AdamB's 2007 FD2

[AdamB]

Hi All,

Being a new owner to the FD2 world, but not to Honda's, previously had an EP3 that was extensively modified I've dived into owning what many consider as one of the best FWD N/A cars ever made.
I'm sure a lot of you will know the car, it has exchanged hands quite a few times since it was imported in 2016 on 50k miles. She's mechanically in good state, and pretty decent bodywork wise with next to no rust, testimony to the previous owners.
She is a 2007 Championship White imported in 2016 by Torque GT as a Grade 4B.



The current spec list is:

Engine

Stock K20A Motor
Mugen High Performance Intake System
HKS Super Hybrid Air Filter
RRC Intake Manifold
OEM Header
J’s Racing Decat
Solid Fabrications 3” Super Silent with Ti tip
Clockwise Motion Sump Baffle
Spoon Sports Radiator Cap
Spoon Sports Magnetic Oil Drain Plug
Motul 300v 5w30 Oil

Chassis /Suspension

OEM Front dampers and springs
Koni Yellow Adjustable rear dampers with OEM springs
Eibach Adjustable Rear Camber Arms
Hardrace Outer Tie Rods
Hardrace Inner Tie Rods
Hardrace Lower Arm Ball Joints
Hardrace Rear Engine Mount 70A
Spoon Sports Front Rigid Collar Kit
Spoon Sports Steering Rack Rigid Bush Kit

Brakes

OEM Brembo 4 pot front callipers
OEM Front brake discs
EBC RPX Front Brake Pads
OEM Rear Calipers
OEM Rear brake discs
PBS Prorace Rear Brake Pads
HEL Braided Brake Lines
Endless RF650 Brake Fluid

Transmission

K20 6-Speed Gearbox
Exedy Stage 1 Organic Clutch
Exedy Lightweight Flywheel
4Piston Racing Diamond Claw Crank Lock
Action ARP Flywheel Bolts
Synchrotech Carbon Master Rebuild Kit
Synchrotech 1-2 Hub
Synchrotech 3-4 Hub
ATS & Across 1.5 Way Carbon LSD
M&M Honda reinforced Clutch Pedal
Hybrid Racing Clutch Master Cylinder
HEL Braided Clutch Hose
Hybrid Racing Detent Springs
Spoon Sports Magnetic Drain Plug
Motul Gear 300 75w90 Transmission Oil

Interior

Standard FD2 Alcantara and red insert
Personal Neo Grinta 330mm Suede with red stitch
Works Bell Boss Kit
Hybrid Racing Short Shifter
Hybrid Racing 130R Gear Knob

Exterior

J’s Racing Front Wing Spoiler (Believed to be a replica)
J’s Racing Air Intake Duct (Believed to be replica)
Carbon Culture Carbon Bonnet
Spoon Sports 3D GT Wing
Spoon Sports Carbon Boot Lid
Mugen Front Grille (replica)
Mugen Wind Deflectors
Mugen Number Plate Bolts

Wheels & Tyres

Work Emotion D9R Wheels 18x7.5
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 225/40/18

 

[AdamB]

My first task was to start checking for rust behind the bumper and preparing for underseal. Since the car has been in the country 4 years it was about time to give the standard undersealing upon import a top up.


My products of choice is to go with Bilt Hamber. Used their products before and are a pleasure to use, do exactly what they're meant to!
Note, I used a lot more than what is pictured

Next up was to get the rear bumper off the car, not a bad job but certainly not the easiest in the world, I was actually surprised at how well these cars are put together.


Then it was time to get the lights out







As you can see there was some slight rusting I wanted to cure.

After this I removed the rear diffuser

 

[AdamB]

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the standard rear diffuser does a very good job of keeping the dirt away. I know that on EP3's the boot floor and rear subframe tend to rust quite badly. Other than some dirt this is in very good condition!

Next up was to start cleaning so I could see what I'm working with when it comes to rust protection and prevention.

 

[AdamB]

I then cleaned up underneath as best as I could






I wasn't going to try and take off the old underseal too much, just remove the bits that are flakey, but instead just add the additional underseal to further enhance the protection.

This left me with a clean base to work from and start treating the rust I wanted to.


Underneath the boot rubber was the worst part, water must have been sitting there.

Bilt Hambers Deox Gel then applied and left to do it's thing

 

[AdamB]

After this I applied some Bilt Hamber Electrox which is a high zinc primer, again to add that extra layer of protection to prevent rust and give the best possible chance to those areas which were treated with the Deox gel.







Then I applied a couple of coats of white




Next up was the undersealing itself, I started off with applying the S50 cavity wax to the rear box sections.

 

[AdamB]

Then finally came the Dynax UB to protect








I left it like this but really should have applied another coat just to make it appear black rather than brown

 

[AdamB]

Next up moving round the car was the rear arches. Not much in terms of pictures, but same process I cleaned up as much as I could peeling off any flakey bits of underseal and degreased using Bilt Hamber Sufex HD.

 

[AdamB]

Moving onto the sides I removed the side skirts and applied S50 inside the skirt mounting clip slots.
Rather dirty behind there and there was stubborn dirt lines which I wanted to get rid of, I had to resort to using some polish as a slight abrasive to remove the dirt.










The skirts were the refitted, and the car was starting to look filthy from sitting in the garage for such a long period of time. With the COVID situation and carrying out this work I had no reason to drive the car, but there was still one final portion of undersealing to complete, the front arches.

 

[AdamB]

Next up was the front arches to tackle, and getting those arch liners out. It appears that most of these seem to crack or break around where the clips go into the wings and bodies, mine were really no different, but despite this still held in pretty well.

Once the arch liners were out, again I could see what I had to deal with, and start doing the initial cleaning up.








Unfortunately on the passenger side I found some unwanted rust between where the body panels are seam welded together, so again I broke out the Deox gel to solve this.

 

[AdamB]

After a couple of goes with the Deox gel to get to a level I was happy with, I then got the Dynax UB on inside the arches.

 

[AdamB]

Now with all the undersealing completed, it was finally time to give the car a wash. This would be the first wash it would have in my ownership, by no means was it a good detail and not to the level I want the car to be at, but I didn't have days to spend doing this. So unfortunately this time around was a quick wash, but at least it got rid of all the dirt,dust and grime that was left over from being in the garage for many weeks.







Those of you that are keen eyed will notice I removed the sunstrip also. I wasn't a fan of this at all, it came quite far down the screen and made sitting at traffic lights a right pain not being able to see when they were changing.

Probably one of my favourite pictures taken so far in a car park, where the lighting is


This is the latest so far, there's a bit of bodywork to sort out, the J's racing lip has some paint flake and the rear spoiler has got a bit of a chunk missing.
I also want to get on a trackday but most seem to be fully booked at the moment, and kinda feel I want to change brake pads and fluid before doing so.

 

[Mark_teg]

Great work!

 

[typerdaddy]

Sorry about the chunk missing from the spoiler, it was damaged in transit from hk. How is the spoiler attached? How many bolts on each side securing it to the boot lid?

 

[AdamB]

Sorry about the chunk missing from the spoiler, it was damaged in transit from hk. How is the spoiler attached? How many bolts on each side securing it to the boot lid?

Oh is that how it happened, I thought maybe a stone had flicked up and took it off, it would have had to have been a pretty big stone though!
You're a previous owner I take it?
I'm not sure how many bolts are securing either side, I would have thought two.

 

[crazy eyes]

Nice work dude. This is well worth doing if you’re planning on keeping the car long term.

 

[AdamB]

Well a few more updates which started with updating the interior a little bit, which is probably the only area of the car I don't like the look of too much.

So first was the hybrid racing short shifter which I thought I'd take advantage of Torque GT's discount




Unfortunately the hybrid racing gear knob I wanted wasn't in stock at the time so this had to wait, however of course I wasted no time with getting the shifter installed







After a bit of twiddling with the shifter cables


All back together

 

[AdamB]

I then seen some nice carbon interior touches which are available from our JDM friends like Backyard Special, however a good friend of mine is also pretty handy when it comes to making carbon piece, so decided I'd get him to make me a centre console / gear stick surround.
I asked him to mould both pieces together since it's usually a two piece console, first step was to create a mould.


Once the mould was done it was a case of laying up the carbon and applying the resin.
After popping off it looked like this





A few dips and troughs but after some polishing up



Then after a trial fit to just trim some edges to make sure it fits nicely, and clears the handbrake movement.



I had also received my Hybrid Racing 130R gear knob in the meantime, which I think looks epic and has an awesome feel to it!

After a touch more polishing it was finally finished.

 

[AdamB]

Inbetween all this work I actually done a trackday at Thruxton, first for myself in this car. I didn't change a thing, standard brake pads and stock brake fluid. I knew that Thruxton isn't particularly heavy on the brakes so thought I'd get away with the one big stop going into the final chicane before the pit straight.

Anyway a few pictures from the day itself











If anyones interested in some videos you can find them on my youtube

 

[AdamB]

Next on the hit list for the interior updates is a steering wheel. I really don't like the look or the feel of the OEM wheel.
At the moment I've only purchased the boss which I went for a works bell item and imported through Jesse Streeter.





Just need the steering wheel now which I'm hoping I can pick up one up with discount in the black friday deals. I have my eye on a Nardi Classic 330mm suede wheel, I dare say it'll be long till I have this

I also wanted to change the exterior a little, since all of it is replica parts I wanted to try go down the route of using some well known quality parts. Luckily right place right time, a Spoon carbon boot lid came up at a very good price which I couldn't ignore, the downside was that it was a 6 hour round trip to collect, but so worth it!







Now since this boot lid doesn't have any holes for the spoiler I need to decide what I'm going to do with it, the Mugen spoiler on it currently is again a replica. I've been searching for an OEM spoiler just because I feel it'll be good to have as an option but there is none about at all!

 

[AdamB]

Well after getting the works bell boss it was time to get a steering wheel, and with black Friday I went ahead and ordered from Tegiwa a Personal Neo Grinta, unfortunately it was out of stock so it took a longggg time to come, but was well worth the wait!






Wasted very little time in getting it fitted!
Old wheel off


New wheel on




I also decided to grab some Hel braided brake lines in preperation for doing a brake overhaul, these were like half price in black friday!