We finally start work on the car

Friday was a very disappointing day also. Nothing arrived. I'll have to call Chris on Tuesday to find out why the parts we ordered on Dec 20 have not arrived yet. Even with the holidays and the vendors being in California and based on what Chris told me, the parts should have arrived no later than yesterday (Friday).

I drove over to Jason's house today. He had a nice surprise waiting for me. Both the Sparco seats were mounted to their brackets and waiting for installation into the car.


We start out by cleaning the engine bay to remove all the grease that has built up over time. This way we can determine if there is still a problem. While doing this, we figure out that the battery terminals are not attached properly, so they get tightened.


Then we removed the factory seats, vacuumed out the carpet and tried to install the new Sparco seats. Unfortunately, the seat brackets provided were for the CRX and in this case, the parts are not interchangeable, so they do not fit. We resort to back seat and bench racing (below).


The good news is that we did manage to get one new item installed - the Sparco steering wheel.


After one success, we decide to try installing the Suspension Techniques 22mm rear sway bar. However, there is a pair of welded nuts that need to be removed and we don't have the tools to break those nuts free (or maybe that is Jason's polite way of telling me not to work on the car), so after checking to make sure that all the parts are present, we wrap up for the day. Check out how much thicker the new sway bar is (below).


Jason is quite the installer. I'm glad to have him around to help do the installation. He showed me how to do stuff and I actually played with air tools to do some work too. Very cool.

We are out of bits to install on the car at this point, so unless something happens, this will be the last install related post for 2006.

Odometer: 232,097

Nothing, nothing, nothing...

Nothing arrived today. I'm so bummed.

Based on my conversation with Chris last Thursday, I was expecting tracking numbers from Chris last week with parts due to arrive this week, starting today. Nothing arrived today. Chris is out of the office, so I can't even find out what the order status is.

I tried calling Edge Racing to see when the rims would be here and their phone lines are closed until January 3. No answer from them either.

Dale is recommending that we go with the Porterfeld RS4 brake pads instead of the Hawk HPS. Slightly more linear feel, so that is what we will try. I don't see a Porterfeld web site to buy the pads from, so I'll have to do a little digging.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that lots of parts arrive tomorrow. Saturday is fast approaching.

Now here are the INTERIOR GOODS...

So lets run down the line of the parts that have come in...

First off we have the Sparco Sprint FIA approved seats with all their hardware for a perfect fit.







Then, we have the Sparco Steering Hub with Steering Wheel





Lastly we have the Suspension Techniques 22mm Rear Sway Bar..





What an exciting day for the car...I broke out the Hi-Resolution Camera for this just to capture the moment..




Cant you see the excitement?...sigh until tomorrow...good night

Secret Spy Photos from Earlier today

I managed to capture a spy photo earlier today of the shipment thats on its way.

Photo gallery available

I've set up a photo gallery on my web site that has more photos of the entire process of converting this car over to an STS Civic. The album is located at http://www.yeohbaby.com/g2/main.php/v/89Civic/

Earlier in the evening, Jason hinted at a surprise. He sent me a photo via email that has me drooling. I'll let him post the 'spy' shot of this new set of goodies that are at his house waiting for the Civic to arrive.

New Home for Civic is Ready...At least for now

Well the garage is all ready to recieve the car this saturday...Reminds me of the Stage Rally Days, also got a call that all the parts from ProMotion are going to be picked up and im having someone deliver them to the garage directly later tonight.

Also talked to South Coast Performance and they are diligently looking at all of our part numbers and will be letting us know how quickly we can get things. As for the fluid they are willing to provide the TORCO stuff that we need so thats exciting.

Check out their website at: http://southcoastperformance.com

I'm so excited..

I find myself checking the blog several times a day to see if anybody has posted anything new and it's like finding a new prsent under the Christmas tree when I see a new post.

New Jack for the Build up

RAPID PUMP(TM) 3000 LB. CAPACITY LIGHTWEIGHT ALUMINUM RACING JACK

Well I had a few minutes over lunch so I ran over to Harbor Freight to pick up a new jack. Great thing about this jack is that is rises to 17.5 inches and is only 3 inches tall at the lift point. Can't wait to use it. I was so excited that when i got home I wanted to see it in action so i lifted my car just for the fun of it. Tomorrow all the part from one of our sponsors will be in so ill do my best to take some photos and post late night. The garage is looking closer and closer to what our staging areas looked like when i used to be a service mech for a rally team but only difference is that all the parts are brand spankin' new.

Big thanks to Paul from Pro-Motion Distributing for make this all come together so quickly.

Check out their site at http://pmdistributing.com.

Jason Flores - Co-Driver / Service Mech. / Marketing Director for STS Civic

Well ill start off with introducing myself. My name is Jason Flores and I am 28 years old and currently live in Riverside in California.

I have been AutoX ing for 2 Years now in an STS 2.5RS Subaru, and last year I was able to place in the top 10 in the CSCC (Southern California) Region. In addition to AutoXing I also RallyX which is very similar but on the dirt.

I also come from a background of building show cars for import shows like Import Showoff and Hot Import Nights. I also have been the marketing and sales director at Rally Inovations for 2 years, their I helped to build both full-on race cars that are also car show worthy. I also have had cars that have been fortunate to have some of my work on display at SEMA.

I am very excited for this coming year for the chance to prep and co-drive a fully prepped STS car. Ill be taking the blog through the build process over the next few weeks so stay tuned the next 2 weeks should prove to be very exciting...

Please join us on our journey toward STS contingency....

New battery arrives

The new battery that Jason ordered last Friday arrived today, right on time. It is quite a bit smaller than the original battery in every dimension. Check it out for yourself.

Unfortunately, the original J posts are around 8.5" in length and way too long. I stopped by a local NAPA store and they didn't have shorter J posts, so I had to stop by the local Crap Boys in Thousand Oaks to buy the bits that I needed. Here's what the new battery looks like 'installed' with 6.5" J posts. Still on the long side as you can see. The original bracket wouldn't fit with the small lip on the battery, so I had to buy a different bracket also. I'm still not satisfied with the fit of the replacement bracket and we may have to fabricate one. If you look on the left side, you can see that the washer isn't seated all the way down like the right side. Without that, the wing nut won't fit to tighten the battery either. This should do to get the car over to Jason's house where we can work on it some more.

After connecting everything, I crossed my fingers and tried to start the car. It turned over and fired immediately. Hooray.

Odometer: 231,989

Dan's first look and the first oil change

Dan swings by around noon on Christmas Eve and we look at the car and talk about 'stuff'. Dan brings his tools and takes care of the oil change - after we go shopping for an oil filter and oil drain pan.

A Purolator PL14459 oil filter is purchased and the oil is changed to Mobil 5W30.

Dan also suggests that we change the distributor O ring as there is some sign of an oil leak at some point. The valve cover gasket should also be changed.

Current mileage is a very young 231,989 miles.

Jason was able to get the car to lock using the key in the drivers door lock. I've tried for a couple of days and I guess I don't have the touch. I can't get the door to lock.

Jason's first look at the car

Jason takes a drive out to look at the car up close and personal.

We see lots of smoke coming out the exhaust. Not sure what that is coming from. We'll have to take a closer look to see why there is so much smoke.

We start formulating plans on how and when to build stuff. I'll take care of the oil change before we next meet.

Since I don't have the tools, we decide that we'll take the car to Jason's. We'll get a lot more done there.

While I'm out for dinner with the family, Dan calls to see if I'm free on Sunday, Christmas eve. He can stop by. Since I do have a couple of hours before any family commitments, we decide to meet.

Going parts shopping

This was a fun day. Jason and I started parts shopping. Thank goodness for Internet access.

By the end of the day, we had the following items ordered:
From Edge Racing: A set of 4 Falken Hanabi 15x7 4x100 rims that weigh 11 pounds each. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask when these rims will be delivered.

From Red Shift Motorsports:
DC Sports 2 piece header.
Koni SPSS shocks
Energy Suspension Master kit
Mugen rear trailing arm bushings
Moog inner and outer tie rods
Red Shift 2.5" race exhaust
Unorthodox R Pulley

Other sources:
Odyssey 545MT 12 lb battery
Replacement wiper blades

Most of the parts should be here by the end of next week. The exhaust will take a little longer.

First drive in the Civic

After work on Dec 21st, I wanted to get home and take the Civic out for the first drive to see how the car felt and see if there was anything major wrong with the car.

With the car needing a jump, it took a little longer to get going. I had to wash the windshield so that I would be able to see, then jumped the car and drove down to the local car wash and - they were closed. The gas guage was also reading E. I wasn't sure if the guage was working properly, so I drove a little further to another car wash/gas station, all the while hoping that I wouldn't run out of gas.

We made it to the gas station and I put a couple of gallons in. Then I tried to get the car started to go through the car wash and it wouldn't start. I had to ask for a jump.

The car wash was one of those automated ones where the brushes move back and forth. With the amount of dirt on the car, this wash wasn't much use. It was enough to make the car look like it wasn't stolen anymore, which was a good thing. My neighbor thought the car had been stolen and was getting ready to call the cops.

I found only some minor problems - there is a suspension problem. Running over the cats eyes results in some thumping that shouldn't be there. It also looks like the headlights are letting in some moisture. Otherwise, the car seems to run fine.

STS here I (we) come!

I haven't been happy with the handling of the 2006 VW GTI that I have. It is a pretty fast car in the class that I am racing in, but the handling characteristics are not what I wanted. So I started looking for either a co-drive or a 1989 Honda Civic Si that I could race in STS. I started to spread the word and lo and behold, my buddy Dale saw a post for a stock 1989 Honda Civic Si available for sale in Boulder, CO.

After a little negotiation, I ended up buying the Civic and had it transported from Boulder, CO to my home in California. The car arrived around 7:45 AM on December 20, 2006. I couldn't wait. The car was filthy, covered in dirty from the ride down from Boulder. The windows were so dirty that I couldn't see out of them to drive the car from the main street into our parking area.

The car would not start and had to be jumped. There is something wrong in the car, but it starts every time if it is jumped. We'll have to look into what is causing this problem.

On the 21st, I load some photos on my web site to show my friends the race car that I have just purchased. Santa has arrived early.

Since I'm not mechanically inclined and this is very much a project car, I started asking around, looking for some help. Steve Ferrari, Dan Shaw and Jason Flores all jumped up and offered to help, so I'm all set. In fact, I think the stars have all lined up for me. Jason is also interested in a co-drive and I think this relationship is going to be great. I can't wait until the car is ready.