Dave

haha! Thats what i was just saying the other day! I wasnt meant to be born in this country, cant stand the winter! Hibernation is the way forward!

Even if I just get the deck done I'll be happy! It's only going to be a small outfit if we get the go ahead. But being smaller means I can take my time doing the cars and means they will turn out sweet.

See thats the key! There are hardly any old school spray painters left now, and most are the kind who because the car isn't theirs, they don't actually care that much how it turns out. Old school sprayers tend to take a pride in their work, almost as if it's a work of art and they're putting their name to it. So they take care (and time) on all aspects of the job, from the initial preperation work, to the masking it up properly, to the final painting.

THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF THE KIND OF POSTS THIS SECTION IS FOR Went to my car and it won't start this morning. Doesn't even turn over, just clicks. Anyone got any ideas?

Yeah, she wasnt as bad as she looked, although still a mess. Parts guys seem to be a hit or miss,and when you find a good one keep using him, at least you know you'll get your parts. Of course Ali will get a big head now you've said that John! lmao Bodyshops on the other hand, seem to be a complete miss nowadays! I honestly couldn't name one good bodyshop! And most of the faults they produce are just are like school boy errors, through either laziness or just rushing things. I know what you mean mate, it would be great to get Ruby resprayed, but just who do you get or trust to do it? There's apparently a good one at Loanhead near Ikea, but I havent seen any of their work so couldnt vouch for them. Thats why I want to get this unit and get it set up, then I'll be respraying the deck myself. I doubt I would trust her going anywhere else to be done, heard too many horror stories!

well, that's her away again on the back of a low-loader to get the faults fixed, and hopefully she'll be back tonight, all fixed! Fingers crossed!

DD now safely washed (again) and polished (again!) and tucked up snug in her blanket in the civic5 crib for the winter. She won't be seeing the outside world till spring!

Lol have you not read Roxy's thread? She had, um, a slight change to her face! Had an accident mate about a month ago, and thought she was a write off, but turned out to be just cosmetic damage, although pretty severe. Only just got her back yesterday from the body shop and all is not good! Yeah metalflake red would be awesome mate, you need to do this! And stop slacking and get Rosie cleaned! Lmao

Ended up getting her back yesterday,........ And taking her back in on Monday! Not a happy bunny! When I went to check her with the guy, I noticed straight away that the pass side rear edge of the bonnet was like half an inch higher then the wing! Looked like she had bonnet lifters on one side! Said to him wtf is that meant to be?? Not effing repaired properly, that what! So they took her back in and adjusted the bonnet, so its now sitting straight and level. So, seeing as I was freezing cold having spent the best part of an hour on the bus (with no heaters on!) Getting there, I wanted away. I did notice bits where they're missed rubbing the polish off ( or so I thought) as they said shed just been washed and polished. Started her up, and noticed she turned over really slowly, so know the battery hadn't been disconnected the whole month she's been sat there. How do I know? Stereo is all back to default settings, meaning battery has been stone cold flat. They must have jump started her, lazy bits!. So driving along and ended up in a queue, so turned the heater up as I was still cold. Sitting there, I thought what the hells that draft. Only it wasn't a draft, the heater was blowing cold air, when set to hot! It eventually got warmer, but once on the move reverted back to freezing cold! So, they haven't even bled the coolant system after refilling it! Next, I'm driving into my town on the rather bumpy road, and hear this annoying rattle. Best wat to describe it is like a cracking sound, like someone hitting the bottom of the windscreen with a screw driver. Now being on the civinfo site for these civics, I knew it was the plastic scuttle where the wipers sit, as they're common for this. So, got her into my garage, popped the bonnet, only to find the whole scuttle panel just sitting in place, nothing holding it or the plastic panels that run down the side of the inner wings in place! All the fasteners missing! So got straight onto the phone to them and went daft! So it goes back in on Monday. But it doesn't stop there! Went out to buff of the 'polish' only to find it isn't polish, is effing over spray! Infact , I'm going to ask to see they're so called painter and give him a lesson in using masking paper and tape. There's oversparay all over the bloody car! The pass door mirror casing has an almost matt finish to it, the mirror glass itself is covered in paint, theres bits along the pass side you can see where it wasn't masked, paint feels flat at those bits, drivers door just under the mirror has an actual edge where the masking tape was, drivers side side skirt is covered in over spray to the point it doesn't actually shine! Then there's the pass side wheel arch, where it meets the sideskirt, it keeps popping out. Went out in her last night and had at least half a dozen cars flash there lights or put main beam on, so looks like they haven't even set the headlight level! Then to cap it all, went out with Gayle for something to eat, started raining, put wipers on and bloody windscreen is covered in over spray too. And when I called to say I was on my way to pick the car up, they said'thats fine,the cars just in quality control just now so will be ready when you get here' !!!! What the actual fuck????????? When you first see her she looks stunning, but when you look closer that's when all the faults show. So they are going to get one hell of a blocking from me when I arrive on Monday! Going to let my insurance company know too, as the excess has been paid, and this is supposed to be ' an approved repair centre'. Bloody shocking! Still, at least she drives perfect, and DD is finally off the road for the winter! Watch this space!

Wow! I am indeed proud, and so glad its john that bought her! You're doing an amazing job mate, she looks absolutely mint! Funny you should go down the colour coding route, I tested the water a few years back with her doing just that. I done the rear bumper bump strip, liked it at first, then went off it! Lol so she went back to standard after a brand new bumper was fitted. I should have a PIC somewhere if you want a look? Loving your plans for her mate, new rear arches is what I had planned if I'd kept her. That done, she'll be totally rust free. Colour change??? I love the colour she is, but wanted to do a full respray too. How about a funky 70's metalflake red? That would look amazing, and no other metalflaked ones that I know of, so would be unique. Mind you, the shine you've got on her there it would indeed have to be one hell of a good respray. Perfection is a word she loves! Lol need to meet up sometime mate, get a natter an would love to see Rubes again

Looking really sweet mate. That front lip is really rare, and a nice touch. Same with the sill trims, another rare part. Love seeing the M's getting some OEM accessories that are hard to find.

Bay is looking good Simon! The heat shield turned out amazing! I still have lots to do to Dawns decks bay aswell, want it looking mint

loving it. Subtle is the way to go!

lol I'm with you on that Jay, bat to the head works wonders, because getting the police involved would be pointless. 1, they aint bothered about the police and laugh in the face of our soft as putty laws and punishments, 2 the police wouldnt really be that interested. Only way to deal with this scum is a language they understand, so bat sounds good! On saying that, been lucky enough to get a parking space right outside Gayles house the last few times I've been down, and she's been fine, no idiots attacking her. In fact, when I pulled up at Gayles this evening, two little lads about maybe 10 years old were watching me park,and one said really nice car mister! Doubt it was them as they seemed to be standing there in awe of DD! Mind you kept an eye on them from the window but they were fine. Wish everyone thought that about her.

Possibly jobs coming up at my work mate, based in penicuik. Ill et u know if and when they're available

I have one of those crash ones, wish I'd had it in Roxy the day of the accident instead of it sitting in my cupboard!

damn harsh times indeed mate. Something will turn up though, so keep positive. And don't sell her!

I know, I was raging! supposed to be getting Roxy back tomorrow for deff, so DD will be hibernating soon thank god. Can't believe some of those haters out there!

Nice to see the 4 door version mate. There's a VTiS style body kit available for the 4 doors too If i remember rightly. MA front end conversion would look mega different, would kinda give it the Honda Domani look, although the ek rear end is a lot nicer than the Domani. Will be watching this one take shape!

Update! Still not get her back! They have had a lot of the parts delivered which turned out to be the incorrect parts, which has slowed things down. Was supposed to get her back last wed, then it was going to be friday, then monday (today) but they have found that a few wee parts arent the right ones and the condensor is the wrong one, so have to wait until the correct one is delivered. And all these parts are from Honda! They said to be fair Honda isnt the only one they get problems with when ordering parts. So now its going to be hopefully wed afternoon.

Well, still not got around to doing this, been busy and it's been too cold! Still havent got the typeR back, which is annoying because I want to take DD off the road. Did have some bad stuff happen though! Was down visiting Gayle the other night, and parking in her street is a nightmare. It's a really narrow street, and there's hardly ever any spaces left to park in. At the bottom of the street, there's a wee lane, so parked DD there. Left Gayles around 11pm and when I got to the drivers door, there was what looked like bird poop all over the drivers door window. Thought it strange at that time of night, but she lives right on the coast near the beach so just though "bloody seagulls doing a night time raid". So got in and drover her home. When I'd got her into the garage, I noticed that it wasn't bird poop.....................some low life git had stood there bloody gobbing (spitting) all over the window and door! It was gross! Whole bloody door was covered in it, so went to get water and stuff to clean her up then noticed the drivers side headlight protector Dawn fitted was hanging off! The scummy little bas had tried to rip them off the car! I was in a total rage when I saw this, though why the feck would you do any of that to the car???? Really pissed me off, and now I'm paranoid about leaving her parked anywhere! Luckily, the headlamp protector was intact and wasnt damaged, so fixed it back on. Just glad the scum didnt take a key along her or anything worse. So bloody annoyed, and no reason at all why anyone there would do that. Where Gayle lives is a quiet wee village, never really anything bad ever goes on. And where she was parked isn't somewhere anyone passing through would drive, so had to be someone local. End result is, I've been walking nearly everywhere since! She hasnt been out the garage since Thursday, although have been back down to Gayles twice but first time she was parked outside Gayles house, the second time no spaces available again so parked her in the next street, so she was outside houses, and probably a bit safer. So hope to get Roxy back on Wed afternoon. The repairs have been a headache as Honda have sent loads of incorrect parts, so it's held everything up. They're now waiting on another condensor and a couple of other wee bits because those were also the wrong parts. Sooner she's back the better, so DD can get tucked up safe in the garage for the rest of winter.

Mega hard to decide between these two! I like them both, and both have plus points on styling! Damn this is hard!!!!!! Ok, I'm gonna decide, and gonna go with Maz's MB (ammarbm). But mega close call!

yes mate, both sides the same. I'll measure both the coilovers plus the arch to centre of the wheel, so that we can get it bang on.

No idea why he had stopped mate, there wasnt any pedestrians around so couldnt have been that. I still think it may have been an over-reactive instructor who jammed on the brakes? By the time we got out the cars the lights were obv at red, so not sure if theyd went to amber and he slammed the anchors on. His car was deffo through the lights, rear wheels were across the white line.

lol I usually drive DD Low and Slow, but even then it's scrape scrape scrape, which will do her no good in the long run. Shame, because I love the way she sits just now, but have to put me sensible head on so up she goes! She'll still be low, just not as low as she is just now. Ali, I doubt I'll ever stop modding her mate, it's in my DNA! lol But I think it will be mostly detailing mods now, small and subtle. Underside still needs full detailing, so will be starting with the rear (getting new LCA's etc, and all will be either powder coated or painted blue) and will work my way to the front. The front will take a lot longer as there are more bits to take off and its a lot more involved. She's going to be peachy!