The Civic 25XT

[ChargeR]

To pass the time while I wait for the bits required for the roadworthy certificate to arrive I began stripping Manuel the donor car in preparation to transplant all the bits into the EF2. I needed to check what clutch to order too. Here's how it was at the start:








And that's how it finished. The engine from Manuel will go with Miguel to the metal recycler, it doesn't look like it had an oil change in some time so I don't think it's worth keeping.


I came across only one problem while I was removing bits, the gimp that did the last clutch change in Manuel put one of the front engine mount bolts in at at an angle, horribly cross threading it and upsetting me to boot. When I took it out it cracked the case and a chunk fell off:





Then I painted my rocker cover:











Fairly happy with the result. For those playing at home with VHT products it seems the key is to lay it on consistently thick in order to get even wrinkles. I added another couple of coats to the front and back of the cover as initially they didn't have enough coverage and weren't wrinkling as well as I'd hoped.


Cleaned the gearbox up a bit too:

[ChargeR]

Various


In the weeks following the above post a I organised a few small things in preparation for getting the EF2 on track. Firstly I had a helicoil put in the damaged part of the gearbox, by a gentleman that goes by the name of Thread Doctor. Good guy and service but pricey, so only for emergencies, like when you really can't be bothered finding another gearbox.





Also tidied up the last few items for roadworthy, including swapping in some better tail lights with new OEM gaskets, new sway bar end link bushes and some other stuff I can't remember. Also fitted some new boots struts which has greatly improved my quality of life, getting clubbed in the back of the head by the hatch had been a feature of both my EFs but no more.





Lastly I opened up the case on the gearbox from the donor car, mostly to count the teeth to confirm the gear ratios and final drive, in the table below for those interested. I also cleaned the magnets, and gave it a general look over. Synchros generally looked good and no damage to any of the gears that I could see so it should serve. The box:





The guts:





The ratios:





I mainly did this to confirm that the Australian ED6 had the same ratios and FD as the US Si and not the US poverty models. In the future I'd like to do a hybrid box with the 2-5th gears from the ED9 CR-X (1.944 1.346 1.033 0.878) combined with the existing 4.25 final drive, which should make the car a bit more brisk through the gears if I free up a few more RPMs in the top end. Another project for the future.

[ChargeR]

Having missed a bunch of deadlines to get my car on the road and then on the track, I finally got myself together and put the car together. Firstly with the help of my very patient and long suffering benefactor DCW I obtained a RWC, after changing a couple of suspension bushes, finding the best condition facelift EF/ED taillights in Melbourne (I bought a few) and some other minor things.


On Friday the 11th of October I registered the car with the good folk at Oakleigh VicRoads. Living the dream:





I then drove the car around for about 100km and then promptly parked it and pulled it apart again for the manual conversion. Earlier in the timeline while waiting for other parts I had ordered a clutch, Exedy OEM replacement, from the bay and had the flywheel from Manuel machined. Here's the flywheel fitted up after the auto box had been relegated to the trash:





From that point onward I put the clutch on and fitted up the gearbox, then the engine mounts and all those extra bits and pieces that make a car work. After the box was in the car and all seemed well it was time to tackle the hard part, the shift linkage, pedals and interior. So it turns out that you need to remove the dash to get the pedals out of an EF, so two dashes came out, and one went back in. During this process my patched climate control panel died. Honda made the tunnel different on the automatic cars so as a temporary solution I have a Type R red gaffer tape shift boot:





Eventually I'll cut up the tunnel from the donor and weld it into the EF2, it has a nice lip that the lower shift boot fits on to and is double skinned where the shift linkage bolts up. While the car was up on stands I thought I'd do some suspension tweaks. Conveniently I'd already arranged from a kind USDM gentleman to send me some Koni sport shocks, with GC coilover sleeves and Eibach 500lb/in and 450lb/in springs:





All done:





I then put the car on the ground and drove. I'm very pleased with the shocks and the ride comfort, reported to be "Heaps better than the Micra". Not so pleased that one of the front shocks is leaking from the adjuster, but that warranty claim can wait until after Winton. The car now looked like this, with wheels borrowed from the CR-X:











Continuing on, after a couple of days driving I flushed out the gearbox with some fresh Red Line MTL, and put some Red Line 10W-30 in the motor, as usual sourced from Mugsee at Autosphere (note the freshly painted valve cover):





In the process I buggered the valve cover gasket. So in the following week I:


- Adjusted the ride heights slightly (up!)
- Trimmed the front bump stops, and my finger.
- Replaced the rocker cover gasket
- Had a wheel alignment done. Zero toes.
- Fitted a fire extinguisher and blue triangle.


Alignment sheet (Looks like one of trailing arms might be wonky):





All this was in preparation for a sneaky test and tune at Winton on Melbourne Cup day. It was a Tampered Motorsport day, with the usual crowd these events attract. At least this time there were only 60 or so of them. First session I gingerly headed out and got a default PB with some traffic, heard a clunk coming down the front straight so came in to check car. Nothing. Second session I started to get into the swing of things and then the rear section of my exhaust fell off the hangers while going round the sweeper:





After some removal and reinstallation of the exhaust the 3rd session rolled around and more PBs. Managed a 1:52.8, so a little more than a second off my previous economy car PB. 4th session was more of the same but I couldn't put together a decent lap.


Session 1
2:01.3300
1:54.4630
2:04.2780


Session 2
2:02.5700
1:55.2980
1:56.8960


Session 3
2:00.6790
1:53.3050
2:04.0070
2:05.2970
1:53.0600
1:52.8180
2:05.8190


Session 4
2:05.5940
1:54.3150
1:53.8430
1:53.6010
1:53.0430
2:06.3310
1:52.8520


Some racechrono datas:





No pictures on track as I went by myself. Picture at the Benalla Shell as proof:





Overall the car was great on track. Excellent handling considering the lack of rear swaybar and tunings, a little bit of trail braking is just enough to get it to turn in very crisply and the front end is very responsive all the way to the exit. It loves to climb the kerbs. The gearbox was great and enjoyed the same shifting style as I'd previously employed in the Micra. The only let down is the massive lack of power, even with better mid corner speeds I can't match the speed of the Micra on the straights. Balls.


Remaining teething issues include non-working dash illumination, a busted climate control panel, and an inability to remove the key from the ignition barrel because the car doesn't realise it's in park. My reverse lights don't work yet either. Minor details though, nothing that will prevent PBs.

[ChargeR]

EXE DD

Final update, The EF2 has been getting me around the place with skill and efficiency just like his predecessor. The EXE double day happened since my last update, here's a brief rundown:


The car performed much as it did at the previous Tampered day, except the exhaust stayed attached this time. Pretty good turn in with a bit of trail braking, not as good mid corner as the Micra though, and as before it's really slow down the straights. Apart from that the brakes have quite poor initial bite, so I'd like to change the pads to something more aggressive.


About mid-way through the Saturday though I started hearing a grumbling sound from the front left when that side of the suspension was loaded up. So I skipped a session and jacked the car up to have a look. I checked everything for tightness (this being a car I had just assembled a couple of weeks before, mostly in the dark) but I couldn't find the source, so I ran a session or two more but the noise wouldn't go away.


My faith in the car sufficiently crushed I dedicated the rest of the weekend to passenger laps and just snuck in a couple of hot laps at the end of Sunday to try to crack a PB without any success.


Saturday:


2:14.2100
1:57.5180
2:00.9130
2:01.2620
2:00.8930


1:57.1560
1:55.7820
1:53.2000
1:52.6010
2:07.6050


1:53.1350
1:53.9200
2:03.3080
2:01.8430
1:56.2130


2:22.1200
1:56.1180
1:54.3720
1:54.0870
1:53.8360




Sunday:
2:15.3570
1:57.8240
1:56.5380
2:00.9190


1:55.4410
1:58.1110
1:53.5540
1:53.2040


Some pictures thanks to S14Jim:








In the end though I did manage a slight PB and I drove home, which as I always say is a good outcome for this type of event.


Before the next outing I'd like to do the front wheel bearings and hubs in hopes of correcting the dodgy noise from the front end. If that doesn't do it I might put the driveshafts out of the manual donor car, just in case the automatic ones are different and that's what's making the noise.


In other news some fool smashed my passenger side window to steal the change out of my coin pocket, my GPS receiver and a 13mm ratcheting spanner. So now I have a mismatched blue tint AUDM passenger window, and a gaping void in my set of ratcheting spanners.

[eskimo_firefighter]

"an inability to remove the key from the ignition barrel because the car doesn't realise it's in park."

Say what??....... You had to leave the key in there every time you park everywhere? That's just crazy, haha.

Good stuff at Winton, I have faith that you will get under 1:50 with this machine. If you want a slight boost, you can purchase my A048's for super cheap if you're keen haha.

Did not know your car was broken into, I also know how that feels.

[ChargeR]

"an inability to remove the key from the ignition barrel because the car doesn't realise it's in park."

Say what??....... You had to leave the key in there every time you park everywhere? That's just crazy, haha.

Good stuff at Winton, I have faith that you will get under 1:50 with this machine. If you want a slight boost, you can purchase my A048's for super cheap if you're keen haha.

Did not know your car was broken into, I also know how that feels.

Thanks guy. Yes, because the car wasn't in park the key wouldn't come out, so every time I parked I had to disconnect the battery to remove the key. I've fixed that since luckily, with some adjustment of the wiring.

I think that sub 1:50 should be achievable without many changes, but I'd like to do it on street tyres . Do you have any racechrono data from your PB laps in the EK? It would be good to compare.

[felixR]

Epic updates Tom. As an ex-ED owner, I love what you've done with the car! Makes me wish I had the skills to do the same!

[ChargeR]

Epic updates Tom. As an ex-ED owner, I loved what you've done with the car! Makes me wish I had the skills to do the same!

Thanks Felix! I'm not sure 'skills' is the right word though.

[eskimo_firefighter]

Thanks guy. Yes, because the car wasn't in park the key wouldn't come out, so every time I parked I had to disconnect the battery to remove the key. I've fixed that since luckily, with some adjustment of the wiring.

I think that sub 1:50 should be achievable without many changes, but I'd like to do it on street tyres . Do you have any racechrono data from your PB laps in the EK? It would be good to compare.

Sorry ChargeR, never had a proper phone holder to use race chrono unfortunately. I wish I did too because it would've helped me quite a bit comparing the speeds of the ultimate spec white EK to the inferior silver EK.

[ChargeR]

Not too much happening on the EF2 front, I managed to connect the right wires so the car thinks it's in park all the time so I can get the key out of the ignition. Still haven't solved the reverse lights mystery, and I really need to the get the JDM "ding ding ding" when the car is in reverse to work. Added something new to my lounge room collection of wheels though, thanks to Mr. Streeter:



I need to get some nuts, since 14" MK2s use a funky shank style nut, and some tyres. I also acquired a good condition set of OEM floor mats, as a partial trade for my old B16A. No pictures though sorry.

[ChargeR]

Today I finally had a chance to test fitting the MK2s on the EF2, after getting a set of nuts from Mr. Streeter a few weeks ago. I wanted to put them on before fitting tyres to see how much room I was going to have for said tyre and also what spacer I'd need to get wheel to clear the brakes. The backs of the SSR MK series of wheels are pretty much flat, and on the front ED9 brakes the caliper and bracket protrude slightly past the mounting face of the wheel, so a spacer was always going to be necessary.

Here's how it looked, with the suspension lifted up to my new desired ride height:





A little pokey, just what I wanted:



Less pokey at the rear:



The wheels are 14x7 +12 (effectively +7 w/ spacer) at the front, and 14x6.5 +19 (+14 with the 5mm spacer as pictured). Based on how pokey it is I've decided to go for a 175/60 tyre, which is a little smaller than OEM diameter and is conveniently available in one good performance tyre. A 5mm spacer was needed at the front, and I threw one on at the back to make it a little more flush.

The car also has a minor starting issue at the moment, suspect dodgy ignition switch. Luckily I have a spare.

[plAythiNG]

This is going to look amazing@

[stienerv2]

Omg I love this. I love EDs in general and how they handle.

[ChargeR]

This is going to look amazing@

Thanks Alex, hopefully!

Omg I love this. I love EDs in general and how they handle.

Thanks. I'm getting to be a bit of a fan of the EFs too .

[MYDC5R]

Looking really good Tom, almost there it would seem!