EM2 Civic Slow Daily Build

[jeff-s]

I will start this thread telling all who read where my car is right now. If you read through the into section you may have seen this car and read the parts list but I will start there anyway. This is a 2005 Honda Civic with a D17A2 motor.

:Parts That Plant It:
K-Sport Pro Kontrol Adjustable coils
K-Sport Lower Control Arms
Adjustable Upper Control Arms
Eibach Sway Bar
Enkei RS7 Wheels

:Stopping Power:
Tenzo-R Big Brake Adapter
Tenzo-R Drilled Rotors
Tenzo-R Hats

:On The Out's:
Custom Paint

:Everything Else:
Password JDM Lugs
Password JDM EGR Block Off Plate
Battery Relocation to trunk
Mild Wire Tucking

Here is a Picture of how it sits right now:
Coming Soon!

I will post up more pictures when it comes time but for now I am going to go on to the next post and tell you the background of the story.

[jeff-s]

Started from the bottom

So I picked up this civic and it was bone stock. I bought it because I was desperate for a car and the price was right despite it being...automatic .

Here Is the day I brought it home:


I didn't necessarily plan on doing a whole lot to this car but then I got my tax return and dropped money in it to get it lower, stiffer, and a little more fun.

The parts arrived:




After they were installed:


After all of this I drove it and then after owning the car for three months about it started over heating a lot so I found out there was a hole in the radiator and I replaced all of that and removed the a/c that didn't work. It was cold outside and I had no garage so I pulled my car as far as possible into the basement:



I then drove it and left it alone for the most part (besides getting some wheels) up to the middle of summer 2012. But then I got bored with this car and bought a motorcycle to drive all summer. Then decided 2 wheels weren't as fun as 4 so I traded my motorcycle for a 98 GTI VR6 that was cammed and tuned and fast and MANUAL!

GTI:


But I decided to see what the tune was like one day and the work was terrible because as I was accelerating the check engine light started flashing, I bent valves..... R.I.P to the fun car. My civic was still around but sales on it were pending so I decided to buy a different car and I bought a pontiac grand am from a friend that lasted about 3 weeks before cylinder wall 3 gave out and blew up the motor. So if we are keeping track that 4 month period I started with a civic, then went threw a motorcycle and 2 cars. So I decided to go back to the civic for the winter still trying to sell it. This is where the saga ends for today.

This is how it sat when I started driving it again (My civic, and GTI):

[jeff-s]

Facing Reality

So after learning that some cars dislike me I decided to put the civic back on the road and just drive it. So I did just that, I decided to paint my back bumper so it wasn't so plain and I took it to Carlisle P&S 2012 I guess it was fun for a car that I was going to ditch.

Before the drive to Carlisle:




Then I went through 2 sets of tires in a summer because shops couldn't figure out how to adjust my rear toe in problem. I finally got a shop to let me go in and look at it on the alignment rack and I figured out how to adjust it and got that all fixed. But I wanted to go to H2O last summer so I picked up a set of cheap winter tires with steelies from CL to make that happen. Then I made my SRI, relocated my battery to the trunk, a fart can, and picked up a bunch of Password JDM stuff.

After all of that, the gold bits are PWJDM stuff:


Bumper Clip:


Battery box and temporary way to hold it down:


The horrible muffler:


Then me, my girlfriend, and a bunch of guys and their wives went down to H2O 2012 for a great time!

Right before we left and it was just finished being cleaned:


So its coming along okay now. I will probably post up again later tonight to bring up to speed on where it is at now if I have time between packing for H2O this weekend! Thank you all.

[244Brick]

That stage was scary, but you clean it up well SWEW glad i kept scrolling.

[jeff-s]

That stage was scary, but you clean it up well SWEW glad i kept scrolling.

Agreed! That stage was more of a what can I do to make it look a little better than it does with no money. I agree it was a FAIL haha. Thank you though

[jeff-s]

Now we here!

Now to bring this build to the point I am at right now. Last spring I decided that with my tax return it was time to fix this thing up properly and add some stuff. So I bought a new front bumper, Type-A lip, Type-R grille, Password JDM fender washers, Password JDM lug nuts, and other odds and ends to button things up.

Bumper:


Parts arrived:


Then on a cold spring day around Easter my friend Bart and I decided to not sleep but to get this thing all apart and painted. Horrible idea it was too cold and hard to regulate the heat in a garage so things didn't stay very well but it still looked better than before. We did a complete respray of red and then did clear with some custom bits.

After paint front:


After paint rear:


O yea and i forgot to mention the side skirts I had bought. I don't like them because they do not flow with the car very well. So I will be either customizing them to sit up higher or sell them or they will be a garage ornament.

But here they are after paint also:


At the beginning of this summer I got tires for my Enkei's again and Bart painted those body color with the same design as on the rear bumper in the barrels. They turned out pretty sweet I don't have a shot of the barrels but here they are on the car.


These were done right before a car show my car club put on. I also found out I have a random talent that I never knew I could do before. This talent in interior work. A few days before the car show I asked the guys in my car club if they had any leftover hard wood flooring because I was going to do it in my interior. I got some from Bart actually (he is a huge help in my whole car hobby I would had never started with out him, Thanks Bart) and I went home with it. The guys told be later they didn't expect it to turn out very good but that's alright because I didn't either. I also got some leather. I then started after dinner one day measuring and thinking of how this could be done. I finished it in just about a day and not to toot my own horn but it came out pretty good. I built in a trap door area for my spare tire and tools. In the sides I built in door to access my battery box on one side, and cleaning supplies on the other. I like it a lot.

Wood floor trunk:


Random shot of the car after a car show my club put on:


Bart then helped me again respray the clear coat on the car to make it look a lot better, we took out the bad dull spots and fixed most all of the imperfections. We also painted the roof black for something different.

I then bought a Tenzo R big brake rotor kit from a friend and put that on. They are 11.5" rotors that are drilled. I hope to get Brembo calipers soon to finish off the brakes but not yet because no money

Tenzo R brakes:


That's where I am right now. One day when this isn't a daily driver I hope to strip it down and do a lot of work to it. But for now i'll take it a day and dollar at a time. I go to college in the philly area so I am pretty broke but when I am able I put money into this. let me know what you all think! thank you guys.

Washing the car right before H2Oi 2013:

[jeff-s]

Maitanace

Time for some maitenance on the car and some fun. Most of this will be engine work and I realize this is stance works but its a build thread also so here goes.

Sunday I picked up the engine hoist then I got home and started by getting my car all in my basement which was.....difficult I worked on it from 7-1 am

Car in the basement and working on getting stuff out to pull the motor:




After a long night I realized that I did not have a 32mm socket so I couldn't get the axle out so heres where I ended:


Monday I went into work and picked up some parts and my socket. I got home and working on my car from 630-12 am

Its out!






Now starts the engine work:












More work to come today!

[preyruder]

good work! I really like the design on the rear bumper

[jeff-s]

Thanks that was done by a good friend of mine who paints for me so I dont mess it up

Another update of some work I did yesterday is that I gasket matched, ported, and then polished the head. My amateur job took me about 8 hours.

Exhaust before:


During:


After:


Intake before:


Side by side:




After:


I dont have pictures of the final polish right now but I am all done with that and am now moving on to changing out gaskets and putting the motor back together tonight a little bit and finishing up tomorrow with the motor.

[jeff-s]

So mini update just to say that it is all back together and running fine I am kind of surprised with myself actually I will update with pictures soon. The little mishap that I did have putting it back together was that my car did not like where I relocated my ground wire so it would not start (even after trying to charge the battery for a few hours because thats what I thought it was) but once it was moved it started right up!

[SoLOwX3]

Nice, not feeling the paint scheme but to each their own its your ride. All honesty looks better with the steelies and more low. Would like to see where you go with this.

[Austin EM2]

My EM2 was a bitch to lower. Haha have fun with it.

[jeff-s]

Just to give a bit more explanation and some closure on this phase here are some pictures of the final process.

Started doing timing and water pump:


Water pump off:


New one on:


All completed:


My lovely girl friend came to help me out she helped with wiring and then we tried to clean what we could:


Valve cover back on and moved some wires to flow a bit better:


All done and time to go in:


Going in:


New axles that went in:


All back together and completed :


I am not sure what will be next but hopefully something soon! Keep checking in

[jeff-s]

Not a huge update but more of a dilemma. I am buying tires and I have narrowed my many options down to two that are quite comparable. I am looking at either Toyo Proxes 4 Plus or Kuhmo Ecsta 4X. The tires and reviews and ratings are very close to one another so my question is TOYO or KUHMO? Any and all help is appreciated. I am getting 205 40 for size so any other tires in that size that you recommend post them up also. Once I get these I am going to be redoing my coils and my height/geometry of my suspension... I hope.

Picture just because:

[jeff-s]

Small Update

Here is a small update on the car.

First of all I went with the Kuhmo's for tires:


Instagram before and after pictures:


I like the tires quite a bit so far they are actually pretty sticky for all seasons with low noise and a nice ride all around.

Then I cleaned my car out because it was finally warm outside:


The second big thing that has been done is that I then picked up some OEM fog lights and they really look good in my opinion.

Unboxing:


Before:


After with my summer bumper, lip, and grille:


Cleaned headlights to make them match and gave the car a bath all around. Another instagram picture:


Thats all right now. I will be working on my suspension, hopefully soon, to go lower so that I am set up and ready for show season!

O, I also worked on my friends MK5 GTI and built him a rear seat delete:


Made it with the curve of the seat instead of the boxed off one that most people do, and this will extend into the trunk to be one piece. It also will be carpeted with the OEM carpet. This floor will probably be for sale on Vortex so if anyone is interested then keep an eye out or PM me.