btjtaylor Posted October 30, 2025 Author Share Posted October 30, 2025 Just took a rather nerve racking first proper drive of around 15 miles to a local stainless exhaust fabrication place before work. I've left the car with them as I really didn't fancy driving any further with the noise level/fumes but I should get it back next week! I've asked them to make up a 3 inch exhaust, with a high flow cat, centre res and back box. I want the least restriction but I don't want the noise level to be too crazy and get kicked off a track day so we'll see what they come up with. Its definitely overkill for NA but we might boost it once day so it would be "future proofed" for that. Car for the most part drives fine - the only things I've noticed so far: - The steering is a bit off centre - it could be just the boss isn't on right but I think it probably just needs an alignment as we've had the front suspension apart several times to fit driveshafts, coilovers etc. The power steering is working perfectly though which was a big goal of mine as most people delete the PS on these kind of swaps but it's not pleasant to live with off the track. - The throttle is a bit "sticky". Sometimes it idles at 1200rpm and then if you pull the pedal up with your foot it settles down. I have tried to adjust it once before to no avail and I've checked the TPS is calibrated properly. It may need a new throttle cable as im using the 25 year old original one. - Just as I was pulling into the exhaust place the car started to run really badly and stumble. I turned it off and back on then it was fine. I did notice on my laptop that it is running very rich - I am hoping it's just over fuelling due to the o2 sensor being almost certainly too close to the end of the pipe (its just before the flexi and there's no exhaust after that point). I'll not worry too much about this until there's an exhaust fitted! - The front end feels a tiny bit loose but ive not driven the car enough really to comment fully. We haven't adjusted any of the suspension or changed any worn bushes etc at the front so I will reserve judgement until thats all done. But honestly, for a first proper drive it didnt go badly at all. No fluids leaked out or parts fell off!! Did get a few odd looks as frankly the car sounds ridiculous but that will be all sorted soon enough... My father in law followed in his car with a bunch of tools and a jack in the boot but luckily we didnt have to do any roadside repairs. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btjtaylor Posted November 23, 2025 Author Share Posted November 23, 2025 Car is finally back from the exhaust shop. The tailpipe is pretty subtle looking but it sounds pretty angry (in a good way!) Not the best pics as was on axle stands today but it's got a 200 cell sports cat then 3" all the way through with a centre res and rear box. It's totally overkill for N/A but I wanted to prepare for all possible eventualities! Worked on a few other annoying issues. The throttle body was sticking open slightly but that seemed to be down to a rubber boot on the throttle cable getting jammed in the throttle body wheel. Secured that on properly and now it seems to be behaving itself. No signs of any check engine lights related to O2 sensor, I think my suspicion about it just being because it was at the end of the pipe was correct. Replaced the totally rotten and corroded bleed nipples on the rear drums and managed to do a full bleed of the brake system, that's working a lot better now. Battled with bleeding the clutch all day. The master cylinder looked like it was weeping so I fitted a new one but this didnt help at all, despite fluid coming through it still feels spongy. Next time im going to try a "reverse bleed" pushing fluid back up from the slave cylinder end... to be continued 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiNK43 Posted November 30, 2025 Share Posted November 30, 2025 Nice car this mate. Good stuff!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiNK43 Posted November 30, 2025 Share Posted November 30, 2025 Use a syringe and back fill the clutch slave btw. I do this on most things works a treat on clutch motorcycle brakes etc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btjtaylor Posted December 1, 2025 Author Share Posted December 1, 2025 13 hours ago, KiNK43 said: Use a syringe and back fill the clutch slave btw. I do this on most things works a treat on clutch motorcycle brakes etc Cheers - thats what we ended up doing in the end and it worked, The pedal has a lot of free play at the top so I need to adjust the pushrod and the bump stopper thing at the top, will tackle that next time 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_broon Posted December 3, 2025 Share Posted December 3, 2025 Glad you're happy with the exhaust - it does look pretty discrete. I liked the difference my sports cat made, to feel and tone. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btjtaylor Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 Hadn't had much time to work on the Civic recently as I would've liked but i've been busy in the background collecting all the parts needed to finish this (the car now looks like a rolling parts department) A few bits still to arrive but very exciting times ahead.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_broon Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 A boot full of goodies! 😎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btjtaylor Posted January 26 Author Share Posted January 26 Fitted a Hybrid Racing shifter and gear knob over the weekend alongside some new shifter cables. The shifter feels amazing, very direct and the shift has gone from a sensation of bushes resisting the shift to feeling more like it's connected directly to the gearbox. Also looks much better in the cabin that the plastic box of the DC5 shifter that was in before. The shifter cables were a bit .. interesting. They are a cheap Chinese clone of K-tuned race cables. I eventually got them fitted but one of the connections to the shifter box had been drilled incorrectly/unfinished so it did not fit over the lug on the shifter. Luckily an 8mm drill bit fixed the issue ... you get what you pay for! Normally I would not buy knock off products but the price for the real deal K-tuned cables is absolutely insane (over £500) which I just don't have the budget for. I did look at buying Hybrid Racing cables which are a little bit more affordable but HR told me that the length is shorter than OEM (which were already a fairly tight fit) so they would not be suitable. I think this is down to the longer wheelbase of the MB platform meaning the shifter gets mounted further from the engine than a shorter wheelbase care like the Civic EG (or similar) that their cables would've been originally designed for. Currently also trying to sort an issue with a whine coming from the power steering. It sounds like there's air in the system but I have made sure it's bled with a vacuum bleeder and all the usual methods and there's no air bubbles in the reservoir which makes me think it must be something else. Weirdly, the steering actually feels OK, but the car almost sounds like it has a supercharger. I did replace an O-Ring in the power steering pump feed which I found a few references to online as it can get old and brittle and pass air but this did not help. I read that misaligned belts can cause this issue and my aux belt tensioner is slightly outside of the range indicated on it so I will try a slightly shorter belt and see if that helps. If not, the only other options seem to be that either the hose feeding the pump is too long (I mounted the reservoir on the passenger side where there is more space and the pump is on the drivers side), or the pump is broken. One is a load of hassle rerouting everything and the other is another expense so neither option seems particularly appealing. Hopefully the belt cures it (although I suspect not). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btjtaylor Posted January 29 Author Share Posted January 29 Managed to pick up a few more MG ZS 180 bits off a car being broken - A set of disc rear trailing arms, complete with calipers (almost look new although with an unfortunate colour paint job..) There is a lot of general grot and surface rust but they should clean up well enough. The rear caliper brackets are an abolsute nightmare to find so this is a good result. It also avoids having to change my wheels/front hubs as with the MG parts I can stay with 4x100 which is a lot easier/cheaper. - Steering rack. The MB2 came with a very slow rack so this will be a nice upgrade (it might even be too fast, but we'll see) The rear arm bushes are totally gone but I have a set of Hardrace ones to replace them with along with other arms etc so hopefully none of the 20+ year old rubber should get reused. I still need to pick up a few bits like an MB6 brake master cylinder/booster and a proportioning valve but I will tackle that later, trying to get all the suspension overhaul completed for now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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