My EK Coupe build....

Well here it is, I decided to do a ‘build up’ thread as I have now started playing with the Civic. A lot of things should happen to her over the coming months, so I may as well do what I did with the last Civic and document the changes.

I’ll start with my last Civic, as the reason why I got another Civic was down to my old one. Some may have seen the build on CSC and for those that didn’t, it was quite long and well watched. The car was stripped out and caged up, had its fair share of engine changes and even managed to get a magazine feature.

Some pictures for those that never saw her….











However, after months of no heaters, hard suspension, noisy exhausts and all round lack of comfort I thought it was time to move on with a new project. After all I had the hatch for over 3 years and I was getting a hankering for a coupe

So I started looking….

Funnily enough it took me all of about a day to find the coupe I was after! All the other times I had looked previously, I had never been able to find the car I wanted. Either the bodywork was in the condition I didn’t want, or it was just too far away for me to travel.

The coupe I found was ideal, it had amazingly low miles and was well looked after. My interest in the engine was minimal and although it was a 1.6 auto, I knew it wouldn’t be staying that way for long. The bodywork was mint and it had been garaged for 8 months of every year since it was purchased.

So after a trip to Nottingham, I came back with this….








Mint bodywork, even in the engine bay!





Even the owner’s manual was in mint condition.

So then I started to play, using some of the parts from the hatch that I wanted to keep in preparation for the coupes arrival. New suspension, mirrors and wheels were added to start off with….









Then came new deflectors for the windows as well as facelift rear lights and import plates….

That’s pretty much how it stayed for 6 to 7 months as money was tight and I just couldn’t afford to throw anything at the coupe, until now.

First thing for me was to change the wheels, I had the same ones for two years and although they look good on the car, nobody likes to wear the same trainers for two years so it was time for a change. I wanted Euro, I still wanted width, I wanted to be a little different with my style and I didn’t want Rota’s.

So I found some Compomotive TH-Mono’s and sold my Ronal’s….

yes yes

Already thats quite a impressive change, i cant believe that it came with that interior too, soo nice.

out of interest what did you use (paint/cleaner) on the engine/gb in your hatch?

I idolised your Hatch tbfh

Can't wait to for any updates on this one mate

I cleaned the bay down and rubbed a lot of the paint back. Then sprayed it, using primer first, paint then lacquer. I rubbed the engine back with a small electric sander then painted some of it. I also cleaned the hoses down as well as a lot of the other little bits people miss. Obviously the manifold and intake were new, but the whole job took me about three days.

Thanks Michael, a lot of people loved my old hatch and from time to time I do miss it.

Thanks.

Rich

I dont miss anything when im cleaning my bay

how come you had no heaters in it btw?

Weight saving purposes, plus it helped me move my fuse boxes and relay boxes into the car and out of the bay. The car was stupid quick and well balanced as the battery was also moved to the back.

Rich

it always scares the shit outta me when ghosts fill up their cars




Very nice build mate. I had no idea it was an auto!

liking this build thread already, will be watchin out for this one

Ned wrote:

it always scares the shit outta me when ghosts fill up their cars




Very nice build mate. I had no idea it was an auto!

lol

ha ha thank you guys.

The car will only be an auto for a matter of about 6 months now. Then its a toss up between D series manual supercharged or B16a2 (maybe B18c6 at a push, if I can justify it).

Rich

you planning to stay na or fi the b's?

I dont know in all honesty. The conversion will set me back £400 going to manual, if I upgrade to a Bseries I can get it done for £1600 (drive in and drive out).

I am not sure where to go really due to the cost, but I'd like to keep the engine as its strong and only just hit the 40K mark. So a manual conversion and then a charger would give me what I want.

Rich

you could do a b swap yourself, its not that hard

Yeh I know mate, I've done about 6 of them lol

The problem lies in the auto to manual, it's a two week job max and I dont just have to make holes for the clutch cylinder or a bigger hole for the gear lever, etc, I have to drill 4 new M12 holes for the manual gearbox mount which never came on the auto chassis!!

Rich

ditto

its not that much work, personally id get the drill out rather than spend taht much getting one in.

just my 2p

I agree, but sadly I just dont have the space to put the car anywhere for me to work on it. It's a case of either leaving it as is or getting someone to do it for me this time round.

The company I used to work for let me park the car on site in the warehouse which meant I could carry out swaps, now I'm somewhere else and also a fire fighter, I just dont have the time and space.

Rich

i see

I got the nuts, but I dont like them lol.

Think blue would have been a better choice, but I do have a question for someone. Where can I buy standard flat centre caps from?

Rich

depending on the hole size you need, team dynamics.

Thanks mate.

I believe the size is 2.5". It's the chrome ones that are on this link....

http://www.comp.co.uk/info/products.asp

Rich

lets see pics anyway, i sudjested red cus anodised blue always reminds me of cheapo ebay stuff

edit: like my current LCA's

Ideally Ezza, sorting my centre caps will help me decide, but as the car stands with its current caps, I'm not sold on them.

I wont run without caps as it just looks so wrong IMO. I have never driven without centres so I'm now trying to get my hands on some flat caps to spray black.

Rich