2000 Honda Civic - The Rally Pumpkin! - Stage Rally/Rally-X/Rallysprint

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: 2005? It's barely broken in! What's the deal with suspension for these? Hondas seem like a good choice from a cost perspective, but I know nothing about what one does to get some travel/longevity out of the suspension.

Good question. I don't know yet. My DD Golf has been difficult lately and I had to change the Camshaft Position sensor. VW makes that job very simple (not!) by making you have to pull the camshaft drive sprocket. So I spent almost all weekend doing a job that could have taken 45 minutes, if they moved a single bolt about 3 mm!

NGTD wrote:

AntiArrhythmic wrote: In reply to NGTD: EM1 = 99-00 Civic Si (SiR in Canada)

It's a real Civic SiR. Vin decoder says EM115Y - Civic Si

Wow. Another one bites the dust. They are quite rare these days and highly sought after by the Honda following. You've got a collectors item there. If that's the original B16 engine in it, keep it. When you're done with it, restore it! :)

ClassicHondaGuy wrote:

NGTD wrote:

AntiArrhythmic wrote: In reply to NGTD: EM1 = 99-00 Civic Si (SiR in Canada)

It's a real Civic SiR. Vin decoder says EM115Y - Civic Si

Wow. Another one bites the dust. They are quite rare these days and highly sought after by the Honda following. You've got a collectors item there. If that's the original B16 engine in it, keep it. When you're done with it, restore it! :)

No B16 - it's a B18 JDM ITR motor

It's a rebuilt title. Likely why it was built into a rally car.

In reply to NGTD:

Ah yes, that makes perfect sense.

NGTD wrote:

rustysteel wrote: I was following the sale of your Subaru on MCO, nice find looks like you got what you were looking for. I'm still trying to sell my MINI...

Your Mini looks really nice. I find that the problem is that in that price range you are in the difficult situation where the car is too old for financing, and most buyers don't have the cash. It's a PITA really.

Thanks, yep it's definitely a catch 22. Oh well, I'll probably just end up keeping it.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: What's the deal with suspension for these? Hondas seem like a good choice from a cost perspective, but I know nothing about what one does to get some travel/longevity out of the suspension.

http://www.rallyanarchy.com/phorum/read.php?5,76139

This lays out in detail almost everything you could ever care to know about Honda suspensions. It focuses on EF chassis, but essentially applies until 2000. (I just picked up a logbooked rally civic myself!)

NGTD wrote: Unfortunately all of the regional rallies this year are either too soon (Galway-Cavendish Forest Rally - July 9) or in the case of the Black Bear Rally, I had already agreed to be the Chief Safety Officer/Car 00 Co-driver and can't back out.

The Ledgewig rally in Nova Scotia is offering $600 towing fee for out of province competitors and its at the end of July. Enough time to reprep, and they PAY you $200 to get there ;)

In reply to HiTempguy:

Neat! Thanks.

Today I "de-stanced" the Rally Pumpkin! (Or you could say re-stanced). Adjusted the coilovers for a more rally-friendly attitude and some extra ground clearance.

Confirmed today that the DMS shocks on this rig are actual rally shocks! WooHoo!

Hard to get information on them as DMS's website only talks about their struts and since this vintage of Honda doesn't use struts, not much info.

irish44j wrote: wow, nice score! So what's the competition history of the car? I assume its a CARS logbook/history?

Turns out that this car has quite a Championship Pedigree in Quebec. Coupe de Quebec champion (2wd) in:

• 2006
• 2008
• 2009
• 2011

Haven`t been able to do much yet, but this morning we had our 1st frost of the fall.

Spent most of the day cleaning out the garage to get my wife`s summer car into hibernation.

Making room for the Civic to go in the garage to get to work!!

I also swapped the powered mirrors that didn`t work for a set of black manual mirrors from my parts stash.

With mazdeuce flying along on his RSX, I was feeling motivated to get going!!!

Well now that the Cabriolet is in it's winter spot,

Then it was time to get cutting. The diagonal sill reinforcement needs to go so that I can get the seat mounts as low as possible:

Ground it down and sprayed a little primer on the bare metal.

Well some people use Finite Element Analysis (FEA), others use CAD (Computer-or-Cardboard Aided Design). I use WAD (Wood Aided Design!!!). Sorting out new Driver's side seat mount.

It's pretty much a Morgan at this point.
I was thinking about this car today when wrenching in the RSX. Glad you're still at it.

mazdeuce wrote: It's pretty much a Morgan at this point. I was thinking about this car today when wrenching in the RSX. Glad you're still at it.

Yup - plan to have it ready to go for Winter Rally-X, so seat mount is critical path. I was given a set of tractionized ice tires a few weeks ago. Have to get them mounted and get the seat fixed up and I will be ready to go!

January 22 and February 26th - then get it ready for rally sprints in spring.

Seat is in on the prototype mounts (wood)

Just clears the cage!!

Some days, you can't even trust a logbook. WTF!!!

Car was raced almost 10 years with this.

Didn't get much done over the winter. Finally warmed up here and I swapped the winters off my wife's Explorer and then got cutting!!! The factory seat mount needed to come out to make way for the seat.

It was time to get moving on this. Rallysprint scheduled for June 24. First up seat mounts. FIA says you can mount them to the floor with reinforcement plates, which I have to do because I need the headroom.

Driver's seat in! Seat just fits within the cage. As tight to the centre tunnel as I could get it. Now I can sit in the car and make vroom vroom noises.

Nice progress. What is your first planned stage rally?

irish44j wrote: Nice progress. What is your first planned stage rally?

Waiting to hear officially, but MLRC is supposed to be having a Rallysprint on June 24.

I still have to get the title cleared from salvage to rebuilt. Waiting for the body shop to clear some time. So full rally - still not sure. I also have to get belts and a co-drivers seat. They are all expired but still good for rallysprint.

Borrowed my buddy's trailer and the car is off to work. The Tech in the Welding Shop is going to weld up a few things and then the students in Motive Power (I work at a Community College) are going to give the car an inspection before I try to schedule the Structural Inspection that I need to get done to move the car from Salvage to Rebuilt.

PSA - you see those tie-wraps in the bottom left corner of the picture? They hold the horn button there.

See how the cutoff end was sticking out? Well it's not anymore. But it was when I got in all excited after getting the seat mounts done and quickly got in the car. This what my left leg looks like now. Be careful with the cut ends of tie-wraps!!!

All project cars will extract their blood!!!