Dave

hehe, yeah, but DD din't want to give up her shoes for too long.....fitted them back on DD during my lunch break today lol. Poppy back on her black rims now......oh.....and the new exhaust...it's coming off! Bloody hate it! But that's another story that will be posted soon by future Dave. It's his problem lol Stay tuned!

Sooooo...................MOT day and they've just called. She's passed!!! Went to have a look on the gov mot website to see if any advisories but they must be updating it as she currently shows as a red Astra!! She was deffo showing as a mini on their at the start of the week lol. So chuffed, always dread the 1st mot I put a car through as it can sometimes show up things you couldn't see when buying them. Although, tbf, I have been pretty much up close and personal with Poppy's underside with all the exhaust work etc lol Picking her up later so looking forward to getting to drive her again! Off to Glasgow tomorrow in Poppy to Gayle's sisters so be first long run since all the work was done.

bloody hell mate, you put us all to shame! What an amazing build this is, she just keeps evolving and improving (even when you think being better just isn't possible!!) Loving it mate!

MA's/MB's and MC's all have twin reversing lights regardless of which country they have been made for. Only thing that differs is the rear fog light. For right hand drive models, the rear fog is on the right, and for left hand drive models its on the left. Think thats the only difference to our civics lights for different countries. Some have converted the rear fogs to twins so have both lights lighting up, and can also run them as twin sidelights and fogs with a bit of wiring. There's a guide in the forum for this too

Stunning Aerodeck mate and first Civic Aerodeck SR I have ever seen. As said above, love the fabric on the half leather seats, looks sweet! Love the recovered steering wheels too, the perforated leather really updates it! Can't wait to see this with the VTi Fans fitted. Stunning condition mate and lovely Aerodeck.

If you look at the 2nd pic of her in our drive (next to the gates) you can just make out our "pet" pheasant in the background! He's usually hangs aroundd the garden and shouts at us when he wants fed (and if ignored looks in the patio doors and taps on the window!) Now affectionately known as "Phil the Pheasant" lol

Soooo.....been a right royal pain in the butt, but have finally managed to get Poppy's new radiators and coolant hoses fitted. When I say fitted, what I mean is this is the 3rd time they've been fitted!!!! 1st time, all fitted, ran car for about 20 mins, no leaks, system bled, happy days! started bolting front back together. Ran for a further 15 mins, bloody coolant all over floor!! She'd sprung a leak where the new hose was fitted to the water pump Turns out it was sitting just past the wee groove that sticks up on the pump, so was causing a slight gap when heated up. Refitted hose, tested again! Ran her for approx 1hour 40 mins as I wanted to be really sure there were no more leaks. Ran fine, system bled and all good. bolted most of the front back on, only part left was bumper. Started her up to leave her running while I fitted it....10 mins later, coolant everywhere! Coming from same bloody bit too, although I had to completely strip down the front of the car again to see where it was coming from. Took the new hose off and realised that it came off rather too easily. Hose was too big on the end where it goes onto the pump (its smaller at the other end on the radiator) so was never gonna seal properly once heated up. Ended up cutting the hose back a bit to where it was smaller diameter, then refitted it (along with a new clip). Fitted nice and tight now and hose length is fine. Ran her for 2 and a half hours solid, both on tickover and at around 3k revs. System was a total pain to bleed this time, but got there in the end. Happy to say, thats the last of the leaks! Started putting her back together again... Then got her fitted with DD's alloys, then full valet done on her ready for MOT. We took her for a wee test drive along the back lanes and she drove spot on! Temp stays where it should, no leaks, exhaust sounds fruity! Gayle loves the wee burble on over run, and nice tone to the exhaust. We did get a fright however as we stopped to turn round and come back. Could see steam/smoke coming from engine bay and weird smell....thought she had caught fire! We both jumped out quickly and I popped the bonnet to check. Lots of what at first looked like smoke but turned out to be steam coming from down behind the airbox/gearbox area. realised it must have been the coolant that over flowed when I was trying to bleed her the last time (I'd forgot to put the cap back on and she boiled up and blew it out everywhere over the bay. So must have been that just getting burned off with the heat thankfully! Anyhoo, here's some pics in our driveway (pre-valet) and the last one in the garage is after she's been valeted.

Think the rolling diameter is the same on them due to the profile, although with the 16's I put on a larger profile tyre so those ones deffo fill the arches better. The wee 14's are just the standard size profile. It's making my choice of new wheels (which is a long way down the line) for the MINI a bit easier, she really suits the dished wheels. Always wanted to see what she'd be like with 16's (has 17's as standard) and thought the 16's if dished might look too small? They look bob on I think!

So, not much been happening lately for DD, just enjoying her new life cruising about all the lovely wee country roads we have here. Due the MINIs MOT coming up and needing a tyre or two replaced (and I'm skint!) decided that Poppy could borrow DD's shoes for the mot for now. So DD's now wearing her OEM alloys, which are still in amazing nick considering they're all original, never been refurbed. Weird seeing her on the 14's again lol

Right, time to put an end to these Russian twats. Closing all guest sections on the forum for security and to avoid spam attacks.

@KiNK43 Nice catch Jake!

where did you find those????? Looks amazing mate, so much nicer than the wee standard ones. Are those the genuine OEM big fogs? Are the casings on those the same kinda white metal as our small ones or are they plastic (would prefer plastic!)

Should be able to get a set of Koni or Eibach lowering springs which would go well with either your current oem dampers, a set of new oem dapmers or a set of the koni dampers. Pretty sure Koni still do the shocks to go with the springs as well as the coilovers. I had the coilovers on both my mb6 and my aerodeck, and looking back at how she rides now she's back on her oem suspension, can't say I'm that big a fan of the coilovers now. Great for on the track, not that good for on the road imo

Yes mate, more than I had thought I'd be doing this early into ownership, but always the way aint it lol Once Poppy is through her MOT, DD's turn next for some pampering. Got some little jobs to do on her, and some bloody big jobs too! Will see how the money/time goes this year, might be the year she gets her front end repainted (finally!)

Stunning Civic M's guys, love them both

hahaha, priceless!

Really sweet Mb mate, looks ultra clean.

She's looking mint after her bath though mate, stunning looking deck this.

@dr_broonIs it maybe something in the vacuum pipe itself obstructing the flow? I would have thought the vacuum should drop quickly when the engine is off.

So frustrating because when you look at the bigger picture, the cars they allow in to ULEZ's (EV's etc) have created a massive carbon footprint during manufacture in recent times, where as our cars have made their impact in the 1990's, and although have higher emmissions than the current ev's, our 90's cars (if well maintained) are putting out combined less of a footprint now in the present time. The years it will take for ev's to offset their manufacturing footprint is years away, and going by how long the batteries last, they might not even manage to offset that footprint. The target set is zero emissions, which to me is totally unrealistic. Unless the cars are powered by water (or possibly hydrogen), they will never be Zero emissions. I have to laugh at the "Zero emissions" stickers plastered all over our work ev's! It's like "zero emissions?....it's been chargiung all night on the mains grid, causing more pollution at the power station, and of course the aforementioned manufacturing footprint. Zero emissions at the exhaust pipe (ok, eve's dont have one! lol) doesn't mean zero permissions into the atmosphere.

Got the battery tray guard/heatshields all fitted back on. When we removed it, the bolts all sheared clean off with minimum pressure. So, had to cut of the remainder of the bolts that was sticking out with the grinder, then grind them flat. next, drilled all 4 of them out. Bought new bolts, nuts and washers then decided to clean the guard up before fitting it and getting the bends out if it so it was all nice and straight. I also painted the battery tray inside and out where I havd been with the grinder and drill so no exposed metal left to rust, sealed up nicely. Got it fitted up and then cut the bolts down so nice and short, then covered them with copper grease to protect them for future removal if needed. Copper greased all the exhaust clamp bolts too so basically finished at the back now. Will be stripping her down again when the winter comes to refurb the rear calipers and paint them, and will also be getting the grinder and drill with wire brush to clean up the subframes and get them treated and painted. Will future proof it as well as really making her tidy underneath. Also ordered up new coolant hoses so that will complete the refurb of the coolant system. They come on Tuesday so will get them fitted, then fit the new radiator while I'm waiting on the new air con radiator arriving. Once that's fitted, put the front end back together and get her booked in for MOT. Been time consuming and more work than I expected, but at least it's a job I shouldn't ever have to do again as these new parts should last a hella long time. Will look at getting her booked in for a service too and want to get the supercharger serviced too. Anyhoo, here's the pics of the finished exhaust/back end!

I think it would need to be on one you were thinking of buying. Could always ask the current owner if they can show you the print out of the emissions from last MOT. The factory/book specs when new won't be the same as an engine that's done over 50K. I'd hate to live in London mate, really feel for you as they are doing everything they can to push the older cars out all together. They are going to be doing the same crappy ULEZ up here in Edinburgh, so guess my civic or my mini won't be going anywhere near the City. Does the 1.5 civic not fall into the ULEZ specs? Considering how fuel efficient the VTEC-E 1.5 is if you could get a print out of the emissions from one of those to compare maybe?

Hahaha, very true! The amount of times throughout my life I've stated "I've repaired it" and it's actually (sometimes sneakily!) been an upgrade i've lost count of lol. Funny thing is, this is one upgrade I wasn't sure about about the exhaust when I first started her up as I thought it might be a bit too loud, but when Gayle came out to the garage and I fired it up to let her hear it her reaction was "I love it!!! That's sounds amazing!!!". Gayle said it's staying! lol True on the parts being a minefield, but had that before with the 1st one I had (incidentally the gen2's seem to be a lot more expensive for parts than the gen 1's) so was kinda expecting it. Good thing is because these are so popular, there's plenty of help out there and groups/forums. One of the main forums I'm on for the MINI the owner of the site lives about 10 miles away from me lol Parts wise the hoses seem to be harder to get than the bloody radiators! Looking like aftermarket ones possibly (did I hear "upgrade" again? lol) Spot on mate. I don't mind replacing the bits tbh as we're wanting to keep this one for a long time, so will get the benefits out of it. Better doing the work now when I'm still able to rather than a few years down the line when working on the car might be a lot harder for me. Speaking of which, have to say for a modern car I'm really enjoying working on her. Just can't wait to get her on the road again!!

While testing for exhaust leaks (all clear on that front!) Gayle noticed steam coming from the engine bay. Here's where things take a turn for the worst. I initially though it was the work I'd done on the thermostat and new coolant tank, thinking there had maybe been spilt coolant that was maybe burning off. After looking underneath the front and tapping the under tray, loads of coolant started falling onto the garage floor. Had to then completely strip the whole front end off the car to get to the radiators to check them. Got the old one removed which was gubbed on the bottom and alo leaking at the top right corner. Got the new one ordered and arrived next day from PartsInMotion.co.uk (highly recommend!). Got the fan etc removed from the old one and fitted to the new one but can't get it fitted yet as more problems found. Upon further checks, found that the prev owner looks to have hit a high kerb on the left side front when in one of the supermarket carparks. Did notice a slight ripple on the very bottom of the bumper in that area when we bought her but didn't think too much about it tbh. It has busted the main radiator (which I've already bought), but also the air con radiator is bust too. The impact, although small, has been enough to move the radiator momentarily upwards and inwards, meaning the fan has just nicked the two top hoses too. they haven't punctured, but both have a wee chunk out of them. Totally gutted, but hey ho, it's been a fun wee car to work on so far. Unfortunately I'm skint until pay day so she's still in a thousand bits on the axle stands. Gonna replace the two hoses (one goes onto the thermostat so means I now have to strip all the gubbins out in the engine bay again to get to it!!) just to be super safe. Once I get the parts it should only take me a day to take the rest apart and fit all the new bits and put her back together. Here's a few pics of how she currently stands! Oh, and can also see the new coolant expansion tank, looks so much better than the manky old one which was ready to fail.

New exhaust is here! To get the old rotten exhaust off, you need to remove the extra bracing the convertible has underneath. Unfortunately the torx bolts that hold it on were seized solid. Paul and me spent hours trying to get them out, but 5 of them moved roughly 3mm then seized (wouldn't even go back in let alone come off!) and one would not move at all. Tried heat etc, nope, wouldn't move. In the end I had to spend over £120 on an impact wrench gun. This too took a bit of time to get them to move, but it did after about 30 seconds on each of them get them all out, including the stuck solid one! Old exhaust then came off ok, only the rear rubbers were a pig to get off. New exhaust went one easy peasy, but did notice that there didnt seem to be enough clearance between the exhaust and the damn brace bars. I bought a length of 6mm steel flat bar and made up my own spacers to go between the main brace and the chassis, which gives perfect clearance now. We pic of my fabricating skills lol All fitted and tested for leaks....None present! Decent bit of kit to be fair and was actually cheaper than the duff oem spec standard one I bought. Sounds quite nice too, jury's still out on whether I think it's too loud as not driven her yet (see below for why!) but just listening to it in the garage Gayle is a hug fan of the sound! Will get a video once she's running again (again, see below for more!)