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It's probably cheaper to just buy a Civic with the engine you want already in - maybe you could get a right hand drive one form the UK that's rusty? Theses kind of cars tend to be cheaper over here ... MBs haven't gone up in price much (yet!) like EG/EKs have in recent years. Obviously you'd have to get it back to where you are but depends how desperate you are! You are absolutely right on the K-swap front - especially if you use quality parts not ebay copied junk. I spent £750 on my shell, £700 on an engine, and £250 on a gearbox, but I would say the parts to do the engine conversion properly are probably 5x that, especially when you add in a lot of items that get done "whilst you're in there" e.g. new clutch/lightened flywheel, bigger injectors, different intake manifold... etc. etc.

Fair point doesn't quite look right does it. Be simple enough to mark and drill yourself anyway.

That's a great idea.. Better than trying to follow water tracks.

You been sprinkling shiny dust again I see.. Looking sweet 😎

Custom made by a friend of mine!

More info on the lights? Looks great !

Interesting. Yeah, the video did it about as i imagined, nice to see proof it makes sense. I am reaaally bad at manufacturing things, so i hope some decently sized washers will do the job just fine. Also, are you sure about the markings? I have only seen two little spots on the MB strut tower, but they are way too close together to be the ones to mount the bar on. Heres a picture of my MB3 towers: And one from an ej, where they look alot further apart:

Yes, there are some marks - I guess it was to align the drill or whatever they were using in the factory if the car was to be an MB6. I'd love to know what they did - I imagine just drill and tap a hole, thread in a stud ... or maybe there was more to it than that? Maybe some extra reinforcement underneath? I found a video of someone working on an EG just now doing basically the same thing as I wrote earlier but using a piece of metal behind as reinforcement - it seemed to work OK for them

Yes cars that came with it have studs. However I'm sure there are dimples said studs where would be on the cars without. Questionable how much reinforcement it offers. But better than nothing I'm sure.

Sick! Thats about what I read as well. I hit up a friend of mine who, apparently, has done this to several ej/ek models, and had a bar from an mb6 lying around that he says seems to fit on his ej as well. He already has some pretty strong anti-rust foundation, thats probably the most important thing about this. Only thing I was worried about is structural integrity of the strut towers, but with some decently sized penny washers underneath it should be fine. If I decide against it, its still irreversible, i'll get a bolt-on one too. Looking forward to what you have to report!

A basic smoke tester can be useful in these situations. Leave it inside the car with the doors and windows closed for 30 mins or so to fill the car with thick smoke, you should see it leaking out of the holes. I have this one - its basic but does the job aliexpress.com/p/tesla-landing/index.html?UTABTest=aliabtest125094_24784&src=google&src=google&albch=shopping&acnt=708-803-3821&slnk=&plac=&mtctp=&albbt=Google_7_shopping&gclsrc=aw.ds&albagn=888888&ds_e_adid=784528327853&ds_e_matchtype=search&ds_e_device=c&ds_e_network=g&ds_e_product_group_id=2463919240694&ds_e_product_id=en1005006642306652&ds_e_product_merchant_id=106959561&ds_e_product_country=GB&ds_e_product_language=en&ds_e_product_channel=online&ds_e_product_store_id=&ds_url_v=2&albcp=23272714697&albag=191864323674&isSmbAutoCall=false&needSmbHouyi=false&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23272714697&gbraid=0AAAAAD6I-hHL-qdK3MTpI0Ema2awFtvJN&gclid=CjwKCAjwspPOBhB9EiwATFbi5PCAR3LaZGphD23BdD1CPkhjJilbrB9rcTukI15yr1pC9FbnhiKokBoCeDkQAvD_BwE&aff_fcid=a41b7480c3234acabb05997aa673a8c1-1774543819938-06152-irey5Th&aff_fsk=irey5Th&aff_platform=promotion&sk=irey5Th&aff_trace_key=a41b7480c3234acabb05997aa673a8c1-1774543819938-06152-irey5Th&terminal_id=24f51958e50f4dda8253ef308c411e91&scenario=c_ppc_item_bridge&productId=1005006642306652&_immersiveMode=true&withMainCard=true&OLP=1116833308_f_group1&o_s_id=1116833308&afSmartRedirect=n Also useful for testing out exhaust and intake/PCV/etc leaks

The easiest way is to get a bar that mounts into the top mount studs of the suspension, like this However, I have been given an MB6 strut bar for free so I wanted to attempt this install. According to the internet I should do as follows: Offer up the bar Mark and drill 8.5mm holes into the strut towers Use M8 bolts (grade 10.9) with penny washers through from the underside and tighten it down I have all the parts ready to go and will report back soon ...

I found one for sale. Its supposedly the original universal Honda front strut bar, that is supposed to fit on the MB as well. I have an MB3, and it doesnt have the holes pre-drilled for mounting it, so i'd have to drill them myself. Anyone have any experience with it, and could give me tips on whether its worth it or not? Thanks in advance!

I think that answers it. Pics were too big.

Totally agree mate. It's a nightmare trying to find stuff out about the stepwagon. There is a UK forum but there's hardly any content on it...everything seems to be on Facebook, but as you say it's rubbish for finding stuff unless you spend hours searching and stumble on something relevant. I'm keeping away from Facebook again nowadays.. Find it a real waste of energy.

Yes, it's a shame. It's the same for basically every kind of specialist forum these days unfortunately. The barrier for entry is lower for posting on facebook, even though it's an abysmal format for specialist discussion. It's ok for asking questions, but thats about it. Any kind of long term logging of knowledge like this forum is full of is not compatible with their engagement/advertising driven format. Probably less said about that the better.

Oh, I know, I just want a bit more power than the 150 you could pull out of a D series, I want to do the swap on my own fully also.

Rear disc conversion (pretty much) completed now My father in law managed to get all of the brake lines out of the factory prop valve without rounding any which I was very impressed with!! 40/40 prop valve (I believe originally from a non-ABS integra) swapped in New handbrake cables installed into car. This was a bit of a pain as I purchased non-genuine items from Autodoc ("Cofele" branded) and the build quality was awful. One of the tangs at the end where they slide into the handbrake "yoke" had been badly machined with a piece of cable hanging out of one side and I had to spend quite a bit of time with a grinding wheel on a Dremel honing it down to fit - the risk you take with cheap aftermarket parts I suppose. I'm not sure if you can even get original Honda handbrake cables any more, and even if you could they'd probably be a silly price. The only "snag" I have left is I wasn't able to swap the brake master cylinder as the bolt pattern is different. I managed to pick up an MB6 BMC locally for cheap but it didnt come with the servo/booster, but I thought it would fit ok .. obviously not. Here's a comparison of them for anyone following along at home: MB2: MB6: In summary, you need both the servo AND MC together if you want to do this upgrade. After doing a bit of reading, the brakes will work as expected now i've fitted the prop valve but the pedal travel might be too long. As my original BMC isn't leaking i'll just leave it for now and see how I get on, and probably get an MB6 or ZS180 booster if one pops up for a reasonable price.

Fingers crossed you've got it sorted. 👌

20 years that's some going & must also be some dedication Simon, I've seled the other top areas around the rear of the weather strips right at the back quarter below the roof rails, it p**sed it down today & the area that was getting all the water on the drivers side is dry as a bone, I did however still find maybe 10 to 20ml of water in the wheel well that had drained down from the side to side seal there, the one under the boot catch & inside the well, I'm hoping that it's just residual water from the previous day slowly making it's way out, but I plan to get the hose on it again to check it, but may not have to after looking at the weather report, seems p**sing it down again for a few hours tomorrow, so one way or another I'll find out if there's still a small leak, if there is I am now clutching at straws on where the heck it could be getting in, but I really want to eliminate every single leak no matter how small, fingers crossed but it's not the easiest of areas to check with no exterior seal there or any obvious areas above now where it could be getting in. if it is still leanking a tiny bit I have a hunch it's inside the tail light where the panels join, but I have looked at them very closely & although they look a bit ropey on the photo, I can't see as much as a 1mm gap anywhere, but will be getting a little tiger seals on them just in case.

Yeah, could never get rid of it now (especially after all the dough ploughed into the resto...) it's been with me for 20yrs this summer! That'd be great to get a how to on mate. It's a proper weakness on these, especially decks it seems.

Nightmare these leaks Simon, great to hear you've still got the VTI, wish I still had mine, I sold it as figured I'd pick another up, but ever since I sold her the prices have been rising fast. I have been back a it this morning, I think I may have nailed down the leak, I'm going to try & get a "how to lock down those water leaks" guide done if it works, as I've about got a handle on pretty much every possible place it can get in & was doing, I'll patch this area up first & have the hose pipe back on it to be sure before I do though, figure it may help others out in future & maybe keep a few more of these from getting scrapped. if this fixes it, the other decks getting the same treatment as that one also leaks into the spare wheel well, though luckily not a tenth as bad as this one, mad as she's got 100k more on the clock & is a little older to.

Water leaks are a nightmare.. It just goes where it wants and it's so hard to track down. Hope you get it figured out. I can see where mine is running down into the spare wheel well, it's just down the side, in the same place I had it on my other shell, so it'll be running down the panel under the rear quarter window.

Yeah, the lure of facebook has made it quieter, but I think it always does get worse over winter cos nobody wants to do stuff to their cars other than urgent things. Yeah, still got the vti (though it's got a new shell now as the old one rusted out). She's hiding under a half cover at the mo until I can sort out the water leak.. Kept having to empty the spare wheel well. It's off the road while the council keep putting rust dust on the roads. We've also got a stepwagon, but that's also got a water leak from somewhere 🤦 so that's hiding under a cover as well.