Looking good. Still a little partial to the old incarnation of the car.


A smooth ride is always nice.

 

Thanks! yes still convincing myself that i can live with this wheel gap

 

In terms of comfort, I'm really satisfied with my switch to lowering springs but not really happy with how my car sat. 3 finger gap in front and 2 finger gap at the back - this was after a month, hoping that the front would go lower.

I'm not a big fan of cutting springs but this is the only option to maintain the comfort and obtain the stance that I want. 1.5 turns were cut on front coils and to make the spring captive and maintain damper travel the shock absorber shaft was reduced by 2 inches. I've used KYB Excel G for now but I'm considering on getting KYB Lowfer or Tein dampers in the future.

Below is how it sits at the moment,

 

my GD3 is getting near its 100k KM mark... time to do maintenance stuff. Just in time as I'm starting to hear weird random noises. I refreshed the drive belt, tensioner bearing, and gearbox oil - woohoo no more squealing sound!!!



while the car was sitting on the jack, i've got the chance to inspect things underneath and have noticed the transmission support was already broken. After changing it i was surprised how much this affects the driving experience. the car feels more responsive and no more noise when accelerating/decelerating


now that all mechanical stuff is sorted, time to address the wheels. it's not quite obvious on my previous posts but my BuddyClub P1s are in really bad shape. all wheels have curb damage on them, luckily it's all cosmetics and all wheels still balance well. i used metal filler to cover all scratch and gouges then painted with DupliColor wheel coat




while on it i took the opportunity to grab new valve stems


and now here she is...

 

Just read from the start.

Nice build sir! Power!!

 

Car looks awesome. looking forward for more.

 

Thanks Gello! Glad you're currently in the Fit game as well

Thanks!

 

Just some random updates

recently hit 100k KMs

updated park lights to LEDs




painted the calipers silver just to give it a fresh OEM look

 

Love it! Can appreciate all the hardwork going into it too

 

Get some centrecaps to block out the ugly rusted hubs

Also, why didn't you paint the lip body color?

 

inspired by the 90's Spoon sports Civics, but that will change soon


thanks!

 

Since my factory shift knob is starting to peel its paint already and is getting quite rough on my hands I've decided to grab a replacement. I found these TypeR style accessories online and decided to grab some emblems as well. They are just replicas,I'm surprised they are even labeled with Honda part numbers with them. I really like the billet knob, it gives a solid feel when you hold it. The typeR emblems are nice as well but they are not curved the same as the factory emblems, but for the price, I can't really complain.

 

My Spoon style carbon fiber spoiler just arrived. I would say this is the most difficult mod I've done so far. It requires drilling hole in the rear hatch, takes a lot of courage when you're doing it the first time and the access is really tight from the inside. I've added 3m double sided tape underneath and closed the edges with Silicon adhesive/sealant to prevent water from sipping through. The fitment is not as perfect as how I want it to be, (I would say a big part of this is due to my craftsmanship ) but I'm really pleased how it looks now.

 

it's been a while since my last update so I'll try to catch up with changes I've done from the last few months. I was able to score this set of my favorite wheels, TE37. Specs are 16x7 et33. They are in pretty good shape and the paint is mint but I'm not digging the black color. since they are not the original finish I've decided to paint them with Duplicolor silver wheel paint and finished it off with a clear coat.



Next thing i've tackled is sound insulation in the cabin. I know most of the Honda guys remove sound deadening material "because race car". But i guess I'm just getting old and just wanted to cruise on comfortable sound level. I've used two layer of materials for this project, first layer is made of butyl like mat and I've added another layer using acoustic foam. I was really tempted to add more material but got worried that I will not be able to bring back the panels and carpet in place. I did this project by phase and noticed that the biggest improvement is adding soundproofing on the floors, it did cut a lot of road and exhaust noise. After I've added mats on the doors it does sounds more solid when you shut it closed, Mid bass on my speakers became more pronounced as well. Least improvement was adding mats on the roof skin, can barely notice any difference. Overall im really glad i did this, my trip to the grocery just became more comfortable😂






now that sound deadening is done, time to move to the sound system. for the head unit, I did went with the Boss Audio bvcp9675a with Android Auto. It was a quick install, I just needed to get a custom adapter to fit the factory harness, also I have to get a 2din panel from the dismantler to replace the builtin factory radio. I'm really pleased with it bang for back if you're looking for an android auto or apple car play with a capacitive screen. just a thing that I wan to nitpick is the lack of low and high pass filters for the speakers - this seems to be a standard on other brands these days

I was planning to replace the door speakers but since Hondas these days needs a special mount to fit aftermarket speaker and I'm unable to source one, I've decided just to keep the factory ones. In reality, they are actually not too bad, it's just they are missing the low frequencies. To fix that I've added a subwoofer, not really my top choice but since I don't want to ruin my Fit's available space I did went with TS-WX130DA Compact Under Seat subwoofer. It's really easy to install, no need to pass thick cables through the firewall. I just needed to tap the supply from the under the dash fuse box. about the sound, it will not punch you in the chest but just enough to complete the sound spectrum inside the Fit's cabin



OK now with the exterior, I've been rocking the base Fit look for a while now so I guess it's time to through some change. and since my car is not that low anymore, I've decided to get some side skirts. and to clean up the look, I've repainted the front lip with the body matched color. I know your keen eyesight would notice that my setup is mismatched because the front bumper is JDM pre-facelift and the skirts are for the facelift - don't worry this is something I would like to address in the future 😀

 

most of my updates these days are being uploaded on Instagram and I barely post in here anymore. But there is a part of me that still love to see forums being updated. I see forums as a searcheable knowledgebase and a good source of information on what other enthusiasts are doing with their cars - Try to Google a specific topic about your car and likely you will get the information that you need from a forum and not from a social media channel(ie Instagram or Facebook). So as much as I can I still want this page to get going for other enthusiasts to refer to in the future. putting my rant on the side here are the upkeep that I've done on my car since my last update.

since switching from BC adjustable coilover to Tein lowering spring, my daily commute has been much comfortable but I felt I've been fooling myself that I can live with that wheel gap😝 I decided to move to another lowering spring with more aggressive drop - RS*R Ti200 superdown.


In pursuit of having a more quiet ride I ditched my Mugen exhaust and did get a Honda Access Modulo muffler. Mugen is already quiet but the Modulo version is pretty much an OEM exhaust in stainless steel form. It's more quiet and surprisingly way lighter than the Mugen option considering the size. It's still in good shape when i got it and just need a bit of love, rubbed it down with wet 400g sandpaper, polished and gave it a coat of high heat paint.


i always have a softspot for 15s and since my car is sitting much lower now, I decided to move back to TE37 15x6.5 et39 with factory size tyres 185/55/15


I also added Thule 561 bikerack with Yakima deflector - I've been riding my bike more since the pandemic started


as for maintenance, another year have passed without major drama - what do you expect this is a Honda lol. apart from the regular service the only big jobs that I've done this year are the tuppet adjustment and rear wheel bearings. but I do admit the former took longer than expected. I do envy the USDM L15 for having a split type intake manifold which would have made this task a lot easier. Took me at least 5 hours to do mine.






and if you've already noticed, I'm now rocking a JDM Type S front bumper with some tacky red Type R badges 😁

 

The car looks great on those RS R springs!

What shocks/struts are you using and what is your impression of those springs?

Bigger question: How did you shorten those shocks/struts? Did you do it yourself or did you have a machine shop do it?
- Bill

 

thanks! I'm really happy how it currently sits.

just using shortened KYB shock absorber. Just OK on streets but wont recommend on track - i think it's too soft

a machine shop did it for me, but it's not necessary. the springs will stay captive without shorteining the struts. i just shortened it to reduce the droop of front wheels - makes it much easier for me when jacking up the car. just note that my car is JDM, I think USDM Fits have different strut length