EK hatch = the Daily Racecar

Blogging 2 nights in a row? Are you feeling alright?  ;)

Might as well keep going while I'm motivated to write.

So, what is it like to drive a 90's commuter car? LOL It's slow! I've never owned super fast or powerful cars. But, going from 230hp in 3300lbs (330ci bimmer) to a 106hp in 2300lbs ('99 EK hatchback) is a big change. The bimmer was also lowered and BMW also has the "Ultimate Driving Machine" going for it. Did you see the weight difference? 1000 lbs!!! This is one of the big factors in my decision to get back into a Honda.  Add lightness! Weight kills driving feel. Also #slowcarfast! It's more enjoyable to drive a car closer to its maximum effort than to hold back on a faster car.
I'm having so much fun driving this Civic around town. It takes more thought and planning to pass people on the freeway. It's fun to take corners. The light nimbleness is just fun!
The other detail is the Honda transmission and its shifter feel. My bimmer had a $300 nice quality shifter. This stock 20 year old SUPER light feel shifter is soooooo much fun!!! I can't really explain it. It's so light weight. You can flick it around. It's like this musical instrument that you can precisely and carefully maneuver around from gear to gear. The engine is so quick to rev that you can rev match so easily and quickly with the flick of the wrist. It puts a smile on my face.

The post needed a picture up towards the top. Here is the range of colors that Konig has for the Hypergram! I've already done Matte Grey on my bimmer. Maybe its on to Race Bronze next for my "daily racecar"?

The other thing I realized as I was thinking about what car to get next and as I test drove the Civic and then got back in the bimmer and then began driving the Civic is I'm not the right type of driver or personality to own a Mustang or any of the more powerful cars. My bro is a 'Stang guy. He loves getting aggressive in canyons and letting the tail hang out. He is less cautious you could say LOL. That kind of driving and mentality is rewarded by cars like Mustangs, rwd, torquey, higher power, heavier chassis, bigger and wider chassis. I just plain don't have the guts to hang the tail out. I'm a scaredy cat! I seriously owned a rwd car with over 200hp for 3 years and never got it sideways! I never did a burnout! Heresy, I know! I did like less than 10 drag launches in those 3 years. The traction control was annoying. But you can turn it off and I hardly ever turned it off.
I'm more of a "grip" driver. I like to stay in the lines. I like the details, I like to be precise. I feel like light FF (front engine, front wheel drive) cars fit that personality. I also like the "David and Goliath" ethos, the "Giant killer"(If you're wondering what Giants any Hondas have killed, just go review how the Hondas have done in Global Time Attack events in Australia!). I like to do more with less. I like efficiency. Light cars like Civics are known as "momentum" cars. You can't rely on your right foot to make up for mistakes. You have to nail the apex to carry your speed through to the next turn. I like the planning and thinking behind getting it right.
The first thing to address with the Civic then is not the engine. I could spend $1000 on the D16 single cam 4 pot and it would maybe make 140-150hp. It's simply not worth investing in. A turbo kit on the stock block would probably get it up to 175hp or so for like $3000 or so. Honestly not a horrible option, but now I've just added weight (turbo, intercooler, piping) and its all on the nose of the car. For the same cost, I could swap in a B series engine and get the same power level and have 1000 more rpm to play with.
No, the engine is not where I'll be focusing. The suspension and wheels and tires are "Stage 1".
Let's start with wheels. I'll definitely be going with 15". These are the most plentiful and cost effective. I personally prefer the look of 15" with 205/50/15 tires over 16" with 205/40/16. This second 16" option is exactly what I had on my first Civic (aka Jackie Chan). It looks good, don't get me wrong. Over time its not the look I like.

"Jackie Chan" was my first Japanese car, first Civic. It's a '95 EX Coupe. These were 16x7 +40mm Nippon wheels I bought off of eBay for like $400. The tires were 205/40/16 Sumitomo HTR's I believe. I bought this car in 2001. This picture was 2003 in Glendora, Calif. The suspension was Eibach Sportlines with KYB AGX adjustable shocks. This was a really good setup.  I loved this car. Hhhhhh....

I'm definitely a fan of the "JDM style" of build for Hondas. I'm also a huge track and autox fan. I like the "meaty tire" look. It looks purposeful and mean! It also makes the most practical sense for drivability and makes the most functional sense in that its the best way to build a car to be driven hard and for cornering. I can appreciate the "stance" look just like I dig super low hot rods and customs and even lowriders. I can appreciate the look and work that is involved. But, my personal style (and budget) is the functional, meaty stance.
So, first things first, I need to get some wheels. The black 14x5 steelies with plastic 90's hubcaps are not doing it for me. They're ugly obviously and they are hard, balloony all-season tires and they have no feel or grip. 185/65/14 tires have a tall sidewall.

Ugly 14" steelies with hubcaps!

Originally when I began my search, I really wanted to do 15x8 or even 15x8.5. For tires I really wanted to do 225/50 or 225/45 for that extra meaty look and Kanjo style with white lettering. Like this...

Kanjo style EK Civic with "Advan Yokohama" tire lettering

So, both my Civics had knockoff wheels. Nippon F5 are Desmond Regamaster copies. Those were on my '95 EG coupe. Then I had Rota Grids which are Volk TE37 copies on my '98 EK sedan.

My '98 EK Sedan with 16x7 Rota Grids with 215/40/16 tires on stock suspension.  Dig the pinstripe? Nope, me neither!! Don't ever buy from a ghetto used car dealer like First Class Cars. :(

After owning some knockoff Chinese wheels, (my WRX also had Rota Grids) I wanted to try and get some quality wheels. I bought Konig Hypergrams for my bimmer after watching the Speed Academy Civic track build vlog series. The Speed Academy guys explained that the Konigs are light, strong and affordable. That's my perfect combination. Sure, I'd love some rare Japanese wheels. I'd love some real Volks TE37s or Enkei RPF1s, but I simply can't afford those. In my search for Civic wheels, I started with Konigs again. I also really like the 949 Racing 6UL wheels. After looking around, they seem to be backordered everywhere I searched. They're also more expensive than Konigs. Not by a ton but they're more. As I said, I was first wanting to go aggressive. I wanted 15x8 or 15x8.5. But again, I pulled up the Speed Academy vlog series on the black EK coupe and saw that they had a blast on track and a nice meaty tire look with the Konig Hypergram in 15x7.5 +35mm and some sticky 205/50/15's (looks like they did go to a 225/45/15 on front later). THe 15x8/8.5 options from Konig have +25mm offset. That's a little aggressive. Not a ton. You can roll fenders. There are wide fender options. But, like the Speed Academy hosers (they're from Canada eh, take off eh hosehead) they wanted a bolt on wheel. Check it out. Looks great!!

Here's a screenshot from the Speed Academy YouTube vid when they installed the Konig Hypergrams.

 Here is the same wheel on an EG, the Konig Hypergram in Bronze. Love!

Ebay has been my source for wheels all these years. Here is the 15x7.5 +35mm Konig Hypergram in Matte Grey.

...and here is the same wheel in Race Bronze. 

I've purchased 4 sets of wheels/tires from eBay Speed Shop since 2003. I've had great success and great prices! It will be no different here. Discount Tire eBay store sells these Konig Hypergrams for $468 with free shipping. Steal of a deal!!
Now its just deciding if I want Matte Grey or Race Bronze. Hmm... decisions!
For tire, I see 2 paths I can take. I can take the approach I've always taken. Go cheap! For example, on my bimmer I bought Accelera PHI-R tires off eBay. I found 205/50/15 Accelera PHI-R tires for $243 for a set. So cheap!
For this setup (Konig Hypergram + Accelera PHI-R in 15") it will cost $711 plus $60 to mount and balance at Burt Bros. The same setup in 18" for my bimmer was $850 + $400 +$60 = $1310. About double!
The 2nd path would be to pay a little more and get a sticky 200 treadwear tire in 205/50/15. Like the EG picture above running BFG Rivals. There is the Nitto NT01/NT05s, the Federal RSR, the Toyo R888, and so forth. I found the Federal RSR for $350 for a set. Awesome deal! I might have to try that. They won't last as long as other options. The Dunlop Direzza is kind of a middle ground option at 280 treadwear and decent price. That might be my best option actually.

A few inspirational pictures to finish the post...

One of the few EK Hatches I could find with Hypergrams. Here it is in bronze. Very clean EK right here. 

This red EK Hatch is one I found on Instagram Speed Shop owned by "@jdmek7669". This looks like it runs 16" Konig Hypergrams. Those tires are pretty low profile. I have a hard time finding wheel/tire specs online. Nobody posts their setups openly. It's annoying.

Konig Dekagram, my second choice.

The Konig Dekagram was right up there. But, at the same size, this wheel is $100. Not sure why. Great looking wheel. I think a black Dekagram would look great on my red Hatch. Hmm.... should I reconsider?
That's it for tonight. Dream of 15" wheels and 200 tread track tires on your daily! I know I will!

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...

Jackie Chan Sr.

Drummed up some old pics of the Original Jackie Chan. '95 Civic EX coupe with 16x7, 205/40/16's, Eibach Sportline springs, adjustable KYB AGX shocks, strut bar, intake, shifter, fpr, high flow cat and autozone muffler. :) So stupid to get rid of that car!!!