My 2003 Civic Type R EP3

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What the Honda was made for, can do it all day long, day in day out :cool:

You cannot break them :laughing:

Just another reason not to mess with it, it is perfect :cool:

Or maybe I mentioned that :p
 

Neil_M

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leebo said:
She would love it! Nice work on the car so far anyway, if its ever for sale someone will get a clinker.
Click to expand...

Cheers batman. She's a great little wagon, not perfect, but from looking at several before buying this one, she's far from a heap.

She will only get better :grinning:
 

StephenDc2

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Good progress so far, if you had of known I have a spare cold start control valve lying in my garage. You can delete that valve and fit an aftermarket temp sensor in its place if you ever need to in the future

It's just a small thermostat which is open on cold start to lean the mixture out a tad and help heat the engine up faster so its not really needed


As far as cams go there are good gains to be had on the k20 engine due to the ability to adjust both vtec point and the advance/retard with the VTC gear on the intake cam. Drop-in cams are quite mild so gains are smaller but I got great results using a pair of Drag Cartel stage 2 endurance cams with about 10 thou skimmed off the cylinder head to bump compression slightly, you do need to upgrade your valve springs when running anything bigger than a drop-in cam and the chain tensioner should be checked or repalced at least once a year imo when running high lift cams but its a simple job
 

Neil_M

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StephenDc2 said:
Good progress so far, if you had of known I have a spare cold start control valve lying in my garage. You can delete that valve and fit an aftermarket temp sensor in its place if you ever need to in the future

It's just a small thermostat which is open on cold start to lean the mixture out a tad and help heat the engine up faster so its not really needed


As far as cams go there are good gains to be had on the k20 engine due to the ability to adjust both vtec point and the advance/retard with the VTC gear on the intake cam. Drop-in cams are quite mild so gains are smaller but I got great results using a pair of Drag Cartel stage 2 endurance cams with about 10 thou skimmed off the cylinder head to bump compression slightly, you do need to upgrade your valve springs when running anything bigger than a drop-in cam and the chain tensioner should be checked or repalced at least once a year imo when running high lift cams but its a simple job
Click to expand...

Cheers for the input Stephen.

I did notice K Tuned make a tasty fitting to allow the temp gauge to be installed.

However I didn't want to play with the mixtures, especially as it's being used daily this weather.

I've noticed the likes of Area Motorsport getting some good numbers with drop in cams.

Plenty of time to decide what to do though!
 

Neil_M

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A little parts haul from Honda on Friday...

Nothing too fancy, window seals, bolts, o-rings for the VTEC and VTC solenoids.

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I removed the front bumper over the weekend to have a nosy and look at air feed options. Luckily nothing scary found!

While it was off I performed a coolant flush. I've yet to flush the overflow reservoir, the sealing cap didn't look in good shape. So that's a job for another day.

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The spool valve was removed from the back of the head. The aim was to replace the filter and solenoid o-ring.

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Naturally we can't have rusty parts, so it was treated to a lick of paint and refitted with new bolts.

It was a bit tricky as it's at the back of the engine at the bottom of the head. No oil leaks so it must be ok ;).

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A few better shots of the airfeed to the airbox. Naturally I had to test with a few blips of the throttle while holding my hand over the end of the pipe. She's not that pretty but it works.

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I cut off the blanking plates from the lower grill. Not sure why they differ on the ac and non ac cars. But I chopped them off anyway.

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Neil_M

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Time for another update...

More VTEC enhancement, VTEC solenoid o-ring replaced.

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New front arms, given an extra lick of paint :grinning:.

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There is a minor water leak in the boot. Starting with the easy things, I replaced the rear light seals.

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Rear bumper was removed for a clean up and under-seal (yes those are stainless nuts on the lower part of the lights) :cool:.

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All back together. The rear crash bar got a lick of paint.

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Injector seal time!

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Fuel rail out.

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Fuel rail on the ground.

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It "had" to get a lick of paint.

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Injector o-rings being replaced.

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Injectors back on the rail.

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Fuel rail in, never to be seen again :p.

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A box of toys were heading along with the car to AI Autosport.

In summary
  • baffle for the sump
  • front camber bolts
  • rear camber arms
  • rear lower control arms
  • SuperPro polyurethane bushes
  • new front arms
  • new ball joints
  • new tie rods and ends
  • new Honda bolts where applicable
  • subframe locking collars
  • front VTC filter and bolts
  • new idler and aux pulleys

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As per usual the service was second to none from AI Autosport. Johnny as always has an excellent standard of work, done very promptly, loads of updates and advise :laughing:.

However an alignment was due...

So off to @Neil Kirkpatrick Kerrs Tyres for alignment...

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Thanks to Neil for the outstanding job, track day advise and car chat!

The car is now driving much better than even before the suspension work. It's a much more stable, communicative car. Interestingly even with the polyurethane bushes, it's not the crashy, nvh rife car you might expect.

The only problem was the steering rack. I assumed the lack of self centring was due to the poor EPS system, Neil mentioned it's definitely not normal. But it seems to be a common failure point on the Honda racks:poop:. So now to find a good used or refurbished rack, ideally a facelift one, as they are quicker. Strangely other than that the steering works fine!

Oh and don't worry the underneath of the car will be under-sealed. I'm doing it properly, so not just wacking on a load of black WaxOyl over the rust :p.
 

Neil_M

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Time to get things moving along....

The steering rack arrived, it's a refurbished rack from Hirsche. The part number points to it being only for the non Type R models, I called them to query it as I believe they sent the wrong rack, they stated it's the same rack across all the Mk7 Civic models. While the EPS does add some complexity, surely the Type R racks are faster and certainly the face-lifted type r rack is faster than the pre-facelift. They couldn't tell me where the speed comes from... Unless the EPS ECU controls the speed like some EPS systems (this isn't replaced as part of the rack)... If anyone knows, please do let me know. I may end up taking a risk and buying a used rack.

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The coolant over flow bottle was leaking after all the recent work. So a good used one was fitted.

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Unfortunately the lights had to come out for clearance, which meant the front bumper had to come off too!

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A pretty tasty Mishimoto radiator arrived.

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It was MOT time. The civic sailed through, with nothing to report at all :laughing:.

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This gave me a little push forward to get things organised.

So I continued on with the wheels. Hand sanding these was a PITA, so the palm sander was brought out.

Time and weather permitting, I'll get the wheels sanded to the point of being ready for primer over the Easter break.

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Really the time is going on sorting the steering rack, refurbishing the wheels and when the rack is sorted, I will install the radiator with a new fan switch, thermostat and radiator hoses.
 
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Lee

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Looking good, I'd say not many EP3s see as much love unfortunately. I think they'll rise in value in the future sometime.. so many get broke!

Looks like you might have to do a bit of stripping to do the underbody protection?
 

Neil_M

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leebo said:
Looking good, I'd say not many EP3s see as much love unfortunately. I think they'll rise in value in the future sometime.. so many get broke!

Looks like you might have to do a bit of stripping to do the underbody protection?
Click to expand...

Cheers!

You're quite right, but that's just me to some degree too, I like things right and running as well as they should.

Your right on the stripping, its another PITA job. At least there aren't loads of under-trays to remove. Once I get the steering rack sorted, I'll hope for a few dry days and get stuck in!
 

Neil_M

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AndyG said:
When you taking it on track?
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Once she's finished being a show queen :p.

I want to sort the cooling system, tyres for the rims I'm painting and a lid for myself. Then I'm good to go :grinning:.

Yes yes I know I should just head out for the craic. But this is more for me being happier with the car :grinning:.
 
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