Dear diary

Besides gaming, I have a hobby which probably costs more than a drug addiction or a wife - Cars. Especially working on them is what interests me.

During the covid "pandemic" (yes, I'm that kind of person) I got bored and decided to do what I always wanted to. Build & boost a Honda Civic EG.

Unfortunately the Honda Civic is probably the most hated car in the scene. It has gotten it's bad reputation because they're cheap econoboxes and are often abused by its owner.

Why did I choose to build the most hated car then?

1. I'm truly a fan of older cars, especially Japenese cars. I don't like the fancy stuff. Everything built after 2000 doesn't interest me at all, I don't know how to explain this. I just don't feel connected to newer cars.

2. For nostalgic reasons. It was the exact same car my mother owned when I learned driving. I always liked how it drove compared to other cars.

3. Lots of parts available!



When looking for the perfect stock Civic EG I noticed they're getting quite rare in clean/unmolested state. They're either rusted out, riced out, or not for sale/expensive.

BUT! After months of searching I finally found the best base I could find. I bought it for 3 grand. Which seems to be the going price for a decent Civic EG nowadays.






This is my bone stock, vogue silver metallic, Civic EG4 hatchback from 1994 with 90k kilometers/55k miles odo. It's called an LSI model which has electric mirrors/windows and electric roof. I didnt care for this, but its just what I could find at that time. I didnt like the color at first either, but I got used to it. It has some minor scratches around, faded paint and a rust spot at the wheel arch on the rear right side. But overall, it's a very clean base for a 25 y/o car and the underside is mint!

It has a manual transmission, which is a good thing. I could convert an automatic to manual myself but this saves me the hassle of doing so. It has a d15b2 engine which is a four cylinder 1.5. Not that it matters, because its going out anyway.

TIME TO GET SOME PARTS!

First of all I went ahead and installed an aftermarket steering wheel that I already ordered a few days before. One of my favorite small/easy mods.

I wanted to mount it on a NRG short hub with quick release, so I got myself this NRG gen 2.8 snap-off with short hub.



And a vigor steering wheel. Momo prototipo look.



I removed my doorpanel already because i'm installing a remote door locking system.

No matter how stock the car looks, you always come across weird shit when buying a used car. Especially wiring.. I had an electrical issue so I went ahead and removed the radio and noticed one wire is missing from the connector. I'm not going to install a radio but I just wanted it fixed anyway. When I opened up a piece of the protective sleeve I saw one wire was cut.

Soldering.





Noone will notice. except for the different color of wire. Oops
Not important anyway, this connector won't be used in my ownership. And it works now.

Next up, I ordered a turbo kit. I personally don't trust eBay kits, although many people seem to use them. I mean you probably can't f#ck up an intercooler or cast manifold, but I would never trust a wastegate or turbo from China. Their cast manifolds also have a wastegate placement on one of the runners, which will tend to boostcreep.

I chose this go-autoworks kit from Greg in the USA. It is expensive, (this alone costs more than the car itself) but I def think its worth it. I went for a Garrett gt2860rs turbo which seems small, but I'm planning on boosting a small 1.6L single cam engine. thought it would be enough for around 300-350 horsepower. Nothing crazy but fun as hell!



There is a reason I chose for a boring cast manifold instead of one of those fancy stainless steel ones. Yes, stainless steel ramhorns will flow better and look nice, but i've always had problems with them cracking eventually. I've yet to see a cast iron manifold fail. This one has a centered wastegate placement which will prevent boost creeping. Function > form imo!!



I managed to rent a storage unit. Here in the netherlands its unusual to own a garage. Space is limited and very expensive. I don't have any light, electricity or water here, and it's small, but it will do. At least I can work on my car..



Bad picture, I dragged this engine inside by myself and I was absolutely smashed. I picked up a d16z6 engine which I will be tearing apart and building for boost. I ordered loaaads of parts to get this engine as reliable as possible with the gt28 turbo.

People that know honda's are probably shaking their head right now. Why didn't I go B or K series. Well, I liked the idea of it being a tiny d-series capable of 300+ hp. Yes, a k-series can probably hold 500 on stock sleeves, but this will be plenty of fun. Save the sohc!

This post was edited by Gluurbuur on Aug 2 2022 02:25pm

Nothing spectacular here.
Had some problems with my gas struts coming loose from my rear tail gate due to damaged hardware.

Went ahead and replaced those. You can see the difference between left (new) and right (damaged threads)




Went ahead and bought some new OEM parts from Japan. Its the small things you know

Installing universal remote locking system. This is one of the things you CAN buy from China without worrying too much. its a simple concept. I used a few sets of these and they're great.

My passenger side door already had a power door motor from factory. When I would open the door from the drivers side with my key, the passenger side would open too. This means I only need to install an aftermarket power lock on the drivers side for the remote locking system to work. I downloaded a workshop manual to figure out which color wires I have to splice into.



Already getting a mess in here. I wanted my corner lights to blink when opening and closing the doors. I used the wires connected to the hazard light switch for this.
After wiring this all up, I tested the system and it worked like a charm! I don't have pictures of this, only a video.



The old plastic behind my doorpanel was falling apart after 25 years. When I knew everything worked, I removed all old glue and cleaned the inside of my doors really well.
After I cleaned everything I used spray wax to prevent rusting in the future.
Next up I cut out a sheet of thick plastic to make a new dust shield.



Done.

I bought a spoiler from a Honda Civic EG VTI which has the B16 engine in it. Not much of a change over my current one, except the vti spoiler is all metal and 1 inch longer. It was white so I ordered a can of paint made specifically for my color code.

Not a huge fan of going all crazy with spoilers, bumpers, xenon and that kind of stuff. I like to keep it somewhat original. But this small change is def an improvement to my taste.


First I sanded down all tiny rust spots and used a self etching primer.




I painted the underside black.



Then I went ahead and painted it vogue silver metallic with lots of clear coats, starting out real thin and finishing off with a thick layer



Let it dry overnight. The top one is my older spoiler, the bottom one is the VTI spoiler. Small difference in size.



And installed it! Looks better. It will need some polishing but I will do that later. Planning on painting more parts first.



This post was edited by Gluurbuur on Aug 3 2022 11:13am

More parts arrived in the mean time

Toyota Glanza turbo (japanese import) turbo compared to my new Garrett GT2860rs.
This is what 180hp vs 350hp looks like.



Also ordered some gauges.
AEM wideband air/fuel ratio gauge.
Simple oil pressure and oil temperature gauge. I like the way they look.
I will be making a gauge holder for them, to fit in the place where the radio sits.




New tires. Toyo R1R. Not sure if these are considered semi slicks but they're excellent. Rims coming soon!!




And these!! Adjustable coilovers. Adjustable in height and 32 settings of dampening. NICE
Greased in the threads with ceramic grease and made sure all springs where preloaded correctly (they came in wrong surprisingly).




This post was edited by Gluurbuur on Aug 3 2022 11:43am

Received some parts from Japan. Window/door trims. Mine were pretty beat up. Seems to be a common EG issue.



I love new, original parts!



I also deleted my antenna. Have no use for it at all. Funny enough, Honda makes a block off plate for them. While I was doing this I decided to check underneath the roof trims for any rust. Also a common issue, no rust to be found luckily! Just very dirty. Time for some cleaning.



Checking behind my sideskirts here. Some minor spots but nothing major, happy days.



While I had access to the spots I could see, I sanded them down, sprayed rust converter and painted them. I also emptied 2 cans of hollow section wax inside the sills.

Rust is my worst enemy, and these Honda's tend to rust ALOT.
I don't care about snapped timing belts, blown headgaskets or exploded transmissions. But rust is something that I take very seriously.



This post was edited by Gluurbuur on Aug 3 2022 03:57pm

Next up is the gauge holder.

Very simple concept. As I mentioned earlier I don't plan on using a radio but I wanted to make use of the empty space.

Did some measuring, drawing in exact 1:1 and cutting to make this





Painted it black. Fits perfectly. I don't need to glue/screw it in place, it just clamps in.



I also deleted my rear wiper just for aethetic reasons. I don't use rear wipers, this car will mainly see sunny days anyway.





This post was edited by Gluurbuur on Aug 4 2022 04:49am