My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

OK! Here's my car from way back then till now, including story as we go along!
DIY EVERYTHING!

Pictures of my car the first day I got it:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...1&d=1184999743
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...2&d=1184999743
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...3&d=1184999743
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...4&d=1184999743
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...5&d=1184999743

A little while after that, I got an AEM V2 Intake and an HKS Hi-Power Axelback:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...6&d=1184999772
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...7&d=1184999772
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...8&d=1184999772
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...9&d=1184999772

Here are the next pictures, at that time, I got Full TEIN coilovers, aftermarket grill, Tinted windows and more stickers yay!
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...2&d=1184999816
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...3&d=1184999816
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...4&d=1184999816

After that, I got a set of 18x7.5 Axis Reverbs, Gloss black, First wrapped in Assenza 215/35/18 then wrapped in Nitto Neo-gen, same variety.
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...5&d=1184999859
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...6&d=1184999859
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...7&d=1184999859
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...8&d=1184999859

Then I saved up and got a Carbon fiber GT wing and three strut bars:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...9&d=1184999901
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...0&d=1184999901
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...1&d=1184999901
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...2&d=1184999901
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...3&d=1184999901
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...4&d=1184999911

Next are some pictures of the VIS EVO-Carbon fiber hood:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...5&d=1184999944
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...6&d=1184999944
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...7&d=1184999944
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...8&d=1184999944

Oh yeah, I also made my own center caps for my rims, it's black fiberglass casted in clear resin:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...9&d=1184999944
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...0&d=1184999968

Now this is where it gets crazy
About a year ago I was coming home from Las Vegas and traffic was stopped on the freeway, low and behold a driver about six cars back didn't stop and slammed into five cars, and I was the last car to get hit, nothing too bad, front and rear bumper messed up, but that's about it. It's enough to get me about a grand from the insurance company. So I decided to purchase a full body kit and fenders.
Here they are:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...1&d=1185000020
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...2&d=1185000020
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...3&d=1185000020

After they arrived it took me several weeks to rip it apart install and prep for paint I also molded the side skirts and the rear bumper. To make a long story short, I had to fabricate, fiberglass, fill, sand and prime a TON of parts of this kit to get it fit:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...5&d=1185000080
In this picture, the side skirts were like seven inches too short so I had to cut it, fiberglass it (bottom skirt) and fill it (top skirt)
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...4&d=1185000020
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...6&d=1185000080
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...7&d=1185000080

The front bumper had to be cut in half horizontally and fiberglassed to the stock bumper:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...8&d=1185000080
And the side of the front bumper had to be shortened for less depth:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...9&d=1185000147
Ready for primer:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...0&d=1185000180
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...1&d=1185000180
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...2&d=1185000180

At this point I'm ready for paint. I was under the impression that I would be able to get it painted by my friends boss, who manages a fork-lift repair warehouse which has an open paint booth. However, at the time I finished the install he said he couldn't do it because there was too much stuff in the warehouse to get my car in there. So I decided to paint it myself. I bought a cheap ass set of HVLP paint guns, and got free black paint from that dude that was going to help me. I also chipped in and bought a small jar of blue pearl to mix in the clear coat. I woke up one morning, hung up a ton of plastic sheeting and painted my car, by the time that I was halfway done, my mother came home and was mad, and I screwed everything up, so then after it was done it looked like a blue/purple car. Not to mention that the paint AND the clear coat was dripped EVERYWHERE!

(This is the only thing I don't have pictures of)

Well it wasn't TOO bad, but pretty damn bad. So then I spend the next several months wetsanding it with high grit paper. Once I did that, that dude that said he would originally help me, was available so I took it down there and we all masked it up. And he started shooting everything:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...3&d=1185000212
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...4&d=1185000212

he shot the primer, and the black paint, everything looked good. He shot the clear coat, and DRIPPED like 30 times on my car!!!! I was so frustrated I almost flipped out. But it was cool because he did it for free. He also said that he had a friend that could wet sand and buff it for free as well... So that calmed me down a bit. However I wouldn't be able to get him to do that until about FOUR weeks from then because it was christmas and then he was on vacation. But I didn't care, I jut wanted it to get done. Two pictures of what it looked liked after black paint:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...5&d=1185000212
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...6&d=1185000212

Low and behold again, TWO days after I rolled it out of the paint booth, the rear bumper AND the side skirts were cracked at the seams in two places!!!! I was insane at that point. I also sold my rims because I was low on money, and I don't like the black rims anymore.

So at this point I just decided to rip the kit off and strip ALLLLLL of the paint off. If you want it done right, do it yourself right? it took me several weeks to do. Ok so I stripped off all the paint to the bare metal and then sprayed primer using a GOOD gun that I bought off the internet:
Materials:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...9&d=1185000262
Here's me behind my mask! Safety first!
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...7&d=1185000262
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...8&d=1185000262
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...5&d=1185000300
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...0&d=1185000262
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...1&d=1185000262
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...2&d=1185000300
I also had to fiberglass a small piece to fit in the corner of the side skirt, because that was short too:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...3&d=1185000300
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...4&d=1185000300

After ALLLL of the body work was done, I rented a paint booth about a hour away from here, and took it in and painted it:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...6&d=1185000300
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...7&d=1185000354
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...8&d=1185000354
Right after I painted it:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...9&d=1185000354
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...0&d=1185000354
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...1&d=1185000354

This was a day of days, I was so happy I finally got it all taken care of and painted. (This time around I chose a red pearl.) The only draw back is that I shot it, and it went on the car with a lot of orange peel.
SOOO then I bought some 1500 grit sand paper, sanded it flat, bought a polisher/buffer used a rubbing compound, then finally polished it So here we are!! The pictures are below! It's a long journey, but it taught me a TON and a lot of respect for the paint/body industry:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...2&d=1185000413
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...3&d=1185000413
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...4&d=1185000413
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...5&d=1185000413
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...7&d=1185000547
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...6&d=1185000413

Is it perfectly Flawless? No, but it's a great accomplishment for me and I'm really glad I did it.

Everyone might think I'm crazy, but yeah I'm going to paint it again in the near future. This time I wanna get a Two stage paint. And better equipment. And do better body work. There's a lot of small nit picky things that I didn't like with this paint, so I'm going to do it again, correctly.

Well, there you have it, my car from about three years ago till now. Hope you enjoyed.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

And lastly, here is a photoshopped picture of what I want the car to look like in the next six months: (note, I took this picture before I wetsanded and buffed, so it looks hazy)
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/a...1&d=1185003486

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

props to you man. like the theme that your going for and your car looks great.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

a lot of love went to that car. props for all your hard work.
good luck, hope you finish your project.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

looks better without the wing

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

looks good, what is that kit called? or is it mixed?? look like ings+1 ^_^

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

I am not really a fan of the wing, but its a great clean show car. I give you props for one clean bad ass 7thgen.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

I think the kit didn't fit b/c it is for a RSX not a 7thgen civic. Look at the lights. You could have saved yourself a lot of work.

YOURS: http://i16.tinypic.com/6bmtlc7.jpg
RSX: http://i12.tinypic.com/6c6pq9e.jpg

Props for doing your own work. :clap:

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

How many man hours did you put into your car? Great job on the fiberglass work, you got some talent and skills.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

holy crap

looks good, thats a TON of work

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

That's exactly correct. ING+1 Front, INGS+1 Sides, and a buddy club rear.

I bought the RSX INGS+1 because they don't make it for our cars.

I it was a toss up between the RSX version, or the SI version, but then I got a good deal on everything, so I went with the RSX.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Thanks for the props, I knew it wouldn't be easy. That was the main point of the whole thing, to have a body kit that no one else has on a 7th gen LX

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Thanks. Phew man I have no idea.....Hours and hours? It took so long, because I could only work on it after work and things like that. couldn't make too much noise after dark etc. Granted it would have been done a lot sooner if I did it right the first time, but you gotta learn somehow right?

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

good effort man! like how much u have put into your car, it looks good, and hopefully it will match the photoshopped pic in a few months

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Now thats what i call thinking outta the box
almost everyone in here likes lips and no wingss
trend but u put on fenders and carbon
wing and a customm fronnt from an RSX
u gott good styylle, its a veryy nice carr =)
andd that wing actually looks good on the car.

great job

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Thats what i did on my DX sedan. i got a front and side that no one on this site has. good thought about replicating an rsx front end and converting it onto our cars, thats what i did as well. Its cool to see different kind of styles of 7thgens rather than the same old style repeatedly. So mad props to you man.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Man I love seeing people do their own body work. What kind of resin did you use the first and second time?

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

thats alot of work you put in.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Thanks dude, yeah straight up, individuality is cool. There's only a handful of kits available for the 7thgen, I didn't like any of em.


First time around, I used the bondo fiberglass resin with MEKP hardener. But then I tried another kind which turned out WAY better, is actually Elmer's Fiberglass resin. I'm going to try some different types in the future. But I found that I like using a resin that's more flexible rather then brittle.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

A for effort. Not my style though. To each his own.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Turned out great after all that work. After all that painting, may I ask why you decided to keep the mirrors and grill black?

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Yes you may, I'm going to wrap em in carbon fiber. Or possibly carbon kevlar.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

damn, i was hoping they had one for our car lol but shit, looks sick though everything flows well.

i wish i knew how to do fiber glassing and stuff. =P

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Yeah that would be sick if they made it for our car.
But in spite of all of the work that had to be done, the kit fit relatively well considering the fact that it's for a different car altogether.

Fiberglassing is really easy actually, putting it to good use is another story.
How to fiberglass:
Get fiberglass resin,
get fiberglass cloth,
find something to put the fiberglass on,
mix hardener into resin, pour on cloth, let dry, sand and enjoy.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Thanks, that's what I was going for. not only outside the box, but create my own box outside the original box then go outside THAT box. Ha ha

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

From one amateur paint and body man to another, that's some fantastic work. You never really get the smell of bondo out of the garage either. Its always there. I'm in agreement on the wing, it flows really well with your car now that you've painted it. Excellent job man. Simply well done.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

^Thanks for the props. Yeah when I read your thread on painting your car, I was like Im doing the same thing! I think the work paid off. Considering that if we took our cars to pro shops it would have cost thousands.

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Wow!!!

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

wow dude new respect for you not my style one bit but that shit looks tight. what color is that? it looks great

Re: My car from then till now OVER 60 pictures! (56k wrn)
 

Thanks man. The paint is made by www.restorationshop.com the color is Fire Red Pearl. I'm thinking about re-painting it, but restoration shop has some really great quality products.