Ep3 back from the dead ready for abuse

[Danith]

After a mishap at hatzenbach last July when our pink civic hit the armco, it looked like this.
Bent rear trailing arm, bent front strut and hub, cracked front and rear bumpers, smashed headlight and mounting bracket, bent wing.

Patched up with duct tape and limped home (via bruges to smash some consolation beers in for a couple days)

Took it to grinspeed in august to fit replacement rear arm, replacement front suspension assembly and while it Was there we had some Tegiwa roll centre adjusters fitted and a slightly more aggressive geometry setup.

Left it til feb on my mums back garden and with a new battery I went about sorting the cosmetics.

Full respray in milano red with 'fugen' rear wing fitted, square rear plate, stupidly loud cobra exhaust system replaced with 2.5" piper catback, refurbished mitsubishi evo 5 gsr alloys powdercoated gold, 215 45 17 Bridgestone re050A tyres all round and a Tegiwa rear tie bar to go on. It looks like this

Anglesey track day 5th Apr booked and nurburgring in August. NICE.

 

[182Trophy]

Love these! A highly modded one blasted past me before, must have been at least 300bhp. Loved my mates when he had his!

 

[Danith]

Nothing between these and a 1*2. But by God the engine and Box on these are like silk compared to the clio. But the steering on the clio is miles better. Next thing this whopper needs is lsd and a 5.1 final drive. Oh and a kpro and rbc inlet and and and and. Was brilliant round the ring before the crash though. Was really surprised and impressed with it.
Shame the world cup final was on the night before the track day and we had a beer or ten.

 

[Danith]

and so someone's possibly flogging a gearbox with M factory LSD and 5.1 final drive about 4 miles from my flat........................unbelievably tempting

 

[adamlstr]

That looks so good on the V rims, I used to have a facelift and so tempted to go back!

 

[Lal B3N]

Looks superb with them gold wheels on red!

 

[Daz_RT_04]

Nice looking motor!

I hated my pre-facelift when I had it, couldn't gel with it at all for numerous reasons... but I'd probably give a grey facelift a go ersevere:

 

[Danith]

I know what you mean, after owning my ph1s (best car I've ever owned) and my ph2 cup (meh), the civic took a while to gel cos of vague steering feel. Was horrible after the go kart clios. But it's better now with the castor increase bushes and frsu. I can see why some people don't gel after a clio tho. Such a sweet engine and Box tho, especially with the Tegiwa airbox.

I actually prefer the looks of the preface. I've put a facelift flywheel in it too so best of both worlds for me. And the jdm rear arb was pound for pound such an improvement

 

[Adam93]

Loving that EP3.... a cheap one as a track toy is an interesting proposition.

 

[Welsh.Dan]

That looks great mate! Lovely stuff.

 

[imprezaworks]

Mate what a transformation, looks great. If you ever fancy Oulton let me know

 

[Danith]

Will do mate. You ever done anglesey? Think.my first proper track day will be jumping in at the deep end, check out the competition so far!!

 

[Old Tarby!]

Car looks good mate. Anglesey is a great track!

 

[Welsh.Dan]

Bloody hell. Have fun! Lol.

Serious cars there

 

[Mr Burns]

Totally agree about how much nicer they are to drive than a Clio, and how they're difficult to gel with and how they need a FRSU to help with the vague steering. Yours looks great now, I bet you're glad you didn't sell it! What did the 'Ring crash set you back?

 

[imprezaworks]

Anglesey is a great track. Been once when it lashed down then brightened up. The back straight is awesome, just remember to brake at the top, lol. £240, is that with a garage?

 

[Danith]

Oh god the costs just to fix the car I'd say we're around 2.5k but the respray was a grand and was needed anyway.
I would've got peanuts for it before the respray anyway and I know mechanically it's a good car once stevie at grinspeed has done a lot of work on it in my ownership
Think the armco cost about 500 quid for two replacement strips.

No its 240 for the full gp circuit and an extra 50 for the additional driver. No other extras! Limited to dates though as my brother is only back from Abu Dhabi for 10 days or so.

Got a guest house booked in holyhead, hopefully not too far? Easter weekend so prices/availability are higher!

 

[Dr Jekyll]

Looks sweet. My only complaint is that I think the spoiler looks too big. Standard one is spot on.

Wheels suit it well. Are they OZ F1's that came off the evo 5's?

 

[imprezaworks]

Ah ok. Front splitter would suit that down to the ground. Although wouldn't get it colour coded, carbon would look nice imo

 

[Danith]

Spoiler looks bigger in the pics if I'm honest. I love it, sets it apart from other type r's

Splitter I wouldn't mind but not a huge fan of the mugen one, it's a bit ott. There aren't many more to choose from! Maybe stick some winglets on but mods for these things are a rip off to be honest. Not many cheap mods like the clios do.

The wheels are actually stamped enkei mitsubishi motor Co but licenced by oz. Yeah evo 5 gsr apparently. Much better et38 offset than the Et45 rotas I had before. Fill the arches much better. Had the arches rolled at the rear too before the respray just in case they rubbed with the 45 profiles. Cba with all that neg camber crap.

Going to go have a go of the ctro forum member's car tomorrow to see what lsd and 5.1 final drive are like and maybe think about buying it.

 

[imprezaworks]

One of the track days I went on ages ago there was a chap there with a bog standard type r that went really well. Ended up chatting to him and he said the only thing he's changed is the gearbox, I'm assuming to a closer ratio'd one.

 

[Hello Howard Speaking]

Really like that, always think these look good with some camber on the front wheels, really purposeful (track oriented camber not stance camber)

 

[Danith]

Is a bit of camber on the front with the frsu, nothing drastic though, Cba forking out for tyres every month. The rear wheels have a lot of neg camber when lowering though if you don't get adjustable arms and a proper frsu as well as springs. Mine came with just the abp springs and it handled crap initially
Nice and straight now on the back

 

[msremmert]

I'm liking the look of this! Yours is the first pre-facelift EP3 I've genuinely liked the look of.
Whatever you're doing keep it up

 

[Danith]

Spanks. Gonna give it another clean tomorrow and get the rear tie bar on while I adjust the exhaust a bit more.

Then it's getting parked up til easter weekend and I'm back in my e36

 

[JackJack]

Like it, i nearly bought a JDM EP3 instead of the ST.

 

[Danith]

Focus st? Really tempted to get one next. Jdm ep3 are good but for the price there are a lot of other cars in front of them in the queue! Proper jdm tax

 

[Slammed172]

Looks awesome post respray. Good job.

Shame about the torque or I'd buy another. I do miss the GB though. I think the steering wheel makes up for the feel yet on the Clio the steering wheel lets down the feel of the car.

 

[Danith]

Noticed a few rough spots on the bonnet from the respray today. Will have a go with some detailing products but think it's under the paint. Hmmmmm. It'll get stone chipped to death anyway I spose.

Got the exhaust adjusted and chucked the pointless but bling tie bar on while it was up. Cleaned and parked up now ready for anglesey.

Get my rotas flogged and I'll be sorted.

 

[MJClio]

Got a lot of time for ep3s, the missus has one and it surprised me how much i enjoyed it!

Looks good pal!

 

[Danith]

Cheers. If I'm honest I prefer driving the e36 every day now. You notice the rattles more when you get back in the civic! Civic miles more fun though, brings out the hooligan in me.

 

[Mr Burns]

Funny how people talk about the fun factor of the EP3, I think it was even mentioned on 5th Gear at one point. I never felt like this about mine, even on track after the FRSU I thought it was capable but uninspiring.

 

[Danith]

Clio more chuckable, equally as fun just in a different way. Vtec crossover that begs you to wring it's neck and slick gear changes are what makes these fun and also very good with an frsu and decent tyres (so sensitive to tyre choice with these I think) and they handle very well, just the s**t electric rack that makes them feel a bit uninspiring. Got to be the most un-Japanese of Japanese cars too, not even a clock fitted! Swindon no frills breadvan

 

[Mr Burns]

My MX-5 hasn't got a clock, but then it does have aircon and a buzzer and light to tell me to fasten my seatbelt... Go figure!

 

[Danith]

Ha yeah random. Ep3 has air con but that's never been used so hopefully just needs a regas. Does have heated mirrors though but no clock or trip computer!?

Another type r is joining us it seems on the track now. Feel a bit better. And an e36 m3 evo and 350z

I'm hoping I don't need any spare pads or parts?

Brand new tyres and the ferodo ds2500 pads have about 2k motorway miles on them.

What you reckon? Been told the full gp track is hard on the cars

 

[Mr Burns]

You'll be fine mate.

 

[adamlstr]

no clock or trip computer!?

Clock is on the standard head unit.

Trip computer, tap the fuel reset - should get trip a, trip b, and outside temp! (Or at least I did)

 

[Danith]

Oh yeah I get a trip meter that's it! No mpg or range!

Who needs s**t like that anyway when you're flying round being a chav

 

[adamlstr]

Who needs s**t like that anyway when you're flying round being a chav

Precisely

 

[Danith]

Shameless pic