Ownership Verified: Anesthesia's 4G Civic

Curious, why would VTEC matter for radius rod bushings?
The front end is mostly different on the vtec models, the bushing on them seems to be the same as it is on the later integras and slightly different in shape(bigger)
 
Painting round two!
This time I took some supplies from work and made some stands I can put the parts on. Even less than hermetically sealed. :D
I have a few things I want to service and do before I start driving this again. But then again the tires are here in the end of the month earliest so I'll have time to service it.

So far it looks like they all came out a bit better than the last time.

New stands made.
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Ready to go. You can see the primer line in the front of the hood.
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I started working on the paint on the hood, plenty of water sanding on different grits of paper and it's more or less flat now. It still needs a cubic fukton of repetitive work watersanding and polishing. Not entirely happy with it so I'll probably not take out the polisher just yet. I'll probably try a few things first.

Front end looks way better now, even with the hood very much unfinished.
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The rear end is back together. While I was fiddling with the paint my dad got bored(since all of his rides work :D ) and fixed the mostly broken tabs on the rear center garnish. It was held on by hopes and dreams mostly, now it's properly on.
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I wasn't happy with the transition of the old paint on the hood to the new, so I decided to paint the whole thing.
Time to pitch a tent!
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Sadly, I messed with the settings of the paint gun on the fly and got some nasty orange peel and foggy paint. The first layer was fine, should have left it there. But no. Had to fiddle around with it. :D

I know how to fix the issue though. Same old water sanding, but this time with finer grit than previously. I have 2000, I need 3000 and probably 4000. Those I need to go get from an actual paint store.
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While going over with a 2000 grit. About half done here. Fog and orange peel mostly gone, still a lot to do.
After the 3k and 4k water sanding it's time for farecla G3 polish with a machine and then Mequiars ultimate with the same maching.
But these are for next week.
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Continued work on the hood. First the 2000 grit, then 3000 and finally 4000.

When I was done with the sanding I used mequiars ultimate to polish it up. After that I put the hood back on the car. I might still work in it, as it is now it's got no wax or anything. But I can leave it here if need be. There is a slight color difference between the old and new even if the paint shop tried to match it. But it's close enough that I can live with it. Full polish and wax on the car and it'll be fine. It's surprising how much the front end changes when things line up and are not falling off.

Half done on 3000 grit. I used the polishing machine we have for the job.
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Revisiting this thing was fixed with help from some welding capable friends that I was not back then(still not, but at least I can weld now). The now former friend didn't rly fix the inner structure properly and I noticed that one of the captive nuts has broken free. I need to fix it.

Under here.
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While I have this crossmember out I thought I'd refresh it somewhat at my new job. First sandblasting then painting it black.
Not as bad as the last time when I took it out. But still nasty.
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After sandblasting.
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And then painted.
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Fixed the inside of the chassis rail and the mounting for the bolts today. Again this should have been done properly six years ago. Had to quit working earlier and go for a mother's day coffee. Sometime next week I'll put the freshly painted crossmember back and drop it on it's wheels.

Then it's drivable and I can take it out. I do have brakes on the way. But that won't stop me from driving it.

I also gave the car a polish and a protective coating. We'll see how it works.
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I put the front end back together and dropped the car on the ground. I also put in an inner fender on the drivers side too and now I'm not sandblasting my door sills! The aftermarket bumper(no washer holes) could sit a bit better. I wasn't as as obvious as it was when the whole front end was wonky. But it's fixable, in the future.

I also cleaned up the wiring, I had the ecu cover off for 11 years, also the wiring was just hanging there. I figured I'd sort it out. I also have a plan to clean up the floors but that's something in the future. I dug out the ecu cover, it was a bit rusty so I gave it a sanding and some paint. I also installed a battery kill switch in the car so that I don't have to take off the battery terminal every time the car sits.

I also cleaned up the upper front strut brace. The "anodizing" was falling off and I was about to sandblast it at work when I noticed that packaging tape takes it off just as well. Quality. :D

Front end back together.
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As comparison, here's the before situation.
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Strut brace before.
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Strutbrace after. Nothing but regular brown packaging tape was used.
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ECU cover dug out after 11 years out in the elements.
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Quick fix and ready to go. I don't expect the matt black to last very well.
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Wiring nightmare.
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Sorted. With the new kill switch installed.
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So after driving the hatch for a few weeks now most things seem to work fine. I did however manage to crack my cat replacement pipe. Tried to weld it but I can't weld for shit with it on the car and I don't think it'll hold. So I've got a new one coming in.

I also got the proper oem copy decals for the rear hatch. Threw them on. Looks as it should now. I got some new Japanese design(but probably made in china) semi slicks. They're the same treadwear as my old ones(140) and should be a good comparison to my old ones. Had them put under the car today. First impressions are that they're a lot more direct in changing directions from the old Toyo Tires.

Before(under) and after(above). Small thing but bothered me enough to spend a few euros on the decals.
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New tires and wheels.
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These old Toyos were under the car for 8 years and a few thousand laps. Fair enough it was only driven for 6 of those but they did
go through thousands of laps.
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Thanks :)
Looking good!
Thanks :)

I narrowed down the little issue with the cat replacement pipe. It broke in two when I was taking it out. I got it out, welded it up and now it should hold. This pipe has been on the car for at least my time and the PO's time and that's closer to 20 years. Someone has fiddled with it before, that I knew already.
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Fixed
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I also got the old girl back on the track on monday. It's been a few years since this thing has seen a track due to life happening
and "not having the time". She performed as well as it always does, the tires were an exceptional surprise. Way better than the old Toyo tires with the same TW rating.
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Brake refresh time!

My old setup of brembo discs and EBC redstuff pads have been under the car for longer than I can remember(talking 7-8 years). The rears I had to replace with some random pads last year since they were shot and I had to inspect the car. I didn't have time to order a new set and I had those around. Now it was time to get them all sorted.

The mailman delivered!
I went with the combination I've proven to work. EBC pads and Brembo discs. But this time I took a set of yellowstuff pads since apparently they've changed the pads a bit and yellow was easier to get.
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The fronts were in a sorry state. Safe to say I took my fun out of them and they worked damn well.
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New stuff! I did a quick freshening on the calipers. I would have gotten the same grooved Brembo max discs for the front that I got delivered to the rear by some mistake but they're not available anymore. I know these discs hold up to the punishment so no harm done.
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The rear discs were done as well. Slightly annoying that the rear brakes are such a tight fit you can't fit any power tools there and the brake pistons are the sort you turn in. Slower to work on but not much.
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New parts on.
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I now have access to a sandblaster and a press so a full suspension refresh is on the list for next winter.
 
Ringmeet done and over with. The car back home in one piece even if I had a slight alternator issue. All together the car did 6516km, that did bring out some things that have been on the "to do" list for a while that got somewhat annoying on the longer hauls to, and from Germany. Then there are the usual little touch ups that I've been meaning to get to. But in the end it's a well used and abused track car that's never going to be showroom fresh.

The two main things are 1. Get the exhaust sorted 2. get the shifter shorted. Less rattling from both.

The exhaust is touching the anti-roll bar sometimes. More now than in the past and that got old on the 30h drive down, and the 28h drive up(only stopping for fuel). I've had this issue for years and I think a new system with smaller mufflers should do the trick. Also the gear lever with the short shifter has no rubber bushing on the bottom and that rattles at higher speeds/revs. This will be sorted and I actually have a spare linkage I can work with. I will probably try and DIY a linkage that has less slop on the side to side movement. I have ideas.

Interior wise I'll clean it up and make it a bit more presentable.

Some shots from the ring.
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The last one shamelessly stolen off Joe
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I had a loose alternator bolt and the upper one actually broke on my last ring lap. The alternator was extracted, I got a ride in to town from @thomas where it was promptly sorted. Dropped it back in and off we went for the drive back home.
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So the bucket list thing of getting my own car around is now done. Time to plan for next year?
It can now get that sticker on the back window it's been missing for as long as I've had it.
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Also, no back seats mean we've got all kinds of space!
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2. get the shifter shorted. Less rattling from both.

What, you're saying this is not an adequate fix..? :mrgreen:
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Raise the hat for the worried owner
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(Just checking the tightness of rockers. Only slightly paranoid, I thought Hondas run forever) :p
 
Well it is a fix, and even if the most permanent fixes are the temporary ones I think I'll actually fix it. :D
And I do get paranoid, I'll admit that. :D

Also visible in the picture is the temporary fix done at the top of a mountain to stop the intake from hitting the H4 connector. Probably one more thing to add to the list!
 
LOL, I killed it.
 
Oh, i need to hear this story.
in 3rd gear at WOT the engine suddenly decided it always wanted to be a smoke machine. No idea on the magnitude of the damage, all I know is that a lot of oil came out and most of it ended up on Timi's car. Bottom end is done for sure - it's a brick.
 
So you did a Häkkinen, in other words.

Sounds like it died doing what it loved to do. Time to rebuild and come back.
For sure. Now could be a time for that swap I've been thinking...
Somehow I'm happy it died on the track at wide open throttle.
 
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