Hello Honda! (again)

I need to do this blogging thing more. It's fun! 

So, yes, I went about 3 years with the BMW and sold it. Shocker, not shocker! My wife says the only thing I can promise is that in 2-3 years I'll want to sell whatever it is I own at the time. LOL sniff sniff...mmm hmm. I can't say anything...that is exactly what has happened. This is my (bug, civic, mustang, civic, wrx, fit, bmw, civic) 8th car! This is the keeper!
Seriously though, this might just be the keeper.
So, what did I buy? I bought a 1999 Honda Civic DX Hatchback in Roma Red with, wait for it...34,498 original Utah miles! I know!!!!! It's like a brand new car!!! It's 20 years old!!! Like "What the Honda!!!!????"
So, here's the story. Utah winter is wrapping up. It's about February, March and I'm starting to itch. My bimmer is running the stock wheels/tires (looks pedestrian), has a ticky noise I can't track down and its been about 3 years. The car has 150k miles and I start to search ksl classifieds. As I mentioned in my bye bye bimmer post, I always start out by looking for a 90's Civic. It's the car I grew up on! I'm hooked to them. They're light, nimble, economical, easy to work on, cheap to mod and on and on. The problem is at this point they are 20-30 years old. They're classic err... Neo Classic cars. They're not a JDM Legend! Which means they're project cars! I don't have time, money, space or tools for a project car!!! The entry price is great! I mean, even I can afford $2000-4000. So, I usually start looking for newer cars. This time I spent much time in the Mustang realm. Especially about 3 weeks ago. My brother told me he was going to be selling his S550 V6 Mustang and would be looking for an S197 (2005-2009) Mustang GT. Those can be had for about $7-12k depending. I was all in to be a Mustang bro again! Utah is not a sports car mecca. With only about 2 million people from Utah County up to Ogden, its like searching for a car in say Irvine/Anaheim but no where else. Not much selection! So, I wasn't finding any good S197 candidates. I started searching for WRXs, Hondas, Acuras and whatever sounded interesting.
I was actually willing to spend more to get a nice B or even K swapped Civic. There's actually one on ksl the past month, a black EG hatch with a K20 swap for $5500. But, its kind of racecar'd out and is not smog legal (it's in Idaho, I don't think smog is required there). I'm just not in a position to buy a project that I can't smog check until I do a bunch of stuff (that I'm not knowledgeable about). That was kind of hard to pass up.
Then I came upon this ksl ad in my 88-2000 civic search.

1999 Honda Civic DX Roma Red-soooooo clean!

 It felt too good to be true!!!

There is photo evidence of the 34k original miles!

 I was just hoping someone who knew how worth $6k this thing was didn't beat me to it!

You can eat off this thing!

Luckily I don't have the money to swap out this thing. It only has 34k miles! What a shame that'd be!

Roll up windows! No Cruise Control! = Add lightness!

A 1999 Honda Civic DX Hatchback, 34k miles, 2 owner, freshly detailed, no mods except a sweet lookin' aluminum Acura 5 speed shift knob for $6000. Huh, that's in my price range! I hadn't even had the serious talk with my wife, which gives me clearance to go hunting for real. So, of course, I texted her a screenshot of the ad and said "can I go see it?". The car has been up for sale for like 1-2 days when I actually text him. I said "Hello, I'm interested in seeing your civic. Would today between 4-5 work for you? Work in Draper, live in Farmington. I could drop by on way home from work. Chris" and then I followed that up 3 hours later with "Hopefully its still for sale. In case you have an offer on the table and you're not fully happy with the offer, please let me know." LOL
I was serious and was willing to go higher if there was another serious buyer. These texts were Wednesday April 24th. He responded that night. He did have other interested people texting him. I was able to go see it Thursday after work.
When I saw it I couldn't believe how like brand new it was. The second owner gave me the whole story. He bought it 4 months prior from the original elderly couple who barely drove it. It sat in a garage for 20 years.
The car is immaculate! It's like a museum piece. There is a part of me that feels bad for driving it. But, its a base model Honda Civic. It's nothing special as it sits. Maybe someday but probably not. There are millions of them still driving around. I just happen to have the cleanest 1999 Honda in the State. haha
I paid $5500 for it. What do you think? The kbb and NADA guides said $3600 and $3800. So, ya, I paid more than the value is estimated at. But, this car is beyond "Excellent Condition". It's also 20 years old, so I probably should have tried to see if a "classic car" guide said something different. I think I got a great deal! 0 problems, basically a new car and the perfect color for a blank Honda canvas!

Holy Cow!!! 34k original miles!!! Insane!!! Yep, I'm a happy Honda car guy right there! 1999 Honda Civic Roma Red Hatchback

This thing shines!!! Kudos to owner #2 for detailing it so well! You sold this car because of your attention to detail1

Me at work taking a selfie with the '99 EK Hatch

Of course, the first thing I had to do when I got to work (nope, didn't do much work that day!) was grab my car guy friends to come take a look!

34,498 original miles at time of purchase on 29APR2019 at about 12:30pm

The 2nd owner was like "I don't think the first owners every looked in here!"

The EK Hatch in its new home!

Of course the first mod was my "JDM Legends" license plate cover. I've had it for like 6 years or more. Just waiting to get something worthy to put it on!

JDM Legends License Plate Cover finally made it on a car of mine! I went with the "red" (DMV lady said, you mean orange?) Utah Ski plate design to "match" the EK hatch

This aluminum Acura shift knob is smooth and light, I love it!!!

I think that's enough for now. It's past my bedtime! Today I was able to get it smogged and registered at the Davis County DMV.
So, this is the blank canvas I've been searching for. I'm excited to own it, to document my ownership as I think this is a unique opportunity to own such a desirable car in the Import/JDM/Tuner community. It's basically a barnfind for Japanese car nuts. It's like finding a 65 Mustang coupe (not a Fastback Shelby, that'd be like if I found a Civic Type-R ) in a garage in like new condition!
I'm currently in research mode. Stage 1 will be wheels/tires and coilovers! Gotta get the ride up to Hechtspeed specifications and some proper wheels and tires. Until then...

Bye bye Bimmer!

Soooo, I sold the bimmer lol!!! It was almost 3 years, almost! I bought it for $6500, sold it for $3900. I always like to evaluate how I came out on the financial side of things with my cars. I have a very tight budget and so I'm conscious of where my money goes. I have typically lost about $2000/year on all my cars. Let’s see how the bimmer fared.
I replaced the radiator fan for $200, control arms and poly bushings for like $350, Konig Hypergram wheels and Acellera (who?haha) tires for like $1200. I did sell the BMW wheels for $450 so that makes the wheels/tires about $750.

The bimmus 330ci at work with the "winter mode" wheel/tire setup. Doesn't look half bad but its much more sedate than the Konig Hypergrams

$6500 - $1300 (major maintenance and mods) + $3900 = $3900. Divide $3900 by 3 years and that's about $1300 cost of ownership per year. That's really good actually. Huh...All said I really enjoyed BMW ownership. The car was a ton of fun to drive and own. When washed up it was good lookin' fo sure.

I was originally going to write about the new car I bought (1999 Honda Civic DX Hatchback in Roma Red) but I have too many things to say to close out the ownership of the bimmer including why I sold it. So, the new car post will be a separate one.
So, after reading my December 2017 update, there isn't a whole lot to update on. :) 2 main things I did with the bimmer was take it to Bonneville Speedweek in August 2018. I drove out to the Salt Flats on the Friday night, camped out at Lands End and enjoyed checking out the hot rods and racecars on the Great White Dyno on Saturday.

BMW 330ci at the Bonneville Salt Flats next to the SCTA trailer!

Here are the pics I put up on my KSL.com classifieds ad. Didn't end up needing the ksl as Pantera Corey's brother/niece ended up buying it! Very happy its staying in the family! Hope to see it out autocrossing soon!

Konig Hypergram 18" wheels on Accelera PHI-R tires and H&R Cup Kit

Tan Leather Premium Package, it grew on me. I love the heated seats in the winder. 

UUC short shifter an knob. Loved this set up. Very direct and had a quality feel.

Tan leather was easy to keep clean an stayed much cooler in the summer heat than black

Then a couple months later I was invited by Pantera Corey to try AutoX with him and his brother/sis-n-law/niece/nephew here in Farmington at the Legacy Events Center.

Utah SCCA Legacy Events Center OktoberFast Event-330ci and my first AutoX. Pantera Corey's Mazda6 is in the background 

 The Utah SCCA makes it very affordable (was like $35 for your first time) and lets you borrow a helmet. Had to go with lucky #78!

Can't remember who took the photos and shared them on Facebook but thank you bro! Here's the 330ci dodging cones!

I've done multiple longer trips in the bimmer. I went to St. George twice this year for baseball tournaments plus last fall for an Electric R/C flyin with my dad and bro. Heading out to Bonneville is fairly quick and easy. Not much to see though.  I took a cool picture of the bimmer in front of the SCTA trailer. I love the flats!

The AutoX event was so much fun! It was super helpful to have a friend who knew what they were doing as well. I think I had 6 runs between 2 sessions. I got faster on each run as I learned the course and as I pushed the car harder. One of the most interesting things was I learned from an experience driver guiding me along that I as I went slower in I was able to go faster out. The bimmer and the Accelera tires performed great. It was late October in Utah so it was like 60 degrees, perfect for not stressing out my equipment.
I really enjoyed seeing a ton of cool cars go hard at the cones. I loved hearing the engines and screeching tires. There was a white EG civic sedan that was gutted with some 15" meats and it was FAST. The Miatas were also fun to watch. They were able to carry so much speed through the turns.

OK, so the bimmer was #goodtimes but I was itching to move on. It has been about 3 years anyway. :) The reason I sold it was to get into a car that I could afford to modify. Modifying is the part of this hobby that I enjoy the most. I hit the limit with the BMW. There was really nothing I could have done to the engine to really boost power significantly. Sure, I could have spent a $100+ on an intake kit and gotten another 5hp. There are no headers that are smog legal since the catalytic converter is in the exhaust manifold. I could have done coilovers but it already had H&R springs and shocks. Plus it had 157k miles with some minor things that were bugging me. The car is heavy per my specifications. It's 3300+ lbs and only 225hp stock. Its a great cruiser. I just wasn't inspired by it anymore.
Every time I start getting the itch to sell and buy something different, I always start looking at 90's Hondas and Mustangs. In my past I've already had 2 Civics and a Fit. I just enjoy the lightweight, nimble character of Hondas. I enjoy the practicality and affordability. I commute 72 miles per day (20k/year) so having a commuter that I can call my project is also the best use of my dollars, the best fun per dollar.
The problem with Honda is the only ones I like are from 1988-2000. These are the lightest best handling Civics with the biggest aftermarket. The 2000 and newer Civics are heavier, bigger and they lost their 4 wheel double-wishbone suspension design. :( Booooo! Progress is not always better.

Tactical Art of Japan EG6 track Civic hatchback

OK, so I get excited about a lot of different kinds of cars.  You guys know me by now.  But, I have a special place in my car of hearts (hey, that would be a cool name for a car blog haha) for the Honda Civic.  Around 2000 when I picked up that first "Super Street" mag at the grocery store in Provo, I was surfing the internet and forums for info, photos and mods.  There were many late nights spent dreaming about how I'd build a civic.

For most in the modified car scene, the Civic is like the starter car.  It's the beginners tuner.  Parts are cheap, they're economical to purchase, insure and own.  They're not fast though.  Most people consider then "chick" cars.  They're kinda "cute" and stuff.  But, most enthusiasts move on to faster, more expensive cars.  Heck, I did the same thing.  After my first Civic, I got the Mustang.  But then I got another Civic.  haha Then I stepped up to a 2002 WRX.  I loved that car.  It was fast, it handled really well, I even took it to the track.  But, the miles were building and the CEL of doom.  So, its been 2 months now that I sold it.  And I'm back in a Honda.

Going back in time to my first Civic.  My '95 Civic EX coupe had 105,000 miles or so, was green, not a typical color. I named it Jackie Chan. You know, cause he's small, lightweight, fast, has quick moves.  Kinda like a Civic.  haha I owned it for 3.5 years. After the first year, I installed Eibach Sportline lowering springs and KYB AGX adjustable struts/shocks.  I put in a short shifter, short ram intake, fuel pressure regulator.  Once we moved to California, the stock catalytic converter failed and so I replaced it with a high flow cat and while welding that in at pops house, I bought a $40 Autozone oval muffler. By this time, it was very well setup.  It was kinda stiff, but I liked it like that.  It felt like a go-kart.  It sounded good too.  It had that intake growl and a nice low exhaust note.  I guess it had about 140-145hp.  Stock was 125hp.  I still wish I had that car back.  I traded it straight across for a '94 Mustang GT 5.0 and 5 speed. A great car in its own right.  But, here I am about 10 years later and driving a small lightweight Honda again.  Imagine what it could have been if I kept it.  I think by now, it would have been modified with a track style, similar to this Tactical Art.  Obviously I don't have the fab skills of these guys.  But I would have wanted a B series swap, wide wheels and tires, some minor aero improvements and time on the track. 


Somehow that brings me to the point of this blog I wanted to write today.  This EG6 Civic Hatchback (1992-1995) from Tactical Art.  This company has been on Speedhunters.com and other well known Japanese car blogs.  I found these photos and an informative writeup from stickydiljoe.com.  This car is inspiring!  

Here are the links to the stories and photos and even a 3 minute track video.

http://stickydiljoe.com/2013/12/11/exclusive-content-the-tactical-art-eg6-circuit-at-central-circuit-for-more-testing/

http://stickydiljoe.com/2013/12/16/exclusive-content-the-final-photos-of-the-tactical-art-eg6-at-nakayama-circuit/?relatedposts_exclude=5567

This car is the epitome of why I love the civil, lowly Honda Civic.  It has SO much potential. It can be the slowest car on the road to the most fun car on the track.  It's tunable.  I've thought a lot about why I like the Civic so much.  Most of the people I know who like cars do NOT like the Civic.  They're reaction to it is like "Meh, its nice." I don't think most people get the Civic.  The Civic makes so much sense to me.  It can be the commuter car that knocks down 35mpg on the way to work and then can take that curvy freeway onramp hard and feel the G's.  Since the Civic is a slow car speed-wise, you can drive it hard and not put yourself in jail as easy as most modified cars.  As many say, its more enjoyable to drive a slow car hard than to drive a fast car hard.  This is so true for many of the popular cars out there, cars like the Civic, the AE86 Corolla GT-S, Miata, Golf GTI and the like

So, what is it about this EG6 chassis Civic hatchback? I love the color of this thing.  I like the unpainted carbon fiber doors.  The whole thing is pretty minimalist actually.  It has no crazy aerodynamics.  It has a rear spoiler, front splitter.  It does have a pretty trick front fender mods to both fit wider wheels and tires and to let the air flow more smoothly around the front wheel and fender area.  Then there's the cut down rear bumper. And that's it for the exterior.

Gutted interior with race seat and steering wheel. The dash has been removed and replaced by a fabricated dash out of fiberglass. Basically there's a very "homebuilt" theme to it.  A Do-it-yourself feel about it but with excellent fabrication skills.  The white wheels provide a nice contrast with the dark body color.  But, honestly I think they could have gone with any color wheels, black or white, silver or bronze.  Personally having owned white wheels on my Subaru, I've always been a fan of the white wheels.

What I noticed from the 3 minute track video is how responsive the engine is.  It revs like a street bike.  From reading the stickydiljoe blogs, it has a B18C with ITB's from an AE86 4AGE engine.  I dig the dual plumbing of fresh air from the carbon headlight inlets and aircraft grade intake hoses.  Reminds me of the 427 Cammer motor from the Fairlane Thunderbolts that drag raced in the 60's.

I'm not sure what this car weighs, but it can't be much.  I'm guessing probably 2000lbs or even a hair less and probably 225-250hp if I had to make a guess.

I did this blog also to keep this record in my blog so I can come back to it and find the links because this car is cool to me.  It will provide me inspiration in the future for sure.  Cheers!

Here's a quick update.  A top view of the car.  Carbon roof, custom dash, engine bay with dual ducting to the ITBs.  I read more and found out its a B18C block with a B16 head.