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Civic Duties


Ghosty

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Aye, it was cheap indeed, badly listed. It's a quality thing though and looks right at home. It's stamped '09 92' on the back which tallies with an MX5 if it's a date stamp.

Still has the mk1 MX5 boss on it if anyone wants it, no use to me.

Anything is better than the standard Honda wheel, which is too hard, has an uncomfortable thumb ridge, and the spokes are in the wrong places to hold it comfortably - they're too low, so when you hold the wheel at quarter to three like myself, the spokes crush your fingers a bit.

Also, my hands have patches of hard skin from the amount of cycling I do, and the hard, rough textured wheel plays havoc with them. The MX5 wheel is much more comfortable - and with a quick going over with some Liquid Leather cleaner and conditioner, has come up beautifully.

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This the one that was in my MX5. I left the crash pad on when taking the for sale pictures as I didn't want people thinking it was a modded car!

156c57cd6b1ccc2e59e6463853966785.jpg

 

K-reg UK car. Looks pretty clean and tidy in this picture! Admittedly it wasn't too bad but the back sills just started having bubbling coming through.

19b0c7e72adf27429ecb159c9e52d06c.jpg

 

2008 that was. So it was 16 years old at the time. A year newer than your Civic. Felt like a really old car then. Much older now!

 

Surprisingly it still seems to have a valid MOT. The MOT history on it is quite interesting though...

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The new wheel looks great! Can you see common bits of dna in the Honda and rover?

 

Yes, quite a few in fact.

  • exterior door handles
  • shift lever and handbrake (though the buttons are black on the Civic and chromed on the Rover)
  • the gauges are very similar, albeit laid out differently. Both have the vertical line of lights that tells you what gear you're in.
  • coin tray, harzard/HRW switches, choke knob and mirror control switches are in the same place on both (and the mirror switch is the same part)
  • similar electric window switch positioning, and driver's auto switch- however the Civic has auto up/down where the R8 only has auto down
  • the steering column height adjustment system is very similar
  • the indicator and wiper stalks are of the same type as R8s, but as the Civic is made in Japan the indicators are on the right
  • D-Series (duh) - the only difference between Honda and Rover applications is the rocker cover. The D-Series got its own different rocker cover, whereas the F-Series in the Rover 600 had the Honda part, just with the Honda badging removed from the casting.
  • dashboard 'shelf' with a rubber pad, extremely similar to the R8 one, as well as the centre console layout (though the heater panels are trademark Honda sliders)
  • the driver's door side fresh air vent is another convenience feature common to both (though the vents are very different and the Civic's are novel). The difference is that on the R8 it's permanently feeding in air from outside, and on the Civic a lever is included that closes it while 

The Honda influence in the R8 is blatant. If you can look at both side to side as I can, you'd see. 

 

People complain that some parts for the R8 are hard to get hold of.

Rock Auto have everything you could possibly want for an R8, as most of the engine/ECU parts, and a fair bit of other stuff is taken directly from the 88-91 Civic/CR-X. 

There are people on the R8 owners' club making their own fuel relays (a known Achilles' heel) from scratch. 

£20 delivered on Rock Auto, brand new. 

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I'm really enjoying the Civic.

 

I keep forgetting to take pictures of the interior, especially with the MX5 wheel fitted, but as I've now managed to source some front headrests and a parcel shelf for it I might until they arrive and I clean and fit them. 

 

I've also remembered a certain wheel's existence - the runout mk1 Ford Ka sometimes came with an eight spoke 14" alloy wheel:

 

ford_ka_zetec_climate_alloy_wheel_8_spok

 

and they're real lookers, and still skinny at 5.5J. I feel like if they were powder coated a dark grey they would set the car off wonderfully, without a need for OMG STANCE or anything.
Besides, Watanabes are expensive, hhhhhhh.
The problem is, being Ford, they're 4x108.

How hard would it be to fit them with adapter plates, or have them redrilled 4x100 and fitted with 9mm spacers (they seem to be ET36 where Hondas are ET45)? 
Old Man seems to think fitting them with hubcentric spacers would upset the camber and eat the inner edges off the tyres.

I don't understand wheel fitment and offsets too much, so feel free to shoot me down.

 

Anyway, have some pictures of the Civic.

post-17391-0-57704500-1541982838_thumb.jpg

post-17391-0-81380400-1541982854_thumb.jpg

post-17391-0-98683200-1541982873_thumb.jpg

post-17391-0-98905700-1541982908_thumb.jpg

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I'm aware of those. I don't like them, tbh - I've seen them mounted to the fairly similar R8 multiple times (dollywobbler had one with them, even in white) and they don't look right for the cars, whereas faithful Watanabe reps actually look ok, which is why I'm thinking of the Ka wheels.

The fitment is correct on the Rover wheels at 4x100 ET45 but as you mention they're 15" which look bad on these Civics (there is another locally on 15" Borbets but otherwise standard and it looks shit), also there's the matter of them being 9 spoke for some reason, and a bit too dished. 

I was considering Superlites, but their website is 404ing since the last time I checked it a couple of weeks ago. I suspect the domain has expired, as the price list on the (very basic) website said the standard price for a single 13x7 4x100 wheel was £60, which is ludicrously cheap for custom UK made wheels. 

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Once you've finished paying for the spacers, and the redrilling, and the long studs/bolts, you'll be as well finding a wheel in 4x100.  Spacers shouldn't cock up any of your camber nor cause issue with bad tyre wear unless you've done something very wrong.  What it may do is shorten the lifespan of wheel bearings if you put really big spacers on and you may have clearance issues with arches and components on the back face of the wheel, depending on offset etc.

 

Given the wide array of options, both factory and aftermarket, for 4x100 Honda fitment I'd encourage you to look harder for something suitable rather than going for the Ford alloys.  There will be something out there that will do the job, the style you're interested in is quite popular.

 

You should get away with a spokey 15" wheel, they don't tend to look as oversized as chunky or flat faced designs.  Vauxhall alloys of the same era do drop straight on no bother, you just might have trouble finding any in a style you like since their designs were... distinct.

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bini wheels will fit

 

Even worse than fraud wheels!

 

I don't trust spacers, all that extra length on the studs etc. It just doesn't seem a good idea to me. I've got a feeling buggering about with offsets upsets the castor/ackerman angles too, but I don't know any details to prove that.

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Once you've finished paying for the spacers, and the redrilling, and the long studs/bolts, you'll be as well finding a wheel in 4x100. Spacers shouldn't cock up any of your camber nor cause issue with bad tyre wear unless you've done something very wrong. What it may do is shorten the lifespan of wheel bearings if you put really big spacers on and you may have clearance issues with arches and components on the back face of the wheel, depending on offset etc.

 

Given the wide array of options, both factory and aftermarket, for 4x100 Honda fitment I'd encourage you to look harder for something suitable rather than going for the Ford alloys. There will be something out there that will do the job, the style you're interested in is quite popular.

 

You should get away with a spokey 15" wheel, they don't tend to look as oversized as chunky or flat faced designs. Vauxhall alloys of the same era do drop straight on no bother, you just might have trouble finding any in a style you like since their designs were... distinct.

What he says, dicking about with spacers and longer bolts ends up with you saving very little money and a less than optimal result.

 

Especially redrilling, if it's cheap it's not done properly. You really need to fill the leftover holes, and unless it's a really decent machine shop there's a risk they'll end up off centre enough to give you vibration.

 

I've seen prices around £50 a wheel so there's £200 already.

 

Add to that a difference in the centre bore which will either need a spacer on the hub or material machined off the wheel depending on what is smaller.

 

Then the adapters to compensate for the difference in offset.

 

So probably around £250 on top of the price of the wheels.......save up and get the ones you really want.

 

 

 

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

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Do any of you guys notify your insurance when you change wheels etc?

Just wondering because every time I asked they tended to say I needed a specialist policy, or engineers report, or......

No one ever said 'that's fine sir'.

 

Never told 'em. It was* like that when I got it.

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Do any of you guys notify your insurance when you change wheels etc?

Just wondering because every time I asked they tended to say I needed a specialist policy, or engineers report, or......

No one ever said 'that's fine sir'.

This, aftermarket wheels are usually OK within reason, i.e. close to OEM size etc.

 

Spacers, PCD adapters, longer bolts etc will give insurers the fear

 

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

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What TADTS said is my experience too.  Last time I got new quotes I informed them I had alloys, they asked about the size, they were happy it was close enough to factory to not worry.  Removing the bumpers on the Princess caused more concern until I reminded them that they weren't the modern integral plastic affairs and instead just mostly decorative chrome items.  It really depends on the insurer, the car, and a number of other factors decided upon by the byzantine bureaucracy of the insurance services.

 

Generally it does seem to be that the older the car, the more tolerant the insurer is of non standard fitment things.  Anything approaching 30 years old is now seemingly expected to have non-original bits and bobs on it to keep it going and insurers seem aware that in the event of a claim, they're not going to be paying to fix it so it doesn't really matter what the owner does.

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Good points. 

To be fair I probably won't end up changing the wheels as the Civic is the one of my cars I'd much rather keep standard, the GTi being my mess-about car as it's sort of decided I'd take the head off and replace the entire front end panelling of its own Honda Accord, and already has a stainless exhaust system on it to boot.
I just keep having ideas, but it's such a good thing to drive as is that I'd rather just get its headrests and parcel shelf, put two new tyres on the rear, sort out the paint, and whatever's wrong with the ATF that it's missing shifts, and leave it at that (oh and get the numberplates reproduced). It's a positive future classic. 

 

My dad didn't bother declaring when he lowered his A4 quattro and put 17" wheels on it, nor did he declare the 15" Bini wheels he put on one of his Civics to make use of the good tyres when my mum got 16" wheels for her then Bini, also not declared. 

I took this as something of a precedent.

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