My 1995 Civic Cx Project: #LHDSiRII

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My 1995 Civic Cx Project: #LHDSiRII

By EconoBox
- Wed Jan 14, 2015 6:20 pm #351055 I was planning on making a build thread from the start of this project but life got in the way. Now I've finally been able to take a few pictures of where the project is now and I will continue to update it as I work on "completing" the project.

Where I started: (I have some pictures to post here but its on my home PC I'll upload it later). For now since I don't have any of the pictures from along the way I'll make a long story short.

After about 6 months of working on the car it had been vinyl wrapped and was dumped on a set of Klutch wheels. I took it out to a couple local meets and out a few times. The matte vinyl scratched, it almost polishes the vinyl where anything hard touched it. The small scuffs wont come off so I peeled the wrap off. I had wrapped it with my friend who does it for a living so I didn't waste too much money on it.
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^notice the sidemarker cutouts are in the wrong place. The previous owner did this and it drove me insane I hated it. I picked up a set of fenders off of a friend from a teal hatch and i need to shave the sidemolding holes but I was able to cutout the sidemarker holes in the correct place. I would really like to find some cx,vx fenders though to not have the shaved holes at all.


I had also fully rebuilt the GSR to use in the car. I had it in the hatch and drove the car maybe 200 miles. The car wasn't complete enough to daily at that point and the automatic z6 in my sedan was boring me so I pulled the GSR and put it into the sedan (I already had all the other auto to manual parts in my garage)
Supertech pistons, Skunk2 Alpha rods, OEM bearings, machined to 82mm, specs on head are at the bottom of the page.
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I had every intention of putting the GSR back into the hatchback but after driving the GSR for 6 months or so I felt it was fun but lacking in the torque area so I opted to purchase a B20b to use stock to get the hatchback driving again.


I bought a 95 Civic CX with a blown GSR and literally everything done the wrong way to the car. After stripping it down to sheet metal and replacing everything this is where I'm at.

Here is a list of what is done so far and some pictures.

Interior:
Full OEM Power Window, lock, and mirror conversion (Full EX coupe wire harness, this all works jsut like it came from Honda this way.)
JDM Gather's Purple Tweed Interior
Complete blue to grey conversion
JDM Front Map light (Not yet installed in the pictures)
Custom Purple corduroy headliner
OEM Audio Console with double DIN Blockoff panel
Prosport Gauges (Oil pressure, Wideband)
OEM USDM Arm rest with cupholder
NRG Quick Release and Hub
Grip Royal, Royal Macbeth steering wheel
Broadway gold 300mm rear view mirror
Still Hood Shift Knob
K Tuned Shifter
Brand New OEM Floor mats (They are not in the car because I haven't cleaned the interior yet)
Baller Winterfest showcar wristbands from every year

Exterior: Don't expect anything too crazy here I want a clean almost OEM look
DAMD/Head Carving Lover Soul's 15x7 +22
Brand new OEM sideskirts (Not installed in the pics) I had the car vinyl wrapped about a year ago and changed my mind so I had to remove everything again to peel it)
Brand new OEM mudflaps
New OEM black handles
Fake stickers (DOHC Vtec, Civic, SiR) (I made these on my plotter to use until the car was painted, didn't want to waste the real stickers)
Spoon style Carbon Fiber Duckbill
Brand new OEM Honda hood bra (I only have the top piece on at the moment)
eBay Foglights (Came with the car)
Smoked Amber Corner Lights

Engine bay:
B20B (Soon B20 Vtec with a fully built GSR head)
Blackworks Aluminum Radiator (Powdercoated Black)
All new OEM Hoses
DC Ceramic Coated 4-1 Header
GSR Transmission
Competition Clutch Stage 4 Clutch
Lightweight 10lb flywheel
Hondata S300
Rywire OBD2 to OBD1 distributor harness
Rywire Clutch line
Hasport Motor Mounts

Chassic:
95 Civic EX Sedan Subframe
95 Civic EX Sedan Tilt Steering Column
95 Civic EX Sedan Rack and pinion (Shorter lock to lock and its looped so it doesn't fail)
95 Civic EX Sedan full disc brake conversion
40/40 proportioning valve
K Sport Coilovers
Energy Suspension polyurethane bushing kit (Including trailing arm bushings)
OEM 95 Civic EX Sedan front and rear sway bars with polyurethane bushings
Skunk 2 Pro Front/Rear Camber kits


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Thanks for looking. I have a lot of little things left to do like install all of the handle covers and small plastics that I haven't had a chance to do yet.

I will update this as I get more done!

PARTS I NEED/ WANT TO BUY:
I will update this list as I progress on the project if you have anything on it please comment or PM me.
-OEM CX Fenders
-Gathers Front Tweeters (Door and maplight)

Part I have and have not installed yet:
GSR Cylinder head with:
-Supertech flat face valve
-Supertech Dual Springs
-Supertech Aluminum retainers and new keepers
-Viton Valve stem Seals
I'm saving to send the head and manifold to 4 piston to be ported before installing
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Skunk 2 Ultra Street intake manifold
OEM Honda 84mm headgasket
Golden Eagle LS/Vtec kit
ARP Head studs
ZEX Nitrous bottle with Nitrous Pro Flow Dry Direct Port Kit
Last edited by EconoBox on Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:13 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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By EconoBox
- Thu Jan 15, 2015 2:11 pm #351071 I love a good stereo but with this expensive and practical interior I don't want to ruin anything or take up the limited useable space by putting a big subwoofer enclosure in the hatch.

After searching the net for ideas I decided to go ahead and build a false floor to replace the 'JDM' cargo box. The two pieces will be easily interchangeable if I find myself needed the practical rear floor area.

Over the next week I'll post about building the enclosure. Hopefully all of the little cool pieces will arrive quickly and I can post a finished picture soon.

Day 1:
Last night I gathered all of the information on my old Alpine Type R 10" subwoofer. Top mounted it has a dispacement of 0.092ft^3 and the recomended volume of the enclosure sealed is 0.65ft^3. After figuring out the dimensions I went to Home Depot and bought some 3/4" MDF and fabricated the small sealed enclosure. A coworker is letting me borrow a router with a circle jig (Hopefully tomorrow) and I will be able to cut the speaker mounting hole into the face of the box.

Here is a picture of where I am at now. I don't think a step by step on this part is necessary but if anyone wants me to make a DIY on building a subwoofer enclosure I would be more than happy to build another one and detail the process.
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Here is my general idea of what I am building. I plan to incorporate the Alpine plastic grille that came with the speaker on its ported enclosure since I liked the look. There will also be a removable metal grill to protect the speaker if I go grocery shopping or anything like that. The small black spots on the side are just cutouts to be able to lift up the panel to access underneath for anything I may need.

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Materials list:
A bunch of 3/4" MDF
1 yard purple Corduroy
Elmers Wood Glue
#8 1-5/8" coarse thread drywall screws
pebbled grey viny fabric (I've gotta find a close match the interior still at an interior shop)
Metal speaker grill material (from Parts Express)

I will update as I continue to build the enclosure. I'm just doing a little bit every few days.
Last edited by EconoBox on Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By EconoBox
- Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:52 pm #351108 I dug up some pictures from picking out/picking up my motor from JDM Orlando (http://jdmorlandoinc.com/)

Great guys to deal with, I've bought all my previous swaps through Hmotors and this time I took a chance on dealing with someone other than Steve because they had local pick (save a ton on freight shipping). I called to make sure they had what I wanted in stock and when I got there they let me choose which motor I wanted. I got to walk right into the warehouse and check out the 30 or so high compression B20b motors and choose the cleanest lowest miles one if I wanted to, which is exactly what I did! :thumb:

Here was some of the motors in the warehouse.
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Full B18C Conversion
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My B20b, it was a little dusty but in great shape.
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At the time I was using my EG sedan as a daily and had no other way to pick up the motor so I yanked the passenger seat out and went on a drive to Orlando.
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A couple of hours later I had the motor stripped down and on my engine stand.
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The only leak I found on the motor was the oil pan gasket. I didn't take pictures of swapping the gasket out or cleaning the block off but I swapped in a http://myhondahabit.com/ oil pan gasket and stud kit to keep it from ever being an issue again. I also used a torch and carefully heated the block to remove the dip stick base. I then installed a B18b dipstick tube and dipstick to be able to clear the hood.

Tonight I'm planning to build the rest of the panels for the false floor. Hopefully sometime this weekend I can get a hold of a router to make all the holes and bevel the edges. If I get impatient I might go ahead and use a jigsaw but I really prefer the clean cut from a router.
Last edited by EconoBox on Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By EconoBox
- Sat Jan 17, 2015 6:05 am #351121 I found some more pictures of working on the car along the way.

The process of wrapping the car,
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Pistons and rods from the original GSR I was going to keep in it.
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A picture from the first time taking the car out for a drive.
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Last edited by EconoBox on Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By TrailerTrash
- Sat Jan 17, 2015 11:34 am #351124 welcome dude!

first off i love that wrap color :thumb:

its pretty cool to see people do all kinds of work to their cars and take pics along the way

keep it up
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By EconoBox
- Mon Jan 19, 2015 1:20 pm #351146 TrailerTrash and Vince72310 thanks for the compliments guys. I really like the color which is why I wrapped it. After about 8 months being wrapped the vinyl didn't live up to my expectation as far as quality is concerned. The vinyl looked great for the first few months but even after being installed by a certified installer it had issues peeling in the edges where wind would catch it. Also the finish could be scuffed as simply as rubbing a fingernail over it. I went ahead and peeled it all off except for the last little bit that I still have to remove (The roof is still wrapped).

When I peeled the vinyl I went ahead and got another set of fenders because the previous owner had installed the sidemarkers in the wrong place. I am currently saving money to paint the hatch. So until then I'm driving it around like this.
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Also an update on the subwoofer enclosure/false floor. Also the amplifier and subwoofer are all mounted to this one enclosure. It is completely reversable in a matter of minutes the stock interior can go right back in which was my priority in building this. Hopefully in a couple of days I will be able to find a matching material to wrap the boards in. Nowhere local has had anything that was close enough for me.
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After a little bit of time tuning the subwoofer to the current door speakers I am really happy with how tight and clear the bass is. Since this is my daily and not intended to be super light. I will be adding some dynamat material to the car in a few places to try to improve the audio overall. I am still trying to track down gathers tweeters for the car so I can use factory mounting points for all of the rest of my audio upgrades.
Last edited by EconoBox on Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By EconoBox
- Mon Jan 19, 2015 6:58 pm #351150 Here are some more pictures while working on the box.

I used a table saw, jig saw, router, drill, cordless impact, belt sander, and palm sander to build the box.

Supplies and the first part of the enclosure built already. The box itself was very important to size to specs. It is exactly 0.65ft^3 with the subwoofer installed.
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The box required two more layers in order to install the Alpine plastic surround that came on the original enclosure.
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After cutting the top I had to test fit it before going any further. There is just a small gap all the way around so once it is wrapped in vinyl it will be almost a perfect fit. To be able to remove it as needed I will attach two small straps (one on each side) underneath the panel and through the gap on each side so its easy to lift up.
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For the purpose of constructing the rest of the box and because I am impatient and wanted to test it all out I went ahead and held the top part on with the #8 screws from the top. These will be replaced with T-Nuts that will be countersunk on the top side so that bolts can be screwed in to hold it from the bottom allowing it to be vinyl wrapped and attached to the lower part of the enclosure.
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I had to mark and cut out a hole for the wiring attachment. This is a dual 4ohm voice coil sub and these jumpers run it in parallel to the amp.
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The final product before the fabric covers. I'll take more pictures as I do that sometime later this week.
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Last edited by EconoBox on Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By Loaf31
- Tue Jan 20, 2015 7:21 pm #351185 Love those Klutch Wheels!!!! GLWB! :thumb:
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By EconoBox
- Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:00 pm #351203 Thanks Loaf31 and Civic_HatchSI

Civic_HatchSI I'm hoping to make a metal grill to cover the subwoofer area when needed as well so the hatch floor stays fully functional. I do miss the cargo box but atleast I didn't give up being able to pick up groceries and it's easily swapped to the cargo box whenever I have a need for it. Right now I'm modyfying the cargo box to turn it into a cooler for those Florida beach days and car shows. I think it should turn out pretty neat. I'm not making it cool itself though it will just be an insulated ice chest.
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By Civic_HatchSI
- Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:56 pm #351212
EconoBox wrote:Thanks Loaf31 and Civic_HatchSI

Civic_HatchSI I'm hoping to make a metal grill to cover the subwoofer area when needed as well so the hatch floor stays fully functional. I do miss the cargo box but atleast I didn't give up being able to pick up groceries and it's easily swapped to the cargo box whenever I have a need for it. Right now I'm modyfying the cargo box to turn it into a cooler for those Florida beach days and car shows. I think it should turn out pretty neat. I'm not making it cool itself though it will just be an insulated ice chest.


I did something similar to mine when I had my woofer. I had it so the hatch was still useful for groceries, parts etc.. It was completely hidden in the spare tire well with false floor on top.

Keep up the good work, I am super jealous over your eg6 interior btw. Something I have always wanted for mine
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By EconoBox
- Thu Jan 22, 2015 8:50 pm #351242 Civic_HatchSI the JDM interior was a lot of work to do once you get past how much it cost for some plastic and seats. I picked this set up from Hmotors and I was extremely happy with them. I did a full conversion to power everything at the same time as well while I had the interior out for the grey conversion. It was well worth it for the daily. I know a lot of people worry about weight but I'm building this car for the comfort of a daily and I put in the B20 to move the weight :lol:

For anyone curious the power doors, locks, mirrors are all from a 1995 Civic EX Coupe (manual transmission, since I used the whole harness). I pulled the complete dash and door harnesses and swapped it all in while I had my dashboard out. The whole conversion drops right into place and you only have to splice two wires for the speaker connection. It only cost about $100 in junkyard parts. There is a write up on Honda-tech showing how to make a subharness out of the ex coupe harnesses for those people who don't have their car stripped down to nothing. :thumb:
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By Civic_HatchSI
- Thu Jan 22, 2015 10:34 pm #351250
EconoBox wrote:Civic_HatchSI the JDM interior was a lot of work to do once you get past how much it cost for some plastic and seats. I picked this set up from Hmotors and I was extremely happy with them. I did a full conversion to power everything at the same time as well while I had the interior out for the grey conversion. It was well worth it for the daily. I know a lot of people worry about weight but I'm building this car for the comfort of a daily and I put in the B20 to move the weight :lol:

For anyone curious the power doors, locks, mirrors are all from a 1995 Civic EX Coupe (manual transmission, since I used the whole harness). I pulled the complete dash and door harnesses and swapped it all in while I had my dashboard out. The whole conversion drops right into place and you only have to splice two wires for the speaker connection. It only cost about $100 in junkyard parts. There is a write up on Honda-tech showing how to make a subharness out of the ex coupe harnesses for those people who don't have their car stripped down to nothing. :thumb:


Oh I am sure it was well worth the money and work to do the conversion. Your interior looks beautiful. I would have done it to mine if I had the opportunity to buy a complete conversion. Maybe one day..
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By EconoBox
- Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:48 pm #351314 My front maplight finally showed up at work. For anyone interested I left the part number in the picture the EG maplight is the same as the EK one and is available at your local Honda dealership using this part number (34256-SR3-901ZB).

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I'll have some more pictures up later of another cool piece that is making it here in the mail today!
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