- Sat Dec 06, 2014 10:41 am
#3810159
Hey, I'm Andrew. I've been lurking around this forum for just over a year now and decided to start my own build thread.
After owning a very problematic Polo Gti 6n2, which spent more time in the garage than it did on the road I decided to save my money and look for an EP3 as I've always wanted one since they came out. I had my heart set on either a nighthawk black or cosmic grey facelift version, but after a month of looking I couldn't find exactly what I wanted mileage and colour wise and I needed a new car pretty quickly as my Polo was in the garage yet again with more problems and I needed a car to get to work. One day I happened to be at the local Honda dealer as my parents had Hondas for nearly 15 years and asked them if they could find me one.
After turning down several cars they found me a 54 plate facelift in cosmic grey with two previous owners, full Honda service history from new and 58k miles on the clock. I jumped at the chance and a week later it was mine. Honda gave me free MOT's for life and a years warranty, which unfortunately meant I couldn't modify the car until the warranty was up.
Here is the car when I picked it up
Fast forward a year and I decided to start. First I took a trip to the Hel Performance warehouse as my break lines were on the way out, which is a 10 minute drive from my house and they made them then and there as I waited in my choice of dark red and only charged me £60.
Next I decided to purchase some 30mm ABP/Eibach springs, Eibach front camber bolts and Buddyclub rear camber adjusters
I then purchased a Skunk 2 gear nob as Tegiwa has some Christmas discounts going, which improved the gear changes I think quite a bit. I then had all the ball joint dust covers replaced as apparently they were all in very bad condition. I then needed 4 new tyres as the Michelin Pilot 3's I had on the car were knackered and the road noise was terrible, especially motorway driving. I managed to get myself a set of 4 brand new Yokohama S-Drive's for the grand sum of £293 as Yokohama just happened to have an offer on at the time I enquired, which was great.
Also bought some new genuine EP3 Honda matts from ebay for £25 and gave the seats a good clean.
I then had the springs fitted and the FRSU done at a local garage and wow! The car feels like a go-kart, handling has massively improved, feels extremely well planted to the road. The springs still need to fully settle, but so far I am very happy with the drop.
I had the usual geometry of
-1 camber all way round
2mm toe in at rear
1mm toe out at front
A pic with my friend Chris's JDM Prelude, a bit Barryboy I know haha
I was currently saving for an M2 Spoon N1 rep , but as luck would have it I logged onto facebook one day to find several of my friends had tagged me in a post of a guy selling a genuine Spoon N1 for £145 due to writing his car off the previous morning.
So naturally I was straight on that and a 25 minute drive later I was the proud owner of a Spoon N1
Little clip of me driving away after fitting it at a friends house
I needed new brakes and dics as mine were absolutely knackered. At the time I didn't have much money so a friend of mine got me a full set of Pagid dics and pads for £93 from his work
I also entered the 1/4 mile drag event at Dakota Raceway in Smeatharpe Devon, which is about a half hour drive from my house. At the end of the day I came 22nd overall out of 31 in my class, pretty happy with that considering I was one of about 4 n/a engine cars with no engine mods. Were quite a few tuned Hondas there, unfortunately I got paired up with crazy bhp scoobys, Audi's and Supra's most of the time. Was a fantastic day out and one of the funnest things I have ever done.
I also bought a mugen rep the other day. It looks pretty good, although has a hairline crack in it about 4 inches long. I messaged the seller and he has refunded some of my money, although did ask if i wanted to swap it for another one. A bit of filler, sanding and a professional spray and it'll be fine.
That is it so far. Next on my list is new wheels and a Tegiwa induction kit.
After owning a very problematic Polo Gti 6n2, which spent more time in the garage than it did on the road I decided to save my money and look for an EP3 as I've always wanted one since they came out. I had my heart set on either a nighthawk black or cosmic grey facelift version, but after a month of looking I couldn't find exactly what I wanted mileage and colour wise and I needed a new car pretty quickly as my Polo was in the garage yet again with more problems and I needed a car to get to work. One day I happened to be at the local Honda dealer as my parents had Hondas for nearly 15 years and asked them if they could find me one.
After turning down several cars they found me a 54 plate facelift in cosmic grey with two previous owners, full Honda service history from new and 58k miles on the clock. I jumped at the chance and a week later it was mine. Honda gave me free MOT's for life and a years warranty, which unfortunately meant I couldn't modify the car until the warranty was up.
Here is the car when I picked it up
Fast forward a year and I decided to start. First I took a trip to the Hel Performance warehouse as my break lines were on the way out, which is a 10 minute drive from my house and they made them then and there as I waited in my choice of dark red and only charged me £60.
Next I decided to purchase some 30mm ABP/Eibach springs, Eibach front camber bolts and Buddyclub rear camber adjusters
I then purchased a Skunk 2 gear nob as Tegiwa has some Christmas discounts going, which improved the gear changes I think quite a bit. I then had all the ball joint dust covers replaced as apparently they were all in very bad condition. I then needed 4 new tyres as the Michelin Pilot 3's I had on the car were knackered and the road noise was terrible, especially motorway driving. I managed to get myself a set of 4 brand new Yokohama S-Drive's for the grand sum of £293 as Yokohama just happened to have an offer on at the time I enquired, which was great.
Also bought some new genuine EP3 Honda matts from ebay for £25 and gave the seats a good clean.
I then had the springs fitted and the FRSU done at a local garage and wow! The car feels like a go-kart, handling has massively improved, feels extremely well planted to the road. The springs still need to fully settle, but so far I am very happy with the drop.
I had the usual geometry of
-1 camber all way round
2mm toe in at rear
1mm toe out at front
A pic with my friend Chris's JDM Prelude, a bit Barryboy I know haha
I was currently saving for an M2 Spoon N1 rep , but as luck would have it I logged onto facebook one day to find several of my friends had tagged me in a post of a guy selling a genuine Spoon N1 for £145 due to writing his car off the previous morning.
So naturally I was straight on that and a 25 minute drive later I was the proud owner of a Spoon N1
Little clip of me driving away after fitting it at a friends house
I needed new brakes and dics as mine were absolutely knackered. At the time I didn't have much money so a friend of mine got me a full set of Pagid dics and pads for £93 from his work
I also entered the 1/4 mile drag event at Dakota Raceway in Smeatharpe Devon, which is about a half hour drive from my house. At the end of the day I came 22nd overall out of 31 in my class, pretty happy with that considering I was one of about 4 n/a engine cars with no engine mods. Were quite a few tuned Hondas there, unfortunately I got paired up with crazy bhp scoobys, Audi's and Supra's most of the time. Was a fantastic day out and one of the funnest things I have ever done.
I also bought a mugen rep the other day. It looks pretty good, although has a hairline crack in it about 4 inches long. I messaged the seller and he has refunded some of my money, although did ask if i wanted to swap it for another one. A bit of filler, sanding and a professional spray and it'll be fine.
That is it so far. Next on my list is new wheels and a Tegiwa induction kit.