Everyday Driver Honda EP3 Civic Si

Love the 3g hatch!

Lovely colour on the EP3, is it electron blue like the 99-00 Si and 5g Preludes?

Nice car. 

You guys with engine bay detailing skills make me feel inferior.

Head over to Motoiq.com and check out Mike Kojima's project EP3.  A steering rack bushing would be the first thing to investigate.

I just sold my 2002 ep3.  The stock suspension provided an unusually bad ride on stock 15s for whatever reason.  The gearing in 5th is crappy for highway travel over 80mph.  

following

Is there any real way to fix the front suspension in these yet? 

You have a FaceBook class?  Don't you have privacy concerns? 

thats a wholelottamiata!

When I lived in Ottawa, a friend bought one of these new, and promptly imported a wrecked J-Spec Type R. He swapped over the entire front clip, which was a 6 speed LSD + the J-spec engine. I see others say 200HP above, but by my memory it was 220HP? My friend could have been B-Sing me, I'm not a Honda guy.

He also swapped over the amazing J-Spec seats, red tweed, and fit like a glove. 

Eventually he took it too far, with a cage, stripped interior. Ruined it for street use,but it was a beast on the track.

Great car, I don't see many of them. 

J1000 said:

I'm at altitude so we get to play with more ignition advance than you otherwise would get away with at lower elevation.

No kidding, mine would knock heavily on the hondata tune until I turned the factory knock control back on. 

I had one as a daily for ~3 years.  Bought it at 80k miles and sold it near 160k.  I sold it last August, so  I can relate to most of your comments/experiences.

The 2005s are definitely more desirable due to 5-lug wheels and a few minor syling changes.  

Blitz Audio makes an AUX input adaptor that will fit the OEM stereo.  It plugs into the 6-disc CD changer in the back of the head unit.

These engines have a reputation for taking a dump around 150k miles...low mileage like yours is pretty unheard of these days. 

I also dumped the fart can exhaust and cone intake immediately. The sound of the intake didn't match the speed (or lack thereof) when accelerating.  Stock intake just sounded so much better.

If you're looking for better highway cruising, the TSX 6-speed has a longer 6th gear.  The RSX-S 6-speed has the same final drive ratio as the 5-speed...so no benefit there.  The Type-S engines seem crazy expensive, compared to the base EP3 enginges which seem to sell for just a few hundred dollars.

The bearings in my AC compressor nearly seized.  It sounded like someone threw rocks in the dryer.  I replaced the whole system over the course of ~2 days.

I had a leather stubby shift knob that looked OEM that was great.  When that got pretty worn out I replaced it with the OEM knob. The stock shifter action in these cars was best-in-class.

I'm interested to see what you do with this one, looks like you've already done quite a bit.  

I've seen a few of these pop up cheap lately, all with no AC.

How hard was that replacement?

Great car for a rural mountain commute, for sure.

In reply to johndej :

Agreed, AC was pretty straightforward.  I bought the whole kit on Amazon for under $200.  Evap, condensor, etc.  Getting access to the under the dash components was toughest for me.  I took the wrong approach in removing the blower motor, which added a lot of time.

Some parts can be tough to buy without ordering from the dealer.  Window regulators are a good example.  Every website says they'll fit, but when they show up they're a totally different design.

Remember, the EP3 was made in England.

Very jealous of the e85 setup!

Run_Away said:

Very jealous of the e85 setup!

I'm jealous of the readily available e85 as I want to run it pretty badly. I do second that your fueling setup is sweet however.

J1000 said:

 

The0retical, just get some Simple Green and a dish brush and a garden hose. Then when it dries off hit it with a microfiber and some FW1 cleaning wax and you'll look like a pro too ;)

Do you have to wrap anything ? I am always afraid I would spray the wrong thing and damage the car 

Thank you 

In reply to J1000 :

Did you ever read the articles about the GRM EP3 project?  There may be some tips on suspension in there.  If I remember correctly, they concluded the overall suspension design was a limiting factor.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/2002-honda-civic-si/

Looks like you've already improved the car quite a bit...but yea, it's a slippery slope.  The E85 mod shows commitment, very cool.

Wow! Amazing job on your EP3! Glad I found your post as you have up-to-date content with the latest shenanigans hehe. Cheers and looking forward to plenty more updates for 2019! 

It makes sense that moving the lower ball joint back would give you a slightly more severe steering angle. Cool effect! Cool project! 

In reply to J1000 :

WOW! Very very very excited for this build. It just keeps getting better with every update! That's amazing progress man!

Just an FYI, I am currently working on an EP3 that was passed down to me from my uncle. Got a few issues and maintenance items to tackle before I can start performance mods. Quick insight, current CEL is P0507. I have the dreaded RPM surge/hunt problem. Removed whole intake assembly and throttle body. Cleaned the whole thing. Reinstalled and issues still persist. Will be taking apart the IACV after work and will examine the actual motor and valve assembly. Let's see what happens.

All in all, I'm so glad I found someone with the same passion for the EP3 and putting in maximum effort. Future looks bright! Here we come 2019! :)

Awesome! I love the look of those in blue. All the EP3 talk is not helping my want of one. How useable are the back seats? 

Hiya. I joined this forum for this! :) 

I found you had a comment on Mike Kojima's MotoIQ site and would like to follow your build. 

I currently have a Civic Type R EP3 that I use for daily/weekender/track car. All disciplines - haha! I'll have a proper read of this thread later and see if I can provide input in to some of the mods/plans you have. 

In reply to J1000 :

Backseats in EP3s are brilliant. So much footroom. 

Mods are too many to name. I don't check this forum often. Do you have an Instagram? Follow / message me @jcky_yng

J1000 said:

I was going to keep this a secret until I was ready to install it but I thought I'd share early. I picked up a K20Z3 motor and trans this weekend. 

YEEESSSSSS

nice grab and WOW you did get a deal on that.  with a good quality cold air intake, J35 throttle body (and associated port match on the intake manifold where it connects), long tube header and decent sized exhaust, plus the appropriate tune, you'll be looking at 220 whp all day, from the stock ~175whp.  if its in the budget to remove the balancers in the oil pan and convert to an RSX-S pump, you can up your rev limit to 9k reliably and gain a little more power thanks to the reduction in rotating mass.  figured it might be worth mentioning since you have access to it so easily right now.

while the engine's out, on the maintenance side i strongly suggest cracking the valve cover and adjusting all your valves, and then go ahead and replace the OEM chain tensioner with a new one.  cheap insurance while everything's super easy to access.