Beat owner from Oz

[Pav]

Hi guys,

Pav here.. Been browsing around the net for a while trying to find info here and there about the Beat and this forum kept popping up so thought I'd sign up and hopefully get some knowledge from a few of you guys in the know :) have also had some issues finding parts so hopefully you can lead me in teh right direction with certain things.

A few months ago I was browsing CarSales and came across a '95 Honda Beat for sale interstate going for a pretty cheap price. I am a long time Honda man and have owned B18CR swapped DC4 Integra and EG Civic hatch that is now my track dedicated car. I drive an SUV as my daily/work car and really missed being able to go for a nice weekend drive in one of my toys as the Civic was no longer registered for the road. Long story short, after a bit of negotiating I was on my wasy from Adelaide (South Australia) to Melbourne (Victoria) to pick up this Honda beat for a bargain price. Reason for this was that the car had previously been in an accident and repairs were not sufficient to pass it's roadworthy test in Victroia. Luckily the car still had SA rego on it so was able to be registered online without any inspections :)

After I got the car home I inspected the damage properly and found that the car looks to have been hit on the front passenger side fender causing a minor twist in the chassis which has been repaired by altering the strut position onthe strut tower... dodgy dodgy. Still, the car drives perfectly well so for now whilst it's summer over here in Australia I'm enjoying it but will be having this damage fixed up at my mate's repair shop come Winter time.

I absolutely love this little thing.. it's always great fun and you can't get sick of that beautiful engine note!

So i've had the car for about 5 months now and from day one modding was always going to happen... Before I even picked up the car i had a pair of Bride Brix/Ergo seats waiting in the shed to go in (unfortunately this got scrapped). Some of the bits and pieces that have gone on teh car so far are: Nardi 350 deepcorn steering wheel with a HKB boss kit, OEM DC2R gear knob and shift boot, retrofitted EG6 lip, Trust coilovers, Volk TE37 wheels (& Rays wheel nuts)with Dunlop Direzzas on the front and Kumho KU31's on the back, a roll/fashion bar I can't find the name of (bought off Yahoo Japan) as well as a new lighter battery.

Got plenty of other things lined up for it! B-series engine is definitely on this list but unfortunately 2 project cars and a newly purchased house don't go too well together so this may have to wait a couple of years before going ahead. The E07A is oozing oil and blowing some white smoke (78xxx k's on it) so this may speed me up with teh swap as I don't really see the point ion repairing the stock motor and can't seem to find many decent replacements pop up online, generally same issues as mine. Some new brake pads and some mods to the current (aftermarket) exhaust setup are next on the shopping list.

Preparing for it's journey to a new home
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After a wash, with EG6 lip installed
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Wheels and coils on, these as well as some decent tyres made a world of difference! Now I barely even use those shi##y brakes for the corners.
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[Pav]

A few pics of my track B18CR EG Civic project

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And my old DC4 Integra, was also powered by a B18CR

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Any feedback is welcome and please feel free to ask questions as I certainly have some to ask myself :) thanks

[Pav]

I have a couple of questions for the pros.. I am wondering if mine is the Version Z? It came with the "telephone dial" alloys, all black cluster, 95 model and is in the dark metallic green (anyone know the actual colour name by any chance?). All signs point to the Z but I don't believe it says it anywhere under the bonnet or in any of my manuals, not that I've really looked for it.

Also, anyone who is wrecking a Beat or has some parts spare, I'm chasing the ashtray / coin pocket that sits in the centre console. The lid on mine was snapped off so hoping to find a replacement. Please PM me if u have one available and willing to ship to Aus. Thanks :)

[Steve_M]

I have a couple of questions for the pros.. I am wondering if mine is the Version Z? It came with the "telephone dial" alloys, all black cluster, 95 model and is in the dark metallic green (anyone know the actual colour name by any chance?). All signs point to the Z but I don't believe it says it anywhere under the bonnet or in any of my manuals, not that I've really looked

It certainly looks like a Version Z, all the right signs, most likely a 100 chassis. There is no actual marking to say, just the VIN number will confirm it. PP1-1??????

[Steve_M]

and is in the dark metallic green (anyone know the actual colour name by any chance?)

Everglade Green Metallic G80M

[Pav]

Thanks Steve, that's what Wiki suggested too but but when I googled the colour it was coming up with a much lighter shade which threw me off. Another search just then shows some conflicting results but some images definitely look right. Cheers

Couple of pics I snapped the other day. Not a fan of the stripey intereor at all so hoping to get some buckets to replace the stock seats. Biggest concern though is the comfort... With the coilovers in, my back gets a little sore even with the cushioning of the stock seats on a longer, bumpy drive. Might throw the Sparco out of my Civic in there first before I commit to anything. I did have a pair of nice Brides but had to sell them on as the passenger seat juuuust wouldn't fit and I didn't want to modify perfectly good seats.

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[steveinjapan]

It is certainly a Z type, which is only cosmetic variations, and unless your camera is doing something odd it has been resprayed a darker green. But very nice - a keeper!

[Pav]

Thanks mate, may be the camera although it pretty well looks the same in real life. The front bumper and a wing mirror have been resprayed but from what I can see the rest of the car is original paint.

[steveinjapan]

The interior looks very clean. The zebra look might grow on you, and the seats are actually pretty comfortable. I got my driver's patched and a little extra lumbar foam put in at the same time. But if they are in good condition and you replace the stripey stuff, the seat covers and the mats (if not worn) could pull some good money on Yahoo. The little 2x20 watt radio is very capable of good sounds with the original door speakers IMHO. And 78K kms is very low - shouldn't be burning or leaking oil. what B-series engine are you thinking of to replace it? Probably a major job that.

[Pav]

Yea the interior is in pretty good knick although the plastic bits on both seats are broken or cracked in places, I'd probably want to keep all the OEM bits in case I part ways with the car in the future. The stereo was stuffed, some buttons are loose or don't click in, and the sound was real quiet for some reason, also the tuning on the radio was very limited and I couldn't tune into any decent local stations. I love my music so fitted a CD player (had one anyway) in the only spot I could really. Speakers have been replaced by Sony's by a previous owner.

Yea the seats are comfy and fit me well so at this stage I'm not in a rush to swap them out. I guess the stripes add to the uniqueness of the car which is not a bad thing.

Yea, bit of a shame about the motor considering the K's although it actually feels healthy. Plenty of pull, sounds great but maybe my piston rings are on their way out. Weird thing is, when I initially replaced my spark plugs with iridium ones, spaced correctly, the smoke got significantly worse! I then got a set of copper plugs and it was much much better. I found that quite odd.. Makes me think maybe the smoke is a fueling/sparking issue as it does smell a bit rich. Oil leaks galore, both trans and motor.

In regards to the swap, well I already have a B18C... Would probably just use that as I'd love to put a K24 into the Civic. Who knows I might just part the Civic out in a few years to clear some room in the shed for a NSX ;) if not maybe just a B16 as its a little smaller in size so would be better for ground clearance. Definitely not a quick job but I think it's a project I'd love to take on. It's been done so there is some info about it out there.

[Steve_M]

Makes me think maybe the smoke is a fueling/sparking issue as it does smell a bit rich.

Capacitors in the ECU most likely popped, that will cause them to run rich. Pull the ECU out and have the cover off and check the PCB.

[Pav]

Interesting.. Not sure I'd know what I'm looking for unfortunately. I'll pull the cover off the ECU and take a pic or two to post on here. Perhaps u could point it out for me :)

[Steve_M]

It will possibly look like the one in the below thread. Corrosion/fluid on the PCB.

http://www.u-ukhbc.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?466-Another-one-Bites-the-dust!!!&p=2332#post2332

[Gavin]

looks tidy the wheels I love!! be interested to see what this repair is like? in pics car looks ok

[Pav]

Cheers Gavin.. I wanted to get a good set of wheels for the Beat but due to the clearance between the spring and inner lip of the rim the choice was a bit limited. Luckily I was able to source these from Japan for not too much, really happy with them and they make me like the green colour of the car much more. I wasn't too keen on it to begin with.

I'm going to go in for a wheel alignment next few weeks and take some shots of the damage. It's nothing obvious, except where they cut the top of the shock tower, but can clearly see the front subframe has shifted about half an inch forward on the drivers side :S

[steveinjapan]

I'm going to go in for a wheel alignment next few weeks and take some shots of the damage. It's nothing obvious, except where they cut the top of the shock tower, but can clearly see the front subframe has shifted about half an inch forward on the drivers side :S

I had an Alfa that had similar minor frame damage and never repaired it. It aligned fine and there was no indication in how it handled that the frame was pushed back a half inch on the right side. The current owner, who drives it way harder than I ever did, hasn't bothered to fix it either. (BTW your Nardi's spokes must have been inspired by the '60's Alfa stock steering wheels.)

[Pav]

Yea it handles quite well, and that's with my suspension out of whack... Still haven't gone to align it since dropping in the coilovers. Bad. Fingers crossed I don't have any issues with getting them straight. I plan on fixing it over winter, like my mate said, it should be a fairly simple and inexpensive exercise at his work, a panel beaters.

I don't know my older euros too well but you're probably right about the Nardi, pretty sure the steering wheel is called "Classic 350" (350 being the diameter)

[streetwise]

I have a couple of questions for the pros.. I am wondering if mine is the Version Z? It came with the "telephone dial" alloys, all black cluster, 95 model and is in the dark metallic green (anyone know the actual colour name by any chance?). All signs point to the Z but I don't believe it says it anywhere under the bonnet or in any of my manuals, not that I've really looked for it.

Also, anyone who is wrecking a Beat or has some parts spare, I'm chasing the ashtray / coin pocket that sits in the centre console. The lid on mine was snapped off so hoping to find a replacement. Please PM me if u have one available and willing to ship to Aus. Thanks :)

I have an old damaged ash tray with a good useable lid if it's any use to you? pm me your address if you want it.
Cheers
Dave

[Pav]

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So finally, after months procrastinating and waiting on parts to arrive the Beat is finally going in to have the engine rebuild done and the chassis straightened in a couple of weeks. Have also ordered a couple of aesthetic bits for it including some Heroes Racing 14" aero wheels, Back Yard Special wing, US Racing front lip and a new, slightly smaller Nardi steering wheel. Fingers crossed everything goes well and she'll come back looking and driving like a brand new car. I also recently completed a front brake upgrade to 240mm Honda Jazz disks and calipers which is virtually a direct bolt-on. Feels like it should have from factory, so much more confidence hitting the brake pedal now and not worrying about fade through the hills etc. Highly recommended upgrade.

Here's a few pics I took a fortnight ago on Mugen NR10 wheels before I sold them off, miss them already, though.

[C-Rex]

Looks great man were the NR10s staggered beat fitment or same size all round? What kinda money did they sell for?

Nice to see another version z they are great fun with the LSD box

[Pav]

Thanks C-Rex.. The NR10's were a square fitment but 165 tyres up front and 185's at the back. Sold them for AUD $1500 (actually made a hefty profit on them).. I really didnt want to get rid of them but couldnt justify spending a fair bit on the Heroes Racing wheels when I already have 2 sets of wheels, plus the stock phone dial Enkies, so they had to go. Yeah I didnt actually realise mine was the more rare Verion Z until I brought it home and started looking into it further. I'm trying not to go to crazy with the mods but just want to get it looking more aesthetically pleasing in my eyes.

[Sphynxface]

Great Reading what you're up to with the beat I'll keep my peepers peeled for more goings on. About your wheels what size were the actual wheels and their offsets? did you have any issues with the 185's on the back. I'm looking at wheels now but need to know more about offsets etc to avoid rubbing.