Hatch Track Car - Revival Build

Jersey8

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Well, I've been a member here for a long time, and I've owned a 97 CX Hatch since I was 16 (I'm 30 now). It was my daily driver for many years, and I started accumulating other vehicles (bike, truck, boat, etc.). Then the poor car sat for a long time and it was neglected.

Through all of those years, I never created a build thread because I didn't have anything special to write about. It was just a typical daily driver that I relied on heavily to get me to work and school, despite taking the typical abuse from a punk in his late teens/early 20's. However, I remained loyal to this hatch and never sold it. Over the past few years, I worked on it from every now and then, but I struggled to find the time and resources for it among my personal responsibilites and other hobbies (I have too many :oops: ). I'm finally starting to work on it again and get closer to my goal of a dedicated road track car.

Some of the members on this forum can probably relate, I did not come from a 'wealthy' family so in my younger years, this little 'jap crap' car was all I had. Yes, there were many times I had dreams for this car that I could not afford. Now I am fortunate enough to be at a point where I can move this car closer to acheiving those dreams. I want most of you to understand that if you have aspirations for your car, be patient and hold on, you will get there eventually! Since I've been through so much with this car, and there is much more to come, I figured I had a good story to tell as I get closer to the light at the end of the tunnel. Here are some of the highlights:
  • 2002: Bought the Hatch in NJ (born and raised!) for $3,000 with only 66k miles, drove it for many years and tinkered with it way too much
  • 2007: D16Y7 engine is tired, burning oil, and leaking oil through almost every orifice at 186k miles. Pulled it out and swapped in a B20B
  • 2011: Moved to MI for work. With just $400 to my name, I packed this great little car with as much stuff as I could fit in it and hit the road. Shortly after my second paycheck, I bought a R6 :mrgreen:
  • 2013: Leased a RAM 1500 and drove the civic occasionally, mostly neglecting it in the garage :cry:
  • 2015: Returned the lease truck, and bought a Dodge Ram Power Wagon, started off-roading and further neglecting my civic
  • Present Day: Civic now has ~255k miles on the chassis
And now on to the good stuff - I have completed a rediculous amount of maintenance and repairs on this old car over the years, but nobody cares about that. Here is where the car is at so far in terms of performance upgrades:
  • Powertrain
    • B20B swap
    • LS trans
    • Avid Racing mounts
    • 1320 Performance header
    • High-flow cat
    • Skunk2 Megapower cat back
    • Ebay short throw
    • Ebay intake / filter
  • Chassis/Brakes
    • SI front LCA's
    • Megan Racing front UCA's
    • BWR rear LCA's
    • BWR rear UCA's
    • SI front / rear swaybars
    • Energy Suspension bushings all around
    • EBC Yellow Stuff front pads
    • Russell Stainless brake hoses
    • ATE 200 DOT4 brake fluid
  • Interior
    • Momo Supercup XL seats
  • Wheels/Tires
    • Advanti DST Storm S2 15x7 +35
    • Toyo Proxes RA1 205/50 (second-hand)
  • Coming Soon:
    • LS rear disc conversion (currently on the way)
    • Rear pads (Hawk DTC-60)
    • LS front brake conversion (Hawk DTC-60)
    • Rollcage (I am going to attempt to make it lemons/chump/SCCA compliant)
    • 5pt harnesses
    • Coilovers
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I've had it out at the track once, and it did surprisingly well, despite barely passing track inspection and being on steelies and all season tires.
Grattan2.JPG Grattan4.JPG

I'm excited to get it back on the track once its all done. Check out the photos and let me know what you guys think! Also, I'm not a snowflake so suggestions and constructive criticism is welcome. I will be sure to post updates as I make progress (slowly)!
 
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civteck

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Good idea to bring it back to life. What part of Jerz you from?

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civteck

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Not too far away, im down in Barnegat

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Jersey8

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Awesome! Not far at all. I miss NJ but I've started a new chapter out here. I try to visit friends and family at least once or twice a year.
 

Jersey8

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Thanks!

Got some LS trailing arms in yesterday :cool:
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I'm excited to get them in, but I'm going to take my time and take them apart, sandblast, and paint.

Only issue I'm dealing with right now is getting the old passenger side trailing arm out - one of the main bolts on the toe arm that goes into the body is frozen up pretty good, ended up rounding off the head :brickwall:. I borrowed a welder from a buddy so I'm going to attempt to weld on a new bolt onto the head and back it out with an impact.

Also going to throw on new rear rotors and pads once everything is done. Any recommendations on pads? I've used EBC Yellow Stuff on the front at the last track event and I thought they held up pretty well, so I'm leaning that way right now.
 
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mportedcivicsi

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Well crap! I hope you can get that bolt out without too much trouble. That is a common bolt, as I'm sure you know, to become stuck. Especially in northern areas and seeing winters. Remember, always clean up hardware and replace as needed and to apply anti-seize to your hardware before putting it back in place, for all of it! =)

Looking back at your parts list as of current and to your question about the pads, I'd recommend replacing the Megan and BWR stuff, but at the very least, just keeping a close eye on it. Especially with the demands you intend to place on them. If you get serious about tracking, PCI is great and their spherical line is works of art. I'm very pleased with what I have. But to a more street unit; SPC and HardRace would be my first recommendations. And F7 is a great LCA with no press lifetime warranty bushings. Personally, I've never been a fan of EBC. I've seen too many of the pads fail, as in, just crumble apart. I've been happy with my progression through the Hawk lineup. Starting with HPS for daily and limited autocross use. Moving to HP+ for limited street, autocross and beginning in track/time attack. And now with the DTC-60 pads after ITR Expo last fall. I moved to those pads after the HP+ couldn't keep up and at the recommendation of my instructor. He had a used set he gave me to test out and let me keep. They were exactly what I needed. CarboTech and Glock pads are both great pads that several friends use on their dedicated track cars.
 

Jersey8

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Oh yea, every bolt gets anti-seized before it goes back in, started doing that years ago after snapping 1 too many bolts...

I know Megan is questionable - the adjustable front UCA's claim to provide +/- 4deg camber, which I've already found is not the case with stock height. I could only get about -1.5 deg. Also on the first drive after install, the ball joints slipped which should not be happening. I tightened the bolts down pretty good, first time dealing with these so I'm not sure if I missed something here.

I read somewhere that Megan and Hardrace are basically the same products? These are the ones I have, look identical to the ones on the Hardrace site:
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I might have to look into PCI/SPC/F7 for an alternative.

Whats the deal with BWR? Any parts I have from them, I'm pretty satisfied with the quality. Bushings not so good? I haven't tested any of the parts on the track yet though...

Also thanks for the pad recommendations I will definitely have to check out Hawk.
 

mportedcivicsi

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I'm not aware of any partnership between Megan and HardRace. I've heard that this newer company TruHart uses HardRace bushings, but I haven't done any research to confirm this. I've moved from hardened rubber to spherical in most of my bushings, so I've migrated to PCI. But I'd suspect it only goes as far as assuming the similarities to look like the reputable brand. Such is the case with BWR and other cheaper brands. They are just lower quality variants to proven and tested superiors. Bushings are the biggest case of failure, but I also wouldn't trust the material used in the arms themselves. They are not held to the same quality levels as the more trusted brands.

I missed the ES bushings before. Ensure that you keep them lubricated. Poly needs love or it falls apart. If they have been there a while and have been subjected to winter weather, there is a chance they have started to deteriorate. I'm personally a hardened rubber over poly guy. But that can be a nearly endless debate. Just keep an eye on them.
 

Jersey8

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I'm not aware of any partnership between Megan and HardRace. I've heard that this newer company TruHart uses HardRace bushings, but I haven't done any research to confirm this. I've moved from hardened rubber to spherical in most of my bushings, so I've migrated to PCI. But I'd suspect it only goes as far as assuming the similarities to look like the reputable brand. Such is the case with BWR and other cheaper brands. They are just lower quality variants to proven and tested superiors. Bushings are the biggest case of failure, but I also wouldn't trust the material used in the arms themselves. They are not held to the same quality levels as the more trusted brands.

I missed the ES bushings before. Ensure that you keep them lubricated. Poly needs love or it falls apart. If they have been there a while and have been subjected to winter weather, there is a chance they have started to deteriorate. I'm personally a hardened rubber over poly guy. But that can be a nearly endless debate. Just keep an eye on them.
Thanks man, this is really good info. I think for now since I already have all the parts I will see how they hold up and keep an eye on them for sure. For the Megan front UCA's I am going to look into doing some modifications to prevent the adjustable ball joint from slipping.

As for the ES bushings, they are basically all new since I've replaced almost every component that contains a damn bushing lol. And I do not plan on driving this car in the winter anymore. The only components that will need bushings still are the LS trailing arms - the main bushings on them now are toast, what brand do you recommend for hard rubber? Just exploring potential alternatives to ES.
 

mportedcivicsi

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Previously, I would use either a star washer or standard lock washer to help prevent slipping of the ball joint, however, I never had issues with this at any point. I upgraded all of the hardware supplied just for personal security. Before buying the PCI that are going into service when I eventually finish my car, I was using Buddy Club P1 units, front and rear. Great parts, but not the only good one out there. The HardRace are for sure a great option, should you need to change.

Yeah, just keep an eye on the ES stuff, and like I said, keep them lubricated. ES has a grease you can buy to use. With the vehicle going into a limited use status, I'd just make it an annual check, i.e. off season. The rear trailing arms, for hardened rubber, I'd go with the HardRace units. Mugen is good too, but as I recall, the HardRace are cheaper, but not lacking in quality by any means.
 

Jersey8

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Well, I finally got the stubborn rear trailing arm bolt out, but it wasn't easy (took me most of Friday night) I welded a bolt onto the rounded off head, it's in a tight spot so it was a PITA to prep and clean it real good and get everything lined up. When the bolt finally started to budge, it didn't want to come out because the inner metal sleeve of the bushing that the bolt goes though, was basically rusted to the bolt and spinning inside the toe arm. Had to spread the sheet metal enough so I could fit vice grips in there and hold the sleeve in place. :x

This is the bolt/location I am talking about:
RearTrailingArm Bolt.JPG

Here is my exceptional welding work (yea I know, I'm very new to TIG, and welding under the car sucks!)
20171028_003339_resized.jpg

And the worst part of this whole thing, while the bolt was spinning in place, the sliding nut that is inside the body backed out in the process...
20171028_003614_resized.jpg

So I'm not really sure what to do at this point. Cut a hole in there for access? Cut off the entire piece and weld it back on? Any ideas? I'm glad I got the bolt out but now I have a new problem to deal with...
 

mportedcivicsi

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I'd just cut an access. I had that happen on the subframe where the front LCA bolt carries through to the welded nut. I just used the hold that was there and a hole saw to open it up. Tossed a flat, lock washer and the nut back in place. Then, just for added security due to beating on the car, I went to a local hardware (like Fastenal) place and special ordered nylock nuts.
 

Jersey8

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Life has been pretty busy lately with work, kart racing league, wedding planning, and now holiday stuff so haven't had much time to provide updates.

I am pretty relieved because I was able to spend some time trying to fenagle the nut back in place for the toe compensator bolt. I plan to just weld it in place so it doesn't fall out again. I don't need that nut to slide on a track anymore because I will be installing adjustable toe arms. So glad I don't have to do any surgery!

I've been slowly working on sandblast/repaint of the driver side rear disc parts. Just waiting for the new wheel bearings and rotors to arrive and I will be starting to put everything back together, along with hardrace RTA bushings. Once I'm done with the driver side I plan on doing the same with the passenger side. Haven't ordered the pads yet - hoping to get these for xmas and I have the time to wait. Really happy with the turnout of the paint so far:
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Also I finally got my seats mounted! I decided to weld up my own brackets instead of paying for an overpriced piece of metal.
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