EF Civic K Swap Build: Engine Bay Paint, Fabrication Planning, and Next Steps

Engine Bay Paint

Before I left town for the holidays I washed the engine bay one more time and threw down the first coat of paint.

I did the wiper cowl and firewall with foam brushes to cut in around stuff i didnt take the time to mask, then the rest of it forward from the shock mounts with the spray can.

It came out really good. Oil based Rustoleum is so forgiving and sticks to poor prep work pretty well, and I actually spent quite a bit of time with scotch-brite pads and degreaser in here...

Mocking Up Parts

Then I could mock up a couple shiny bits for more added motivation:

Honed booster delete, Hasport EFK2 mounts, and the tubular front bumper bar from Charlie Moua. There is a rear bar to match as well.

Order of Operations

The order of operations puzzle has been fun. I needed to get the engine bay painted to mount the master cyl so that I can run new brake lines so that I could flat tow it to the car wash to prep the interior for paint.

However, I've gone much farther in disassembling the entire front end with both cross members out, including the steering column and pedal assembly. So now I will probably end up bucket washing the interior by hand like I did the bay.

Interior Fabrication Plan

The next steps in the interior are to pull the last remaining bits of sound deadening off the insides of the footwells so that I can prep them to receive landing plates for my footwell intrusion bars.

Get those trimmed down to fit and welded in along with my new modern spring pin style window net hardware.

I'll need to do the pedal assembly cable-to-hydro conversion now that it is out of the car, put it back into the car to confirm the drivers side footwell intrusion bar doesnt interfere with either the new clutch master arrangement, then remove it again to weld that bar into place.

I also need to plan for a dead pedal. there was not one in this car previously.

Then prep the rest of the interior for paint; pull the rear shocks, fuel system cover panels and the rear hatch, taillights and side window seals.

Fabrication Parts

These are pre cut "A Pillar Support Bars" and universal cage landing plates from Allstar Racing:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/aaf-all22678

What’s Next

The RSX ecu should be back from Hondata in the next week or two.

I want to reinstall it in that car and drive it around one more time before I tear it down.

I'll need to have the Civic back to a full roller in order for them to trade places, so the next couple weeks should(need to be) be big progress on the Civic.