mantior

Yes and yes to both of those. First thing I checked (after my undercrackers) when I saw the big red light was brake fluid. ABS rings are all there, not that I want them to be doing anything though. No one else ever bypassed ABS on one of these??

Yes and yes to both of those. First thing I checked (after my undercrackers) when I saw the big red light was brake fluid. ABS rings are all there, not that I want them to be doing anything though. No one else ever bypassed ABS on one of these??

During one of my 4 recent suspension swaps (don't ask, I still have to change it one more time yet) I snapped one of the ABS sensors off. This is fine, as I hate ABS and usually disable it on all Hondas as it cuts in too soon anyway, meaning my yellow ABS light is illuminated on the dash, this is also fine, I can handle that. On all other Hondas the light being on disables the ABS system, but when hard on the brakes I could feel the ABS pump doing some kind of pathetic work and also still ruining my brake control into fast corners. So I then removed the ABS fuse from the engine compartment and sure enough the ABS pump relinquished it's control over my means of slowing down, HOWEVER whenever I brake hard now, the big red brake warning light comes on, as if I was low on fluid, or my handbrake is on. But the brakes work fine. As soon as I turn the engine off and back on again it resets until I brake hard. Anyone got any idea what is going on here?

During one of my 4 recent suspension swaps (don't ask, I still have to change it one more time yet) I snapped one of the ABS sensors off. This is fine, as I hate ABS and usually disable it on all Hondas as it cuts in too soon anyway, meaning my yellow ABS light is illuminated on the dash, this is also fine, I can handle that. On all other Hondas the light being on disables the ABS system, but when hard on the brakes I could feel the ABS pump doing some kind of pathetic work and also still ruining my brake control into fast corners. So I then removed the ABS fuse from the engine compartment and sure enough the ABS pump relinquished it's control over my means of slowing down, HOWEVER whenever I brake hard now, the big red brake warning light comes on, as if I was low on fluid, or my handbrake is on. But the brakes work fine. As soon as I turn the engine off and back on again it resets until I brake hard. Anyone got any idea what is going on here?

Hi Deano, The B16 & B18 inlets won't fit the C4 - you need a special B18C4 inlet manifold, which Skunk2 do sell - have a look on Funkypower.com etc.

I once made the very same mistake. I now check the fill plug comes off before the drain plug. There's usually a random big bung with a square drive right at the outer end of the box - I've filled it from there before - but I can't be 100% sure it was on a Honda now I think about it. If it does have one of those be careful as the one I'm thinkin of is made of ally and can snap if you're a rough-arse like me.

First time you do it it can be a bit daunting, but as front wheel drive cars go it's relatively easy. No intermediate bearing on the nearside driveshaft on SOHC Civics either IIRC so even better. Gearboxes on these are light and fairly easy to handle on your own, which is normally the biggest headache (literally, potentially). But if you're not confident I'd probably give it to a garage to do.

Exactly, other than the engine it's just trim that's different, and yours probably has rear drum brakes rather than discs? Relatively minor stuff. So purely for the engine swap and to mnake it work and driveable you need to keep an eye out for: -B series Engine with wiring harness B16, B18 from an EG or early Integra (you want it to be OBD 1 therefore an engine out of an EK or a UK DC2 would be more hassle) -B series gearbox (Y21 etc from EG) -ECU to run B series -Driveshafts from B -Radiator from B (inlets/outlets are bigger on B series) -Exhaust for B (yours won't fit onto a B series manifold very well and be too restrictive anyway) Get hunting!

Will topping up your tyres with Nitrous Oxide make your car faster then? lol You just top it up with normal air. Think in time petrol stations will start offering it nitrogen on tap, but I've not seen it anywhere yet. It's a bit of a gimmick for road cars - F1 and various racing leagues have been using it for years as it expands less when heated giving more predictable and stable tyre pressures.

As they only had old skool alignmnent stuff they only checked and altered the fronts and they were waaayyyyyyy out lol. I guess my length of 2x1 wood aligning tool wasn't quite as scientific as I had originally thought. I have literally in the last hour or so secured myself a set of all-singing, all-dancing Tein coilies - once they are on (this weekend with a bit of luck and time) I'll get it set up how I want and then rechecked. And then I'll mess with it again and get it rechecked. And so on, usually for several months,and when I eventually get everything right it'll probably be time to go on the ferry for Japfest, which always means raising the suspension and ruining my months of work, which then starts all over again. The joys of being anal hey.

It's no biggy swapping all those things on a 5th gen Civic - I'm always for a bit of casual engine swapping. Getting enough stopping power isn't exactly hard, and MB6 brakes aren't exactly 10 pot brembos either (although surprisingly good for a warm Honda of that vintage) If you've got a bit of cash lying around and your car is a solid base you can end up with a better car than buying the unknown quantity that is a used MB6. Plus of course there's the sleeper posibility. Any EG or MB engine will bolt in and plug and play (with the right ECU) the only wiring you need to do is in the case of a B18C4 swap is run 2 wires from 2 pins on the new ECU into the correct pins of your new engine for VTEC and IABS (by memory). Go on my san, do it - you don't see many twin cam VTEC MA's.

Wellity wellity.I picked my car up after work and Mr BS Manager started again with some spiel about how it's been lowered and he didn't have the settings to what it should be now it's lowered and that they couldn't do a full 4 wheel alignment until their new 4 wheel jig arrives. However a somewhat more useful individual who I'm chummy with there told me he set it all to factory apart from the camber obviously. And the verdict is: All sorted. Drives really nicely now - simply can't believe the difference, no more heart in mouth ovetakes. Just wait till I get my mitts on some coilies and decent tyres, the hills will be alive with the sound of VTEC. And to top it all off the chummy chap didn't charge me, AND he filled my tyres with nitrogen to the correct pressure - top man! Thumbs down to Billy BS Manager and a big thumbs up to chummy lad! I shall return though once I've got my coilies on in a few weeks and they've got their shiny new jig. BOOYAKA!

Right.... just dropped off car for a 4 wheel alignment at an ATS next to my work car park. What a tool the manager is. I have never met anyone so full of Chris Rap. Tried telling me how they can be really tricky to align them at the back and went on about rear steering arms because he used to have a 4WS Prelude. Once I shut him up about that and asked him to fit my new rear drop links he acted as if I just asked him to clean Buckingham Palace with a toothbrush - "Just pop some drop links on? Do you have any idea how long that takes!?" I told him "Yeah, I've done dozens over the years, and it takes about 10 minutes if you know what you're doing." "Oh...." he says He then started banging on about not being able to fit other people's parts, so I told him that I bought it direct from their parts supplier... This went on for some time until I ran him all out of BS and he said he'd give me a ring and see how he gets on. I think it is the tyres myself - it did the jiggling thing before I even lowered it, it did it when I lowered it 60mm and it still does it now it's lowered 30mm. I know what lowering does to camber - I have spent entire months fiddling with suspension set ups. I just wish I'd never bought these Koni's, should have spent an extra couple of hundred and gone for coilies man, the wallowy uselessness is really annoying me now.

That kinda makes sense - I'd never actually considered that as you cross over on to the other side the front wheel will be on the downwards slope of the shoulder and the rear will briefly still be on the upwards slope - gonna get a 4 wheel alignment done and see how she goes. Cheers for your input - will be well happy if I can get her to be spankable without actually being scared.

Yo folks Got a strange problem with my MB6. Ever since I bought it it has had a real bad twitch, especially when you cross the centre "shoulder" of the road - ie when overtaking etc. It's quite scary at times, especially given my daily commute is a bit banzai. I've checked all suspension components and nothing has any play. I've also fitted Koni Str.T's (not that they help much with handling mind) and the only thing I can think it is, is my chinese "DoubleStar" tyres which my car came with. Has anyone ever known tyres to cause such straightline stability problems? I'm going to be changing the tyres to a better make and lower profile anyway, but I don't want to knacker my new tyres if there's something up with my suspension set up. Strangely, the tyres do grip very well whenever I dare push the car near it's limit around corners - it's fine as long as you don't mind your door handles scraping on the road and the fact that you are permanently performing 90 degree turns of the wheel to keep it on the black stuff due to its sketchiness. Any useful input appreciated.

Just the standard 10 & 6 kg/mm spring set up matey. I note that the suggested MB6 set up is 8 & 5 kg/mm, but I went with 10 & 6. When I was speaking to the tech at GAZ he told me when you adjust the height you also adjust the preload? I may be wrong, but he did seem quite bamboozled by all the questions I bombarded him with.

I know you have to mess with ride height on the BC's - but I'm plumping for them again personally because of the wider shock bodies holding more oil than the Meisters - if you do fast driving on bumpy roads on most narrow body coilies will heat the oil and ruin the damping. I remember I had some D2s (again, narrower bodied like the meisters) a couple of years ago and I might as well have attached four large dog turds to my car for what use they were to me. I threw everything I had at my BC's (on my EM1) Hard landings from being airborne, belly scraping bumpy back roads flat out, a hare I hit at 140 - no matter what I got up to, they were always awesome. Shame they've put the price up just recently but to me they are a known quantity. This is just my opinion though, I know there's loads of happy Meister and D2 coilover owners out there. And in fairness I doubt most people's cars will see the abuse to justify or notice the difference in shock body size. Another avenue to explore is GAZ coilies designed for the MG ZS - if you hunt around you can get them a fair bit cheaper than the other stuff, I saw them for less than £500 on an MG specialist website, by memory the part number is GHA358? The only thing that put me off was that there's no seperate height adjustment on them, as I'm incredibly anal when it comes to suspension set ups in case you hadn't noticed lol.

I've got a set of these Koni's last month. Though they are a nice kit, I would only recommend these to you if you are more concerned about ride comfort (which is quite good) compared to handling. I'll be taking mine off and installing BC coilovers as per my last Civic though as I simply can't hack body roll with the drive to work I have.

I bought a set of these cheap ebay ones for my RX8 - and they are fine. Bearing in mind RX8's are extremely sensitive when it comes to anything to do with ignition - the quality's good - certainly nothing to worry about. One of the main reasons Magnecor are more expensive is because they are hand made in Britain where labour is expensive, rather than a robot or a 5 year old Chinese girl making them in a sweatshop.