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Thanks, it's an alpine unit so even though it's new I think it fits with the 90s-ish vibe of the car. It has RGB lighting so I can change it to march the dash which is nice (I'm being picky but I don't like it when the colours don't match!) The car came with a pretty retro looking JVC CD player but only 1 channel was working for some reason and it had a really shoddy aftermarket Bluetooth kit (calls only) with wires bodged in all over the place so I thought it was best to bin it all and fit something new I did consider not bothering with a head unit but even though the build leans towards track car, I've been in cars which are totally stripped before and whilst you might be able to get an extra 20kg out by removing the heater, stereo, half the dash, etc, it makes the car unusable for anything other than trailering really Yes he basically said he managed to get it all down the side by sticking a pair of long noise pliers through the popped out hazard switch and holding the cables out of the way of the head unit I've stripped everything from the front seats back and deleted the air con (it was broken anyway) but that's about the extent of the weight reduction for now. It should be a lightweight chassis anyway as it doesn't have a sunroof or other luxury features 😂

Great progress mate! Those head units are a bugger to fit in our civics. Trick I've found is there us a slight gap in the dash on the left side at the back of where the head unit sits. You can just about manage to poke the excess cables down there when sliding the head unit in, then pull them through from the glovebox side (with glovebox removed). It's tight but makes it easier to get the unit fully in. Nice choice of head unit by the way!

Thank you very much for confirming this and your post - makes my car build a lot easier as I was expecting to have to modify the stock seat structure (which in itself is a problem because my passenger seat was accidentally disposed of - best not to ask)

Got this photo from my father in law this morning that he got the head unit in in about 5 mins on the first try, always the way 🙃

More progress MB6 dash installed and MB6 cluster fitted Modified the centre console slightly (basically just removing the tray in front of the gear stick) to accommodate the shifter box Cut a hole in the back of the glovebox and mounted the ECU inside Installed a steering wheel boss and OMP 300mm wheel Unfortunately I wasted a couple of hours trying to get the head unit to fit in the dash as I was struggling with all the spiders web of cables behind so I couldn't get it rolling today 🥲 but it's a marathon not a sprint!

It's easier to just replace the arm complete mate, they come ready to fit straight on.

Meant to update this! Got the ABS fault sorted, was right rear abs sensor. Was supposed to be a 10 min job to remove/fit, only one 10mm bolt! Said bolt was rounded to he'll, so took time to get that out. Then the sensor itself wouldn't come out! In the end had to remove brake caliper, caliper carrier and brake disk so I could hammer the sensor out! What a faff. New one fitted, all back together and abs light now gone!😀 Also had her in for her MOT which she failed. Didn't fail on much tbh, handbrake efficiency, broken o/s/f coil spring. Couple of advisories for o/s/f ARB drop link and a tyre slightly perishing. Got everything done except the tyre as I'm gonna replace all 4 soon anyways so she now has a clean bill of health. Still driving nice, and love her to bits!

No pics unfortunately as had my head down but some good progress on the car: Engine back in the car and running without any timing codes, great success! Managed to fix an issue with the shifter, I wasn't able to select 1st or 2nd gear. I tried getting another set of shifter cables as the ones I had with the shifter were a bit too short and didn't look like the pictures of "correct" sets i'd seen. Turns out I had set the gearbox cable bracket up wrong - for future reference the brackets should be in the "forward" position as per this image (thanks to the helpful soul on facebook who pointed this out when I posted a last ditch question in a kswap group!): Started to fit an MB6 VTI dashboard that I was kindly gifted by a chap called Sam who I bought a few other bits off. My original one had the fake wood trim which wasn't my favourite and some absolute vandal had attached a phone holder directly to it with wood screws! Removed the passenger airbag, removed the cover from it and refitted the cover back into the dash to cover the ugly hole that was left Another solid day on it and I reckon first drive soon (a very short one out of VTEC as driving on the wrong engine map, with open headers on 15 year old budget tyres isn't the greatest idea!!)

Me being lazy! Lol Don't think she'll need anything tbh, maybe the usual handbrake adjusted but other than that hoping she passes when I get her booked in. In the middle of moving house again so will get her seen to after that. Got a mate who has a recovery vehicle and his rates are decent so he'll be moving her to her new garage in October🙂

Think I prefer comfort now, getting old! Days of lowered and beefed up suspension long behind me now. Even the TypeS I feel is as stiff as I'll ever go suspension wise. DD and Gayle's wee Foxt Micra feel like a floating carpets compared to Lexy lol. Can see Steppy on a nice set of 18" dishes alloys though at some point, think it would really suit them mate!

Hello everyone. I'm bringing this old topic back on top. Does anyone know if there is a cable reel for ma9(or Rover that matches) with cruise control cables in it? Must have one plug for the horn, one for the airbag and one for the CC. And what cruise control switch match with the ma9 steering wheel? Do we have any part codes?

Spent the bank holiday installing the new timing chain/guides/tensioner, service manual print outs in hand and triple checking everything. All sealed up now, should be able to get the engine back in next weekend, all being well. Chain that was on was stretched - not by as much as some i've seen but the main difference I noticed is the chain tensioner was quite far extended whereas the new one is much less extended, maybe it couldn't take up the slack or something jumped on first start. Anyway, hopefully this is all sorted now. Also changed the crank pulley seal as I don't ever want to be going in there again!

Mate this all looks great! So exciting Glad the timing chain bits didn't cause any harm

Yeah you will. The spindle part differs on the drum and disc arms. I think a company in America make adaptor plates for the drum arms but so much easier just to get disc arms and swap them

Do I still need disc rear arms for this by the way? I assumed I would

100%! According to Google the amount it's stretched probably isn't enough for mr valve to meet mr piston so I think weve got away with it. Every cloud has a silver lining at least, it's given me an opportunity to change a few oil seals in the engine and sort out a few hoses that were bodged together quickly from the junk pile!

Good way to find out though before any harm was done though.

Thanks for that - totally missed your reply - thats great info Since this post I found the mistake and bought a set of MGZS 180 front 282mm calipers and carriers second hand for £80 delivered which wasn't bad at all really. The seals etc looked ok but they were a bit grotty so we soaked them in evaporust and then my father in law stripped them down and painted them in high temp silver and they look a lot better now. Still not got any pads or discs yet but that will come in time... A running engine first would be a good start 🙃 (see my build thread for the fun i've been having there...) I definitely plan to change to rear discs at some point but as it's quite a lot of work/parts required so I'm going to see how I get on with rear drums to start with until budget allows (currently diverted for more important topics) - whilst it doesn't look or sound very good it's not as bad as you might expect...

Well, one step forward, two steps back Engine wasn't running great with a lumpy idle (almost like muscle car sound!). At first I just put it down to the open header being super loud but we started to get timing codes logged on my ODB reader (p0341). I checked a few easy things like the wiring to the sensors etc but unfortunately after removing the cam cover we found the timing is out, most likely the chain was stretched and we didn't realise (even though we were able to set it right, which I can't quite get my head around) Moral of the story is, don't re use the existing chain even if you think its ok New chain, tensioner and guides ordered...

Cheers mate, loving it to be honest.. It's dead comfy for munching miles, if not quick. Totally the opposite to the deck.. Sat up tall, soft air springs, and lazy drive, instead of low down, stiff and engaging. Got the best of both worlds now 😂

Jeese you've been busy! Nice she few through the MOT mate, and loving all the bits you've been sorting. Looking sweet!

That does sound like the water pump mate so deffo worthwhile getting replaced. Most decent garages would offer to replace that at same time as the timing belt. I've never attempted to replace a timing belt, always left that job to the experts lol

Forgot to update this.. Got through it's mot with a few bits needed, but just maintenance tips things, drop links, ball joints etc, and some advisories on thin pads. Got sorted, and got some nice new rainsports on the wheels off Karen's old blue accord, and got them fitted this week. Quite like the look of them. Also refurbed the compressor for the air suspension, and fitted a new pressure switch, so that's all working great as well now. Glad to have ditched the "snow leopard" winter tyres that were on the steelies, and with some more air in the suspension, it handles much better. Did the pads while I was on, and pleased I did, because they were OLD. the driver fronts were the worst... They fell to bits when I took them out. Also, chucked a bit of paint on the side skirts where the garage had peeled their stickers off and took the paint with it before they sold it. Fixed a hole in the corner of the spoiler with some filler and got some paint on.. Rough as a badger's arse, but it works for now. Fitted the spoiler for the first time today, and love the crazy look it has. Finally, made a little shelf to go over the air tank to allow camping stuffing to take place. Adventure ready! 😎

Exciting times mate (worthy of some of school civic5 smilies)

Big moment this morning after a few days of battling with electrical problems we finally got the car started! It sounds terrible as theres no exhaust, various vacuum leaks and things not plugged in, but feels great to get to this point, absolutely buzzing that we can start to tidy everything up now and get it driving To be continued...