Dave

Well, I'm undecided as to what to do about Roxy. Came close to buying another car the on Wednesday! Spotted a really tidy aerodeck 1.6ES (so same model as DD), 1 owner from new, same colour as DD, full honda service history and.........21,000 miles from new! Was so bloody tempted! Told Gayle about it on Thursday, went to show her it on auto trader..........gone! Wasn't even 24 hours and it was sold! It was up for £2000, but to me that was a decent price when you figure the running gear is almost brand new, and the car was mint. OK, wouldn't have the power, but would have been a nice car as a daily. Also looked at another FN1 types, but the 2.2 diesel this time. Just depends on what the outcome with Roxy is. Hopefully it won't come to getting another car but doubting honda will honour their warranty.

Thanks mate! Yeah, see thats the problem. Even with it's faults, I love the style of the car and the performance. And the safety! There is nothing else out there that I actually would want to sell her to get. Nothing has the stunning interior, they all look bland in comparison. Same goes for the exterior, there's nothing newish that looks anywhere as good as the FN2. And have to agree, Clarksons review is totally bullshit. I've found the handling is really sharp, and the power is more than enough. Mine is totally standard mechanical wise, standard air box/filter etc. Have thought about changing the ECU to Hondata as have heard really good reviews about it. But in honesty think it's bad that the FN2's need a new ECU just to make them drive better, Honda should have made them properly from the start. I think a lot has to do with them trying to get the cars to meet the tougher emmissions requirements for the EU, so they may have rushed the development of them a bit leaving the cars with "issues". But for the money, they are deffo better looking than most of the rivals out there. They still look new even after all this time, and look better than the current 9th gen Civic, which seems to have lost the cutting edge look of the FN's FK's etc.

Well, although I dont want her out on the road just now, she's been called back into active duty. The TypeR is in dealership again with a list of faults! See roxy's thread for whats going on this time! Begining to think I should have either A: kept the TypeS or B: kept Ruby! So, I went out to the garage last week because she hadn't been fired up for a while (turns out it was over 3 months since she was last started!) so wanted to get her free'd up and make sure everything was fine. Connected up the battery, whipped off the HT leads as I didnt want her to fire up straight away, wanted her to turn over and get the oil moving first to protect the engine. Popped the leads back on, turned the key..................and she burst straight into life like she'd been running all day! Then thought I'd move her out into the drive and just drive her back and forth a few times, making sure everything was free and not siezed. Didnt want to take her out onto the road though due to salt/ wet roads. I thought she might have been a bit stiff, brakesand stuff maybe seized. But in true DD style, she was absolutely perfect! Would not have known she'd been sitting laid up for so long! So tonight, had to get her back on the road due to having no car. First drive was to go away to the other side of Edinburgh to pick up Jim and his Mrs from hospital, and she drove perfectly. Such a beautiful car to drive, so smooth and does everything just right, she's a joy and pleasure to drive. Just love DD to bits, and she's a true reminder of what Hondas are all about. Well, the older Hondas anyway! And the looks she gets always makes me smile! Will just have to make sure I keep the crap washed off her and then give her a good power wash before she retires back into the garage when I finally get the TypeR back. So if you see DD out and about, give her a wave!

Well, that's the deck back on the road again! Roxy is now sitting in the dealerships garage awaiting repairs! Here's the list: 1.Gear change. I'd noticed that the gearbox might be faulty (which is common on them, synchros pack in) because when driving "quickly", if I was giving her beans on take off, changing from 1st into 2nd always went with a crunch. Also noticed it sometimes on 2nd to third, and then when going from 4th back into 3rd it was kinda "notchy". 2. Kangaroo driving! When driving her from start up, she was a total nightmare to drive. Pulling away she was really jerky, especially in 1st and 2nd, and would kangaroo down the road. This was a total pain in the ass! When I first reported this to the dealership ages ago, I was informed "they all do this! It's a characteristic of the car/engine". Bullshit I thought! I'd posted on civinfo about it, and there were only one or two that had experienced the same issue. The rest were fine. Just as I suspected! I've never owned a Honda that drove like that, so didn't think it was something any manufacturer would have their car do as a norm. Especially Honda. 3. Flat spot. I'd also noticed there was a definate flat spot when driving. More noticeable at low speeds, but still there whatever the speed/throttle position. 4. Creaking from front passenger suspension when turning the steering. So, thought right, the car is actually pissing me off every time i drive it, I aint having this! Booked it into the dealership to see what faults would show up, and they got back to me. Now the car is still under extended warranty, with it being an "approved Honda", hence why I've taken it in before the warranty runs out. So here's the results (so to speak) They are awaiting someone from Honda arriving to inspect it. 1. Gear change prob. They told me that it "might be worn synchros, as it did do the fault on test drive. BUT, they won't know until the gearbox is removed. As I am wanting this sorted under warranty (which I think is fair), they won't remove the gearbox unless I sign a disclaimer stating that if Honda deem it isnt that thats faulty, or they deem it "wear and tear", I agree to pay the labour costs for removal/fitting the gearbox. This is over £600! And if that happens it means the gearbox is being refitted with this so bloody obvious fault! So I have had to sign it otherwise they wont go ahead and see whats wrong with it. Feels like they hold a gun to your head! 2. The kangaroo driving. (inconclusive, see fault 3) 3. The flat spot. The car did on their test drive have a flat spot. The technician has found that one of the coil packs on the spark plugs is rusty. The sparkplug this is attached to is also showing signs of corrosion. I asked if this is what is causing the flat spot, the answer being "possibly". I asked if this was causing the kangaroo problem, which was answered no. I then asked if the coil pack and plug would be replaced under warranty, and to obviously see if it cures the problem. They said it depends on whether Honda agree, they may say that is just "wear and tear", so may have to pay for that myself too. 4. Suspension creaking. They think this is due to bearings in the top of the suspension. Again, would it be repaired under warranty then? Depends if Honda declare wear and tear. I am totally pissed off at this! Wear and tear ffs! The car only has 48 thousand on the clock, had 43 thou when I bought it . So i've done less than 5 thousand miles since I bought it and all these faults have appeared. This being an "approved car". I sincerely hope Honda agree to the repairs, and neither them nor the dealer try to back out of forking out for fixing the car. This "wear and tear" answer to any repairs I questioned getting fixed is worrying me. I have always trusted the Honda brand, and always loved it's products. And I've always sworn by them and recommended them to others. I just hope my faith in Honda isn't about to be damaged. Just can't believe the problems I've had with this car (and the previous FN) and think personally that their new cars don't come anywhere near the quality and build of their older Hondas. I never had any "wear and tear" issues with any of my Civic M's at even higher mileages than that of the TypeR, so seriously believe that they can't say thats the norm for this car. The cars away until at least the end of next week, so again I'm without my car. Yes, I could have just ignored the faults and kept on driving it, so some would say it's my fault for taking it in there. But the faults are only going to get worse, so I wanted it sorted. Don't see why I should pay over 10 grand for a car full of faults! The saga continues!

It's up to our traders what prices they charge, although they do always give a discount to our members. It may be part of an ongoing offer or sale, or some other promotion, in which case our discount wouldn't apply. I'll give them a wee PM to see if they can shed any light on it chaps. As Krzys, it's good to have these traders as part of the club, as they normally can save us a few quid. Sky insurance saved me a lot last year insuring DD. I saved money on the oil for the TypeR last month from Opie (was cheaper than the likes of Halfords etc), and our Honda dealerships who are part of the club save us money time and time again. On buying direct from source, I have always found the manufacturer charges more! No idea why that is!! But I guess its like if you went to buy a jar of coffee, it would cost you more buying it from Nescafe than it would buying it from Asda or Tesco. It's due to bulk buying, these sellers buy it in bulk and at trade price, so they get it mega cheaper than the RRP. Sounds like the Manufacturers are doing themselves out of sales when people will go to superstores instead of the original company? Not so, they prefer to sell in bulk rather than 1 item to 1 customer, as it saves on shipping costs and means they get a larger income. Buying direct is often deliberately set higher because companies prefer not to deal with the public direct. It's all about business.

Lmao

Lol, I seem to remember you and me having to deffend our decission to keep the wood on the dash before Alex! They just don't get it! Lol OK, and what's wrong with chrome???!! DD has more now than when she left the factory and looks all the better for it! Damn these young UN's with their "if its not black it ain't worth jack" styling sense! Lol

This Civic M always amazes me! Totally stunning car in every aspect, and not a B series in sight! Big respect to you Mike, this car is a show winner all day long.

Nice wee project mate, and ouch with that ball joint! Never had one fail on me but imagine its scary as hell! Loving the mitsy too, you should get her a wee project thread in the other projects section, always nice to see something different. I'll move this thread to the project M's section once you've read this post mate. Let me know when you've read it, don't want you to have to go hunting for your thread lol

Tada! http://www.civinfo.com/forum/how/99643-how-adjust-clutch-biting-point-fn2.html Really easy to do mate. I take it the ep has the same set up?

I'll get it for you mate

Well, not done much to her lately, been too cold tbh! Plus spending a lot of time just trying to keep her clean! This bloody road salt is a nightmare! What I did finally do is adjust the clutch biting point. There was hardly any free play in the pedal at all, so basically when the pedal was around 1cm off the floor, the clutch was fully engaged. This was causing probs with high speed/high revs gearchanges, especially from 1st to 2nd, and sometimes 2nd to 3rd. So found a how to on civinfo.co.uk on how to adjust it, and it's now much, much better! Actually easier to drive now too, and no more crunching. Well, it did crunch once going from 1st to 2nd, but I think that was more driver error than the car!! lol Still got the new plugs to fit to her (again a pain of a job because of how far back the engine sits in the bay. So lots of bits to remove before access can be got!)

Damn! The teasing begins! Lol

Thought I'd share this with you! For Christmas, Gayle got me a driving experience.............at a drift driving school! Went for this yesterday (saturday) and had amazing fun! A lot harder than I thought it would be, probably due to the fact its the first time they've tried to run the lessons so early in the year (and first time I've actually driven a proper drift car!). The track was covered in ice when we arrived! We couldnt really get much speed going due to the conditions, as the ice was starting to melt so we had parts with ice, straight into parts of the track that were wet. First up was handbrake turns and getting used to the car. Then it should have been doughnuts & figure of 8's As the track was still a bit dodgy, they decided to let us do "freestyle" instead. Went back out and the track was now showing ice/wet patches/dry patches! Making it even more difficult to keep momentum going (had bits where the tyres would loose grip too easily, and bits where it was dry so just gripped!. But I did indeed get it going! Finally, the last thing we got was passenger rides around the track. Even the pro drifting instructors were struggling with the conditions! lmao The cars too were showing problems during the day, with engines cutting out, over heating etc. And luckily, I didnt crash at any point! Which I was worried I would! lol Someone else did though, and tore the front bumper off the car!! Thought I'd put up a few pics of the day. Was there with Gayle, and Jim too, so Jim was on camera duties! Always wanted a go at this, especially after doing the passenger rides at Japfest2 with Gayle last year. All in all, an amazing day! Huge massive thanks to my babe Gayle for such an amazing present! My objective in the video was to stay as close to the cone without hitting it! Thought I did pretty well for my first go! lol You can hardly hear the car I'm in as I was on the furthest away section of the track, so most of the noise you here is the other car which was under where Jim was with the camera.

Craig, I feel for you for getting your car vandalized, I really do, as had it done to me. And it aint nice. But You started off the story by saying Your above post implies you have found out something bad about civic5. Whatever has happened to your car has nothing to do with this site. I imagine the person who did it is presumably the person you were having bother with before, who you said may try and join the forum to cause you trouble. We have no way of knowing who people are when they register in the forum, so find this whole thing quite derogatory about the club. If people are causing you trouble, and following you about the internet, then its up to you to sort that out. There are laws in place for both the vandalising of your property (ie: your car) and also for being trolled/pestered on the internet. The best thing you could do if you have evidence is report it to the police. Why you haven't already is beyond me, because if they've done it twice, they aren't exactly showing any signs of it being a one off. I certainly would have reported it to the police by now. We don't mind you posting that your car has been vandalized, and that you're pee'd about it. We all would be! But don't blame the site or its members for it. Blame the person that did it and deal with it properly. Online arguments/slanging matches solves absolutely nothing. And it won't be accepted on this forum (it's also in the site rules, so shouldn't really have come to this anyways), or any pages/groups this club runs. So keep this away from the club.

She's going to be really quick once that new final drive is fitted! Looking forward to seeing the new wheels too, think she will really suit them Mae! Good job on the new roof moulding too, didnt think they were still available so good job on finding them. Love the attention to detail on this MB, awesome civic!

On a side note, I'm going to speak to Merrick at Meister R about their suspension for the fn2 want to find out if it will make the suspension softer, as this would make the car a lot more enjoyable to drive, and probably better handling too. Really stiff suspension doesn't necessarily mean better handling, especially on our roads. Will let you know what I find out

No probs mate. I'd recommend having a look on civinfo.co.UK I've been a member on there for years, really great site ( although it has recently been sold by its creator to a company that buys forums, but it hasn't changed thankfully. Just more adverts!), and is run pretty much the same as civic5. Great bunch of members, and its all about the 8th and 9th gen civics. The amount of info they have is amazing! I did have a look at the various typeR sites, but didn't really like them that much. Civinfo has everything you'll ever need to know about the fn2, and has great how to sections just like here. Have a look and tell em I sent ya! Lol I'm a paid member on there too, mainly because of the help and info I've had from there. Have a look before buying one mate, as there's a lot of things to look out for with the fn2's

lol She's looking mega clean John!!!! That reflection is amazing for a 98 car on her original paint eh! Ruby is one sexy lookin girl! Keep up the good work mate!

Bloody hell! Thats scary!

Be fair John, it wasnt Ali's fault he went to the wrong supplier for the cone. How was he to know the ones they sell on ice cream vans arent the right size! lmao

Looking forward to the pics!

Are funkypower really closing down??? I thought Faz and the guys were doing well, be a shame to loose them. As said, always been great to deal with. Was faz that helped me get the steering boss for my civic MA8, as nobody had really fitted a/m steering wheels to a civic m before. Faz researched and found out what fitted for me

The climairs a slightly lighter smoked tint mate, but yes, id say your making the right choice going for them. You getting the full set? The rears amuch much better than hekos, fit so much better.

lol, you know me Ali, I'm anal about my civics! If it's for a civic M, it has a place in my garage! lol Damn, had to be the front! John, if you dont want to go on Ebay, you can go to climairs own website @ http://www.climairuk.com/, or go to Team-heko @ http://www.e-heko.com/en/ .Having had both I'd deffo go for the climairs, just better quality and fit imo. But you'd need a full set as they're a slightly different level of smoked perspex compaired to Rubys Hekos.