming up so I switched back to standard(ish) bulbs - no pics on this one lol!

I fitted Mugen-style pedals- I got them off ebay and am certain they are not the real deal, but no-one really gets to see them, and they offer a bit more grip than the standard ones which were needing replacing anyway as the rubber was wearing through in parts. I also got a set of OEM black mats so I can get the JDM ones cleaned up properly, but I've gotten to quite like the black ones:


I trimmed the slam panel to stop it rubbing the RBC inlet manifold when reversing.
The wheels were looking a bit dirty on the inside so I took them off:


Chucked a load of different chemicals at them:





And after a whole load of scrubbing and costly chemicals, they came out okay:

Still not perfect, and I think a refurb is on the cards at some point [OCD!]


I fitted 4 contisport 5 (215/45 17) tyres to the now slightly cleaner OEM wheels:




I fitted some LED bulbs into the interior lights which has made it so much brighter inside now (no pics yet though)

To be continued.......

[Bud]

Good stuff, glad your looking after her [smilie=karls_thumb.gif]

[billster]

And then I was ready for Japfest. After queuing for hours and hours to get in it was actually a really good day, with a good mix of car stands, traders, miniskirts, track and drift action I also picked up a shiny refurbished OEM gearknob from brenscivic at the CTR stand. I fitted this in the car-park at Castle Combe [smilie=karls_thumb.gif]
I'd just dropped off my passengers home and was heading back to my house along the motorway (probably too fast and in too low a gear and at too high revs) when a really loud rattling/clanging noise started suddenly. It sounded as if some sort of heatshield had come loose and was banging in the fan or fan belt, but louder than that if you know what I mean. I pulled off the motorway, coasted up to a garage and called the RAC. The man that arrived with the low-loader started it up and then stopped it straightaway and said those dreaded words "BIG-END GONE". I got a lift home with the car and then looked into my options. Out of the options I considered, the cheapest was getting a second-hand engine off fleabay and fitting that. Most expensive was getting a specialist to take out my engine and rebuild it to OEM spec.
After speaking to my mate who's a mechanic he said he would rebuild it for me in his garage if I sourced all the parts for him. He would be putting a lotta love into this and I could see he was looking forward to the challenge and wanted to do it properly, fixing and tidying up bits as we went. I could give him a bit of a hand as well and learn a bit about the engine in the process. This was the only option for me as I didn't fancy the time and expense of fitting a second-hand engine only to potentially see it self-destruct two weeks later. I can't really afford any more power so modifying the engine for more powers wasn't an option, and I want to keep this car for a very long time so the OEM rebuild made sense.

Anyway, after getting the engine out and stripping it down It was clear that one of the conrod big-end bearings had spun, and mullered the crankshaft :bad-words:




A new crankshaft from Honda is silly money (£894) so I managed to get a really good, as new looking one from integrastellar that he'd just taken out of a DC5 along with a Conrod as mine was a bit mullered too.


With the stamps on the crankshaft and the engine case, we worked out what colour bearings were needed

Then double-checked the workings, then got someone else to work it out again, then triple checked it, then made sure it was right.
All new Honda bearings and a new oil pump and oil-pump tensioner were ordered along with a whole load of bolts and gaskets and bits n bobs like hondabond and oil-filters etc. Basically everything that it says needs replacing in the workshop manual, and anything that didn't look 100% was replaced with new parts. This included the piston rings as when we checked the compression it was at the lower end of tolerances. New conrod bolts, new lost motion compensating springs (whatever the flip they are!! :scratch: ), new girdle bolts, new thrust washers. Some bits I ordered from Honda locally, some from Tegiwa, and some from Autofair [soo cheap! :shocked!: ] in the states. We got a local machine shop to fit the piston rings and clean up the head and bottom end as there was a load of mangled bearing everywhere. They also did the lightest skim on the head just to make sure it was perfectly flat and straight.
I also got a new plastic VTec cover that fits the RBC from matt_555 on here as he was selling it as surplus to requirements - I never did like that dirty fuel rail in the engine bay lol!
Then came the easy bit, lol! Putting it all back together, and painting it in VHT engine enamel/wrinkle red where needed- I left all this to Stu and stayed out of it.







We changed out the old fuel filter for a fresh new Honda one because we could, and it seemed like a good idea....
We also thought that now was the time to put a couple of extra safety measures in place to try and reduce the chance of something similar happening in the future. I got the Tegiwa weld-in baffles for the sump and got a local fabrication company where my mate works to weld them in. I got some MFactory magnetic drain plugs for the sump and the gearbox for good measure. I also ordered a Stack oil pressure gauge, and a T-piece from Demon Tweeks. This should enable the oil pressure gauge to run off the same place as the oil-pressure switch, but in the end it didn't work out:

The T-piece was made of aluminium and the thread sheared off under hardly any torque, so we re-tapped the pressure switch thread and went back to the drawing board. I got a sandwich plate from Hond-R which is a much better solution and a whole lot more solid:




My mate Stu fitted the gauge neatly into the centre console so it still looks standard on the inside


Then we were ready to fit the engine........

[billster]

But before we fitted the engine back in we (Stu) did a few little tidying up jobs as well whilst waiting for paint to dry and parts to arrive including new Ferodo DS2500 front pads, painting the front subframe in plain black, repainting the front slam panel in Milano red, fitting a dent-remover scuttle tidy panel for the GruppeM, painting the silver door handle inserts in Vauxhall Silver and fitting an OEM manifold and catalytic converter with a matched cat-back exhaust system (in preparation for the MOT)





Then we had the small matter of getting the engine back in and getting the car MOT'd as my MOT had expired since it had been off the road. We booked an engine hoist from Beaver Tool hire for Monday morning, and I booked the MOT for Tuesday morning.
Monday morning came, but no hoist, Monday afternoon came and went and still no hoist :evilone:
It turned out the hoist hadn't been returned to Beaver in time for them to get it serviced and out to us the same day. Grrrr.
I phoned HSS in Southampton who had one in stock, begged my boss to go and collect it for me, then begged my wife to come and collect me and the hoist from work and drop me off at Stu's house.
I eventually got to Stu's with the hoist at about 8pm :shouldbeinteresting:



So we set to it and by 11.30pm we had the engine bolted in and a few bits bolted to the engine like the air-con, alternator etc, but it was dark and really tough to see properly enough to do anything properly so we called it a night, and stopped to have a few beers whilst we discussed the plan of action for the following day. 5am start and afternoon MOT was the plan, and we stuck to it. To the tune of the A-team, which got a bit repetitive after a while and cracked on, this was at about 10am:



I wish I'd taken more pictures of the different stages, but was trying to concentrate on the bits I had to do as I wanted to do it right lol!

We phoned the MOT centre to rebook the MOT once we had the engine running and the end was in sight. We got the car to the MOT for 4.15 and it passed with no advisories :WOOT :WOOT

The drive up and back was faultless, with a steady 4k rev limit imposed to help ease the bedding in of the rings with the running-in oil, and the brakes were also bedded in properly.

Once back to Stu's we dropped the running in oil out and changed the filter for a little Hamp stubby one, and had a quick check over everything. Then a little test-drive for us to check it was working as it should be. We both absolutely poopped our pants when the little oil-filter removal tool came off whilst flying round a corner :shocked!: It made a hell of a noise, and I was sure something serious had happened. I was so relieved when we realised it was just that tool, and nothing else, so glad we found it on the side of the road!

[Bud]

Great update bill, engine looks so fresh!!

You put the DC sport manifold back on then?

[BGB83]

Awesome work mate [smilie=karls_thumb.gif]

[billster]

Great update bill, engine looks so fresh!!

You put the DC sport manifold back on then?

Oh yes! Sounds too good to leave in my garage gathering dust

Awesome work mate [smilie=karls_thumb.gif]

Cheers mate. All worth it in the end

[dent-remover]

I've just read your build, very good indeed I hope you get many years of pleasure now its built. Respect

[billster]

I've just read your build, very good indeed I hope you get many years of pleasure now its built. Respect

Thanks mate. You're not the only one! Fingers crossed I get to see some of this epic Honda reliability people keep harping on about! Lol! And thanks also for the little scuttle tidy. I'll grab a pic of that when I can and get it up here. Looks so much smarter

[beefy]

What a great read, hope everything goes ok now, wish i had a mate like you i can turn too. [smilie=karls_thumb.gif]

[BGB83]

What a great read, hope everything goes ok now, wish i had a mate like you i can turn too. [smilie=karls_thumb.gif]

+1!!

I'd love to be able to do work like that, but don't have the equipment or knowledge