What's up, 9thcivic?

After driving the car a few miles, I've gotta say this purchase was worth every penny! There is a noticeable difference in response in every aspect. Acceleration, turn in, grip... it all just feels better. I was pretty sure lighter wheels would make a difference, but I didn't think it'd be so noticeable. It'll be interesting to see if it translated into better fuel economy as well with the lower unsprung weight. I'm glad I didn't get new tires yet. It would've been a waste of money. For what I do in this car, this wheel and tire combination is gonna get the job done just fine. I can't wait to get my coilovers now!
 
rims look good. Have you thought any more about the coilover situation
 
Yup. Ordered from another distributor which has promised my D2 coilovers in the next two weeks. I guess we'll see what happens.
 
Emailed the retailer and there has been no reply. Coilovers should be here on Monday if the retailer wasn't lying, which I believe he was. I doubt I'll see them for another couple weeks.

In other news, I can't stand the beam pattern of the reflective headlight housings with the HID kit I installed, so I ordered some mini H1 projectors with mini gatling shrouds and 4300K bulbs. The DDM Tuning PNP kit I installed has 5000K bulbs, which are too blue for me, and 55w slim ballasts, which are black and blend in very nicely (even though they're under the bumper I find this important). What's really cool about these projectors is that there is no permanent modification required for doing this retrofit. It should just fit right into the hole for the bulb. It does on the 8th gen headlights and our headlights are very similar from a retrofit point of view, at least from what I observed with my car right next to a '11 Si sedan at the Honda dealership down the street (black with 14k miles...man, I really want that thing...it's Certified Used too...GAH I wish I could afford to have two cars right now). Should have some pictures of the retro on Saturday evening.
 
I think if people had any idea how easy the mini H1 projector retrofit is, they wouldn't be paying someone else hundreds of dollars to do it. Back when I did the FX bixenon projector retrofit on my EJ1 people were charging like $600 just for labor and at least another $500 for parts for what I wanted (and did myself). Granted, it was my first and it wasn't perfect, but it was worth saving $600. This one retrofit will probably take me two hours total and I might have to trim a little material off the shroud (like 5-10 minutes of Dremel work). I'm not gonna paint anything or remove anything that doesn't need to be removed. These headlights will be able to return to completely factory within an hour or two once I'm done and will look fairly OEM. The ultimate goal, though, is to find a set of the OEM HID projectors and put those on the car.
 
Okay, just so everyone (who reads this) knows: the mini H1 projectors are not capable of being retrofitted into the 9th gen headlights without some permanent modification. Granted, it is an incredibly easy retro fit, but you will not be able to return the headlights to stock.

I did my retrofit earlier tonight. Took about 3-4 hours. I broke the reflector bowl in the turn signal by not removing a screw that attached the turn signal housing/headlight lens to the headlight frame. It's not noticable, but it still pisses me off. Also, I was rushed toward the end of the job and the passenger headlight is rotated off horizontal. The headlights also need to be aimed. All that being said, other than the minor adjustments that need to be made, the retro fit was very easy and it looks very nice. I'll take some pictures once it's all dialed in and the car is washed.
 
what needs done that doesn't allow them to be returned to stock?
 
In order to get the nut and washer onto the back of the mini H1 projector's reflector bowl once it's been put through the bulb hole in the factory headlight reflector bowl, you have to trim the plastic that is the screw holes (and stopping points for the tabs of the stock bulb) for the stock headlight bulb holder. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but in a simpler way of saying it: you have to irreversibly modify the factory headlight bulb holder of the factory headlight in order to attach the mini H1 reflector.
 
I get what you're saying.... I just didn't think it had to be done on the 9th. Did you take pics while you were doing it?
 
No, I did not take pictures. But unless there's a way to extend the threaded part of the mini H1 reflector bowls, you have to trim the factory headlights somewhere. The threaded part is just not long enough. I promise. I couldn't even use the thicker rubber gasket that was provided that is supposed to go in between the projector and the factory reflector. I used the thinner rubber gasket for that and didn't put any kind of gasket on the back because there would have been no way to put the nut on if I did it any other way. The nut has to go on before the bulb holder, so it has to be tightened down passed where it would be flush. Maybe there was another way to do it, but this seemed to be the easiest way.
 
oh, I wasn't questioning you. I guess I meant did you take pics ...like to do a diy
 
I just looked at the 8th H1 retrofit thread. Our headlights have a deeper bulb holder than the 8th's. I guess if I would've used a skinnier nut it might have been possible not to trim anything, but I don't know.
 
I was going to do a DIY, but there was just not enough time. I could walk someone through it pretty easily though. It was a SUPER easy retrofit.
 
well, that's good to hear. I'm sure there will be a number of others who will be doing the retrofit as well.
 
Here's a picture of the cutoff.
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I didn't wire in the high beam relay and I don't know if I will or not.
 
I'd do it... you have bixenon projectors. It'll throw a lot of light
 
I know. I had bixenon FX projectors on my EJ1. It's cool, but the factory high beams put out plenty of light for me. I'd have to buy a relay harness and wait for it to be shipped then take my bumper back off and whatnot. I might do it eventually, we'll see.
 
I apologize for all the cell phone pictures. I sold my DSLR a while back and haven't bought a new one. My best friend has a badass DSLR and knows how to use it, but it's been raining so it's been pointless to make any effort to do a photo shoot. Eventually, there will be very nice pictures of my car uploaded to this thread. That being said, here are some shitty cell phone pictures of the headlights.
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