Greetings from the UK - With ZC Shuttle (evolving)
nominous
familEE
Hi all,
I've been a lurker around here for quite a while reading up on things but have been planning to take the plunge and buy a Shuttle having gotten annoyed with my CRX project and essentially given in. I was building the car from a shell up and lost interest. The market for crx's in the UK is starting to drop rapidly compared to what the same money will buy you so I felt time to jump rather than have something really expensive.
Finding a 4WD in the UK has been a hard task but have finally manged it.
It's body is not in the best condition but the 4WD system is far better than I had ever expected
so it more than makes up for it.
I knew it'd be good but not that good
The car has done 145K miles, the original engine apparently blew it's head gasket about 5k miles ago and so it was given away essentially for free to the lad I bought it from. He swapped in a D16A9 engine from a UK spec CRX, I believe the American term often used is ZC.
This is possibly coming out for three reasons:
1) It's low mileage so potentially worth a bit to CRX owners.
2) Tuning parts are limited for them compared to SOHC engine. Price and availability.
3) Insurance in the UK don't like engine swaps and it's fairly obvious. Though on the plus side it's the same CC so they might be ok with it.
The short term plan is to get a replacement D16A6/7 for it, or possibly a D16Z6 engine as it will be the same CC and appearance but with VTEC
I've got a set of Teins which will be going on soon and some MR5's but I fancy the sleeper look. Various other suspension mods too having come from many years in crx's.
I will be boosting the car as well. I want to see how much power the transmission will take and am looking for another car to use as spares just in case.
If anyone has a HF manifold and wants to part with it, I have some swaps, mainly CRX stuff, but you never know
I've been a lurker around here for quite a while reading up on things but have been planning to take the plunge and buy a Shuttle having gotten annoyed with my CRX project and essentially given in. I was building the car from a shell up and lost interest. The market for crx's in the UK is starting to drop rapidly compared to what the same money will buy you so I felt time to jump rather than have something really expensive.
Finding a 4WD in the UK has been a hard task but have finally manged it.
It's body is not in the best condition but the 4WD system is far better than I had ever expected
so it more than makes up for it.I knew it'd be good but not that good
The car has done 145K miles, the original engine apparently blew it's head gasket about 5k miles ago and so it was given away essentially for free to the lad I bought it from. He swapped in a D16A9 engine from a UK spec CRX, I believe the American term often used is ZC.
This is possibly coming out for three reasons:
1) It's low mileage so potentially worth a bit to CRX owners.
2) Tuning parts are limited for them compared to SOHC engine. Price and availability.
3) Insurance in the UK don't like engine swaps and it's fairly obvious. Though on the plus side it's the same CC so they might be ok with it.
The short term plan is to get a replacement D16A6/7 for it, or possibly a D16Z6 engine as it will be the same CC and appearance but with VTEC
I've got a set of Teins which will be going on soon and some MR5's but I fancy the sleeper look. Various other suspension mods too having come from many years in crx's.
I will be boosting the car as well. I want to see how much power the transmission will take and am looking for another car to use as spares just in case.
If anyone has a HF manifold and wants to part with it, I have some swaps, mainly CRX stuff, but you never know
Comments
like your plans.
do you have any pics ?
I'll get some taken asap.
So thats where all the Euro ones have dissappeared to
Once I get a few things sorts, the Shuttle project starts in ernest
I've started on with the project now:
Fitting teins took a little work. They are the JDM fitment so I had to change the bottom arms which didn't want to come off.
Seems I'm going to have to do all the bushes on the rear end. A good thing really, it'll make it handle a lot better.
D16A9 DOHC engine fitted and speedo cluster.
I'm going back to a D16A6 (UK insurance reasons, it costs a lot to insure an engine swap here. This way the code matches the paper work
Discovered I have the OEM rim's o nthe car tho in very bad shape. I want steel 15's on the car and hopefully I can find someone sell some OEM nut covers in good condition. Subtle.
I tried my MR5's on it, but I think it's the wrong colour:
Bits of rust on the bottom of the doors. I've seen some good shuttles on here where people have painted the bottom half black. Might do that as a quick rust fix, hte car's too far gone to invest too much time in the shell. I might as well start with a minter if I can find one here. I've no problem with LHD so might get one from Europe if I see any for sale in wine red
Got too many cars on the drive at present, two waiting to go for scrap and no access to the garage. Weather is starting to turn here so need to be indoors to continue. Looks like my weekend is planned for me!!
D16Z6 long block.
Forged rods and pistons certainly as lots of boost going through the turbo.
Tho I'll be building those into a D16Z2 (same as a D16A6) as a friend has one with blowing rings.
However I have my eye on one which is already built up and Benson sleeved. Lots of thinking to do about it cos it really isn't cheap.
I'm sure some of you would love a "ZC" engine in your wagon, but over here it'll cause complications with insurance as it comes from a high risk car, but the D16Z6 looks the same as a D16A6 which came in .......... a shuttle
Turbo is a GT2835 copy. Actually I think that was artistic license on the part of the seller, but it's close enough and certainly spec'd well enough for a D16 SOHC engine:
AKA HF manifold, actually from a EG VEi over here. Probs too small but I'll work on that later on
The flange on the turbo is a T3 and 90degrees rotated to where it normally would be. The rear holes match the VEi manifold perfectly! Just need some steel for an adapter block and it's done.
The actuator bracket is part of the compressor housing. This looks like it'll foul the block but I'll wait till I can check it out of the car.
IIRC the block slopes inwards from the exhaust ports so I might be safe. Just...
Still cant decide to make it sleeper or fix the rot.
I've got some other toys for it which make me want to fix it up and make it more "showy":
I've been stripping the interior down whilst waiting for the turbo and other bits to arrive. Decided to take the carpet out and give it a proper damn cleaning. Headlining and seats cleaning up pretty well. Removing all the previous owner's dirt :roll:
Ordered some new boot struts from US ebay (thanks for the link guys) and narrowly missed out on a parts shuttle which has really annoyed me as I could have fixed up the bodywork with it in a couple of hours
Got some 282mm calipers I'll be fitting up with 262mm rotors. Have them in a vinegar bath for now stripping all the rust off them:
needs changing. It's rather rusty now, but they are coming along great. You can see the outline of the rust which has come from the calipers on the surface.
Few more days
I bought another 4wd in red this time. It has less rust on the shell generally but in the two places there is rust there is a lot of it.
have started chopping it out a bit ready for welding.
I'm going to cut the bits off the silver one and weld them into place then paint etc. Rather handily these areas aint rusty on the silver one 8)
Pic of the driver's side. The passenger side is perhaps a little worst (last pic).
This one is a bone stock car with the original engine so I'm happier about insurance stuff with that, but still putting the Z6 in first and try to break it with too much boost
Good thing is having a spare tranny to play with means I can see about rebuilding it and getting it strengthened.
As a side, I'm aquiring the Honda tranny build manual and various other Honda wrokshop ones for the 4g range which I'll be scanning (if they don't come in a PDF, my contact is unsure and he works for Honda
Busy couple of weeks and fairly hard as I've had no access to my money since Thursday two weeks ago thanks to my bank cancelling my cards. Still waiting for them back so have been else where to open new accounts.
Won some industrial racking from a liquidation auction which I've put in the garage to get some stuff off the floor.
Dropped the calipers into the vinegar now and them are coming along nicely.
Have the silver shuttle in the garage now and will hopefuly start on chopping out the donor rear wings this evening.
Stripped the Z6 part the way down and discovered a piece of metal which I think has chipped from a bearing in the sump.
There is the other option too...
But, I think I'm going to turbo the engine as in the shuttle for now and see how long it takes to die. :twisted:
Shouldn't be too long as the water has a waxy feel to it and smells like there is a hole in the HG. Drives fine however. Boost will make or break it
Checked the bushes for the impending MOT and the rear diff mount might as well have not been there
Found this on the back of the mount too which I can only think balances out the rotational force of the diff ?
It's pretty heavy.
Removed the main mount, gave it the vinegar treatment and have repainted it and made a new, stronger mount with some flexible sealant which I'd had left over. Now much stronger so no more wierd noises from the back end, ooer!
Dumped the "weight" in the vinegar and taken the one from the donor. Slightly different in their design, but the weighted part was free moving on the red shuttle which was what the clunking noise was
Also got me some new boot struts. In the summer they will be awesome.
For now they do the job. 8)
Started on cutting the rear wings from the parter.
No going back now
Having chopped all of what I might ever use out of it we are left with:
Looks good eh ?
Sadly, this is not the case:
Seems it's been repaired before. I had a feeling that was the case but not to the extent. However, they've done a seriously good job of it considering how much filler must be in it to build it back up.
No, question is, do I want to weld these parts which are already filled and rusting on the back side (can give it some vinegar
TBH if I pay someone I'll have them blow over both sides of the car too to get rid of some scratches and the front passenger wing needs some attention from a bump.
Problem is, this could get expensive :?
I'd rather it was the sills :roll:
those quarters you cut out look like they are plenty restorable.
It probably is a good idea to split it tho so that future searches will find it.
It was nice to have some activity in my shuttle thread tho
Got an email back form the autoteile guys. Basically just saying that they don't do the part of the shuttle.
I've mailed them back asking if their supplier does it ?
Fingers crossed.
I had a crappy xmas. I resigned myself to just paying someone to do the bodywork for me.
Happy xmas Mr Shuttle.
However, xmas came and went and just before new year's I talked to a mate who set me straight and gave me a few things to think about.
He's one for the go and the show is a by product
OK. It hasn't gone to a bodyshop.
I (in conference with friends) decided that it makes more sense to just patch the arches up, get the damn thing MOT'd (UK once a year mechanical examination) and then discover if the engine and turbo will break the gearbox and drivetrain before spending a lot of money on making the body minted.
The bottom of a couple of doors have light rust bubbles so I'd got for a full spray most likely.
With that in mind, here is how I spend my new year's eve and day. Gotta have dedication guys!!
Patched up the driver's side and then gave it a good dose of zinc primer. Unfortunately tagged myself pretty bad when a molten blob of steel when through a hole in the metal, through my jeans, through my thick winter socks and attempted to go through me :shock: :evil:
It'll be a nice scar
New Years Day 9am, I'm up doing the passenger side:
Have finished off the Passenger side now. Sadly ran outta primer so it's hammerite for now.
It's enough to pass an MOT then I'll worry about the looks. The driver's side is a good match to the door and needs light filler to bring it to the surface. The passenger side needs more filler but as I've done it I think I've learnt a fair bit about leaving space and the contours for filler.
Time will tell when I come to finish it off.
It's not going to be as good as I'd pay for but my time is essentially free so there goes.
Didn't use the arches I cut from the parts shuttle so that's a shame really, but it does give me something to hand to copy from. It'd have been too much work to use them just to have them rust inside out. I've primered the inside of the new arches too which they didn't on the donor ones
MOT is tomorrow!! :shock: I hope it passes, I have a feeling it'll fail on bushes. :?
I've done the wierd one from the rear diff:
But the diff is still clunking when you give it some death. I have a feeling it's not meant to go this hard, but the parts shuttle never made the noise (that I recall, I hardly drove it). Have examined the front bushes on the diff and they are in good nick but overly mushy, so beefing up the stock ones is on the cards.
Some other bushes need doing but I wanted to leave them till I can put the Teins on it with the right C Spanner and then adjust them to the correct ride height first time. Ah well. :roll:
EDIT: It just passed the MOT tonight. Warning on the RTA's, ball joint on drv side and CV boot. All simple jobs I was aware of.
It's a good thing it's passed because:
Yesterday was the big spend.
I felt like the shuttle (I still aint thought of a name!) needed a xmas present since I wasn't gonna take it to the bodyshop
It's a Laskey built, Benson sleeved D16Z6 with CP pistons, Pauter rods.
The head is a DH-Racing Port and Polish with Titanium springs, retainers, and a Zex Comp cam 53900 with adjustable gear and a mugen rocker cover.
All bolt down with some nice ARP studs.
It's built for more power than I ever intend to make with it, but it's good to have a safety net
Tho now I might have to rethink for a better turbo
I picked up a Greddy trubo kit on Friday which will give it some low boost with the D16A6 engine. I'm going to a camping meet at the end of the month in Wales and I don't want to be slowest there. It's mainly CRX's and what previous owners have moved on to. Mainly other Hondas...
It's just a temp turbo. Was looing to put it on a City or something later.
Trying to figure out what turbo to run on the Bensen. I spoke to a guy who wants me to hook him up with an ECU remap and he can get some good deals on turbos some might custom spec one for the application and sell the one I've got for it already which I'm not sure will work as I want it to. Max power is not my goal.
Finished fitting my Teins which had the adjustment rings siezed last night. Had to chop them off and get new ones which ran me $130 for all of shocks.
It's sitting low now. Possibly too low as the interior from the other shuttle I sent to be scrapped is sitting in the back of it at the moment
I hope it doesn't raise too much tho.
It's got JDM/88 style lower arms for teh shocks. Going to try some EG JDM ones which might well make it sit lower so I can raise the spring height on the Teins.
What do you think ?
I've been side tracked spending time working on my DD doing lots of welding so it'll pass it's MOT test (yearly check).
I snagged the suspension on holiday last year and have had to beat on it pretty hard to fix it again. Also need to do something witht eh electrics to beef up the grounds as I've had pwoer trouble and just got a new battery for it yesterday.
Pretty much spending all Sunday on it, some of Saturday and most evenings I'll do a couple of hours. but that's only been since the beginning of the month. I was away for work for two weeks in Jan which didn't help time wise, but was cool as I got to see some new places (Saudi and Dubai) which I'd never consider going to for a holiday myself.
I have a phone interview later today about a job in Virginia. I might be heading stateside. Watch out
The Teins were pretty good in my CRX, I've not been out in the shuttle yet as I have no insurance for it currently. Just saving some money as I don't need to drive it till the 21st of this month.
-Wil
Need to get back on with this.
I've bought a EF8 CRX VTEC. Came cheap because it was a non-runner and was parked up at a Honda dealer. They said it had no compression.
Towed it back on a trailer with my Astra and set about looking at it in the pouring rain.
Turns out that Honda had fitted the timing belt 180degrees out
Had a spare dizzy so threw it on and sorted the cambelt out. Then drove the thing to a CRX club meet camping in Wales.
Was intending to take the shuttle but the crx was more fun
Anyway. I've pulled back the temporary patches and applied lots of filler. Next step is to sand it down to match and then paint in.
I've added some more bling to the front:
Stripped the parts car and trailered it away for scrap. Have kept pretty much everything from it as parts for these are hard to find over here:
Got a spare gearbox from this one and also trying to get hold of a third just in case. Can also experiement with rebuild them to make them stronger and generally give them a clean up after 100,000miles++
Next target is to have the benson in, probably not boosted by the 12th April as a birthday present to myself :oops:
The fogs came from a JDM CR-X Si Exclusive. The one with the god awful tan interior which JDM whores love so much.
I can keep an eye out for you, but they are rarer than SiR fogs normally.
Going rate is about £100/€140/$200 upwards. :?
Going to build the engine up without boost and just get it in the car and run in.
Next purchase will need to be a clutch unless I fancy taking it out again when the turbo goes on.