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This is my bapmobile, 5 door 1.4s fastback. Neat little drive for what it is. I used to drive a 2004 Honda Accord before I moved here from the USA She came with a set of steel 185 14 inch wheels, but I found a set of 16" MG alloys that fit, so I she drives on a set of Toyo TR1s at 205/50/R16 I just replaced the clutch slave cylinder, and a few months ago I bypassed a section of the PAS line returning to the reservoir that had started leaking. Rimmerbros didn't have a replacement part so I ran a reinforced rubber hose back through to the reservoir. I'm currently in the process of installing a hardrace front uprated bushing suspension kit, and a couple pieces for the rear suspension as well. -Front- *Lower control arms + compliance bushing and ARB links *Upper control arms *Hardrace upper and lower ball joints *New front shocks *New hub and bearings *New drifeshafts *Brake caliper slide pin kit *New brake discs and pads -Rear- *Polyurethane bushing Lower control arms *Hardrace adjustable toe and camber links *I do have shocks for the rear but I haven't swapped over the coil yet I might invest in a new trailing arm bushing as well, as it's clearly an important piece of the rear geometry. Let me know what you think! I'll have to get some updated pictures once she is back on the ground

That's amazing that you're learning toweld mate, something I've a,ways wanted to do. My dad was a professional welder for 40 yrs and was always going to teach me once he retired. Sadly passed away before he could teach me. I tried it at high school (this is going back to about 1984 so think before mig and tig really became the norm) and I was totally pants at it! I was shit scared every time it struck an arc! lol Handed the rod to the teacher and said F*&ck that, you do it! lol😄 I will learn one day though as it's deffo something I still want to master. Post up pics of your box you made too mate, nice to see how you're starting out and then what it's like when you've gotten the hang of it. Will help me see where I'm going wrong too when I start lol

Cheers Guys, Im hoping After june i can start actually doing the welding, i have Been doing this course and ive been doing some practising, Did some MIG tonight which is what ill be using, Surprised to say for my first time i didn't do too bad managed to create some decent tacks and i also created a few lines of weld alongside creating a box! so a few more months of practising for confidence and we should be good. They also said that i can actually create the Inner sill there using the Metal Folding machine they have so i am pretty pleased to say the least! I will post some photos once the sill has been fabricated to show you!

Toyota Crown is an amazing car, loaded with kit and the ultimate cruise mobile. Can look so sweet modded too.

Ahh its gone now. New owner seems like will pamper it and just use for fun times. So happy about that. Im going to import a Totota crown athlete v estate. Bit old man ish. but always loved them and toyota are so well made. Absolutely love my Alphard.n

Hello all once again, i did the investigation regarding the scuttle panel. And needless to say i think i caught it in the nick of time although im still uncertain what lurks beneath the windscreen. I will be infact replacing this at somepoint later on in the project as it has delaminated at the bottom so my guess is water has gotten in and possibly caused a few issues however i did a bit of poking under the scuttle panel and everything all seems solid. I even got a camera underneath just to check and no signs of rust thankfully. However there are 2 patches that are on either side where the bonnet hinges are bolted to. So as a temporary measure i have just removed the rust used some Hydrate 80 and protected it with some etch primer. I will be returning to this and doing it properly with Epoxy primer and will probably just repaint the whole inner wings and arches alongside reseaming the seal that Honda did a recall on. I am just thankful that this was not holed otherwise it would be getting the MIG out again lmao. In other news i got a spare set of Lower Control Arms and have bought some new bushings to be installed, i will be getting these sand blasted and powder coated black so its all nice and original looking. All i need to do now is remove the bush sleeves... fun times

Yea I literally just did it a couple hours ago after I saw a guy on YouTube did it. Thank you!

Oh, and as above, what's next!?? Dying to know! Whatever you decide to get, please do a build thread on here! I need my fix!

Totally agree, should feel really proud mate. So sad to see her sold but do get it. You'd taken her as far as you can power wise (more than once lol) and have owned her a long time so natural that you need something different. Really really hope we see her back in the club though, my favourite vtis ever that! Is the new owner joining you think?

So an Update on the Lower Sills I Managed to cut them out the other day, i got all the pieces i needed to create the sections that are required. As shown i used the existing cutout to get the shape of the sill, for the Rear Extension piece and also the mid section The welding course that i was doing said that we are able to do a project in the last lesson, so i used this time to start bending the metal to the profile that i need for the lower sill. This saved me buying a Metal bender that fit the requirements for the job as i needed one that was capable of bending 1.5mm steel and the length had to be 1200mm or more for the mid section if i was to buy one like that youre looking at £1000+ for a decent one that will last you. So here are some images to show the final product really chuffed with how they have turned out, they do require an ever so slight bit of fettling to get right as the profile of the back part actually isn't straight however it comes in at an angle then straightens out when it gets to the wheel arch There are a few other little panels that i still need to fabricate such as the panel that joins the wheel arch to the sill and also the jacking point reinforcer that sits inside the sill. These will all be made in due time. I then offered it up to an existing panel to see how well it fits into place, and to be honest i was surprised how well it did! After all the Testing of fitments and other things i thought nows the time to get them protected so they dont rust. I keyed the surface and made sure that the panels were clean from dirt, rust and residues and then used some Bilt Hamber Electrox Zinc primer. Coated them twice to make sure there is a good layer of protection. Overall im chuffed with the outcome, who knows i may end up getting a Metal bending machine and start making repair panels for these cars lmao certainly ideal as a lot of the panels that are out there for these cars aren't the best.

Good stuff

You know what they say, do it properly and it wont have to be done twice, i honestly cannot wait to get cracking on with it. Lots of updates coming so it will be a nice little thread of the project from start to finish

Love the detail of what you're doing - planning a proper job.

Today i went to get some Sheet metal to start fabricating the inner/lower sill sections Hoping to borrow a metal bender on tuesday so i can get the Shape right, for those all wondering i got 1.5mm steel which is around the same thickness that Honda used for the inner/lower section of the sill it seems to be an easy shape to make thankfully i had a small piece of Sill from a donor car which helped me with the measurements. for those who are wondering the Sill comes in 3 segments, for the time being im making the middle section which is shown on the diagram the dimensions of the middle sill i have done them at: L: 1200mm W: 240mm Thickness 1.5mm Then there is the Front section which houses the outrigger and jacking point, this bit is way more complex as the pressing contains sections of the chassis rail and inner wheel arch this bit is usually where the rot starts at the seam where the front floor meets and is sandwiched together with three layers of metal. For this bit i will tackle it by just fabricating a piece which fits just the area i need as the rest of the outrigger seems to be perfectly fine thankfully. And Finally there is the Rear section which is the extension piece which houses the rear jacking point, and Trailing arm Mounting point. There was in fact a NOS Rover 45 panel for this online however sadly i was unable to grab it in time, that or it was an old photo that i found of an old ebay advert. But still allows me to get some sort of knowledge on how it is shaped and what panels are missing on my civic due to them rotting away. Thankfully on my Civic the backside of the Sill isnt rotten at all, just a few surface blemishes, so really i just need to cut out the bottom section of the sill and weld new in there alongside a new reinforcement piece which helps with the weight of the jack. This panel is fairly complex as it interlocks with the middle section of the sill and is then spot welded together but thankfully i wont have to mess around with that bit as the rot doesn't spread that far up the sill. Im looking forward to getting these panels made up as once that is done then i should fingers crossed have all the panels i need for welding, (thats until i probably find more rust) Needless to say its a huge project however it will be very worth while when its done.

Gayle suggested hanging cd's on the hedge next to car.......etc voila, wee birds doesn't go hear the car now. They still poop on them when flying tho! Lol

Did some more welding yesterday pretty chuffed with how far ive came to say ive only had two lessons on MIG. Ive done a Fillet weld on 2mm steel and 1.5mm steel (which is around the same thickness as the inner sill of the civic) the welds aint perfect however im pretty chuffed with them to say the least. Most of the sill will be Plug welded and Stitch welded which i also had a go at on some scrap metal and it seemed to be successful!

Looks tidy mate. The work to the suspension will definitely make a difference - it'll feel like a new car!

Don't blame you to be fair mate, it's like that place that first had a bodge at welding Tubs up.. Was foaming, but knew that trying to take it further with them would just cause grief and wind me up more. Sometimes it's best to just move on. Lol about the bird! Has it stopped it's crapping with the other mirrors on?

Ill get some photos of it and ill pop them on here, Its the first time doing it so it wont be the best welds but i was surprised i never made any pigeon poo welds Defo try and get into it though, it will save you lots of money rather than going to a body shop. I was quoted £3000 for welding so i thought id give it a try myself and if it doesnt work then atleast i tried and ill go down a different route to get it repaired.

Cheers man! Yeah, the Nisan dealership in the town along the road from here are ace, have a really really good rep. Feel we can actually trust them, although still early doors yet i guess. But deffo been great with what they've done, and price wise for a dealership they're not too bad. The wrangle with ATS we didn't go any further (except some really nasty reviews left on all the review sites 😉 )as it was going to cost us even more money for a lawyer/start a case against them and they've already cost us enough as it is. Plus my mental health aint in a good place at the moment with stress/depression so didn't need the extra stress going to court would bring. However, have been slating them to everyone we know (and even foilk we don't know!) because one thing we've learned living in a wee village the Scottish borders is that word of mouth (aka jungle drums) spreads like wild fire here! So hoping to save other folk the same hassle and hopefully loose them a lot of business. Any luck, ATS will pull out of Gala. Oh, one wee update on Poppy........the chrome mirrors are gone! I decided I preferred the oem piano black ones so have swapped them about. It was also to get rid of this annoying little blue tit bird that kept landing on the car all day everyday because it's facinated by it's own reflection! It was funny to begin with, but after washing the car, the door was covered in bird shit within 20 mins! And that was a constant......go out and hose it off....20 mins later, covered again! Wee dafty! lol

Good that you've found a garage that you're happy with mate... Did you ever get any joy after that last bit of bother you had? Nice pic at the end there

Deffo caught that just in time and luckily looks like it hasn't spread under the screen. Love seeing these civics getting restored now, not something we ever thought we'd see when we started civic5 back in 2009. Back then the civic eg/eks were already being restored whereas most of that honda scene were buying our civic m's just to Rob them of the engines to put in said eg/ek's. So hats off to you and also our other members who are restoring their civics. Values are eventually only going to go one way with these civics.

The wagons are cool - I bet there's a gt car there just under the surface.

How the the HELL are you supposed to get this lower ball joint out of the knuckle?? On every video I see on YouTube the knuckle lower ball joint has way more clearance than what I got, and it looks like there is quite literally no physical way to get these lower ball joints out without destroying something. Anyone got experience with these? My chassis is an Mb2, D14Z4

Pop that ring out that's covering the bearing and you will have the room

Hope that you've got to the bottom of the abs problem.. They're a right menace. Good plans for the underside as well, got to keep the tin worm well away from that deck!

Not updated for a while. Poppy been doing daily duties well, not had any issues so well happy. MOT was going to run out while Gayles away on holiday in May so decided to put her in early so I don't end up with no car! lol Knew there was a wheel bearing on it's way out as could hear the droaning noise. Jacked her up and checked all 4 wheels.......front pass side had slight play, all the rest were fine. Thought I'd put her in anyways, see if she passed with the wheel bearing then I could just change it once i got paid. Well, that didn't go to plan! She passe the 1st mot we put her through a year ago fine. This year she failed on: N/S/F wheel bearing (which we expected anyways but chanced our mit) Front left to right brake pipe corroded to excess Front to rear Brake pipe corroded to excess and weeping. I too was weeping when i saw the bill! lol😆 To be fair, they were still the oem pipes so no shame to it really, and deffo not nthe worst MOT I've ever had. Quite pleased as everything else was fine and I hadn't seen the pipe weeping so glad they spotted that and fixed it. Got the garage to just do all the work as I don't have it in me at the moment, so was £350 plus the mot fee. And they got it all done that day for me (even staying past their closing time to complete it for me) so very happy. What a difference driving her now without that awful wheel bearing noise!! Poppy now back to daily duties and driving ace! Next job to do is on the interior as quite a few creaks/rattles/squeaks for the dash plastics now so going to remove all the trims and line the back of them with felt which will get rid of any unwanted noises. Got the big pack of felt (self adhesive so will make it easier to fit) here ready for the job. Just need to get my head in a better place so I can start it!

So, got her back up on axle stands again getting her prepped for mot. Think I may have sorted the ABS fault! 😀 Unplugged the sensors at the rear, squirted some switch cleaner into both plugs and female ends of the wiring harness they plug into then gave them a good clean out. Plugged them back in, pulled the fuse for the ECU to clear the memory and fired her up. Light goes off as normal. Have stopped/started the engine a few times now and light always goes off, but havent driven her yet so fingers crossed the light stays off! When I was removing the old sensor, every single bolt that holds them on sheared off, so going to drill out the bolts, then use self tapping screws to replace the bolts so I can get the abs sensor cables all secured like they should be. Once that's done, I need to get the rear underside prepped with the drill/wire brush to clean it all up and then treat it with some rust treatment. It's just surface rust but I want it gone! Going to do the rear floor, up inside the rear arches, the rear suspension arms etc. The suspension arms once treated will be primed with red oxide, then sprayed satin black. The floor too will get a healthy coat of red oxide then fresh underseal. I did the front of the car all the way to where the front edge of the rear arch starts ages ago, so just this rear to do. Once that's done, might paint the brake calipers to freshen them up, get her bodywork mopped and polished then take her for a test drive. If light stays off, will get her in for her MOT.

Scuttle panel seems to be where a lot of these are sucumbing to the dreaded rust. The replacement panels look like new after getting them stripped eh! Massive improvement!

Looking good mate and these Civics suit the MG Hairpins so well. Popular wheel, not just for civics/rovers either. I'm contemplating getting a set for my Poppy my 1st gen Mini cooper S convertible. Nice list of work being done, you'll notice such a difference with all the bushes replaced. I need to get the trailing arm bushes done on DD my aerodeck as well, they've had advisory in the past but look absolutely shot! lol BAP looks mega clean mate, really straight and nice panel gaps, deffo one that's been looked after by the look of it. Perfect base to either resto or mod (or both!). Our first ever Civic was a MB2 1.4 s, my 1st wife got it brand new. Was an ace wee car and what got us hooked on these Civic M's. Love them!

Cheers! Hopefully more Updates Next week as i tackle the Dreaded Scuttle Panel Rust. Not Holed Just yet thankfully but it will need a new windscreen.

Ended up re doing it using the dye neat and from a pressure spray bottle, got the carpets and headlining done too, massive pain but looks way better. Just the cream/beige interior plastics to sort now

Alright Chief, glad to see you've still got the deck. That caliper must have been properly stuck! Fair play for getting stuck back into it, and amazing find for the brand new mid spoiler!

Saw a nice one of these recently slammed... Thought it was an ep3 at first when it was coming towards me. Looks good with the bumper swaps.

Hope it's going to a good home mate - you should be proud of what you've created with that car. Touch of class. Are you planning on staying jap with the next car?

Last week i picked up the new boot floor, Fun fact i got it from an R8 Rover 200 as they are the same panel. £25 not bad, So the next job was to Get all the crappy underseal off, having done this by hand which was an utter pain i did find a few pin p***k sized holes where the wheel clamp mounts to, not a massive issue as i can fill them in with weld much better than the existing civic wheel well as its pretty much knackered. On Friday last week i went to go and send off the panels i needed including a section of sill to be dipped to remove all traces of rust and to then be painted with etch primer. the bloke did a really good job and im really pleased with the outcome so the next step is to get them cut to size and fit them in the car! I will be planning on getting new Rubber Bungs for the holes alongside a new Metal Plug for the larger hole to then be properly sealed and protected so that it doesn't rot out like the usually do. More updates coming Shortly!

It's pretty bonkers tbf. Performance is next level But..... Sold now unfortunately. Chaps coming to pick it up next week. I am sad, but feel it's time to try something else.

The insides are shot completely, but I just want to black them out and have bright bulbs in there so it never bothered me. Yeah they’ve got rubber surrounds but the casing is plastic, feels a bit brittle but they’ll split one way or another. I read that the twist off so needs a little persuasion if anything

Im planning on doing a series of YT videos on my channel regarding the civic, ill be doing a complete tear down of the rear trailing arms, getting them sandblasted powder coated, new bushes etc the whole lot will be done, all the old underseal will be removed, treat any surface, either epoxy or zinc prime it depending on how it goes, and then a good coating of upol gravitex and a overcoat of silver, should be looking mint then! Cant forget the Waxing too!