EF 101 help/info needed

[BLAZED_RACER]

What is the difference between Facelift and Prefacelift EF9's and EF's?

what year did facelift come in?


School me in all things EF.

[Andrew]

Facelift indicators wrap around the bumper but prefacelift indicators dont wrap.

There headlifts and taillights are also different, physically but ever so slighty.

[VTAKYO]

Facelift in 89 aye... plus what macro said. Front end is completely different.

from what I know, all 'EF9's were facelift whether they were built in 89, 90 or 91. others were facelift after 90. although ef's were in production from late 87.

Front ends are different? different headlights, bonnet, bumper, bumper indicator lights wrap around, pretty sure the corner lights and guards are too?

Facelift has different more amber tinted tailights, obviously EF8's and EF9's had the VTEC written on the centres, most EF9's came with the rear lip and factory side skirts. Some facelift carby models came with the optional rear lip like EF9's, like the special edition models etc? although some did and some didn't I think like a option from Honda new?

EF8's and EF9's also came with the ol famous DOHC VTEC stickers on the doors.

surely there are hard core EF fanatics with more infomation than me though.

Oh and the famous EF leather bound steering wheels, found in certain models including EF9 and EF8.

[BLAZED_RACER]

how about suspension, ?

prefacelift and facelift fit each other? any diff?



Interior? both interchangable?


Macro, when ya say the head and tail lights are different, will they still fit different models?

[BLAZED_RACER]

oh yeah, you EF fellahs know where the troublesome rust prone spots are?



give me all ya got in this Civic EF 101 noob lesson. 8)

pretty sure prefacelift and facelift suspension/interior is interchangeable.
headlights dont fit from facelift - PFL
tailights do.

Rust from what I've experienced previously when looking at EF's:
bottom of doors
pillars
sunroof
roof edge where the windscreen meets at the top
behind tailights
boot area
fuel filler cap
boot jams/hindges..

[Haydz]

I think usually with the corner lights the 88-89 have screw holes and 90-91 have none at all, they clip in.

[Logger]

EF9 and facelift EF front corner lights have 2 clips and one screw holding them in. The front guards on the EF9 are more pumped outwards from what I can see.

The EF9 has a different front chassis structure to all other EF's, mainly catering for the B16A. It shares the same front bumper, bonnet and filler panel as the other facelift EF's, with the exception of the NZDM facelift Civics which are the reatrded little brothers of the EF whanau.

The suspension is interchangeable unless of course you can find an EF with rear fork mounts in which case I'll eat my hat (I've never seen an EF with fork rears and I've had 4 of them)

The headlights in pre-facelift EF's have twin bulbs and will not fit any facelift EF (Whether it be EF9 or EF3 etc etc), Facelift NZDM EF's have a single H4 bulb in a glass casing, they are not interchangable with facelift JDM EF's. I tried this and now have a pair of mint glass headlights lying around The EF9 headlights have horrible H4H bulbs and usually have a pathetic output which makes driving at night a chore.

Pre facelift taillights only have one stop/park bulb whereas facelift have two. The casings are every so slightly different but are still interchangeable between the pre facelift and facelift. Although putting facelift lights in a pre facelift will mean that there will not be enough stop/park bulbs.

As Ben stated the EF9 comes with a full set of lips and side skirts, the rear bumper on the EF9 has slightly different dimensions to all other EF rear bumpers which makes it difficult when trying to put an EF9 rear lip on any other EF bumper.

The EF9 interior is common with all facelift EF interiors. Obviously the colour scheme is different, one feature the EF9 is spoilt with is a fancy dash but of course it has an electronic speedo which will inevitably shit itself, both of my speedo clusters are broken in some way.

If there is anything else you need to know just ask, I'm sure one of us EF gurus can help.

[Bananaman]

A few other comments to add to what is already there. EF's have a tendancy to rust on the rear window sills behind the mouldings.

And leak around the sunroof seals (aye mike ops: )

The Facelift EF's have a more rounded front on them hence why bonnet/lights/filler panel/radiator support/corner lights/gaurds are all different. When comparing Facelift lights to Non-face lift lights the facelift lights are 20mm longer and angle out more from the front of the car to fit the more rounded front of the facelift.

The only difference in the radiator support panel is where the bonnet latches. On the facelift the bonnet latchs approximately 15-20mm further forward (again because of the rounded shape of the facelift models)

[trend.whore]

Don't get a sunroof.

[DrRubber]

dont know if it relates to the civics or not but some of the crx's came with torsion bar front suspension.

[BLAZED_RACER]

Originally Posted by trend.whore

Don't get a sunroof.

the one im picking up has sunroof..

whats wrong with that.

[Bananaman]

The one in my old car started to leak (very shortly after I sold it ops: ) and the electrinc motors in them suffer because of it.

Plus not the best as far as weigh saving goes. More weight up high is not suited to racing situations.

[Logger]

Originally Posted by badcf4

dont know if it relates to the civics or not but some of the crx's came with torsion bar front suspension.

Err not in the EF's dude.

[DrRubber]

Originally Posted by Keeweelogger

Err not in the EF's dude.

thats why i said I dont know if it relates :wink:

ive never owned either just rememberd it being a topic on here one time.

[Logger]

Originally Posted by badcf4

thats why i said I dont know if it relates :wink:

ive never owned either just rememberd it being a topic on here one time.

Good stuff

Oh and I just remembered that there is actually two generations of EF9's. An EF9-100 series and EF9-110 series. The 100 series doesn't have rear retractable seatbelts or side imtrusion bars whereas the 110 series does. I don't know what number of each series are in NZ but from what I know the number of EF9's in NZ is around 90. But as always I could be wrong.

[SiLent]

slightly o/t but i had to replace my headlight bulbs the other day (pre facelift '88 ef3 civic) and they cost me $37 each! that was trade price too! damn honda and their obscure bulb fittings also watch for leaks around the tail light gasket, and leaks in the footwell from the windscreen . and the air con control unit thingys above the DIN slot for the stereo have a tendency to break, as well the window rubbers in the doors also seem to like playing up, these things are seem to all be common problems with the ef's? welcome to the ef club

[chris_P]

rust also below the rear side windo mmmhmmmm i found that one out tha hard way.

[MMJA]

Since we are talking about EF's, my girlfriend's dad recently got her a 1991 Honda Civic 'special edition'. Just wondering what's so special about these special edition ones. It's got special edition stickers on both doors and under the Civic sticker on the hatch. It also has a sticker with 23L or 25L or something. The engine is a D13B.

[BLAZED_RACER]

good stufffff guys...

good thing is I do know the history well, the past 4 - 5 years history of this car, so yeah, just want to know its trouble spots so i can sort it out when i tear her appart..

:twisted: any other new info, please post up, no matter how irrelevant you may think it is....

[VTAKYO]

They will rust anywhere where there is the possibility of water getting trapped. This means the door jams, boot jams, sills, window/door/boot seals (underneath and around rubber), and particuarly inside the boot. You will also get rust on any part of the body that gets scratched. Your best bet is to either find an EF9 that has had a ground-up aftermarket paintjob with a decent primer, or get a "project" one and build it up from the body. I have just removed the rust spots from my tyre well - you are best not to leave it too long, otherwise it won't jut be a case of sanding it down and giving it a good clean with autosol/meths/crc, "rust-kill" primer, then paint.

I would advise getting a wheel-alignment check, and 3D chassis measure, as the amount of EF9s I have seen with chassis damage is rather worrying. The fully-built grey one on trademe has had a rather nasty front hit - which is not mentioned! My one came with one side of the chassis 1mm out (but within cert limits easily), the front engine mount bent, and the floor rails had to be cut out and replaced. The front swaybar mount also had to be re-fab'd - all of this was cert'd before re-compliance. However, I got mine dirt cheap as a de-reg. I believe it is also common for EF9s to have the wrong RTA bushes put in? I have seen a couple of cases of this, and the guy at Hi-Tech Wheel Alignment said this to me as well - the Nolothane bushes put into mine had to have the adjustment brackets modified/extended to align the wheels properly.

Expect the drivers seat bolsters to be ripped... and to have a few annoying engine sounds. Also expect to see a fair amount of oxidation in the engine bay, as I have seen in most EF9s that aren't owned by perdantic owners like myself and Ben (Keeweelogger). I spent a good month tidying my enginebay up, and still have a lot to do (will wait till the turbo is in however :wink: ).

I have never figured what is "special" about the "special edition" models! I think you might just have different badging and interior? And possibly aircon and P/S in a car that wouldn't have otherwise had it... AFAIK the D13B isn't too special

[Haydz]

Umm... two random things..

a) EF shuttle fuel tank has provisioning for driveshaft which makes an excellent opportunity for a straight through exhust.

b) EF shuttle rear shocks should drop a civic or CRX by 1.5" due to the much lower spring perch.

[BLAZED_RACER]

great info VTAKY0!.... this one did have a full-on tear down rust kill treatment 3/4 years ago, so im confident I shouldn't find more car cancer!


keep all the info rolling in. cheers fellahs

[Logger]

Originally Posted by VTAKYO

The fully-built grey one on trademe has had a rather nasty front hit - which is not mentioned!

And you only saw that after I spotted it eh!!

And as for the rip in the seat bolsters I'd suggest swapping the fabric off the passengers seat top piece onto the drivers and having the foam rebuilt, I had this done and the only problem is that there is a patch of fabric missing right next to the seat mount upright, it can't be seen anyway