96 Civic "Project Zero" track car


antz

antz

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Sep 24, 2015
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Hi all, you may remember me from a few months back when I picked up an EM1 VTi dirt cheap because it had been sat for ages and vandelised. When I found the engine was shot to pieces and had zero compression I abandoned ship and sold it on (for a profit) just to get it out of my way.

Since then I've joked with my mates about my old EM1 and how I wish it had worked because I'd loved to have sprayed it black, added a BGW and some neons then tracked it whilst pretending I was stealing DVD players.

So whilst browsing one of my favourite auction sites I stumbled upon a 1996 Civic EJ with a 1.4 non-VTEC and a whole 89 raging Mr Miyagis of power under the hood. Its a cat C write off because of a dented wing and the fact its done a gargantuan 182k miles but it has MOT until May and the best thing about it was the price.....

£139.52 delivered to my door!

So, what's the plan and why Project Zero?

Its called Project Zero because the plan is to modify this for as close to zero cost as possible! I'm thinking of doing a track day or two on the cheap so its going to be stripped out, on the deck, whatever cheap wheels I can find and some kind of exhaust so that little D series can work as best as it can and bash that limiter all day long.......whilst not making a complete dogs dinner of it and hopefully taking a bit of inspiration from the Kanjo scene on a budget.

Ive already raided my garage and found an old Recaro seat from a Rover 820 Vitesse, my genuine Takata harness which is currently going spare, a Nardi wheel, alloy gearknob, TRS tow strap, K&N cone filter, some carbon effect poly that might come in handy for something and an old bonnet which I'm sure will make a fine sunroof delete panel.

I would of preferred another B series car but I cant afford one and don't really fancy splashing that kind of cash on anything so this had to do. It was cheap, it has MOT and its expendable.

Some pics from the auction below (its not arrived yet so I have no proper pics)

Oh and if anyone has any advice on making this engine go a little better or any parts that they think I need, get in touch, I'm all ears........I wouldn't shy away from an engine swap if theres anything that's a bolt in upgrade for more power whilst keeping it cheap







 
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This is what it's about isn't it?!
I'd say your going to need to get weight out of it. Lots of weight!
Brake upgrade to like ek4 brakes or something that nobody else wants should be cheap.
Some cheap coilovers if you can find some.
Part worn rubber that's not legal should be cheap for track fun?
 
jesse888 said:
This is what it's about isn't it?!
I'd say your going to need to get weight out of it. Lots of weight!
Brake upgrade to like ek4 brakes or something that nobody else wants should be cheap.
Some cheap coilovers if you can find some.
Part worn rubber that's not legal should be cheap for track fun?
Click to expand...

Exactly! I know its going to be as slow as wind erosion but its all about the laughs and I cant think of anything more fun to do with £140 that doesn't involve hookers and blow. Least I wont have to use the brakes much on a track day because it wont be quick enough to need them haha

Ill be scouring ebay for cheap part worn rubber and some 15" alloys that fit.....part of me is thinking about a D16 engine conversion if its straight forward enough but right now, theres enough to do with making it go on a serious diet.

Think I need to get a wanted thread typed up......
 
As Jesse said , weight loss.
Pull out everything you won't be using
All interior panels , pas if you like, you could start cutting away at metal in the interior like the doors , the metal bracing around the dash is a maybe, drill holes in the rear panels like https://instagram.com/p/-zQ07CNJCF/

Cut away the rear bumper for aero
Sun roof out
The list is endless, if you're okay with wiring , my mate cut away a lot of wiring that just circles the interior so it can be shortened. Rear seat brackets can be cut out .

If you're sticking with the d14, you could do a mini me but that's more hassle than it's worth, d16 inlet , shorter ratio box. Lexan Windows ?

Cut the bonnet skin and have it held down with aero catches or bonnet pins same can be done for the boot.

That's my Input anyways haha.
 
Look forward to this!

Just a heads up, I had a EJ9 facelift for a couple of years before I got my EK4 (see a few photos in my thread) and I realised a lot of people didn't know that the facelift EJ9's came with 262's on the fronts (VTI brakes) so got to a breakers and you could pick them up cheap!

Also, DEFINITELY grab a D16Z6 inlet manifold, I got mine for free and took a little bit of work to get it in and fitted but really did make such a different in driving, power and noise - also generates space for you to run braces if needs be as the stock D14Z2 inlet is right in the way.

Get rid of everything, it'll be savage if you're using it as a daily but fun!!
 
Some later pre faces came with the fromt ARB and 262s up front too, usually the R and S reg.

If you have an arb, buy an ek4 front one just for an upgrade, they're exactly the same size and could be had cheaper because some people still don't know this.
 
handy with a welder? Could make up all your own braces etc
 
Shame I cant weld otherwise I would be a parts making machine. I can mock up but I cant weld which sucks.

Thanks for all the nuggets of info guys. Ill be sure to look for some 262 brakes and hit up the scrapyards locally for some bargains.

Spoke to the transport department of the auction side today and its being delivered tomorrow morning (along with an MX5 I bought)
 
Love this. If I find stuff in the garage you can use I'll send it your way.
 
And welding is easy to learn difficult to master. For what you're doing, if you can get a shot of a gas mig welder for a couple of hours, grab some scrap steel and have a play. Give it an hour and you'll have a feel for it. Welding is a lot like body work... It's all in the preparation.
 
Well its here! Got woken up by a call this morning at 8:30am from the transport company saying it'd be delivered in the next 30 minutes.....good job I had the day off work.

So.......first thing was to put some wind in the tyres and wash it down so I could inspect it. Other than the bent passenger wing, a rust bubble on the passenger sill at the rear and some surface scratches the bodywork is amazingly clean and not very "Civicish" in the usual rust areas. Also pulled about half a bucket of mud from the rear wheelarches. The paintwork on the front bumper is utter crap though and has been bodged before.







My mate Rich came round to inspect my purchase since he was the influence that made me buy a Civic and we decided that there was no time like the present to make a start on it. A couple of hours later we managed to tip a few cups of water out the rear lights then get the rear of the car stripped out. It needs tidying up and everything but to get all the seats and plastics out was a big step forward.





Need to get all the carpets out and continue stripping the interior down before I start buying too many shiny bits, namely coilovers and wheels.

I must say though, even though its a 1.4 it gets quite well and runs like a champ despite having 182k on the clock!

I raided my stash of parts and managed to find:
some stickers, a Nardi wheel, my genuine Takata harness, a gearknob and some Sparco pedals.

Also bought: Import shape rear numberplate, rear strutbrace, steering boss & a short shift lever.
 
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Not much has happened basically because I ran out of money and I've been busy stripping down an MX5 I bought to break for spares but had to strip in a single night by torchlight since someone decided to vandelise it before I started and I didn’t fancy losing money on parts whilst some little sod attacks it with their feet.

In Honda news…..

I got some more of the interior out. The carpet had to go because it was soaked right through. When you stood on it a pool of water rose out of it. Found 20p under it too. WINNING!

I’m contemplating getting rid of the sound deadening and cutting off the rear seat brackets to save a bit more weight. Bit OTT but I can’t envisage a cat C write off EJ9 with 182k on the clock being desirable in the future.



Got a rear strutbrace which makes it look a little bit more race car and less “I took my interior out bro!”



Ordered a rear import plate, steering boss, short shifter and lower tie bar brace from eBay China.



Cleaned the engine bay with the hoover and threw away the resonator box on the intake plus the air filter. Need a better induction setup….



That’s it really until I get more cash to buy more parts. But for now Ill continue stripping weight out where I can to get this little EJ9 as light as possible whilst not making a pigs ear of it.
 
Gut the doors and boot lid, also cut off the bracing under the bonnet so you just have a flimsy skin of metal.
 
I'm going to be cutting out my rear seat belt brackets , my mates also done it on his track toy EK, no idea on the weight of them but it's weight not needed . Have a look at the Americans street racing civics for inspiration on weight loss, they fit everything out and I mean everything.

Search 4bangerz and taiboogie on YouTube.
There's also loads of excess wiring that loops around the car which can be cut back which my mate also did, door skins like Liam said , sunroof .

Lots of stuff behind the dash that you may not want too.
 
Awesome thanks guys. When the weather improves and I don't have the worry about getting rained on, ill be getting the sunroof out and making a panel to go over the hole. Too cheap to buy a Stuke one so a section of old Volvo bonnet will do the job nicely.
 
Forgot I also bought some new wheels because the standard steels are just ****.

Bagged these Rials off ebay for £82. 16x7.5. Complete gamble. They might fit, they might not but for the price I was prepared to take the risk.

They need a complete repaint which Ill do with some aerosol tins. Im thinking Gold will set them off well.

$_12.JPG
 
If it's just a track car you could just remove the whole dash, gut the headlights and things like that.
I'd be making the weight goal like 800kg.
 
Not a huge fan of dashless cars. Id rather have something there to cover it, but then I think "oh I could leave that cubby hole there" and suddenly the whole dash it back in again haha.

I need it to still have an MOT so itll have to have full headlights etc too.

Thought I had some bonnet pins somewhere but cant find them.....
 
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