Martin going Honda - Signet Silver CG4 2.0

[MartinBond]

Hi everyone, Martin here. Before getting down to business, first a brief introduction.

My first car: a Canadian Mazda Miata, 1990 (yes, the pop-up lights one), with the only option of power steering. No ABS, no electric windows, no air conditioning, no airbags, just 116 hp and the bare minimum to go super tight around the bends, or, with some extra throttle, flamboyant in a cloud of smoke. Gotta keep up the youngster stereotype

But, after 3.5 years and a new daily commute of 80 kilometers a day, it was time for a successor. The convertible was great, but slipping and sliding down B-roads in winter with 30 mpg because the highways make too much noise and are even less fuel efficient, was a waste of the car and half my income towards petrol. So I washed, polished, waxed it one final time and put it on the internet. Less than a month later I had an envelope of cash in my hand as I waved goodbye to the new owner.

But what can you buy after an MX5, if you like an engaging drive, but now want more luxury and comfort, without having to pay a lot of tax/maintenance, and also want to keep the reliability?

Enter Honda's. My dad drove Honda for almost 35 years before his current cars. Integra DA, Civic ED Hatch, Civic EG hatch, Civic EJ coupe X2, Accord CH Hatch and a Civic FK have all been on the driveway. But then it became difficult. Because what are you going for?
The EJ coupé and Preludes went into battle, but since I like my cars as stock as possible, the Civic almost immediately disqualified itself. After that I spent days looking at Prelude's, where my preference went out to the 3rd generation (Pop-ups eh, it keeps attracting). But unfortunately that wasn't a done deal. Almost every car I could find had rust, badly removed rust or other defects that put a lot of money into it. So then you go, keep searching, widening your criteria...

And then this battleship appeared.

She's an 2001, facelift, 2.0 5-speed in good nick, with a detailed maintenance history. Because it's an American model it completely flown under my radar, but when I saw it I was immediately sold. a timeless, elegant design, all the luxury I could think of, with Honda's excellent handling and a 2-liter VTEC engine that does its job quietly and smoothly, but when called upon still delivers, combined with that lovely VTEC  note. After the test drive I negotiated for a while, and then signed the papers. I wasn't sure about the wheels, but as the tires were still good I decided to just go and look for some others while still running on these.

Fast-forward a year, and here I - or we - are.

After looking for 5(!) months, I finally managed to get my hands on some extremely rare optional 2.0 wheels which really improved the ride and got me slightly better mileage as well. Apart from that I gave it a nice wash and polish and generally been treating it nice, and he's returned the favour so far. Been on a trip to Belgium, the Nurburgring in Germany (to, not on, I don't have a death wish) and even took it on a continental tour to the UK and back to go and visit the wonderful people at Aston Martin. So far the only "mod" I've done is replacing my plastic fantastic centre console with the wood trim from a scrap car, but as there's only 19 of these around in this country, parts are extremely scarce. Things I'd like to do are replacing the door panels as well, and rewire my rear lights so that the fog and blank space on the right will be brake lights too.

Apart from that, I'm here to learn, read up, get a bit inspired and of course banter around with other people who in this era of enviromental craze and downsizing still take pride in driving a big, personal luxury car. If there's anything I forgot or anyone's interrested in any part of this, hit me up or leave something below

[hughezee]

Welcome aboard Martin, great to finally have you here and join in the banter and your motor is such a cracking coupe BTW. Also, there are plenty of topics for you digest but if in doubt just ask a question in the area linked below regardless if it has been covered before, we will just point you the right direction.

http://honda6.ipbhost.com/forum/108-got-a-car-question/

[PTR200S]

Wow ! that looks a great  car, Martin !!

Welcome to the friendliest forum ever ! 

Have you got a pic of the centre console wood change?  When you say door panels I presume it's the interior ones !!

[Laird_Scooby]

Welcome aboard Martin! All the way from Canada! Wow!

Lovely looking car you have there and those wheels are really nice!

[MartinBond]

Thanks for the welcome chaps, I figured it was time to say something here
Just a small post with my "new" wood trim and, for inspiration, my engine bay.

The day I bought it

As of today, 24K km's further down the road.

Don't be too harsh;p 
I've resprayed my heat shield when I bought it, but it doesn't seem to stick very well. I'll give it another try when the weather's improving and I don't need it for a few days. Apart from that, I'm slowly starting to dry-clean my bay, starting with getting rid of loose dust before I'm gonna start taking it apart and eventually respraying my head as the original paint is starting to bubble and let loose :/

[Brett]

Welcome to the forum Martin and what a lovely looking car you own.

[PTR200S]

10 hours ago, MartinBond said:

Thanks for the welcome chaps, I figured it was time to say something here
Just a small post with my "new" wood trim and, for inspiration, my engine bay.

The day I bought it

As of today, 24K km's further down the road.

Don't be too harsh;p 
I've resprayed my heat shield when I bought it, but it doesn't seem to stick very well. I'll give it another try when the weather's improving and I don't need it for a few days. Apart from that, I'm slowly starting to dry-clean my bay, starting with getting rid of loose dust before I'm gonna start taking it apart and eventually respraying my head as the original paint is starting to bubble and let loose :/

Its looking good 

Is that Honda cd player original to the car ? I thought they were all cassette? 

Just wondering now about changing mine to a standard CD version ...

The wood looks good too, have you got the piece to fit around the heater / radio controls? 

[Laird_Scooby]

4 hours ago, PTR200S said:

Is that Honda cd player original to the car ? I thought they were all cassette? 

It might have been standard fit in Canada Pete or an option - looks pretty original anyway.

[MartinBond]

Sorry to burst your bubble chaps, the Mazda was the only thing from Canada

I'm based to the right of you all in the Netherlands, but that could still mean some trim level differences. 

@PTR200S @Laird_Scooby, The radio is an original Honda unit from a different 2000's car, as far as I've been able to figure out it's a Honda CRV-issued Pioneer head unit that has been a dealer installed option at request of the first owner. It works fine, the only reason  I want to open it up is that right now the steering wheel controls don't seem to be connected to the radio itself. Well that, and the the fact that the radio lighting is orange instead of green like everything else so it sticks out at night. Ah well, keeps a man off the streets, right? 

[MartinBond]

Last post april 12th, I guess it's time for an update.

First off, I figured it was time to treat my lights to a proper polish to try and save them, which I think turned out allright:



Problem is, with cleaned up headlights, my non-working headlight washers were a bit of an eyesore to me. So, after driving home, I decided to finally see what's what:

Looks quite odd like this.

Ugh, someome hadn't been taking baths for the last 18 years. Unfortunately, what I feared turned out to be true, the small motor attached to the reservoir is completely rusted together with no hope of saving it. That didn't stop me from giving everything a proper cleaning though:

It was at this point, however, that I could finally see what my air filter system looked like. And not just that, but how to remove it as well...
So, after 1,5 years of ownership, despite my best intentions, I did a modification:


Out with the old...

And in with the new. My only gripe with the car had been that it was a bit too quiet under full throttle, so when my local Honda specialist offered me a good price for the stainless tubing and pod filter, I didn't have to think long. It's safe to say that the CAI helped out with the qiuetness. A lót. The first test drive was almost deafening compared to stock, felt like a proper yobbo hooning around at 4-6000 RPM everywhere ?. The only downside was my fuel consumption went up a lót the first 2 fill-ups. Ah well, small price to pay, right?

Joking aside, on a day-to-day basis it's the perfect addition. Motorway cruising it's still just as quiet, but when you put your foot down and reach 2500-3000 RPM the intake noise is sóó addictive! 

For now, the only thing I really want to do is install an USB/AUX input somewhere. 
Well, that and getting my front fogs, but they're priced beyond reason so that'll probably stay a "dream" forever... *sigh*

[Laird_Scooby]

5 minutes ago, MartinBond said:

For now, the only thing I really want to do is install an USB/AUX input somewhere.

A USB/aux input for the stereo? What about :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GOSETH-Compatible-Bluetooth-FM-Transmitter-Wireless-Handsfree-Car-Receiver-Audio/142916254491

You can even fit a Micro-SD (TF) card up to 32GB in it loaded with music and play that through it. COonects to your head unit either with 3.5mm jack plug leads or via FM on the frequency of your choice. Also gives handsfree operation of your phone and if you use your phones sat-nav it will put the sat-nav voice over the cars speakers - likewise with phone calls and automatically interrupts the music to do that. Can also use to to answer/hang-up calls.

Comes with a twin outlet cig lighter USB charger so you can charge your phone too, alternatively if you want to add a USB power socket :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dual-USB-Car-Charger-LED-Voltmeter-Socket-Power-Adapter-For-HONDA-DC-12V-24V/253186577792

Fits quite nicely!

[MartinBond]

Thanks for the input Laird, but I've got an FM transmitter now and I'm a bit fed up with constantly trying to find a frequency that's not taken by some small local radio station .
Figured actually finding a way to plug in an Aux or USB directly into the radio eliminates that. My radio-CD should be able to handle it...

[Laird_Scooby]

18 minutes ago, MartinBond said:

I've got an FM transmitter now and I'm a bit fed up with constantly trying to find a frequency that's not taken by some small local radio station .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_radio_stations_in_the_Netherlands

That might help and looking at it, you should be reasonably safe around the 87.5-88.0MHz area, even 107.7MHz looks clear although there are stations on 107.6 and 107.8 MHz. If you have a "Local" button on your radio, pressing it to activate the local sensitivity may well help eliminate interference from stations transmitting on similar frequencies.

There is a device i've seen for Volvos that use the CD socket on the back of the unit to provide an Aux input, if your radio is capable of operating an external CD changer as well as having the single-shot CD player built in then that might be an option as well.

[PTR200S]

1 hour ago, MartinBond said:

Thanks for the input Laird, but I've got an FM transmitter now and I'm a bit fed up with constantly trying to find a frequency that's not taken by some small local radio station .
Figured actually finding a way to plug in an Aux or USB directly into the radio eliminates that. My radio-CD should be able to handle it...

I have a small stick unit I use on the FM channel of radio, about 88 seems to be best or around that to avoid interference in my area. Need to creep frequency up or down in 0.1 increments ? 

once found i store it on a preset button then i always have it available for instant use.

[Laird_Scooby]

6 minutes ago, PTR200S said:

I have a small stick unit I use on the FM channel of radio, about 88 seems to be best or around that to avoid interference in my area.

The lowest frequency as far as i know of in the UK is 88MHz and that is used by BBC Radio2, leaving 87.5MHz - 88.9MHz clear for toys like this.

Don't forget though Pete he's in Holland although from what i can see of the allocated frquencies in the Wiki link above, he should be good to go on a similar frequency.

However, sometimes there is static interference on the lower end, particularly at a distance, raising the frequency of the device usually cures this but it needs to go to the "top of the shop" to get rid of this.  Two reasons, first the higher frequency helps and second, the rest of the range is fairly full of radio stations.

[MartinBond]

I've been on 88.3/88.7 most of the time, but nothings really static free unfortunately. 

Anyway, I was bored this afternoon so I took apart my console to see what radio I actually have. Pioneer DEH-M6817zh is the answer, and it appears that it just doesn't understand the steering wheel radio remote commands which is a bugger

[PTR200S]

1 hour ago, MartinBond said:

Pioneer DEH-M6817zh is the answer, and it appears that it just doesn't understand the steering wheel radio remote commands which is a bugger

Maybe something like this could help ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/METRA-ASWC-1-AXXESS-UNIVERSAL-OEM-STEERING-WHEEL-CONTROL-INTERFACE-MODULE/132086342785?

Not sure how these things work, maybe someone will be along to say if this is possible.....

 

[hughezee]

That's the thingy whatsit I told you needed Pete and yes they do work ?

[PTR200S]

Ah, a thingy whatsit , I knew you would know !!!? 

 

[Mattcg4]

I came across your car on the YouTubes, subtitles to very good. 

[welland99]

On 4/11/2018 at 7:52 PM, MartinBond said:

Just a small post with my "new" wood trim and, for inspiration, my engine bay.

Don't be too harsh;p 
I've resprayed my heat shield when I bought it, but it doesn't seem to stick very well. 

I thought that all UK cars had this wood trim as standard? Seems that Dutch models had a plastic option- or was it a wood option?

Did the heat shield come off easily - or did you paint it in situ? I wouldn't like to try removing mine - the bolts look seized.  

[welland99]

On 4/12/2018 at 10:50 AM, MartinBond said:

 The radio is an original Honda unit from a different 2000's car, as far as I've been able to figure out it's a Honda CRV-issued Pioneer head unit that has been a dealer installed option at request of the first owner. It works fine, the only reason  I want to open it up is that right now the steering wheel controls don't seem to be connected to the radio itself. Well that, and the the fact that the radio lighting is orange instead of green like everything else so it sticks out at night. Ah well, keeps a man off the streets, right? 

What steering wheel controls do you have? Are they the wireless type that clamp around one of the spokes on the steering wheel? 

Did you sort out an AUX input? I spotted that your head unit says CD / AUX on one of the buttons - so I'm guessing that it just needs a link wire from the back of the unit to wherever you want the socket.

[AhsyV6]

On 4/12/2018 at 6:31 AM, PTR200S said:

Its looking good 

Is that Honda cd player original to the car ? I thought they were all cassette? 

Just wondering now about changing mine to a standard CD version ...

The wood looks good too, have you got the piece to fit around the heater / radio controls? 

To complete the wood panel set you should look out for a wood panel surround for the stereo and ac.