Project Civic EG9

We have in house project car which is a 92-95 Honda Civic EG9 4 Dr Saloon VTi. Our aim of our project is not to create a fancy looking car but subtle nor do we after astronomical figure of power and torque. We are going to create a drivers car to suit my own driving style and with power and torque that can be used for day to day driving. More power gives you a competitive edge but not in all the cases (even though it is nice to have power from time to time), and we want something that is fun to drive!!

What you see in this section, is done by oursleves and we do not have the luxury of ramps or mega tools budget. Hence it is all DIY on the driveway, and yes typically when you start working on the car it starts pouring down with rain in many occasions. Hence if we can do it, you can DIY also.

If you need any of the parts used below, remember to contact us!!!!!

Interior

We started off with the interior to liven up a little bit with some indiglo dials and gauges. With the aid of gauges we can collect some basic data of the car and reactions upon driving and using different oils. We found that the cooling system of the Civic are OK upon cold weather, but under summer time in traffic jams and hard driving, the temperature sits a little higher then we like. Although it drop down in water temp and oil temp when traffic flowing freely. We are looking into installing a oil cooler and uprated radiator in the future.

We also installed a 350mm Momo Corse steering wheel. Although the standard steering wheel is already nice and not massively big, the Momo one is a little smaller and improved the feedback and steering input.

Changes to Interior 24/05/05

As you notice, we have changed our gauges to multi-functional version with warning, user definable warning range, peak value memory + recall. We are more then happy with the result, not only the rich functions, quality and looks these gauges have but the quality and the ease of fitting impress us the most. As there are minimal wiring, as the comes with wiring harness. Very neat, no more messy and confusing wiring compare to the traditional gauges. To make life even more easier, we have used the radiator hose adaptor (34mm on our car) and Oil filter sandwhich plate. Hence no more nightmares to find the best location to mount the sensors. (We have fitted Oil pressure, Oil Temp and water Temp to the car.)

Chassis Strenthening

Since we have planned to install the Daiyama coilovers system in our project cars, we thought that it would time to install some struct braces to stop the chassis from flexing. The project car comes with a standard front upper struct brace but we replaced with a after market ones. Also we have added rear upper struct as well as SRR rear lower struct (sway bar). The effect of the rear bars made a very noticeable difference at the ver first bend I attacked!!! The rear end felt more solid and boosting the confidence of cornering. We are now on the lookout for the front lower struct brace as well.

17/07/2005 Front Lower Struct (4pt Frame)

Verdict: We have added the front lower frame (4 Points) to the car to strengthening up the front of the car. Just took the car for a test drive around the country roads, the feed back seems more clear then pre installation. More turn in when we drove the car along side with more refined understeering. It means that rather then hard to predict when the understeering going to be kicked in, now we can flirt with it!!!! The frame fits between the mounting poinst of the front lower control arms, the other 2 points fits onto 2 bolts located on the cross member. I haven't yet scraped anything yet so fingers crossed.

29/11/2005 B-Pillar Strut Brace

Suspension

SRR Front Upper Control Arms (Camber Kit)

These arms have been fitted a while back (as you can see we have replaced the OEM bushes with Poly bushes, it was done to all front bushes), but eventually we have comes to taking pictures. As we are fitting the new damping version of Daiyama coilover (to replace our old Daiyama non damping adjustable version). We got a bit of time in our hand, so we were experimenting different settings. We eventually went through couple of runs in order to find a good setting, but from the 2 extreme settings we concluded when running: -

1) A lot of positive camber: -

It was very wild and we didn't drive for long as wasn't feel save with this setting. Steering rocks left and right over the slightest bump. Hence unstable, while turning, there is lack of returning force of the steering wheel.

2) A lot of negative camber

This setting have one common feature as to case 1, the lack of returning force of steering when turning. The intial stage of turning don't give the confidence as the lack of feedback. However, it actually holds the road in the bends very good, and once the posture of the car is set, giving more gas, the car actually grips.

3) Eventually

After the various road test, the car runs on slight negative camber. (we only used simply menthods to tell as we do not have the luxury of alignment equipments). In fact we used caliper measurer so to set both side equally and a metal ruler. We got the feedback back, and the returning force of the steering wheel while turning is there. The line through the bend that archieved was better then before.

18/07/2005 SRR Rear Suspension Assembly

Since the bushes on the standard rear control arm are truely dead, we have fitted the SRR rear Anti-Roll bar assembly along with the aluminum rear control arms. (Save us replacing the bushes and some hair of course). First thing that striked us is the weight of the aluminum control arms, even though the OEM ones are not overly weighted when we hold it. However, OEM ones are definately overly weight once we handled the SRR control arms! The weight difference is clearly noticeable!

From top left and right picture above, you can clearly see the difference in diamete of the anti-roll bar in comparision between SRR unit and the OEM VTi one. (On EG LSi/DX or the lower models EK they don't have one at the rear at all!!!!) Forgot to mention the EG LSi/DX don't even have a front anti roll bar. Using a too big of diameter of anti-roll bar can stress the chassis or may even start cracking. Hence SRR Anti-Roll Bar kit comes with the rear lower struct (grey aluminum bar in picture) to aviod such incident happening.

Verdict: Overall, since the bushes now are in new condition they helped the cars handling in terms of line control. However, the most apparent improvement is made on the reduced roll of the car, the back is now more stable, more confidence in attacking bends in higher speed but yet maintained stablility. We recommend this to anyone who are serious about the handling of their civics!!! A must buy piece of kit.

However, the back is now improved, it makes me feel the front roll is more apparent. We will be in search for the front anti-roll bar. Along with that we have planned to update our coilover to the damping adjustable units. Watch this space!!!!

23/11/2005 Daiyama Type IIE-G Coilover Suspension

This is the new damping adjustable kit from Daiyama, and we replaced the older version without damping adjustment. These are 28 stage damping adjustable and 65mm height adjustment range.

We have choosen spring rate F: 10kg/mm R: 6kg/mm, same as our previous setting but a lower spring rate at the rear instead of the 8kg/mm used previously. We was started from 15 clicks of damping front and rear to start, then reset to front 14 click rear 16 click. The ride is still comfortable while in motorway driving it is superb. Running over bumpy roads is not un forgiving in our opinion. Although if you want more comfort I would recommend reduce the clicks or use a lower spring rate at the front. That way will suit your requirement more.

We are happy with the result and we will be continur to do further road tests to find the best setting.

Electronic

We have fitted the A'PEXi V-AFC2 into our project car. It is absolutely packed with function. Apart from the fuel adjustment and V-Tec engagement point and diengagment point, it also have many monitoring functions. Inc Voltage, Inlet Pressure, Throttle position, Rev.....etc It is surprisingly easy to use. We did our setting by fitting a strench of road and feel the changes. Althought ideally we should use a Dyno to get the best out of this.

02/11/2005 - HID H4 Hi/Lo Kit 7500K

This kit we picked is a 7500k Hi/Lo beam combined HID kit. Which means this kit will do both hi and lo beam as the name suggested. The 7500k lights has a light shade of bluenesst and it is looking real good yet very bright as you can see in the pictures below. If required true white beam 6500k HID kit is also available.

	This picture was taken during the day.
	This picture was taken during the night.
	This picture taken from the driver view at night. Say bye-bye to candle lights. As you can see beam can reach a far distance.

Verdict: We waited a long time for the darkness to fall as we are so excited to see the result. Finally it came, we took the car out for a spin and we are really happy with the result. It is doing what it suppose to, really does lights up the road in front. EG civics are particulary bad for their headlights, this seems to do the trick for us. Apart from the improve visibility and safety, it also added the mid night racing touch to the car.

Fitting wise, it is very easy as no need for hard wiring, all plugs except one live and two earth, everthing else just plugs and fool proof plugs! The most time consuming part is to find a suitable location for the ballast and the control box. The kit don't requires a rely as the control box (for hi-lo beam) already act as a rely.

Contact us if you requires this product or needing more information.

Adding Ground Wire Kit Soon.

Carbon Bonnet

	After an incident on the motorway we decided it is time to get a Carbon Bonnet for our project car. We are pleased with the result!!!

Service

It is the time again for an oil change. This time we have installed a set of Apexi Iridium Spark Plug along with our Magnetic Drain bolt.The effect is very apparent with the plugs, espeically when driving in the top end it is more willing to pull and a lot smoother now. Response of the car are more sharper then before.

Alloy Wheels

We have long waited for this date. Finally got hold of some tyres for our wheels. Here is a few pictures. Althought we found that we are still sitting a little bit high but we have the Daiyama Coilover on the car so we can drop it more at any time.

ET: 43

Size:205/45/16

Brakes

20/05/05

Well, checked the brakes, front disc has quiet a thick lip on the eadge. The pads seems ok, and the disc and pads at the front was fitted brand new at the same time. (OEM Equipment) Never really been happy about them, in terms of it stopping power and OEM pads tend to fade quiet a bit under continous braking or high speed braking. Rear caliper suspect siezed and no hand brakes at the moment. Well it is time for a change, this time we have scheduled to fit a set of new rear caliper along with some performance disc and pads all round. We have lined up the following disc and pads (contact us for details).

Verdict: We gives it a thumbs up for this product, braking power is good it really bites, especially in country roads where braking is rather frequent. Inital braking from cold it is reasonably well. No brake fade when we are driving it round the country roads, it seems the harder we give it the more it loves it. However, it does have some braking noise but we used garden hose, and clean off the brake dust build up in the grooves the noise is down. For those who are less extreme, we would suggest trying the lower temp setup for road use (as driving along motorway constantly without braking example could means brakes can cool down and drop from it optimal working temp.) Although the manufacturer rated this as a medium setup ( yes they even have more higher temp version), but we found this is enough if not more then enough for road/track use.

Cooling

As previously mentioned about cooling system, we noticed that when we started the car and let the temp rasies, when oil temp hitting around 90-95 degree, the car is more willing to go..... however after a heavy right foot and driving in summer. Oil temp hitting 100 and a bit over while water temp also on the raise around 90degree (while driving water temp sits around 70-80 degree). We can feel the power step down when heat is up, it seems less willing to go. Hence we have ordered the 12 Row oil cooler. To maintain the optimal temperature, will give verdict once fitted. Watch this space!!!

02/11/2005 12 Row Oil Cooler

We finally got our hands onto a oil cooler kit for the car. It is a 12 row cooler along with all the fitting acessories and tubes. We shall be getting our hands dirty when comes to the next oil change.