$200 EG Sedan project

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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By teal_dx
- Wed Jun 21, 2017 3:27 pm #6906934 Slips with tires for $260?!?! Nice work!
I love how the center of the steelies only have rust where there were holes in the wheel cover :lol:
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By EconoBox
- Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:07 pm #6908518 Haven't been on in a while!

Well no big updates.

The automatic in the $200 Civic finally went out. Got 12,000 miles out of it and the clutch material in the torque converter finally washed out and has clogged up all inside the transmission. So I finally did it... It's nothing fancy. Just a JDM K20A base Integra engine. Shopping for transmissions now. Hoping I can track down a reasonable deal on a 6 speed.

Picked it up with my friends Tundra a couple nights ago.

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I'll post some more pics once I have it on an engine stand later this week. Once I get a transmission I can start ordering everything else. Just don't want to order K20A2 transmission parts and end up getting a good deal on a Z3 trans.
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By EconoBox
- Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:23 pm #6908519 Just like everything else I will try to do this as low cost as possible without cutting corners. I will be using a Hybrid-Racing bolt in shifter and cables, I will be using K-Pro, and I will be using Hybrid-Racing billet mounts. As far as the rest I will be using as many OEM or DIY parts as possible. This engine also came with a good AC compressor so I will be adding the HR AC kit to fix the AC in this car. Money permitting there are a few performance things I'd like to add before the engine goes in but my priority is getting the car running again. Sharing 1 car with the wife isn't easy when you work 30 miles from home.
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By EconoBox
- Tue Dec 26, 2017 2:34 pm #6908526 Yea it's going to be a lot of fun surprising people in traffic, I could never pass anyone with the D15b7!
I'm more excited that my car won't be smoking out the exhaust any more.

I found a 6 speed transmission I just have to go look at it and pop the case open to see if it's worth the $600 the guy wants for it. It's also an 05-06 Type-S trans so it will require the VSS signal converter which is an additional cost to consider before I pick it up.
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By EconoBox
- Tue Dec 26, 2017 2:56 pm #6908529 The car is currently sitting in my work parking lot, because the transmission went out as I pulled into work a couple weeks ago.

I was bored on lunch break one day last week and got the engine ready to pull (hoses, throttle cable, wiring... etc.). AAA won't tow the car with the engine out or I'd make my life 10 times easier and finish it on the lift at work. Hopefully this week sometime I'll call and have it towed home so I can get the bay emptied out and clean up.

I'm going to eventually paint this car once my TSX is up and about again. So I think now will be the perfect time to go ahead and spray the engine bay of this car. I have a couple color options sitting on the shelf in my garage and all I would need to buy is some clear coat. Not going to shave and tuck it just looking to clean things up a bit.
1. Black Cherry Pearl (Lexus, Toyota, Scion color)
2. Cement grey (think clear coated primer)
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By EconoBox
- Thu May 31, 2018 1:57 pm #6908610 Progress with the sedan has been slow.

I finally have a stack of parts sitting around for the K swap and it motivated me to put some time into the car over the 3 day weekend.

I'm still a couple months away from having everything together for the K swap but I'm getting there.

Finally pulled out the tired old SOHC engine. Trying to sell it locally, hopefully someone buys it soon for some more K swap funds.
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Pressure washed the engine bay after spraying it down with some Purple Power. No idea what the previous owner had spilled on the paint (guessing brake clean) but a lot of paint was gone underneath all the dirt and grease.
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After pressure washing the bay I started removing all the unnecessary brackets. This drill bit is your best friend for this part.
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This mount has to go.
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After drilling the welds out. You may notice the last weld on the top of the frame rail (closest to the firewall) wasn't drilled out. Honestly I don't have any tools that could reach it. So I drilled out all the other welds and the with my hands wiggled the mount bracket side to side until it broke free.
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Now to go back with a grinder and clean all of this up before applying some paint. This is just a daily so I don't think I'll bother painting the whole bay. Will probably just buy some red spray paint and cover this up.
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Also removed this little bracket to make it easier to drill out the mount bracket.
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Been documenting everything step-by-step so I will probably put together a nice simple K swap guide to share. I still have to drill out the the torque mount bracket under the passenger frame rail will probably get that done tonight.
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By EconoBox
- Thu May 31, 2018 6:00 pm #6908611 Forgot the photo of the mess in the garage.
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Also update on my TSX. The car is completely prepped for paint. Just waiting on my painter to have the free time to get around to it. Also picked up a set of 19" 2018 Accord Touring wheels from work as rollers for now while I decide on the new wheels. All of the bolts for the car are here now as well. Anything visible will be replaced with these (door hinges, fenders, inside gas door, hood bolts... etc.). It's been almost 2 years of this car sitting I need to get a move on. Really miss driving the TSX. And with all the new horsepower its going to be a whole different animal.
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By EconoBox
- Tue Jun 05, 2018 12:29 pm #6908612 The parts pile is growing!

Skunk2 Alpha K swap header and Alpha radiator.
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Karcepts EG radiator bracket, and some eBay lower radiator mounts from VMS. keeping AC so I didn't want to chop off the OEM mounts and move them... and the Hybrid Racing radiator that sits in the condenser brackets is about double the price of these brackets and the Alpha radiator combined.
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Some OEM style hoses from Napa using part numbers recommended on forum pages. I'm sure some cutting will be involved .
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2002-04 RSX Type-S Engine harness
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Brand new OEM shift boot
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Also picked up a core transmission. Its from a 9th gen SI so it's not useable (could actually use it with a custom rear engine mount) for the swap but the internals will come in handy.
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The reason it was at work and got replaced... no second gear.
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All I really wanted from it.
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Still need to find a reasonable price on a transmission that will be easier to use. Once I have the transmission I'll be able to order the shifter and linkage. Hopefully I'll have some more of the smaller parts by then for the fuel system and the AC.
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By teal_dx
- Mon Jun 18, 2018 7:06 pm #6908620 Holy shit those teeth are wasted :shock: Trans rebuilding is fun, and easier than most people think. At least the manuals... I don't know anything about the automatics. :lol:
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By EconoBox
- Fri Jun 29, 2018 10:33 pm #6908631 Teal_DX automatics aren't difficult either just a lot more parts to keep track of and some need specialty tools to assemble the clutch packs.

Luckily broken transmissions scare most people so they can be picked up for really good deals if you know what you're looking at. If you are working with a budget you don't want certain gears or certain parts broken because they can make the rebuild get really pricey (full OEM 2nd gear set for that 13 SI trans is $500ish, if it was an RSX and it was just the gear and not the hub and synchro its only $175 for an aftermarket hardened steel replacement gear). Luckily the core I got the LSD from was free. It was an insurance job and they get scared of the rebuild labor rates so they just have us change them out.

Depending on how you look at it the good/bad news is I have found a 6 speed transmission that fits my budget!
I found a K20z3 transmission from a longtime customer. Bad news is he removed and sold the LSD and 4th gear has all the teeth destroyed from boost.
Good news is I have the correct LSD to put in it. My catalog at work shows the 2013 LSD being the same part number as an 11 SI so it should fit the K20Z3 with no issues.
Better news and pure luck is another long time customer rebuilt his K20Z3 transmission with an aftermarket drag race gear set and has a full K20Z3 gear set with all the synchros and hubs in mint condition that he is selling me.

So for $150 plus the cost some new seals and bearings from work I should be able to put together one healthy transmission out of these 3 separate ones. The extra work will be worth the savings, at least in my opinion. The only downside using the Z3 is I either need to drill the case to modify it for using an 02-04 RSX VSS or I need to spend some money on the signal converter. Either way I'll still be spending less than the used 5 speeds are running at the junkyard right now.

Hopefully within the next week I'll have some pics from rebuilding the transmission. Also have to get the transmission off of my TSX. I'm going to use the flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate for the EG to save some $$$. The TSX is going twin disc with the new set up and used clutch setups aren't worth selling.

Yes, I still have the TSX. No, I haven't done anything to it in way to long. But that's another thread.
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By EconoBox
- Tue Jul 10, 2018 6:56 pm #6908632 Took Monday off work to get a little break and relax. The weather here in the Tampa Bay area has not been favorable to working on a car outside, my TSX is hogging the whole garage. It's either a feels like over 100F with 50+% humidity or its pouring rain.

Decided to break the drill back out with the spot weld bit and finish removing the last couple of brackets that need to be removed from the engine bay.

I'm using Hybrid Racing Billet mounts for the swap so this alignment bracket for the transmission torque mount has to go.
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I am keeping AC using the Hybrid Racing off the shelf line kit for the 92-93 Civic application. So that requires flipping the condenser and radiator. I'm using Karcepts upper radiator and reservoir relocation kit along with some cheap VMS lower brackets from eBay. This is where the Skunk2 Alpha radiator will sit. And I'm using some really cheap NAPA hose part numbers I found searching forums that are suppose to fit with the K swap.
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Once I drilled the spot weld I broke out the grinder and ground down the spot welds. I need to sand these with some 80 grit and give it a little coat of filler.
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Last edited by EconoBox on Tue Jul 10, 2018 7:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By EconoBox
- Tue Jul 10, 2018 7:08 pm #6908633 Little disclaimer for my idea of a "budget" K swap.

This is a 'budget' build in the fact that I'm picking and choosing where to spend extra money for reliability.

I've done tons of swaps and installed a lot of products from different brands so I'm choosing everything I've had good experiences with in the past.

That does mean some parts aren't the most budget friendly way to install a K... but I drive 60-100 miles minimum each day so I don't want to deal with reliability issues.

Also for ease of maintenance there won't be anything tucked or shaved. I'm going to install everything as cleanly as possible while leaving everything easily serviceable in the event I need to do any repairs.

The true "budget" part of this swap is the $350 K20a base model JDM RSX engine and the K20Z3 transmission I have pieced together from 3 scrap transmissions for a total cost so far of $150. That transmission cost will go up as I order the seals and any parts I decide to replace while assembling the case.

Why K swap a car clearly not worth much more than the $200 I originally paid for it?
With the suspension bushings, new rack and pinion, and stereo I've updated the car and truly enjoy driving the EG. Without including the stereo (since it can be removed and put in any of my cars) I've only got a little over $900 tied up in the car before the cost of the K swap. That $900 got me nearly 10,000 enjoyable miles of commuting to work with no unexpected issues. I knew full well the original tires on it were shot and the trans was bad. I just figured for the cost I'd drive it until they failed.

Now I like the car and figured I'd give it a second chance at life instead of sending it to the scrapyard. I'll be finishing the swap along with cleaning up the rust and putting on a nice coat of fresh paint... probably from Maaco (I'll still prep it for paint) since its a daily. But it will be better than what's there.

Also this car is really fun and compared to my TSX, this is cheaper to mess around with, the TSX has taken way longer than planned, and I miss having a fun car.

Also I'll review the parts I use so everyone can get a idea of what you get for the money. There are a lot of parts from Hybrid-Racing, Skunk2, Hondata, Honda OE, NAPA, and Karcepts.
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Re: $200 EG Sedan project

By EconoBox
- Wed Jul 11, 2018 1:42 pm #6908636 Placed some orders yesterday for more parts and felt like working on the car for a while last night.

Got all my radiator installation parts laid out so I can work on proper placement before drilling the holes for the well nuts.
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Got the grinder out and finished cleaning up all the spot welds. Drilled a tiny bit too far on a couple of them so I'll need to skim it with a bit of filler before sanding and prepping the engine bay for some fresh paint.
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