I figured it was time to start a thread detailing the build of my 98 Honda Civic CX.
I sold my S2000 and ended up picking up this hatchback off a buddy I know. I drive to Georgia every month and the S2000 wasn't cutting it on comfort on the 8 hour drive.
I know some you know or have heard of Level7 and Jesse Vaughn. He has been a part of some Honda Tuning builds and I'm thrilled that he's doing the work on my hatchback. This car started as just something I was going to put miles on, but has turned into much more then that. I've already forged some great friendships with everyone I've met during this process and its not even close to being done.
I'm gonna go ahead an thank
God for providing everything I need.
Jesse Vaughn, Drew Bowdler, and Chris Lacey
Level7 Motorsports
My supportive girlfriend, Taylor
Zerolift AutoLabs
ICB
HMotors
The State of Illinois for paying me big bucks LOL
This was my S2000 that I sold, loved the car, just wasn't what I needed right now.
Ended up shipping it out to a gentlemen in Las Vegas. This is what I ended up with. :thud:
Its a 98 Honda Civic CX that has been spray painted green then vinyl wrapped beige. Don't ask me why. Needless to say, my girlfriend wasn't super happy with me and I even questioned my decision. The car had to be trailered to Level7 on account of some broken wheels studs. I had started the car before I purchased it, but it wasn't safe to take for a drive with the missing studs. The engine bay had been rhino lined, but the engine seemed to be decent.
This is/was the modification list when I purchased the car
B16A engine (85,xxx miles)
Skunk 2 Stage 1 cams
Skunk 2 Intake manifold
Chipped P30 ECU with OBD2A to OBD1 conversion harness
Innovative Solid Track mounts (black bushings)
CUSCO solid exhaust mounts
Spoon Sports solid shift linkage bushings
A'PEXi GT spec Civic Type R header
HKS Hi Power cat back exhaust
GSR transmission (freshly rebuilt)
Clutchmaster Stage 2 clutch
ACT 12 lb flywheel
Civic Type R shift linkage
SAMCO black radiator hoses
Integra full size radiator
NGK spark plug wires
AGX struts with rebuilt Ground Control coils
SKUNK 2 front camber kit
Megan Racing rear camber kit
PIC Performance rear LCAs
Integra rear disc conversion
Stainless steel brake lines
The next day we replaced all the front wheel studs on both front wheels, installed steel braided brake lines up front, bled the brakes and took it for a spin.
It was throwing some codes and stumbling on itself upon acceleration. 2nd gear syncro's are missing upon deceleration. At this point I was devastated. Jesse reassured me that everything would check out, just let him go through the car on Monday
:thud:
Monday rolls around, he checks it over, rewires the conversion harness, wires the O2 sensor that was cut, adjusts the timing, puts new plugs in and fresh gas and its running like a top, excpet for 2nd gear, boooo
After seeing some damage to the core support, the decision was made to go SiR front and rear. We sourced a front cut from ZeroLift AutoLabs in Cinni, OH.
So we tore into it and man was it messed up. After removing several screws holding on the core support, we ended up just tearing it off by hand. The frame rail was somewhat bent, and parts of the car were just missing welds all together. There was about a 2 inch hold in the firewall that was covered by what look to be some sort of foil and caulk. I was depressed to say the least. Here are some pictures, its pretty rough.
We started the day like this:
Found some of these
Then this
Ripped it off by hand
gave us this
Drew Bowdler did some high quality motor pulling in 34 minutes we had this
and then ended the day like this
Needless to say, I was into the build at this point, and it didn't matter to me what was wrong. I am determined to see this build through.
While all this was happening I was ordering some little stuff here and there for the interior.
The next order of business was removing the rhino liner from the bay. We used some chemical coating remover and then had the engine bay sandblasted. All in all, not that hard to remove.
That ended up leaving us with this
The sandblasting did reveal that both the front wheel houses needed replacing. :mad:
At this point I didn't care at all anymore. I'm in it now. Might was well see it through.
After that, the vinyl was next to go. I will never EVER buy another vinyl wrapped car in my life. After three 10-12 hour days of peeling, heating and steaming. The vinyl was off. Special thanks to C. Lacey and C. Baker for helping with the vinyl
During this time, Jesse had made a trip up to Chicago and found myself a nice set of wheels for an awesome price (Thanks Brandon :hugs
16x7 SSR Type C's
Here are some more shots of the last of the vinyl peeling :hammer:
courtesy of C. Baker. Thanks
Ordered a SiR rear bumper, new SiR moldings for the front bumper, thin side moldings, and a new SiR lip! Thanks ICB and Hmotors!
After the vinyl was completely removed, it left us with the residue from the glue. Most of that has been removed though. We ended up fitting the front end onto the car. At this point I was just glad it was looking like a car again.
I started breaking down the engine for a good cleaning.
I ordered a Private Label narrow header, as this will be a car I need A/C in as I will be driving from Illinois to Georgia and back on the reg.
In the mean time, I finished up getting a fresh coat of paint on the engine and I ordered another little piece for the interior. Thanks Steve @ Hmotors
Just need a new valve cover now
I started off the day at Level 7 loading up all my interior pieces into my beater for two reasons. One was to get them out of the way and out of the shop, the other to give every piece a good cleaning before going back into the hatch
After that was done, we started work on the bay. Have fun finding those spot welds :scared:
after that the car was pushed into the booth for primer
then came the etch primer!
then the primer!
then we called it a day. :hugs:
I sold my S2000 and ended up picking up this hatchback off a buddy I know. I drive to Georgia every month and the S2000 wasn't cutting it on comfort on the 8 hour drive.
I know some you know or have heard of Level7 and Jesse Vaughn. He has been a part of some Honda Tuning builds and I'm thrilled that he's doing the work on my hatchback. This car started as just something I was going to put miles on, but has turned into much more then that. I've already forged some great friendships with everyone I've met during this process and its not even close to being done.
I'm gonna go ahead an thank
God for providing everything I need.
Jesse Vaughn, Drew Bowdler, and Chris Lacey
Level7 Motorsports
My supportive girlfriend, Taylor
Zerolift AutoLabs
ICB
HMotors
The State of Illinois for paying me big bucks LOL
This was my S2000 that I sold, loved the car, just wasn't what I needed right now.
Ended up shipping it out to a gentlemen in Las Vegas. This is what I ended up with. :thud:
Its a 98 Honda Civic CX that has been spray painted green then vinyl wrapped beige. Don't ask me why. Needless to say, my girlfriend wasn't super happy with me and I even questioned my decision. The car had to be trailered to Level7 on account of some broken wheels studs. I had started the car before I purchased it, but it wasn't safe to take for a drive with the missing studs. The engine bay had been rhino lined, but the engine seemed to be decent.
This is/was the modification list when I purchased the car
B16A engine (85,xxx miles)
Skunk 2 Stage 1 cams
Skunk 2 Intake manifold
Chipped P30 ECU with OBD2A to OBD1 conversion harness
Innovative Solid Track mounts (black bushings)
CUSCO solid exhaust mounts
Spoon Sports solid shift linkage bushings
A'PEXi GT spec Civic Type R header
HKS Hi Power cat back exhaust
GSR transmission (freshly rebuilt)
Clutchmaster Stage 2 clutch
ACT 12 lb flywheel
Civic Type R shift linkage
SAMCO black radiator hoses
Integra full size radiator
NGK spark plug wires
AGX struts with rebuilt Ground Control coils
SKUNK 2 front camber kit
Megan Racing rear camber kit
PIC Performance rear LCAs
Integra rear disc conversion
Stainless steel brake lines
The next day we replaced all the front wheel studs on both front wheels, installed steel braided brake lines up front, bled the brakes and took it for a spin.
It was throwing some codes and stumbling on itself upon acceleration. 2nd gear syncro's are missing upon deceleration. At this point I was devastated. Jesse reassured me that everything would check out, just let him go through the car on Monday
:thud:
Monday rolls around, he checks it over, rewires the conversion harness, wires the O2 sensor that was cut, adjusts the timing, puts new plugs in and fresh gas and its running like a top, excpet for 2nd gear, boooo
After seeing some damage to the core support, the decision was made to go SiR front and rear. We sourced a front cut from ZeroLift AutoLabs in Cinni, OH.
So we tore into it and man was it messed up. After removing several screws holding on the core support, we ended up just tearing it off by hand. The frame rail was somewhat bent, and parts of the car were just missing welds all together. There was about a 2 inch hold in the firewall that was covered by what look to be some sort of foil and caulk. I was depressed to say the least. Here are some pictures, its pretty rough.
We started the day like this:
Found some of these
Then this
Ripped it off by hand
gave us this
Drew Bowdler did some high quality motor pulling in 34 minutes we had this
and then ended the day like this
Needless to say, I was into the build at this point, and it didn't matter to me what was wrong. I am determined to see this build through.
While all this was happening I was ordering some little stuff here and there for the interior.
The next order of business was removing the rhino liner from the bay. We used some chemical coating remover and then had the engine bay sandblasted. All in all, not that hard to remove.
That ended up leaving us with this
The sandblasting did reveal that both the front wheel houses needed replacing. :mad:
At this point I didn't care at all anymore. I'm in it now. Might was well see it through.
After that, the vinyl was next to go. I will never EVER buy another vinyl wrapped car in my life. After three 10-12 hour days of peeling, heating and steaming. The vinyl was off. Special thanks to C. Lacey and C. Baker for helping with the vinyl
During this time, Jesse had made a trip up to Chicago and found myself a nice set of wheels for an awesome price (Thanks Brandon :hugs
16x7 SSR Type C's
Here are some more shots of the last of the vinyl peeling :hammer:
courtesy of C. Baker. Thanks
Ordered a SiR rear bumper, new SiR moldings for the front bumper, thin side moldings, and a new SiR lip! Thanks ICB and Hmotors!
After the vinyl was completely removed, it left us with the residue from the glue. Most of that has been removed though. We ended up fitting the front end onto the car. At this point I was just glad it was looking like a car again.
I started breaking down the engine for a good cleaning.
I ordered a Private Label narrow header, as this will be a car I need A/C in as I will be driving from Illinois to Georgia and back on the reg.
In the mean time, I finished up getting a fresh coat of paint on the engine and I ordered another little piece for the interior. Thanks Steve @ Hmotors
Just need a new valve cover now
I started off the day at Level 7 loading up all my interior pieces into my beater for two reasons. One was to get them out of the way and out of the shop, the other to give every piece a good cleaning before going back into the hatch
After that was done, we started work on the bay. Have fun finding those spot welds :scared:
after that the car was pushed into the booth for primer
then came the etch primer!
then the primer!
then we called it a day. :hugs:
