dan1 Posted August 19 Share Posted August 19 Mate this all looks great! So exciting Glad the timing chain bits didn't cause any harm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btjtaylor Posted August 26 Author Share Posted August 26 Spent the bank holiday installing the new timing chain/guides/tensioner, service manual print outs in hand and triple checking everything. All sealed up now, should be able to get the engine back in next weekend, all being well. Chain that was on was stretched - not by as much as some i've seen but the main difference I noticed is the chain tensioner was quite far extended whereas the new one is much less extended, maybe it couldn't take up the slack or something jumped on first start. Anyway, hopefully this is all sorted now. Also changed the crank pulley seal as I don't ever want to be going in there again! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btjtaylor Posted September 8 Author Share Posted September 8 No pics unfortunately as had my head down but some good progress on the car: Engine back in the car and running without any timing codes, great success! Managed to fix an issue with the shifter, I wasn't able to select 1st or 2nd gear. I tried getting another set of shifter cables as the ones I had with the shifter were a bit too short and didn't look like the pictures of "correct" sets i'd seen. Turns out I had set the gearbox cable bracket up wrong - for future reference the brackets should be in the "forward" position as per this image (thanks to the helpful soul on facebook who pointed this out when I posted a last ditch question in a kswap group!): Started to fit an MB6 VTI dashboard that I was kindly gifted by a chap called Sam who I bought a few other bits off. My original one had the fake wood trim which wasn't my favourite and some absolute vandal had attached a phone holder directly to it with wood screws! Removed the passenger airbag, removed the cover from it and refitted the cover back into the dash to cover the ugly hole that was left Another solid day on it and I reckon first drive soon (a very short one out of VTEC as driving on the wrong engine map, with open headers on 15 year old budget tyres isn't the greatest idea!!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btjtaylor Posted yesterday at 09:50 PM Author Share Posted yesterday at 09:50 PM More progress MB6 dash installed and MB6 cluster fitted Modified the centre console slightly (basically just removing the tray in front of the gear stick) to accommodate the shifter box Cut a hole in the back of the glovebox and mounted the ECU inside Installed a steering wheel boss and OMP 300mm wheel Unfortunately I wasted a couple of hours trying to get the head unit to fit in the dash as I was struggling with all the spiders web of cables behind so I couldn't get it rolling today 🥲 but it's a marathon not a sprint! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btjtaylor Posted 14 hours ago Author Share Posted 14 hours ago Got this photo from my father in law this morning that he got the head unit in in about 5 mins on the first try, always the way 🙃 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted 2 hours ago Share Posted 2 hours ago Great progress mate! Those head units are a bugger to fit in our civics. Trick I've found is there us a slight gap in the dash on the left side at the back of where the head unit sits. You can just about manage to poke the excess cables down there when sliding the head unit in, then pull them through from the glovebox side (with glovebox removed). It's tight but makes it easier to get the unit fully in. Nice choice of head unit by the way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btjtaylor Posted 58 minutes ago Author Share Posted 58 minutes ago Thanks, it's an alpine unit so even though it's new I think it fits with the 90s-ish vibe of the car. It's no doubt the brand I would've gone for if I had the money back in the day haha. It has RGB lighting so I can change it to march the dash which is nice (I'm being picky but I don't like it when the colours don't match!) The car came with a pretty retro looking JVC CD player but only 1 channel was working for some reason and it had a really shoddy aftermarket Bluetooth kit (calls only) with wires bodged in all over the place so I thought it was best to bin it all and fit something new I did consider not bothering with a head unit but even though the build leans towards track car, I've been in cars which are totally stripped before and whilst you might be able to get an extra 20kg out by removing the heater, stereo, half the dash, etc, it makes the car unusable for anything other than trailering really Yes he basically said he managed to get it all down the side by sticking a pair of long noise pliers through the popped out hazard switch and holding the cables out of the way of the head unit I've stripped everything from the front seats back and deleted the air con (it was broken anyway) so I'm not even sure I'll be able to hear the radio over the rattling but that's about the extent of the weight reduction for now. It should be a lightweight chassis anyway as it doesn't have a sunroof or other luxury features 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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