Edgar friendly
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- Jun 5, 2009
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Item for sale: Pre-facelift 1998 EK9 B20
Reputation: Edgar friendly
Price: £3500 - Open to offers
Location: N Wales close to A55, Conwy.
Right guys. After much deliberation I have finally decided to put my EK9 up for sale as I donât feel itâs the right car for me. I also donât want to throw any more money in to it as I will not get anything back on the car so I will be going for an S2000 or DC5 which is what I should have done in the first place, no disrespect to the EK9.
First of all this car has some history so I must make this clear before anyone buys it. I am going to be as open and honest as I can about the car. Some info about it first though.
Itâs a pre-facelift EK9 Race Base model on a 98 reg, most of you know about the race base models but for those that donât it was the lightweight version of the normal EK9 but without the gadgets and luxuries, this means that the spec was very basic out of the factory.
It didnât come with red Recaros, standard red carpet, E/W, ABS etc however this car does have PAS. Itâs currently got front and rear seats from an EK4 1.6 VTI installed. It has no interior carpet or roof lining and no sound deadening whatsoever, bar the seats and dashboard etc it is completely stripped. It also has no sun visor either so youâd need to fit one or do what I do and wear shades. This car was bought by the previous owner (Daz from Endless Horizon) with the intention of it being a track car not a road car so itâs noisy but personally I kind of like it, it doesnât really bother me, makes it rawer if anything.
I do have a set of 96 spec DC2 black Recaros that will come with the sale. These arenât in the car yet because I only have the EK9 rails for the driverâs side and donât have any rails for the passenger side yet so these would need to be sourced by whoever buys it if you want both Recaros in. Another thing too is that the Recaros are currently welded to CRX VT rails as they came out of my old CRX (Wasnât me that welded them on btw it was the previous owner) so that would need sorting out too. The seats generally are in pretty good condition, not A1 but pretty good. I recently cleaned them with a suede brush and some autoglym hi-foam but ideally they could do with new bolsters to get them looking pristine.
Now there is a fair bit of history with this car and I must go over this in detail before any prospective buyer potentially buys it off me. I also want to ensure that nothing is hidden either so I will be as honest as I can about the car, any further questions please feel free to ask and I will try and answer as best I can to my knowledge.
Here is a link to the car when it was owned by Nick (D2 TEX).
http://www.ek9.org/forum/builds-projects/4366-my-ek9-past-present.html
Also if you want to see the original thread for when I bought the car off Daz you can find it here on CRX UK however you will need to register to view it.
CRX-UK :: Log in
Prior to Nick buying the car it had been involved in a front end smash and was therefore declared a CAT C write off however I messaged Nick about it over on CRX UK before buying it and had assurances from him that the repairs were made to a very high standard otherwise he wouldnât have bought the car if it hadnât been. I think he also made some further repairs to the car himself too I believe.
The next owner after Nick decided to sell it as the engine blew up, it had a B18C5 or 6 in it at that point I think not the standard B16B and he decided to then break it and he sold sold literally everything and I mean everything off the car so in case anyone is wondering why it doesnât have the standard engine, no 5 stud hubs/wheels, black mirrors and black side skirts instead of the standard CW then this is why. I can assure you it is an EK9 and it is on the log book. There is not much paper work history bar the V5 with this car Iâm afraid apart from the few things Iâve done to it.
I bought it off Daz at Endless/DNR around 3 months ago who is renowned for building some of the best B20âs in the country. He had the car as a rolling shell and his plans were to build it up as his own track car however he has got very involved in drag racing of late so had to shelve the trackcar idea and decided to sell it on. I saw it for sale on CRX UK as I had a CRX VT at the time so managed to get the car in part-ex plus cash Dazâs way as I really wanted it, Iâd heard good things about the EK9.
He had the car for sale at £3750, this came with the option of either having a poor manâs 1.8 ITR engine build (B18C4) so essentially a poor mans B18C5/6 or a B20 installed â I opted for the B20 as I had heard great things about them and tbh I havenât been disappointed when the car has been running well. It is a pretty quick car, a different sort of speed to a B16.
He arranged for it to be built up for me, itâs actually been built by one of his guys not Daz himself which I think has been the main cause of some of the issues Iâve had which I will come to now. My mechanic says that bar its problems itâs actually been built very well engine wise, doesnât use any water whatsoever and hardly any oil either. The chassis is also very strong too even though itâs been involved in a shunt and it is literally a rust free example.
Engine - Itâs a very basic B20 build consisting of a B20Z bottom end, ITR head so ITR cams, valves and retainers, the deck has been honed and cleaned. It has a pretty crap Apexi intake/induction kit so this could do with being replaced. It currently has a PLM RMF 4-1 header which a lad over on CRX UK kindly let me borrow so that I could get it re-tuned however this will not be coming with the car. Before I sell it I will be putting on a basic B16A/B cast manifold unless someone has their own manifold that they want to install. The PLM doesnât belong to me so it wonât be coming with the sale I must make that clear, this also means that power will likely be down compared to what it is now.
When I got it it had a knackered 5Zigen exhaust system which was rusted as well as an awful 4-1 Megan exhaust manifold which made it sound horrendous and it was pumping out around 204bhp according to Daz, not sure of torque figs Iâm afraid chaps. The gearbox I think is an S80 not an S4C as per Dazâs advert. It has an ACT or Helix clutch, again says ACT on the advert however Daz told me it is a Helix clutch not ACT, either way itâs an uprated non-standard clutch.
Iâve since had a full 2.5â stainless steel custom exhaust built which cost me £450. Itâs based on the Spoon N1 in style so the exhaust is now sorted and combined with the deeper engine tone of the B20 sounds a lot better than it did before, it is quite loud though especially as the car is stripped but I can live with it so Iâm sure others can too. I believe with the manifold and exhaust thatâs on it would probably be nearer 210bhp if not more with improved torque too so installing a decent TRI-Y or 4-1 header would really help this car followed by a good rolling road tune and youâd really start to see some of the potential this car has, it could be a real track weapon in the right hands. Bear in mind itâs likely to need another re-tune again once a different manifold has been put on. Whoever buys it will have to sort that out themselves.
The car is currently mapped on CROME software using a chipped P28/P30 ECU and Daz has the map on his laptop. Itâs been back for a re-tune with him around a month or so ago but it still isnât running right and hasnât been pretty much since day one which is why I want to sell it. There are other minor issues with it. It has a leaking oil line and a few other leaks and niggles that need sorting however Daz has agreed to come and collect the car from me next weekend and is going to take it away for a week where he is going to repair all the leaks and niggly problems and more than likely re-tune the car again while itâs with him.
Iâm 100% confident it should come back with no further issues and should run a lot sweeter and smoother once I get it back. The reason itâs had a few issues is because he didnât really have enough time to properly test the car for any problems before selling it to me and therefore couldnât thoroughly check how it runs and to check for any other problems.
Now I had been in recent contact with VTEC6000 (Aonghus) who had contacted me to mention about his tuning services as he can re-tune the B20 on Neptune which I believe is a better ECU re-mapping system. As you all know his work is fantastic so perhaps as an option for anyone buying the car is maybe to contact Aonghus and see what he can offer moving forward. Ideally the ITR Cams could do with being dialed in a bit better as this would improve the carâs driveability so combine that with any uprated modifications and it would go pretty well.
As for modifications, bar the engine there are a few other things. The exhaust Iâve already mentioned, it has coilovers. Now apparently these are either Zeals or Daiyamas, tbh I donât think theyâre neither â they certainly donât look like Zeals or Daiyamas however my mechanic says they are in very good condition whatever suspension they are, it is a Jap suspension of some sorts (I donât have any pictures of these Iâm afraid).
Theyâre not great for the road to be completely honest, possibly ok for the track but I find them very hard especially over bumps. The car is pretty slammed as you can see from the pictures which doesnât help the handling so increasing the road height might be a good thing and also may help the handling.
It has a Seibon EVO Carbon bonnet which although is mega light itâs also a bit daft looking so again a standard EK9 bonnet would certainly be an improvement looks wise, these bonnets cost $750 in America. Finally it has a Mugen/Bomex replica rear spoiler. I actually quite like it but itâs not to everyoneâs taste. It has black Sprint SW96 replica 15â alloys which I bought myself and I feel they really suit the car and make it look more of a Type-R imo. These are sitting on 3 x Yokohama Paradas and 1 x Toyo T1R (I think) all with lots of tread left remaining. As it has 4 stud hubs and not 5 it doesnât come with the bigger brakes of the standard EK9, it has EG6 VTI front and rear brakes but these are still really good brakes and the car stops very well.
Iâve recently had a full geometry setup and 4 wheel alignment which cost me £96 however the handling is still not at 100% and could be better especially if the height is increased. As for the car itself, when itâs running properly it goes really well but it hasnât always ran properly hence why itâs going back to Daz for where fingers crossed all the little problems will be sorted.
It can be quite hesitant/kangaroos at times mainly at low speed and when pulling off in 1st and it shouldnât suffer from these problems with it being a B20 as the low down torque should help here but I believe this is to do with the tuning of the car, nothing major.
Any interested party is free to do whatever checks/test drives you want on the car but I donât want any bellends coming down dicking me around just so you can test drive the car. This is a ****ing quick motor and needs to be treated with a bit of respect so please if youâre genuinely interested and I trust you youâre welcome to drive it. If I think youâre a twat or basically donât like the look of you or you come down with millions of your mates you wonât be taking the car anywhere. Itâs that simple.
In terms of the engine itself like Iâve said it hardly uses any oil and hardly any water. I believe the cambelt, water pump and tensioners were all done by Daz during the build as well as all fluids drained and replaced. Iâve had to put new RTA bushes on it, fixed a CV boot and also the alternator belt too so theyâre all sorted. The engine mounts were also damaged so these have been fixed too.
Bodywork is ok, not great. In most places itâs fine but there is a small dent on one of the doors which came from me polishing it. There are little dinks and marks all around the car which youâd expect from a car of this age so it wonât be any different from any other EK9 in that sense. The bumpers, wings, bonnet and spoiler have all been recently re-sprayed however the bumper could do with a some work on it as Iâve managed to scrape it coming in and out of my driveway as the car is so low so it makes the front of the car look somewhat tatty which spoils it.
I canât really think of anything else here, if I do I will post back with it. As for price I know Iâm going to have to take a hit on the car due to the history of it mainly and the few problems it has too. Iâm going to put it up for £3500 but I am open to offers as I appreciate there is a lot of history with the car.
It has tax till 31/08/2013 and another 7 or 8 months MOT left remaining. It has the potential to be a cracking motor especially with the engine thatâs in it. With improved bolt ons such as intake and both inlet and exhaust manifold as well as better cams it would be a bit of a beast, perhaps itâs more suited as a trackday car rather than an everyday car but with a better suspension it would also make a great everyday car.
Hopefully Iâve been as transparent as possible here. I know I may have painted a slightly negative picture of the car here but if truth be told bar the tuning problems it generally is fine and I reckon once I get it back it will be a much nicer car to drive. I donât want to start a big debate about the car and itâs problems as itâs been done already so if anyone has genuine interest or has any questions please feel free to contact me on this thread or via PM or email at marc.thomas7@yahoo.co.uk
Car is based in N.Wales.
Thanks,
Marc
Reputation: Edgar friendly
Price: £3500 - Open to offers
Location: N Wales close to A55, Conwy.
Right guys. After much deliberation I have finally decided to put my EK9 up for sale as I donât feel itâs the right car for me. I also donât want to throw any more money in to it as I will not get anything back on the car so I will be going for an S2000 or DC5 which is what I should have done in the first place, no disrespect to the EK9.
First of all this car has some history so I must make this clear before anyone buys it. I am going to be as open and honest as I can about the car. Some info about it first though.
Itâs a pre-facelift EK9 Race Base model on a 98 reg, most of you know about the race base models but for those that donât it was the lightweight version of the normal EK9 but without the gadgets and luxuries, this means that the spec was very basic out of the factory.
It didnât come with red Recaros, standard red carpet, E/W, ABS etc however this car does have PAS. Itâs currently got front and rear seats from an EK4 1.6 VTI installed. It has no interior carpet or roof lining and no sound deadening whatsoever, bar the seats and dashboard etc it is completely stripped. It also has no sun visor either so youâd need to fit one or do what I do and wear shades. This car was bought by the previous owner (Daz from Endless Horizon) with the intention of it being a track car not a road car so itâs noisy but personally I kind of like it, it doesnât really bother me, makes it rawer if anything.
I do have a set of 96 spec DC2 black Recaros that will come with the sale. These arenât in the car yet because I only have the EK9 rails for the driverâs side and donât have any rails for the passenger side yet so these would need to be sourced by whoever buys it if you want both Recaros in. Another thing too is that the Recaros are currently welded to CRX VT rails as they came out of my old CRX (Wasnât me that welded them on btw it was the previous owner) so that would need sorting out too. The seats generally are in pretty good condition, not A1 but pretty good. I recently cleaned them with a suede brush and some autoglym hi-foam but ideally they could do with new bolsters to get them looking pristine.
Now there is a fair bit of history with this car and I must go over this in detail before any prospective buyer potentially buys it off me. I also want to ensure that nothing is hidden either so I will be as honest as I can about the car, any further questions please feel free to ask and I will try and answer as best I can to my knowledge.
Here is a link to the car when it was owned by Nick (D2 TEX).
http://www.ek9.org/forum/builds-projects/4366-my-ek9-past-present.html
Also if you want to see the original thread for when I bought the car off Daz you can find it here on CRX UK however you will need to register to view it.
CRX-UK :: Log in
Prior to Nick buying the car it had been involved in a front end smash and was therefore declared a CAT C write off however I messaged Nick about it over on CRX UK before buying it and had assurances from him that the repairs were made to a very high standard otherwise he wouldnât have bought the car if it hadnât been. I think he also made some further repairs to the car himself too I believe.
The next owner after Nick decided to sell it as the engine blew up, it had a B18C5 or 6 in it at that point I think not the standard B16B and he decided to then break it and he sold sold literally everything and I mean everything off the car so in case anyone is wondering why it doesnât have the standard engine, no 5 stud hubs/wheels, black mirrors and black side skirts instead of the standard CW then this is why. I can assure you it is an EK9 and it is on the log book. There is not much paper work history bar the V5 with this car Iâm afraid apart from the few things Iâve done to it.
I bought it off Daz at Endless/DNR around 3 months ago who is renowned for building some of the best B20âs in the country. He had the car as a rolling shell and his plans were to build it up as his own track car however he has got very involved in drag racing of late so had to shelve the trackcar idea and decided to sell it on. I saw it for sale on CRX UK as I had a CRX VT at the time so managed to get the car in part-ex plus cash Dazâs way as I really wanted it, Iâd heard good things about the EK9.
He had the car for sale at £3750, this came with the option of either having a poor manâs 1.8 ITR engine build (B18C4) so essentially a poor mans B18C5/6 or a B20 installed â I opted for the B20 as I had heard great things about them and tbh I havenât been disappointed when the car has been running well. It is a pretty quick car, a different sort of speed to a B16.
He arranged for it to be built up for me, itâs actually been built by one of his guys not Daz himself which I think has been the main cause of some of the issues Iâve had which I will come to now. My mechanic says that bar its problems itâs actually been built very well engine wise, doesnât use any water whatsoever and hardly any oil either. The chassis is also very strong too even though itâs been involved in a shunt and it is literally a rust free example.
Engine - Itâs a very basic B20 build consisting of a B20Z bottom end, ITR head so ITR cams, valves and retainers, the deck has been honed and cleaned. It has a pretty crap Apexi intake/induction kit so this could do with being replaced. It currently has a PLM RMF 4-1 header which a lad over on CRX UK kindly let me borrow so that I could get it re-tuned however this will not be coming with the car. Before I sell it I will be putting on a basic B16A/B cast manifold unless someone has their own manifold that they want to install. The PLM doesnât belong to me so it wonât be coming with the sale I must make that clear, this also means that power will likely be down compared to what it is now.
When I got it it had a knackered 5Zigen exhaust system which was rusted as well as an awful 4-1 Megan exhaust manifold which made it sound horrendous and it was pumping out around 204bhp according to Daz, not sure of torque figs Iâm afraid chaps. The gearbox I think is an S80 not an S4C as per Dazâs advert. It has an ACT or Helix clutch, again says ACT on the advert however Daz told me it is a Helix clutch not ACT, either way itâs an uprated non-standard clutch.
Iâve since had a full 2.5â stainless steel custom exhaust built which cost me £450. Itâs based on the Spoon N1 in style so the exhaust is now sorted and combined with the deeper engine tone of the B20 sounds a lot better than it did before, it is quite loud though especially as the car is stripped but I can live with it so Iâm sure others can too. I believe with the manifold and exhaust thatâs on it would probably be nearer 210bhp if not more with improved torque too so installing a decent TRI-Y or 4-1 header would really help this car followed by a good rolling road tune and youâd really start to see some of the potential this car has, it could be a real track weapon in the right hands. Bear in mind itâs likely to need another re-tune again once a different manifold has been put on. Whoever buys it will have to sort that out themselves.
The car is currently mapped on CROME software using a chipped P28/P30 ECU and Daz has the map on his laptop. Itâs been back for a re-tune with him around a month or so ago but it still isnât running right and hasnât been pretty much since day one which is why I want to sell it. There are other minor issues with it. It has a leaking oil line and a few other leaks and niggles that need sorting however Daz has agreed to come and collect the car from me next weekend and is going to take it away for a week where he is going to repair all the leaks and niggly problems and more than likely re-tune the car again while itâs with him.
Iâm 100% confident it should come back with no further issues and should run a lot sweeter and smoother once I get it back. The reason itâs had a few issues is because he didnât really have enough time to properly test the car for any problems before selling it to me and therefore couldnât thoroughly check how it runs and to check for any other problems.
Now I had been in recent contact with VTEC6000 (Aonghus) who had contacted me to mention about his tuning services as he can re-tune the B20 on Neptune which I believe is a better ECU re-mapping system. As you all know his work is fantastic so perhaps as an option for anyone buying the car is maybe to contact Aonghus and see what he can offer moving forward. Ideally the ITR Cams could do with being dialed in a bit better as this would improve the carâs driveability so combine that with any uprated modifications and it would go pretty well.
As for modifications, bar the engine there are a few other things. The exhaust Iâve already mentioned, it has coilovers. Now apparently these are either Zeals or Daiyamas, tbh I donât think theyâre neither â they certainly donât look like Zeals or Daiyamas however my mechanic says they are in very good condition whatever suspension they are, it is a Jap suspension of some sorts (I donât have any pictures of these Iâm afraid).
Theyâre not great for the road to be completely honest, possibly ok for the track but I find them very hard especially over bumps. The car is pretty slammed as you can see from the pictures which doesnât help the handling so increasing the road height might be a good thing and also may help the handling.
It has a Seibon EVO Carbon bonnet which although is mega light itâs also a bit daft looking so again a standard EK9 bonnet would certainly be an improvement looks wise, these bonnets cost $750 in America. Finally it has a Mugen/Bomex replica rear spoiler. I actually quite like it but itâs not to everyoneâs taste. It has black Sprint SW96 replica 15â alloys which I bought myself and I feel they really suit the car and make it look more of a Type-R imo. These are sitting on 3 x Yokohama Paradas and 1 x Toyo T1R (I think) all with lots of tread left remaining. As it has 4 stud hubs and not 5 it doesnât come with the bigger brakes of the standard EK9, it has EG6 VTI front and rear brakes but these are still really good brakes and the car stops very well.
Iâve recently had a full geometry setup and 4 wheel alignment which cost me £96 however the handling is still not at 100% and could be better especially if the height is increased. As for the car itself, when itâs running properly it goes really well but it hasnât always ran properly hence why itâs going back to Daz for where fingers crossed all the little problems will be sorted.
It can be quite hesitant/kangaroos at times mainly at low speed and when pulling off in 1st and it shouldnât suffer from these problems with it being a B20 as the low down torque should help here but I believe this is to do with the tuning of the car, nothing major.
Any interested party is free to do whatever checks/test drives you want on the car but I donât want any bellends coming down dicking me around just so you can test drive the car. This is a ****ing quick motor and needs to be treated with a bit of respect so please if youâre genuinely interested and I trust you youâre welcome to drive it. If I think youâre a twat or basically donât like the look of you or you come down with millions of your mates you wonât be taking the car anywhere. Itâs that simple.
In terms of the engine itself like Iâve said it hardly uses any oil and hardly any water. I believe the cambelt, water pump and tensioners were all done by Daz during the build as well as all fluids drained and replaced. Iâve had to put new RTA bushes on it, fixed a CV boot and also the alternator belt too so theyâre all sorted. The engine mounts were also damaged so these have been fixed too.
Bodywork is ok, not great. In most places itâs fine but there is a small dent on one of the doors which came from me polishing it. There are little dinks and marks all around the car which youâd expect from a car of this age so it wonât be any different from any other EK9 in that sense. The bumpers, wings, bonnet and spoiler have all been recently re-sprayed however the bumper could do with a some work on it as Iâve managed to scrape it coming in and out of my driveway as the car is so low so it makes the front of the car look somewhat tatty which spoils it.
I canât really think of anything else here, if I do I will post back with it. As for price I know Iâm going to have to take a hit on the car due to the history of it mainly and the few problems it has too. Iâm going to put it up for £3500 but I am open to offers as I appreciate there is a lot of history with the car.
It has tax till 31/08/2013 and another 7 or 8 months MOT left remaining. It has the potential to be a cracking motor especially with the engine thatâs in it. With improved bolt ons such as intake and both inlet and exhaust manifold as well as better cams it would be a bit of a beast, perhaps itâs more suited as a trackday car rather than an everyday car but with a better suspension it would also make a great everyday car.
Hopefully Iâve been as transparent as possible here. I know I may have painted a slightly negative picture of the car here but if truth be told bar the tuning problems it generally is fine and I reckon once I get it back it will be a much nicer car to drive. I donât want to start a big debate about the car and itâs problems as itâs been done already so if anyone has genuine interest or has any questions please feel free to contact me on this thread or via PM or email at marc.thomas7@yahoo.co.uk
Car is based in N.Wales.
Thanks,
Marc
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