btjtaylor

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!

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...

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...

Another good day of progress today Radiator in Hybrid Racing power steering kit in and connected up Fuel lines connected Radiator hoses and heater hoses connected Started to wire in the engine harness - lots of mess and unnecessary wires to tidy up but I'm going to wait to hear the engine run first before I go mad chopping out something that we might need! I reckon another solid day on it next weekend and we might be able to hear it run...

After nearly a month delay with far too many emails back and forth we finally got hold of the replacement engine mount bracket from Innovative Mounts and the engine is now finally bolted in! Got a few other bits fitted after this photo like the radiator, hoses, and fan, and then started to work on some of the plumbing like the clutch line. Getting exciting now - to be continued!

A day of ups and downs working on the MB2 today Managed to do the last few jobs to get the engine ready to install. However, try as we might we just could not get the engine to go into the mounts, despite everything going ok. After about 4 hours of swearing, hoisting the engine up and down, and tilting it evey which way we could think of, it would just not go into the mounts and the aux belt and pulleys kept getting snagged After giving up and looking on the internet for advice I found that the right hand (drivers side) engine mount supplied was the wrong one. Our looks like this with the "cradle" coming out the side of the mount But it's supposed to look like this with the cradle on top! Because the mount fits to the car and the rest of the kit is correct we didn't realise for an embarassingly long time. Never mind ... I will complain and hope to get supplied the correct part as soon as possible For now this is as far as we've got ... So close but yet so far ...

Shifter mounted properly in car and cables routed. Some hacking up of the console will obviously be required but I should be able to have all the dashboard etc back in Shifter cable plate in place - still needs a bit of work to get the other two bolts mounted and enlarge the hole in the grommet slightly. It's sitting at a less than ideal angle but it was the best placing we could come up with - the DC5 shifter cables we're using are on the shorter side Air con delete block off plate fitted so no huge hole directly into the cabin!

Thanks next time i'm with the car i'll measure the hole carefully and find something suitable. I saw those for sale but I wasnt sure at the time if they'd work. I guess the answer is they sort of do! Seems like you can get a bathroom sink stopper that will work without modification that I saw linked here but its chrome - I may get that and paint/wrap it.

Smaller power steering pulley (hopefully it will clear the bonnet without hacking any big holes in it) and 10% underdrive alternator pulley fitted As we've deleted the AC the factory belt was much too long (think it was something like 7pk1735 from memory). Managed to find a belt that will fit (7PK1400) - it seems ok but apparently there is a mark on the tensioner that you can check - i'll do this next time im with the car to confirm but seems like the right size. Engine mounts ordered - I went for Innovative Mounts for a Civic EG as the price for Hasport mounts in the UK is insane (£700+!) and I wanted to avoid ebay china copied junk on this project...

Lovely car! Do you have a link to the wiper delete plug you used? Currently I have a random rubber bung I found in mine (just to stop things getting in when it's parked outside) but i'd prefer something a bit more secure like yours

Thanks for the update on the fogs - I managed to get a set of good condition blanking plates so i've removed the fairly rotten big fogs for now but I may reinstate them later. Left the connectors tied up behind. A bit more progress on the K-swap side of things: Drilled a couple of holes in the firewall just under the heater outlet to allow for the shifter cables to pass through (no photo, oops) Got hold of a billet shifter plate designed for an EG but it was sitting too proud of the tunnel so drilled out the fasteners for the shifter base plate and removed it DC5 shifter mocked up - was worried that it would be too close to the dashboard but it seems to just about be ok - the shifter box came with a short shifter already fitted which should help things Clutch and flywheel test fit - just waiting for various missing bolts to arrive from Japan before buttoning it all up. Toyed with the idea of getting an uprated clutch but we've gone with Exedy OEM EP3 clutch for now as it's many times cheaper than an uprated one (£126 vs ~£400) and I reckon it'll be OK for NA power levels. Any future plans to boost the car would require an LSD as well as a clutch upgrade anyway! Flywheel is a Competition Clutch 3.9kg

Haven't had much time recently myself to work on the MB but my father in law has been cracking on with some jobs in my absence K24 mounted up to the engine stand to begin work K20 oil pump cut and fitted. There is a lot of dried up oil "varnish" within the engine so we may run some engine flush and change the oil again once it's running. RBC cam gear fitted (50 degree VTC) - Chains and guides refitted, timing checked. As the eagle eyed may be able to spot - unfortunately one of the oil pump guide bolts rounded off on removal... so after one trip to the local Honda dealer and £7.25 lighter i'm the proud owner of a new guide bolt! (It's crazy how overpriced these small parts are in the UK. They're £1.64 in Japan but of course that comes with a 2 week wait...) Front VTI-S lip test fit - needs painting of course. Currently pondering what to do with the fog lights as they are a bit of an eyesore - one of them has rusted inside and it looks like there's a surround missing. I might just get the blanks and delete them, weight saving (!).

Yes definitely! Focus at the moment is building up the engine ready to go into the car. I've got most of the things sorted that need/are easier to go into the car before the engine is in place, e.g. the shifter box, shifter cables and the power steering hoses (it's a real pain to reach the bottom of the PS rack with the engine in!) ready to go now I haven't got any engine mounts sorted yet but im hoping that some genuine Civic EG hasport ones come up for sale used at some point. They're incredibly expensive new (£750!) so I can see why people are tempted by chinese knock offs you can get on ebay, but personally I won't do that. You can get an alternative from Innovative Mounts for about £400 or so, but I dont need to order yet until i'm ready. A lot of these parts, its worth biding your time and seeing what comes up for sale on marketplace, ebay etc rather than getting things new as usually the price is high because it's come from the USA generally and import duties etc are rolled into the price. I've also managed to purchase a VTI-S front lip and side skirts from a car being broken, along with some door mouldings that were in better condition than ours which are all cracked and horrible (the ones right under the window on the top of the outside of the door). They seem to not be available new, i've tried both Honda and Rover part numbers. Most of the clips got smashed during the process of prising them out (I think you're supposed to do it from the reverse side with the door card out to release them) but it seems like you can still get those new fortunately. Also got a set of used MB-specific Meister-R coil overs which seem to be in very good condition so that was a score as they're also pretty pricey new. The rear lip is elusive but I think we may end up modifying the bumper somehow anyway depending on exhaust fitment etc so it's probably just as well for the time being.