JohnTurbo's EJ9 B18C4 Shed


Actually quite to opposite! Just feeling it out as I go along.

Bit of a catchup - had an accident with my car being left in gear by soebody who moved it. When I started it through the open window it drive into a metal bench:-

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The paint crazed anf life is too short so I decided while I could face rubbing back the spoiler, I'd buy a new bumper.

Used some adhesion promoter this time which runs horribly but should make the finish more robust.

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Painted and ready to go back on;

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Next up I spotted some Skunk2 Pro-C coilovers for a good price. They are a height adjustable monotube design, so an upgrade over my Gaz GHA.

I spent houuurs taking the rings and springs off these as they were quite stuck. The dampers themselves are all perfect - ie no marks on the rods at all, and on lowest damping setting they slide all the way in and recover all the way out with the nitrogen charging/floating piston. Clearly well built things.

The fronts have the standard (8kg?/65mm ID) Skunk2 springs, and the rears are a softer (5kg/62mm ID) BC spring. Will try these out and may change if needed.

The top adjustment will be wonderfully convenient - and a much more sensible 12 settings (with nice audible clicks).

This is actually the after shot:

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From before:-

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The car they came off is this; (so I needed to free the height adjust up as the front is far too slammed to handle properly)

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The EK4 rear bar I bough hadn't shipped in preety much 2 weeks after buying it on Ebay. I guess the guy was busy! I cancelled that and got an EK9 bar (which was what I actually wanted) from the blue car above (rotten and now scrapped by a local breaker).

Started to clean those up a bit. Also bought a generic 22mm polybush rear ARB clamp set as the DC2/EK9 part is not in stock anywhere right now.

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The work ramp was very helpful for the ARBs:-

Twenty mins was all it took to remove the front one, albeit this was most due to the front drop links being new as those can be a real pain.
Undid the droplinks, dropped the rear gearchange support strut, undid the cat and ropped that (hung with some wire). Then just the 2 ARB bush supports and some careful manipulation over the main shifter rod.


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Here is the EJ and Ek9 bars side by side. Confirmed 22mm and 26mm respectively. That small difference will be at least 30% stiffer due to 2nd moment of area!

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For the rear bar I needed to remove the exhaust backbox, so had to pull the bumper. The exhaust (DC2) needed more mods to clear the ARB bracket.
When I say "mods" I mean I had to hit the flange where the outer casing was joined on the front left corner of the box with a sledge hammer a few times. This was actually a neat job - leaving a nice rounded indentation and about 1cm of clearance.

Fitting the rear bar was easy - nominally I've used the 22mm EJ9 front mounts (which fit perferctly with a couple of washers!) - but I do have some new poly aftermarket mounts that may be swapped on. Its all matt black to be under the radar, so not so easy to make out...

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Last was to reroute/support the rear brake hoses. I'm pretty sure these are the drum brake ones and are always a bit in the way back there.

The car feels totally different.
Short of the powertrain the ARB setup must be the most significant change on an EK9 compared to lesser models. I took the car home for the weekend and went really fast (really flat) around some corners, then took it for a thorough wash to celebrate.
 
Good progress dude. Similar mods to my car!

Just a heads up - for anything above 15mm R-ARBS on EJ9/EK4 shells, you need a subframe brace as they tear the OEM subframe.
 
Its just much sheddier!!

Thats an ASR brace @R1PPU - its just that I painted it Matt Black because I'm not a chav. haha.

You can just about make out the letters.
 
Quick photo - as I gave it a wash ont he way home:-

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Fitting the coilovers. Had to wind the fronts out quite a lot:-

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Top adjusters - very nice for access!





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Took the car for a drive and it felt nice, albeit will need to play with the damping settings as it was a touch bouncy off guessed settings (which is always the case!)

Another thing that was bugging me is the rear camber arms were squeeking. Looks like new they were assembled without grease. About 1000 miles on only and the bushings were all torn and split. (Old and new shown below)
Had replacements on hand and the right kind of grease that came with the new Prothane ARB mounts. (Also fitted these, nice and gold passivated).


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Its just much sheddier!!

Thats an ASR brace @R1PPU - its just that I painted it Matt Black because I'm not a chav. haha.

You can just about make out the letters.

Ahhh yeah I can see it now! I'm going blind it seems! Haha yeah thats the best way.
 
Had a trackday at Oulton, but cus the weather was good I took the kitcar.

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But then back to the Civic.

Never been visible smoke from my B18C4, but it does use a bit in VTEC. I had a new headgasket and some valve stem seals, and a weekend to burn so I thought why not?

Part way through removing the head:-

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Some mild coking:
Bores looked good, not scoring or shine marks,

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Never owned any vale seal pliers; this does make them damned hard to get off. Thankfully I do have valve spring compressors:-

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This "piece of ****" thermal gasket did not go back on. I used a proper card type that might actually seal something:-

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Old valve stem seals against a couple of the new ones:-

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About half way through:

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Heavy coking to the exhaust valves. In the process of removing this (starting with a scrape!!) and an untouched one to compare. The other 6 were not as bad as these.

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Cleaned up gasket faces - ready for reassembly. Didn't take any more photos so much have been in the zone!

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With a baby on the way I needed to drop a car and it had to be the Civic (despite being my favourite of the 4!).

Sold to a nice chap from near London.

Dropping my final part Excel in here in case its helpful for the new owner.

DateDescriptionSourceCostTOTAL COST
18-Nov-20​
Civic EJ9 - Wayne B dearsIn Person
£2,300​
£4,745​
Front Pads, [Wrong!] Rear Pads, Blueprint filter included
19-Nov-20​
Sump BaffleEbay
£20​
21-Nov-20​
New GrilleEbay
£15.99​
Silver (VSM) Paint 400mlEbay
£10.99​
Handbrake Cable N/S/REbay
£49.15​
Shifter Bushing (Poly)Ebay
£8.99​
Skunk2 Rear Camber ArmsEbay
£62.50​
4x Honda WheelnutsEbay
£6.45​
Used DC2 BackboxEbay
£115.00​
22-Nov-20​
"Vtec DOHC" side decalsEbay
£3.00​
MB6 Engine Mount Cam SideEbay
£24.00​
DC2 Engine Mount RearEbay
£24.00​
Rocker Cover Gasket SetEbay
£7.75​
Facelift Bumper BlackEbay
£33.54​
23-Nov-20​
Steering Rack GatorEbay
£12.88​
25-Nov-20​
Bilt hamber Dynax UBEbay
£17.95​
27-Nov-20​
3rd and 4th Syncro (Carbon)Ebay
£30.00​
28-Nov-20​
10x 10mm Bumper ClipsEbay
£2.59​
29-Nov-20​
Radiator Bracket (Password)Ebay
£4.59​
30-Nov-20​
450lb 8" 2.25mm Diam SpringsTMR Supplies
£48.00​
01-Dec-20​
Number plate Front&RearDao Ltd
£27.96​
05-Dec-20​
10x Skirt ClipsEbay
£3.25​
10-Dec-20​
Autoweld Failsworth - Weld NSRCash
£100.00​
17-Dec-20​
Full B18C4 Gasket SetJapserviceparts
£105.98​
21-Dec-20​
Sheet Metal 1.2mmWickes
£15.39​
21-Dec-20​
Zinc Weld-Through Primer, UndersealToolstation
£19.47​
26-Dec-20​
Silver Hammerite PaintScrewfix
£7.99​
27-Dec-20​
Genuine Honda MTF3 2litresEbay
£19.80​
Millers Nanodrive CFS 5W40 SynEbay
£47.95​
VSM Silver Paint, High Build PrimerMotorcolours
£51.36​
28-Dec-20​
Gearbox Pilot BearingJapserviceparts
£14.03​
30-Dec-20​
x190 Body ClipsEbay
£9.99​
DC2 (UK Type) Catalytic ConverterEbay
£84.08​
03-Jan-21​
Front 2x Stabilizer Link armsEbay
£10.26​
Rear Wheel Bearing/HubEbay
£28.90​
Std Honda Camgears - EK9FB Marketplace
£15.00​
04-Jan-21​
Rear Wiper Arm & BladeEbay
£14.99​
10-Jan-21​
Timing Belt Pulley (Crank)Hondadicts Ebay
£12.00​
10-Jan-21​
B18 Oil Pump (MadeinJapan)JapServiceParts
£100.99​
16-Jan-21​
ISO Radio Adaptor LoomEbay
£3.29​
16-Jan-21​
55mm Mugen Horn CentreEbay
£12.99​
16-Jan-21​
ITR Rear Brake Pads - UnipartEbay
£9.99​
16-Jan-21​
Mini Blasde FusesEbay
£2.49​
18-Jan-21​
Dash bulbsA1 Auto Stores
£5.98​
19-Jan-21​
Exhaust Hanger UniversalEbay
£4.99​
19-Jan-21​
Exhaust Hanger BracketEbay
£14.95​
26-Jan-21​
Hamp Oil FilterEbay (JSP)
£10.99​
29-Jan-21​
Rear Trailing Arm Bushes x2 FAIEbay
£17.49​
23-Jan-21​
RTA Bush fitment toolEbay
£69.99​
31-Jan-21​
60mm Honda Wheel CentrecapsEbay
£7.49​
19-Feb-21​
Wheel Bearing Kit Rear x2Ebay
£46.12​
22-Feb-21​
EK9 Type R Front Lip/SplitterEbay
£76.52​
23-Feb-21​
Genuine Honda Badge Black/ChroEbay
£12.99​
25-Feb-21​
MG Hairpin AlloysEbay
£85.00​
28-Feb-21​
TJ Fuel FilterEbay
£6.99​
01-Mar-21​
M12 Fine Nuts (Torque Mount)Ebay
£5.35​
01-Mar-21​
NGK Coil, Spark Plugs, Dizzy CapJap Service Parts
£53.96​
02-Mar-21​
Blueprint B18 (Japan) Rotor armEbay
£7.83​
04-Mar-21​
54mm 4x Honda EmblemsEbay
£9.34​
08-Mar-21​
Rear Seatbelts - Full set UsedEbay
£60.81​
13-Mar-21​
Radiator Expansion bottleEbay
£11.99​
15-Mar-21​
EK Parcel Shelf BlackEbay
£40.00​
17-Mar-21​
VSM Silver Paint x2Ebay
£13.00​
23-Apr-21​
S4C Gearbox (For gear ratio change)Facebook
£150.00​
01-Jun-21​
EK9/EK4 Boot Trim PieceEbay
£16.50​
28-Jun-21​
Mintex M1144 (MDB1610) Front PadsEbay
£82.68​
04-Jul-21​
Wheel Bearing FrontEbay
£14.76​
04-Jul-21​
Shaftec CV Boot KitEbay
£10.90​
07-Jun-21​
Brembo Brake Disks FrontEurocarparts
£43.48​
19-Jul-21​
Front Bumper PrimedEbay
£48.11​
19-Jul-21​
Adhesion promoterEbay
£11.99​
19-Jul-21​
Clear Laquer hycote x2Ebay
£22.34​
19-Jul-21​
VSM Paint x2Ebay
£13.00​
26-Jul-21​
Front EK4/9 Anti-Roll BarEbay
£85.00​
26-Jul-21​
Rear EK4 Drop LinksEbay
£11.70​
06-Aug-21​
Skunk2 Pro-C Coilovers + EK9 Rear ARBTKY Perf (Facebook)
£400.00​
09-Aug-21​
Anti Roll Bar Brackets 22mmEbay
£27.44​
12-Aug-21​
60mm Exhaust pipe connectorEbay
£7.90​
12-Sep-21​
80mm Hose JoinerEbay
£6.27​
12-Sep-21​
ProRam filter 150mm inputEbay
£39.99​
£2,769​
Return (Sold)
27-Dec-20​
Stainless BackboxEbay
-£53​
27-Dec-20​
Engine MountsEbay
-£6.50​
27-Dec-20​
Beaks barEbay
-£5​
09-Feb-21​
RTA Bushing ToolFB Buyand sell
-£60​
06-May-21​
S4C Gearbox (with S9B gears)Facebook
-£100​
10-Aug-21​
Gaz CoiloversEbay
-£100​
-£325​
 
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