Terry’s EM1 project

[terry_em1]

Jumped the gun on the titanium Added the OEM locking nut from the EK9 too. All in the details~

I had my painter order a replacement left side wing for me because the one on the car currently is experiencing some sort of reaction. The green paint is splitting, due to the old single stage white paint underneath. It also has some damage, which was mended before repaint. I thought a fresh canvas would be better than dealing with the current mess.

Its a Taiwanese replacement, so don't judge me for not buying OEM

I swapped out the tired Rays wheel nuts for fresh J's Racing ones.

I used the plastic bag trick, to prevent marking them with the socket.

I tackled this sticker next, which was no fun. Even with the help of a hairdryer, its pretty difficult to remove a 26 year old sticker. I'm going to buy a caramel wheel and see if that gets it off.

 

[terry_em1]

Civic was entered as a show car for TanoshiDori, an event organised by the guys from Juicebox. The only B series Honda there Very honoured to have been picked out of a few hundred entries.

While I was there, I met my painter, who handed me back my driver side mirror. I posted it to him, to have it refinished because there was some clearcoat missing. I received the replacement passenger side wing as well, along with a small jar of touchup paint. He didn't charge me for anything. I just paid for the replacement panel

The day after the show, my BattleCraft order arrived I finally pulled the trigger on their famous shift knob. Kristian is always nice by including some extras~

By far the best functional knob in my collection. Looks cool of course.

You might be able to catch a glimpse at the cracking paint, if you look hard enough I'll install the new wing after winter.

 

[terry_em1]

Went down to JDMDistro. Had a lengthy chat with the lads down there.

Picked up my ASM Recaro SR-VF. Its a SR-3, but with a seat base that has smaller bolsters. I think it'll look good in the Civic. I didn't want something too modern looking. This was a limited run seat by ASM. I'm not sure how many they made, but I haven't seen many.

 

[terry_em1]

Found some issues with the seat that weren't mentioned in the ad. First of all, this plastic cover is cracked and the tabs on the back are broken.

I removed the broken pieces that were still stuck to the seat. Redone the plastic pins. Looks better, but ideally a brand new replacement is needed.

One of the adjustment knobs was missing, which I knew about already, but the remaining knob was broken inside, so I couldn't recline the seat at all. Guess I'll be ordering two brand new knobs from Capital Seating. There are suppose to be urethane washers behind the knobs. Even though the seat didn't come with them, they were more than likely perished. I have an upgraded set of those anyway I got from Japan.

 

[Civicfacelift]

looks well, what model was recaro you removed ? looks real nice too.

 

[terry_em1]

looks well, what model was recaro you removed ? looks real nice too.

Didn't remove anything. Driver side is a RS-G. This one is for passenger side.

 

[terry_em1]

Noticed the J's Racing wheel nuts don't hold up well in wet conditions. Checked their website for maybe a warning of some kind. Funnily enough, they're not for sale anymore I must have been one of the last few people to buy them. I'm gonna cave and buy some Mugen ones and some other Mugen parts. Its coming up to 4 years not buying anything Mugen~

I went to Cars & Coffee yesterday. This young lad came up to me, asking if he could park up next to my coupe. Coincidentally, our cars had similar colour schemes He told me he has owned his 1.4 hatch for about a month and he paid over €3,000! I remember paying €500 for my EJ9, years ago. Times have changed.

Hand wheels arrived from Capital Seating today. I'm still waiting on my rail, which is in Coventry according to last update.

 

[terry_em1]

Very small update. I'm still waiting on my seat rail, which was stuck in customs for nearly 3 weeks now. Any time Parcelforce handles my stuff, they find some way to inconvenience me... I got it sorted today, so hopefully my rail starts moving and I'll get it by the end of the week.

My Recaro is working. I fitted one of the knobs and seat reclines like normal. I didn't fit the second because of the cracked plastic cover, but its getting sorted. I found replacements in Australia. Paid for and already on the way to me Wasn't cheap though. Capital Seating only sells the updated version of these, which isn't what the seat came with, so had to bite the bullet. Some decent condition ones are available in Japan, but the prices of those worked out only marginally cheaper, so may as well buy brand new.

I've a few other bits lined up for the Civic, so look forward to that

 

[terry_em1]

The first Mugen part for the Civic arrived from Tegiwa I made a rule, until now, to not use any Mugen parts. This is because of a personal reason. Its coming up to 4 years of ownership, so I think I'm past that reason.

Bunch of stuff from Japan too. They were stuck in the UK for over a month because Royal Mail failed to contact me via email or phone. They made it a pain to pay customs too.

Seat rail for the recently acquired Recaro. Horn button from Back Yard Special. A very nice Japanese made 3/8" ratchet. Lately I've been obsessed with Japanese tools...

Installed the new wheel. Quite easy since I just need to take the quick release part off. Heres the old setup. Your average Momo Monte Carlo with red stitch.

Mugen wheel unboxed

All bolted up. I kept the Nightrunner titanium bolts. At first, I thought the horn button would be too much, but it looks good. They offer 3 other colours; black, grey and blue. Think I made a good choice. Will match the Hybrid Racing shifter.

My thought was I don't need the Mugen horn button because I'll be seeing two of the same logo in front of me.

I did opt for suede and I know what people will say! Don't worry I'll take extra care not to ruin it. I'm still waiting on those plastic parts from Australia. Probably see them next week.

EDIT: An Post (Irish postal service) lost my Recaro plastic covers. Received an empty packet today and I'm not happy about it. Contacted seller and An Post about the issue. Hopefully have something next week. Can't believe I paid customs on an envelope and nothing else...

 

[terry_em1]

Heres what An Post handed me. No Recaro parts inside

I kept going though. These bolts, washers and spacers came with the seat. They're original Recaro hardware. They were a bit rusty, so went over them with a Scotch-Brite pad and painted in satin black.

One of the hooks for the webbing was loose. Heated the rubber part with a hairdryer, so it was more pliable. Pulled as hard as I could with a some pliers and managed to hook the webbing back in place.

One of the mounting points was bent, so I threaded a bolt in and put a socket on the end of it. Little persuasion and I straightened the mounting point. None of these issues was listed on the ad from Up Garage. Same with the broken cover and knob. A bit annoying, but manageable fixes.

Mounted the rail.

Shame An Post lost my covers, otherwise I would've been able to finish the seat completely.

 

[terry_em1]

Pulled the OEM seat out. To my surprise, the Recaro weighs more than it. A fair bit more The price of looking cool~ The bolsters will help a lot for the next track day I do.

Took a lot of head-scratching, cursing and persuading, to get the seat to fit. The holes on the seat rail were a bit off from where the bolts needed to go. Either Bride's manufacturing is terrible or my Civic's chassis is severely twisted from age.

Trick I used was getting one corner in the rear bolted down loosely. Pulled the rail as hard as I could while trying to get the other rear bolt to thread in nicely. Finally jumped into the seat and put my weight forward, so the rail pushes down, enough to line up with the front two holes.

 

[terry_em1]

I'm still currently dealing with Retro Autotek, about the Recaro plastic covers. They did agree to send me another set, which is good of them, instead of telling me to take the hit because its not their fault.

The only changes to the car, since the last update, are Hardrace front drop links and front sway bar bushings. I was getting some clicking at the front, so I had my friend check all the arms and shafts. Passenger side drop link was gone and the driver side was closely behind. Thats all refreshed now, but theres still clicking. His guess was CV joints are going. I'll buy those when I recover from paying customs... Not so much the Christmas gifts.

Went for a spin into the city on Christmas Eve. You don't normally get to park cars next to The Spire. Only day of the year its acceptable

Heres the recent haul from Japan. More Mugen stuff, but I'm not gonna go as far as hunting down discontinued parts. I don't have the money for that

The coupe is getting an updated look in 2026. There are plans for upgrades, though not as extensive as this year's. Its coming close to the point where I'm 'finished' with the build. Maintain it and enjoy it after that.

 

[GavinVTEC]

Logging back in for the first time in years. As a fellow EM1 owner, love this car Terry fair play.

 

[terry_em1]

Logging back in for the first time in years. As a fellow EM1 owner, love this car Terry fair play.

You got a blue one right? Pidgy tagged you in one of his stories before.

 

[GavinVTEC]

You got a blue one right? Pidgy tagged you in one of his stories before.

He tagged me on the wrong car, that was a saloon. Mine is lying in the workshop in pieces