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DC5 restoration & track project

32K views 71 replies 31 participants last post by  Dooksy 
#1 · (Edited)
As some know, I have been considering selling the Evo for a while and getting a track project. I know a lot will think that I should have got an EP3 or a Clio for £2k, I agree, I probably should have but I missed my last DC5 a lot. I think it has been my favourite car to own. Sometimes with cars you cant justify or explain the things we do, and to me a DC5 just felt the right thing to do. So to find out that my mate was selling one that had a lot of tuning bits already done raised my eyebrow and got me interested.

1 owner from import 10 years ago, 66k miles and pretty much off the road for the past 3 years as the owner got banned. I made an offer under £5k and it was accepted. So here it is, in its far from perfect paint finish. The sun really has done some work on it!

Here's the spec:

01'C/W Red seats Black oem wheels.
Gruppe M
RBC
Mapped by Romain @ Eurospec 243bhp.
Full DC Sports system. DC Battery tie bar.
Front and rear Mugen struts, Mugen oil filler/radiator caps. Mugen gear knob.
Eichbach springs.
B&M short shift.
Spoon ETD, Spoon Front brace,
Genuine Seibon C/F Rear spoiler.
C/F Bonnet. (Make unknown-oem style).

I got some other bits in a box:
OEM springs.
Two spare OEM alloys.
New front left arch liner as the one fitted has a crack.
New rear discs, new front pads.
Some other parts.

I've bought some uprated Brembo calipers and larger two piece discs. At the minute the plan is to fit them with some braided lines and get the car MoT'd and roadworthy. No doubt there's going to be some bits that need work so I think I will wait before going too mental on it. Oh and the car is having a proper clean and mop to sort out the paint. I could do it myself I guess but since it's at TGM I'll get them to do it, since I'm already getting them to paint the bumper, bonnet and front lip white.

That said I have the following planned:

Bilstein B16 coilovers.
Roll centre kit.
New track wheels/tyres.
Baffled sump.
If the clutch needs doing I'll get a plated diff and shorter final drive.
Pole Positions and start stripping some of the interior.

Thankfully the OEM parts and interior are very clean, so I should be able to shift most of it on the DC5 forum which will help pay for parts.

I'm quite looking forward to getting behind the wheel on track. :D





















 
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#2 ·
Wow your Evo went quick, it was very nice though so I'm not surprised.

Really like the DC5, I really like the EK9 Type R too. It's a shame that DC5 sat outside for so long but like you say, it has some nice parts on it and for sub £5k it's hard to complain!

I'm sure you will give the car a good cuddle and the bodywork will come up pretty well :) Did you drive your last DC5 on track? Curious to know what it was like?
 
#3 ·
Wow your Evo went quick, it was very nice though so I'm not surprised.

Really like the DC5, I really like the EK9 Type R too. It's a shame that DC5 sat outside for so long but like you say, it has some nice parts on it and for sub £5k it's hard to complain!

I'm sure you will give the car a good cuddle and the bodywork will come up pretty well :) Did you drive your last DC5 on track? Curious to know what it was like?
Hi Luke. It went back to Auto Torque. Tom made me a good offer and for the ease of sale I accepted.

Yes, however that was over 5 years ago. From what I remember they are great fun and chuckable although lack a little straight line speed compared to some other machinery. However I never ran it with sticky tyres or decent track suspension.

My mate has one, although he is a better driver than me, we were within a few seconds of each other at Spa and Croft when I was using my last IX on track.
 
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#5 ·
I think you should leave the nice green exterior it will be a talking point at trackdays :)

I loved my old DC2 teg on track but not so much on the road unless in the mood for 6-9k thrashing, ive read the extra grunt of the DC5 makes it better in everyway once suspension/alignment is sorted :D

Ian
 
#6 ·
Ha, yeah there's a point. But I'm going to get it all cleaned up before it gets worse.

My DC2 was a blast but not nice to live with as a daily! DC5 is lovely when set up well and quite different on track days, lots of EP3's and Clio's but not many and I like rarity.

Luckily I will be working 2 miles from work so I won't have to worry too much about keeping the DC5 as a nice road car, still have my 55 plate Focus and may order a new car for next year on a lease but undecided. Something that could tow would be nice!
 
#7 ·
Great buy there you deffo got a bargain, is looking rather sorry for itself at present but once spruced up & given some tlc will be really nice. Fantastic cars totally loved my old DC5 they're very strong cars, will be a demon on track you'll certainly have some good fun with it. After the Evo's the Honda R's are my next favs, the only cars imo that you can drive as hard as you want without the worry of anything going wrong.

Look forward to the updates.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Great buy there you deffo got a bargain, is looking rather sorry for itself at present but once spruced up & given some tlc will be really nice. Fantastic cars totally loved my old DC5 they're very strong cars, will be a demon on track you'll certainly have some good fun with it. After the Evo's the Honda R's are my next favs, the only cars imo that you can drive as hard as you want without the worry of anything going wrong.

Look forward to the updates.
I'm very much looking forward to it. First outing will most likely be at Donington on the 31st of October.

Have to agree with bazza, great handling car, strong engine, car picks up speed well whilst in vtec. Below vtec i was dissapointed with performance but a great car ;) and will prove to be a good track car ultra reliable
KPro and some light mods helps a lot, with a set of cams they see over 260 bhp, combined with the light weight they are surprisingly quick. But I will miss the shove of a turbo there's no doubt about that.

Couldn't handle evo ownership :lol:
Nail on head.

I am sure the Honda boys will hold your hand while wiping those tears away after the standard evo's pass by :cry:
You're both very welcome to your opinions.

also yellowspeed and meisterR do great coilovers for these
With those two brands, the term 'great' is not what I would use.

I'm going for Bilstein B16's. Real heritage and real R&D.
 
#13 ·
Nice purchase. The other DC5s in the photos look interesting.

I rally an EP3 with an internally stock DC5 Motor. I have a sequential gearbox fitted and after suspension and brakes, the best bet would be to get some gearing. The cars love to be kept at high RPM. I recently fitted an ASP header and 70mm throttle body (with an RRC intake manifold) and the performance gains were crazy.

The cars handle better with more castor as well. I used a set of Castor/ Camber top mounts from a guy in the US named Todd. AFter about 4 years of rallying on the worst roads in the world, there are no noises from them.

Good luck with your project.
 
#14 ·
Cheers. The two race cars you can see are run and maintained by TGM.

Car is going on the ramp either today or tomorrow so it will be good to see what needs doing if anything.

If not too much then I'm getting some Bilstein B16's on. Once the clutch needs changing, which I imagine will be soon, I'll be getting a shorter final drive and uprated diff of some form. I don't know if I'm ready for a plated diff so may go for a uprated conventional. Tyres wise I'm likely to be going with AD08R to start and see how I get on. Not long now.
 
#15 ·
You obviously had your reasons for doing it so fair play to you, but from the outside it does seem a step back?!

Maybe it's because it's Honda and I personally can't stand civics - or moreover the drivers in maccy D's.... but hey ho, that's me! LOL
 
#20 ·
I personally think it is. It looks better, HIDs, LSD, more powerful engine, Recaro's, hydraulic steering (so, so much better than EPS in the EP3) to name a few.

Of course an Evo is a massive step up on the road, but on track not so much from my experience. Certainly not enough to warrant the cost IMO. For Evo money you can have an E46 M3 which are one of the best track cars you can buy however aren't as cheap as a Honda to run.
 
#21 ·
For Evo money you can have an E46 M3 which are one of the best track cars you can buy however aren't as cheap as a Honda to run.
you really do not want to deal with e46 m3 problems and costs... talk about failing diffs, rear diff mounts or engine, to name just a few..
 
#23 ·
Dont see you made a bad choice, I stopped using my RS Sprint for trackdays and been building a MG ZR to go amateur racing with. Its not huge spec Piper 285's, throttle bodies, emerald K6 ecu, 3.5kg flywheel, big brakes, slick tyres etc etc cant say in 2 years ive ever thought to myself on track...... "If only had the Evo today" only time to lose is in power on straights
 
#25 · (Edited)
There is no step backwards here the guy saying the kids with civics at macdonalds is just stereotyping, i see evos and subarus revving infront of people to show their flames all the time. The kids buy hondas knowing full well how much potential they have and they are cheap to run and maintain.
Ive owend an ep3, crx and an ek9 all of which were lovely to drive. The ek9 would outrun a hell of alot of cars on track purely because of its suspension setup with double wishbones and its b18c engine.
I do however disagree with the dc5 is a step up over the civic. If you compare a jdm ep3 with a dc5 the civic is actually quicker in stock form but they are both on a level.
I work on Hondas all the time i love them and are so easy to work on. I would probably go as far as to say the ek9 was more fun than the evo. Everyone has their own opinion on things so thats just the way i see it.
Dc5 has sooo much potential even if you were to go FI you can make huge power even with the stock internals and low boost levels, i dont know any other stock engine that will make 375bhp on 3076 at 8psi...

Nice example, im sure you will have lots of fun with it :)

Ben
 
#29 ·
Depends on the owner and where in the country it has been. My ek9 i had came over in 2008 and i owned it until 2013, it had zero rust when it arrived and was never undersealed, after 2 years of the underneath being like that i went for a full tear down and back to bear metal job for future proofing it. No rust found whatsoever. And is now good for another 10 years or so :)
The uk spec ep3's are more prone to rust due to the usual crappy salt.

I highly rate hondas especially the pre 2000 ones.

Ben
 
#30 ·
I've had an update from TGM, all seems well with the car. It's been serviced, cleaned, the lip, bonnet and spoiler have been painted or are in the process.

Just ordered some Bilstein B16's, Rota (fake Rays - private joke) Fighter in bronze and Federal 595 RSR to go on, should hopefully be able to pick the car up next week.

Some more pics. I think Mr Dott lives at TGM. I'm tempted to leave the sticker on the intake for lol's.



New front brake kit fitted with Pagid RS29 pads and TGM lines all round. Tom's put some race car wheels on the front on as the standard wheels need 15mm spacers. On the shopping list.







New OEM rear discs and Project Mu HC800 pads.



Front arches have had a quick mop, paint is coming up well. The red bonnet isn't mine, my CF one is getting fixed/painted so it needs something on it for the time being.



 
#32 ·
Glad you decided on one in the end mate, cracking price too which helps!

Some great bits already done and with your new bits going on it'll be a perfect track car.

You'll have to let me know when your on track and I'll come and see you
 
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