Hey everyone, my names Tom and I'm from Sydney.
I've been thinking about starting my own blog for a while now (to help me remember and document the stages and different mods I've done to my car) but kept putting it off as I didn't feel my car was up to a standard I would be happy showing it off at. But, now I've decided to just do it otherwise I would never put anything up.
I'm going to put in some background and as much as I can remember (for my own benefit of a car diary mostly) so please bare with me and I forgive you of you don't read all of it haha.
I fell in love with Honda's back when my older sister got a 1996 EJ8 Vti Civic Coupe. I don't really know what it was considering it wasn’t the quickest or most spectacular looking car but something about the shape just drew me in. In my mind I always wanted to get a EK Civic (hatch or coupe) Vtir or a DC2R... but this all changed when I first saw the DC5R and RSX. I knew that this was what I wanted and would not accept anything else. So with that in my mind I started saving every penny and looking on Carsales multiple times a day as a way of living out the pipe dream.
Not long after getting my first decent full time office job I started looking for my first nice car deciding my 1984 carby Corolla would be relegated to daily duties. I originally started looking for a CW DC5R and after finding what I thought was the perfect car (with wheels, coils, carbon bonnet, GruppeM intake, Toda headers, HKS Hi-Powered silent exhaust system, K-Pro and tune) I went to inspect. After being floored by just how much about the car I loved (even more than I could ever imagined) I told the seller I would be coming back tomorrow to put a deposit down. The next morning I received a call from the seller saying that another person had come and made him an offer $1000 higher than what I had and if I could match it he would sell it to me as I was first to express interest. I looked at my finances and realised that it wasn't really possible for me to stretch my budget that far so I told the seller I would have to pass up on the car.
I was devastated to say the least. All I could think was that I had this perfect car and it slipped through my fingers... I thought that nothing would ever match what I almost had. My brother-in-law and sister confessed to me that they were happy that I had not gotten that CW DC5R as they were worried about me getting behind the wheel of something so highly modified and powerful (well compared to my Corolla) without gradually building up to it. I listened to their advice and decided to look for a stock example.
I kept looking though I was finding nothing. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t find anything when a friend told me that his uncle was considering selling his black S15 Spec R (which is also one of my favourite cars). I had seen this car on many occasions and how well it was maintained. All of these things made me seriously consider buying this car instead of the long wanted Integra. In the end I just couldn't pull the trigger as my mind had been so set on a DC5R for so long I wasn't sure if I would have been totally happy with the Nissan.
After not finding any other clean CW DC5R's and loving the sleek look of the black S15 I decided to widen my choice to include Nighthawk Black DC5R's as well... and boy am I glad I did. I found a clean 2002 NHB DC5R within my price range that had 85xxxk's on the clock. I promptly organised an inspection and after being overly impressed with the condition of the car I paid my deposit (to avoid the same debacle that happened with the CW one haha). A week later I was driving it home with the biggest smile on my face
Here's some pics from when I got her back in September 2006, sorry for the quality of most of the pics… most of them were taken on my various phones. For the parts I don’t have pics of I’ve taken some stock photos from the net:
After that I was content. Just knowing I had the car that I had been striving for in my garage made me happy. I would even go as far as to say "I'm happy just having the car, I don't know if I'll ever mod it " boy was I wrong... I guess in the back of my mind I always knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of time. In the end the car decided it would push me in that direction far quicker than I would have ever thought.
In the second year of having my car the clutch started to slip
I kept driving it while looking for a replacement and researching my options. Then as if it was fate a brand new Toda sports organic clutch and lightweight flywheel popped up for sale on the forum. I met up to purchase and promptly put my car in the garage to start the work.
Here's a pic of the clutch kit borrowed off the net as I never took a photo of it before install:
My brother-in-law is a qualified mechanic (but no longer in the industry) so he was confident on being able to do the work with the compressor and tools he had in our garage. Due to us both working a lot and not having much free time together it took us a fair while to complete the work but after a couple of weekends (only getting about an hour each Sunday) it was done. Boy was I happy with the result! The car felt like it was totally different. It revved so freely and felt like it just wanted to keep going. To say it was a joy to drive was an understatement! And thus the mod bug had bitten me and I was feeling it with full force.
Not long after my clutch had been installed I started looking for a new intake… originally wanting an Injen but not liking the massive void it left in the engine bay where the stock intake once was (yes I’m that anal haha) I decided I was going to get either a Mugen or GruppeM… Not only did they leave the bay looking more complete, they were also legal (being an enclosed box) and known amongst tuning circles as some of the best on the market. Not long after making this decision I noticed a thread on OzHonda saying that there was a group buy for GruppeM’s through a UK based forum. I read the thread, got the information and then I emailed a GruppeM rep directly and was told that the sale would start in two weeks and he would contact me when he knew the total amount to be paid by each person. Two weeks to the day my payment was made and my intake was on its way from Japan!
Pic (sorry it’s another stock photo):
Once I installed the intake (took me a few hours by myself on a Sunday afternoon) and went for a drive I was again smiling from ear to ear! The extra power felt nice but the crossover noise at VTEC was AMAZING! I couldn’t wait until every time I needed to get on a freeway/motorway and had room to plant my foot to get to merging speed. My only complaint was the ill-fitting cowl replacement that made squeaks from the engine bay a regular occurrence with every dab of the throttle. After a few tweaks and tactical placement of padded tape all squeaks were eventually minimised (but not entirely wiped out).
After this I told myself that I would take a break from spending money and time on the car… we’ve all said this right? But then I saw a Spoon Front Strut bar for sale and I had to have it, again telling myself that would be the last mod for a while (yeah right).
Pic of the GruppeM adjustment and then with the Spoon Front Strut installed:
Again the self-restraint lasted a little while before something I “had to have” popped up. A hodatech.com.au user was selling a full Toda exhaust system (exhaust, hi-flow cat and cat-back). After having a chat with the seller and him taking me for a drive in his Type S to let me hear the tone of the exhaust, I came to an agreement with him and he threw his EP3 front sway bar in with the sale, Champion.
Stock photo of DC5 Toda exhaust:
Straight from picking it up that Saturday morning I went to the workshop my brother-in-law was working at on the weekends. I put my car on the hoist to complete the install while he worked on the other cars and helped me as needed. A few hours and some improvisation later (2 spring bolts went missing) I was pulling my car out of the workshop to take it for a test drive. If anyone had seen my face I’m sure they would have thought I was on some type of drug as I was ECSTATIC and at one point I may have even laughed maniacally
This did however accentuate the wheel tramp I had been getting since I had installed my intake. A quick look around the internet for possible solutions when I got home found some Energy Suspension Motor Mount Inserts on their way to my place from the US. The next weekend the car was back on the hoist and the mount inserts installed. WOW! The car again was extra responsive to any touch of the throttle… people may complain about the vibrations but I thought they made the car feel more raw. Because Race Car!
Stock pic of Energy Suspension Motor Mount Inserts:
I've been thinking about starting my own blog for a while now (to help me remember and document the stages and different mods I've done to my car) but kept putting it off as I didn't feel my car was up to a standard I would be happy showing it off at. But, now I've decided to just do it otherwise I would never put anything up.
I'm going to put in some background and as much as I can remember (for my own benefit of a car diary mostly) so please bare with me and I forgive you of you don't read all of it haha.
I fell in love with Honda's back when my older sister got a 1996 EJ8 Vti Civic Coupe. I don't really know what it was considering it wasn’t the quickest or most spectacular looking car but something about the shape just drew me in. In my mind I always wanted to get a EK Civic (hatch or coupe) Vtir or a DC2R... but this all changed when I first saw the DC5R and RSX. I knew that this was what I wanted and would not accept anything else. So with that in my mind I started saving every penny and looking on Carsales multiple times a day as a way of living out the pipe dream.
Not long after getting my first decent full time office job I started looking for my first nice car deciding my 1984 carby Corolla would be relegated to daily duties. I originally started looking for a CW DC5R and after finding what I thought was the perfect car (with wheels, coils, carbon bonnet, GruppeM intake, Toda headers, HKS Hi-Powered silent exhaust system, K-Pro and tune) I went to inspect. After being floored by just how much about the car I loved (even more than I could ever imagined) I told the seller I would be coming back tomorrow to put a deposit down. The next morning I received a call from the seller saying that another person had come and made him an offer $1000 higher than what I had and if I could match it he would sell it to me as I was first to express interest. I looked at my finances and realised that it wasn't really possible for me to stretch my budget that far so I told the seller I would have to pass up on the car.
I was devastated to say the least. All I could think was that I had this perfect car and it slipped through my fingers... I thought that nothing would ever match what I almost had. My brother-in-law and sister confessed to me that they were happy that I had not gotten that CW DC5R as they were worried about me getting behind the wheel of something so highly modified and powerful (well compared to my Corolla) without gradually building up to it. I listened to their advice and decided to look for a stock example.
I kept looking though I was finding nothing. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t find anything when a friend told me that his uncle was considering selling his black S15 Spec R (which is also one of my favourite cars). I had seen this car on many occasions and how well it was maintained. All of these things made me seriously consider buying this car instead of the long wanted Integra. In the end I just couldn't pull the trigger as my mind had been so set on a DC5R for so long I wasn't sure if I would have been totally happy with the Nissan.
After not finding any other clean CW DC5R's and loving the sleek look of the black S15 I decided to widen my choice to include Nighthawk Black DC5R's as well... and boy am I glad I did. I found a clean 2002 NHB DC5R within my price range that had 85xxxk's on the clock. I promptly organised an inspection and after being overly impressed with the condition of the car I paid my deposit (to avoid the same debacle that happened with the CW one haha). A week later I was driving it home with the biggest smile on my face
Here's some pics from when I got her back in September 2006, sorry for the quality of most of the pics… most of them were taken on my various phones. For the parts I don’t have pics of I’ve taken some stock photos from the net:
After that I was content. Just knowing I had the car that I had been striving for in my garage made me happy. I would even go as far as to say "I'm happy just having the car, I don't know if I'll ever mod it " boy was I wrong... I guess in the back of my mind I always knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of time. In the end the car decided it would push me in that direction far quicker than I would have ever thought.
In the second year of having my car the clutch started to slip
I kept driving it while looking for a replacement and researching my options. Then as if it was fate a brand new Toda sports organic clutch and lightweight flywheel popped up for sale on the forum. I met up to purchase and promptly put my car in the garage to start the work.Here's a pic of the clutch kit borrowed off the net as I never took a photo of it before install:
My brother-in-law is a qualified mechanic (but no longer in the industry) so he was confident on being able to do the work with the compressor and tools he had in our garage. Due to us both working a lot and not having much free time together it took us a fair while to complete the work but after a couple of weekends (only getting about an hour each Sunday) it was done. Boy was I happy with the result! The car felt like it was totally different. It revved so freely and felt like it just wanted to keep going. To say it was a joy to drive was an understatement! And thus the mod bug had bitten me and I was feeling it with full force.
Not long after my clutch had been installed I started looking for a new intake… originally wanting an Injen but not liking the massive void it left in the engine bay where the stock intake once was (yes I’m that anal haha) I decided I was going to get either a Mugen or GruppeM… Not only did they leave the bay looking more complete, they were also legal (being an enclosed box) and known amongst tuning circles as some of the best on the market. Not long after making this decision I noticed a thread on OzHonda saying that there was a group buy for GruppeM’s through a UK based forum. I read the thread, got the information and then I emailed a GruppeM rep directly and was told that the sale would start in two weeks and he would contact me when he knew the total amount to be paid by each person. Two weeks to the day my payment was made and my intake was on its way from Japan!
Pic (sorry it’s another stock photo):
Once I installed the intake (took me a few hours by myself on a Sunday afternoon) and went for a drive I was again smiling from ear to ear! The extra power felt nice but the crossover noise at VTEC was AMAZING! I couldn’t wait until every time I needed to get on a freeway/motorway and had room to plant my foot to get to merging speed. My only complaint was the ill-fitting cowl replacement that made squeaks from the engine bay a regular occurrence with every dab of the throttle. After a few tweaks and tactical placement of padded tape all squeaks were eventually minimised (but not entirely wiped out).
After this I told myself that I would take a break from spending money and time on the car… we’ve all said this right? But then I saw a Spoon Front Strut bar for sale and I had to have it, again telling myself that would be the last mod for a while (yeah right).
Pic of the GruppeM adjustment and then with the Spoon Front Strut installed:
Again the self-restraint lasted a little while before something I “had to have” popped up. A hodatech.com.au user was selling a full Toda exhaust system (exhaust, hi-flow cat and cat-back). After having a chat with the seller and him taking me for a drive in his Type S to let me hear the tone of the exhaust, I came to an agreement with him and he threw his EP3 front sway bar in with the sale, Champion.
Stock photo of DC5 Toda exhaust:
Straight from picking it up that Saturday morning I went to the workshop my brother-in-law was working at on the weekends. I put my car on the hoist to complete the install while he worked on the other cars and helped me as needed. A few hours and some improvisation later (2 spring bolts went missing) I was pulling my car out of the workshop to take it for a test drive. If anyone had seen my face I’m sure they would have thought I was on some type of drug as I was ECSTATIC and at one point I may have even laughed maniacally
This did however accentuate the wheel tramp I had been getting since I had installed my intake. A quick look around the internet for possible solutions when I got home found some Energy Suspension Motor Mount Inserts on their way to my place from the US. The next weekend the car was back on the hoist and the mount inserts installed. WOW! The car again was extra responsive to any touch of the throttle… people may complain about the vibrations but I thought they made the car feel more raw. Because Race Car!Stock pic of Energy Suspension Motor Mount Inserts:
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Looks pretty cool, an aggressive wheel setup will pull off the matt paint much better!
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