Ringing the changes

A bit more about the Civic then. Right about now it's got around 88,888 miles on the clock which by my reckoning means that I have filled it up with fuel around 300 times (based on filling it from empty to full every time) put in nearly 3000 gallons of unleaded (based on a 30 mpg fuel return) and paid about £17,500 for the privilege. The tank holds 50 litres or 11 imperial gallons. Since I have owned it I have not had an accident in it (I don't mean pooed my pants) but have hit a pothole so hard that it dented an alloy wheel on the inside, reversed lightly into a temporary road sign which scratched the rear bumper low down, somehow attained a small dent in the rear of the roof and have driven over a low concrete bollard which ripped and scratched the splitter. Voila...

Reliability wise my CTR has never gone wrong except for a dodgy heater fan which sometimes blows on full power but lately has behaved itself. Not until the recent MOT did it need anything other than consumables, one of the front brake calipers finally giving in to the ravages of time and road crud, the piston seizing in the caliper causing the brake pad to wear down prematurely and taking the disc with it. After a quick removal of the pads, discs and calipers, some seals, slider rubbers, pistons and nipples from eBay, and some Brembo pads and discs to complete the job, the result was restored braking, no squeals and an MOT pass to celebrate. Nice hey but note the rusty old drop links in the background (they look like a four on a dice ::) - more on them to come.

So the resto plan. I want to continue to use the car on the road only and I think the best way to do this is to keep it, for the most part, in standard trim. There are some awesome options for stiffening and engine tuning, all ideal if I intended to track it. But I don't so OEM kit will be my aim albeit some aftermarket stuff if money is tight, quality better or a bit of bling required. For example I have ordered this Mugen Power oil cap which thankfully is only coming from China and should be here in the New Year the chap said - the Chinese New Year of the Monkey probably...

I will put an actual photo in if it ever arrives. Anyway, in my mind I have broken the car down into 3 areas: mechanical, exterior and interior. Mechanical is roughly further sub-divided into exhaust, induction, suspension and steering. The exhaust centre section was an MOT advisory this year. A replacement from Honda is big money, an aftermarket noisy one is an option but the front ARB (anti-rollbar) needs replacing in order to fit the thing, or there is always a Kwik Fit special made of old toilet roll inners painted in silver poster paints. As it is I have a year to decide because I wasn't quite ready to pop a cheapie in the middle lest the ends (silencer and manifold) failed as a consequence. I'm pretty sure the OEM exhaust is stainless as it has lasted so long but I've a bit to learn yet in that area 'cos it's not a priority for me right now. On the induction side I don't intend to do much either at this stage. There are some serious upgrades out there in tuning land but at this stage I am plumping for a K&N filter only which I will fit when I give it its next service of which more shortly. I may get a couple of BHP from it if I'm lucky but no re-flashing, mapping or supercharging just yet. That just leaves the suspension and steering. At the risk of any readers from the forums switching off now when I say that I'm not lowering it or changing the suspension, well I'm not. Again all of this works on the track and can be fine on the road. It can though, so I've read, put additional strain on the tie-rod ends if it is lowered too much and also makes camber adjustment difficult and alignment in some cases impossible (too much toe-in). So I've read. So I'm just going to tighten it all up with new OEM bushes, a JDM ARB (JDM stands for Japanese Domestic Market), new drop links front and rear (OEM front and Hardrace at the rear), new ball joints (aftermarket ones because Honda only do them built into the hubs which is big Yen), and some tie-rod ends if I can be arsed. This will be a job for the Spring though because it's knuckle-skinning good. First though, and somewhat bizarrely given the shitty weather right now, will be some bodywork improvements. More on that next...