Best shell for an EK K-swap? Difference between shells??


Not sure what Civic only swap parts you have purchased? A DC2 is a good option, cheaper to buy than an EK9. I prefer the handling on an EK, just. Whatever you go for, the money saved on a lesser EK, could go toward a paint job, any colour. Im not sure on looks for the other EK's as Im not up on the different styles, EK4 probably. Changing panels is easy enough I guess but I wouldnt want the hassle. Budget talks in the end, Im sure by now you know the costs of a swap, real & fantasy.
 
Not sure what Civic only swap parts you have purchased? A DC2 is a good option, cheaper to buy than an EK9. I prefer the handling on an EK, just. Whatever you go for, the money saved on a lesser EK, could go toward a paint job, any colour. Im not sure on looks for the other EK's as Im not up on the different styles, EK4 probably. Changing panels is easy enough I guess but I wouldnt want the hassle. Budget talks in the end, Im sure by now you know the costs of a swap, real & fantasy.

I have bought ITR subframe, steering rack and EKK2 engine mounts, eg lower control arms and dc5 shifter cables. ALso have a fair few ep3 parts what con possibly be made to use aswell.

Fully aware of the costs involved, hence the question if building a car ground up, if its worth plunging for the ek9, or the less ej9 will do the job?
 
EJ will do the job plenty, cheapest, a few panel changes, interior upgrades, with a regular spray job, or leave it as it is, would attract less attention from people wanting to race you, or park it and forget it. As you say you want a full project, a bit of extra welding for strengthening will not be too much trouble at the start. Plenty of non Type R kswaps on here, they look just as good and go just as fast.
Have you test driven any of the EK/EJ/DC2 to get a better idea?
 
If you are Kswapping remember, you buy and ej9 and the engine is worth nothing. buy an ek9 for 4k and sell the engine/gbox etc for circa 1500. gives you an ek9 for 2.5g rather than a banger ej9 for 8-1000.
 
If you are Kswapping remember, you buy and ej9 and the engine is worth nothing. buy an ek9 for 4k and sell the engine/gbox etc for circa 1500. gives you an ek9 for 2.5g rather than a banger ej9 for 8-1000.

there are actually nice exmaples for that money, why do you say it'd be a banger for that price... http://pistonheads.com/sales/3637828.htm .. ... You are still saving £1500 - £1700 by your calculations by going for the Ej9.. i think £1700 worth of work on an EJ9 chassis will easily be better than a standard EK9 chassis.
side by side bare EJ9 shell to a bare EK9 shell is like a water to fire difference.
put £1700 into the EJ9 shell and leave the EK9 stock and it'll be like Fire to a Volcano difference, the EJ9 will easily be stiffer than the Ek9 chassis if you spend the money properly..
 
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EJ will do the job plenty, cheapest, a few panel changes, interior upgrades, with a regular spray job, or leave it as it is, would attract less attention from people wanting to race you, or park it and forget it. As you say you want a full project, a bit of extra welding for strengthening will not be too much trouble at the start. Plenty of non Type R kswaps on here, they look just as good and go just as fast.
Have you test driven any of the EK/EJ/DC2 to get a better idea?

Havent test driven any if im honest, nor have i been out in a kswap ek or an ej. A lad at work had a ej9 kswap, but never got around to having a drive/ride in it, he's broken it up now.:(( . Would love to have something likewhat you have, that would be pretty cool. Like you said thoh, building a car ground up, a little bit of seam welding shouldn't be much of a problem. Handling and performance is my first goal, looks second.

'689R' and 'Trophy-EK9', thanks for the replies guys, this is exactly why i posted this threadg up, seeing peoples opinions, reasons and kind of a debate going aswell which enables myself and other people to see this from all angles possible.

All this info will be very helpful to other people aswell in future.

TBH with you guys, right now im really swating towards the cheaper option EJ9,EK3 or EK4. The money saved over an EK9 shell, the money can be spent on aditional suspension and chassis mods which can make a pretty healthy difference. Steering wise i will already be using a DC2 subframe and steering rack so that should help greatly aswell.
 
hmmm, not sure bout some of the comments. whatever shell you want, if you want a good one, you have to pay the money.

i built mine to be different, this was three years ago, i paid well over the odds for my shell, but i wanted a shell that was untouched and absolutely mint.

i wanted to do a ground up build, and if your going to do everything, the shell doesn't matter, as long as it isn't a dog.

start with a good base, and the sky is the limit.
 
What ever shell I do get, will have to be a tidy one and rust free. Like you said, no dogs or rust buckets. I am and will be willing to pay and travel for the right shell.
Do it right the first time i say.

SI_VTI: is there a build thread somewhere for your car?
 
okay why are you wanting to buy a shell and not a running car? i doubt youd save as much money as you think if its to be a road car.

imo just buying an ek9 and selling the bits you dont need would be the best method.

Iv built a civic before, a non ek9, and no matter how sick it was, I always wished abit that it was an ek9.

if you buy an ej9 id be pretty sure youl end wishing you bought an ek9 if you have the cash.

and 1700 spent on an ej9 would make it stiffer than an ek9? okay so its stiffer but what about everything else haha, a standard ek9 looks cool. to make a ej9 looks cool talking minimum 1k then there is still, brakes, arbs, chassis, less ****ed bushes, interior, no sunroof. all these things would need to be rectified before it was even equal to an ek9 never mind bettter.

pleese original poster, if you arnt doing some mad ground up build and want a decent road car as well as track buy an ek9!!
 
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here you go, haven't got one on here yet...

http://www.civiclife.net/board/topic/30488-si-vtis-new-project-k20-build/page__st__1020

my point is the same as yours really 689r, basically, yes you could get a ek9 and sell the engine and get some money back, or you could just spend less in the first place.

my shell is a limited edition one which swayed me towards it for it being a bit more "rare", and had 57k on the clock.

i wanted to do a swap into an ej9 as it hadn't to my knowledge been done in an ej9 chassis in the uk at the time, and wanted to be that bit more different.
 
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I'm being biased, but get my Ej9 shell :) those who have seen it will agree :p
 
If it were me i'd be getting an early CRX shell and building that up.
Put enough effort into the right parts and you could end up with a fully built crx weighing in around 7-800kg's.
;)
 
CRX's are very hard to come by, and clean rust free ones are extremely rare id say.

SI VTI cant see the link you posted, will sign up to that forum to check it out.

I honestly do think if i bought a complete EK9, i don't think i could bring myself to breaking it, they are such nice cars to begin with, it would be a waste to break one up. But to have a ready broken one and bring it back on the road with a k20 planted would be better imo. Complete EK9, id prob use it as a daily driver as is with the b16.
Also dont really see the point of buying a complete ek9, then breaking it up only to change most of the parts. Cant really see myself paying around 5k for a ek9 only to break it up.

LANCE: i quiet fancy something like what you have, you can fire some pics away at me when you get a chance. Im also nipping down to view another ek4 locally. Will see how that goes.

I really do feel like i missed out on the rolling shell Firas was selling, if i had seen it the day he advertised it, i would have bought it the same day.
 
I honestly do think if i bought a complete EK9, i don't think i could bring myself to breaking it, they are such nice cars to begin with, it would be a waste to break one up.

sounds like you're letting your heart rule your head here.

when needs must and there's money to be saved ;)
 
good point there Goba.

After a long hard think, im best going for an ej9, ek3 or ek4 shell, not to mention no insurance company wants to touch an ek9 due to my postcode:-(
 
buy a ej car for sub 1k find a old lady thats owned it and with no rust! ggood starting point you can get the shell as good as a ek9 for still under the price you would pay for one and do the swap and save your self some cash, dotn gte me wrong i love ek9's but still over priced just the same as a ae86 is over priced for what it is! just pointing in what i would do ;)
 
good point there Goba.

After a long hard think, im best going for an ej9, ek3 or ek4 shell, not to mention no insurance company wants to touch an ek9 due to my postcode:-(

lol if they wont touch you for a ek9 how they going to with a k20! in it? come on you realy need to think here! and if your realy going to think about not telling them then hello jail if you crash, also mot's will soon be telling insurance about mods and alike on cars
 
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