Simply Red Jan 19, 2005
We admit that our Civic's paint is not in the best condition--never mind the car is four or five different shades of red--so we have begun taking steps to make things look better. In about six weeks, the car will head to the Advanced Technology Center (http://www.advancedtechcenter.org/programs/autobody.html) for a respray.
The ATC is part of Daytona Beach Community College, and students will get to hone their skills on our Civic. The plan is to repaint the car the original Milano Red while removing the assorted dents and dings.
Tom Prescott, an instructor at the school and the owner of Body Werks, our local high-end body shop, checked out our Civic yesterday. He said the front bumper cover can be saved, while the students will have no trouble with the dents. The roof and hood are the worst parts of the car, as both will need to be stripped before the new paint is applied.
Meanwhile, we're going to order some new plastic trim pieces for the exterior of the car. While we could refinish what we have, most of taken a beating thanks to the Florida sun and are a little tweaked. The ones we're finding at the salvage yard aren't much better. Fortunately we like the prices we see at Majestic Honda (http://www.HondaAutomotiveParts.com). Still, it's going to cost us about $400 to replace our various trim prices. The end result should be worth it, however.
In other Civic news, our BFGoodrich tires have arrived. We're going to run the g-Force T/A KD while autocrossing. We also ordered a set of g-Force T/A KDW tires for street use. The KD tires do work well on the street, but since Florida summers can be wet, we figured that running an appropriate tire wouldn't be a bad move.
In theory, the Civic will be autocrossing with the Central Florida Region SCCA this weekend. We ran with the Martin Sports Car Club Jan. 9. We finished near the bottom of the pack, but at least the only way to go is up.
Looks like some 15x7-inch wheels are in our future for autocross use. We're going to run something from Rota, and right now we're just deciding between the tried and true Slipstream or the new GT3. By the way, check out http://www.wheeldude.com for some good prices on Rotas.
Wheelz Feb 3, 2005
First, thanks to everyone who PhotoShopped the wheels onto our Civic. GRM message board regular SlickDizzy was the first to do so, so he wins the special prize: A piece of JDM vitamin C candy, purchased at the Tokyo Narita airport. Is that the best prize or what?
Our Civic's clutch hasn't been slipping, but it's not perfect, either, as there's some chatter present. We have driven worse, but we'd rather have a smooth clutch engagement.
SCCA STS rules require a stock or OE-equivalent clutch and flywheel, and our replacement parts from Perfection Clutch (http://www.perfectionclutch.com) just arrived. While we could have just resurfaced the flywheel, we figured that going with an all-new piece would just nip the whole problem in the bud.
Even though our clutch seems okay, if we have to tear apart the car to get to the flywheel, why not install a fresh, new clutch kit? Perfection Clutch says all of their kits are built to meet or exceed OE specs. The kit came nicely sealed in plastic, and we'll break it open when we're ready to do the install.
Our five-piece clutch kit includes the disc, pressure plate, throw-out bearing, pilot bearing and alignment tool. Retail price from PartsAmerica.com is $124.88, while the flywheel goes for $58.28. (PartsAmerica.com is the online store for Advance Auto Parts, Checker Auto Parts, Schuck's Auto Supply and Kragen Auto Parts.)
In addition to their OE-replacement parts, the company also offers their Zoom high-performance clutches. The Zoom clutch for our car retails for $592.88.
And here are some of our Whiteline suspension products. Whiteline's catalog covers a ton of different makes and models, but a lot of U.S. enthusiasts still think they only make parts for Subarus. Whiteline would like to change that notion, and their catalog can be found here: http://www.whiteline.com.au.
Whiteline tends to organize their parts as a complete package for each vehicle, so we took their advice and ordered a setup for our Civic. Here's what we received:
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front springs, 250 lbs./in.
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progressive rear springs, 100-150 lbs./in.
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24mm front anti-roll bar
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22mm rear anti-roll bar
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quick-release front shock tower bar
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rear lower tie bar
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rear upper shock tower bar
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front caster kit
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rear camber kit
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front bushings
Once we get our Konis, then we can throw everything onto the car. While the spring rates do sound a little soft, the people at Whiteline says to use the heavy bars to control the body roll, not the springs. We'll try it out and see how it all works.
Three things Feb 14, 2005
We ran the Civic this past weekend with the Martin Sports Car Club, and it's becoming apparent that the car needs three things to become competitive: tires, suspension and a new driver. Fortunately we have plans to replace two of the things on that list. (Maybe all three, however.) Most of the parts needed to redo our Civic's suspension are here. Once our Konis arrive, then we can start bolting on the new hardware.
While at the autocross, however, we discussed our stereo with a friend of ours who does high-end car audio installations for a living. He gave our car a quick look-over. No, we're not going to turn the Civic into a rolling jukebox, but the current system is sad--usually only the passenger-side tweeter works. A previous owner did install component speakers in our Civic, but they're way past their prime. When everything does work as planned, which is rare, the sound is still off.
We currently have 6.5-inch Polk door speakers matched with Boston Acoustic tweeters--our friend believes those tweeters are actually older than the car itself. While installing those tweeters, someone butchered the inner door panels. We'll keep our eyes open for new door panels, although the Si pieces are specific to that model: The other hatchback models don't have the handy door pockets, while the similar EX coupe came with power windows.
To solve the problem, our friend is going to make some custom tweeter grilles for us, using his own EG-chassis Civic as a guide. These tweeter grilles will cover the hacked-up part of our door panels. We haven't picked up new speakers yet, but we have been checking out Crutchfield's catalog as well as eBay. We'll probably keep our Pioneer head unit, as it seems to work well and should be able to handle two speakers. (Our car doesn't have the optional rear speaker kit, and to be honest, two speakers should be fine for our needs.)
Daytona International Pick-n-Pull Feb 21, 2005
While the NASCAR Busch series racers were lapping Daytona International Speedway, we were down the street at the local pick-n-pull looking for Civic parts. We came home with a small score.
Both front fender liners on our car are torn-up, so we have been looking for replacements. New ones are about $30 each, so we have been keeping our eyes open for an alternate solution. A lot of the cars at the local yard are front-hits, and as a result most of the fender liners we're finding are trashed or are simply missing.
On Saturday we finally found a good right-side fender liner. Price: $6.50. We still need a left-side one, however, as that car was missing it.
On an unrelated note, we have ordered centering rings for our Rotas from Wheel Dude, and hopefully they'll be here soon so we can mount our new wheels.
More Civic Seating Mar 1, 2005
Our Civic now has the correct back seat in place, as we (finally) had some spare time last night. Removing the Civic's rear seat isn't hard at all, but a special technique helps. Some excellent directions can be found over at Honda-Tech.com: http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=512901
Almost the entire seat assembly snaps into place, although one bolt is needed. Ours was missing, but found a replacement at the local hardware store. An M6-1.00x20 bolt got us back in business.
Before installing our stock Civic rear seat, we weighed it. The bottom cushion weighs 7-1/2 pounds, while the complete seat back (both parts) hits the scales at just under 20 pounds.
We're still looking for a few factory odds and ends for our Civic, so we have been checking out the local U-pull-it yards on a regular basis. We hit pay dirt yesterday, as our local yard recently received a 1992 Civic Si. Unfortunately, the car is a fire victim and has been burned to a crisp. We didn't return home with anything useful other than a few photos.