A Civic Story...so far - Honda Forum / Acura Forum

OverDrive418 · 10-10-2007, 06:15 AM

The car is a 97 Civic DX HB with a D16Y7 auto trans
I bought it off my neighbor who moved out and needed cash more than an extra car. I took it off his hands for $1500!
I've always been a domestic car guy and my brother has always been an import guy (save for one 98 Neon r/t he had back in the day) so I figured for the price i'd get it fixed up, make it a double duty car and have some fun with it. But apparently the previous owner only put oil and gas in it so it needed a major tune up. Replaced plugs, wires, cap and rotor, O2 sensors, ALL fluids, rad hoses, fuel filter, battery terminals, upgraded grounds...
The car came with an Apex CB exhaust and an AEM CAI, a good start. Also about 50lbs. of dog hair! Here's some pics:

Came with 14" steelies and caps. got these 13's from a friend and painted them bronze.

Discovered a cracked manifold when changing O2 sensors. Replaced with a header from Megan. Bolted right up to the Apex exhaust with no leaks. Cheap and it works - with it, the smaller diameter tires and tune-up it ran over a second quicker at the local dragway than when I got it .

Original miles after a week of owning it. Great for a 10 year old car.

Stowaway in the hatch.

Stripping out the doghair infested interior.

For now it will have to be a daily driver until I get some funds together for a B-series swap early next year. I have new seats coming in and carpet. I've had all the suspension bushings replaced and threw on some KYB struts for now until I settle on a coilover set-up to match with with the new engine output. Needs paint.
Anyone using this? DG Industries Chasis Strengthening System:

Have a few other things too, I'll get some more pics up later.
Questions, comments, suggestions, and f-yous all appreciated!
Also since I'm a noob here please forgive if this is posted in the wrong section.

-new pics added-
Parts to go on soon:

Yonaka seats, basically Type R Recaro knockoffs, waiting for Sparco brackets to mount them.

Konig Kolors 15x7 with Kumho Ecsta AST 205/50/15 tires.

Beefy!

Will add more as progress continues...

Meso Teggy · 10-14-2007, 09:13 AM

love those wheels yo

d16y8alltheway · 10-14-2007, 11:26 AM

nice. keep us posted.

DriftKingBP · 10-15-2007, 01:14 AM

sweet konigs yo's

mad-ass · 10-15-2007, 03:34 AM

looks cool

OverDrive418 · 10-15-2007, 03:05 PM

Finished painting interior yesterday. Hit it with about 4 cans of Duplicolor Truck Bed Coating for that rugged utilitarian look. Solid stuff and looks good too. I kept the sound deadening material, since this will be a DD car as well I want to try to keep it as civil as possible for now. I just sprayed right over it to get a more uniform texture and to harden it up (no more stickyness). I will be installing new black carpet in the front too so hopefully the coating will keep any rust from starting underneath.
I'll most likely reinstall all the plastic trim peices all around for a more finished look, minus the speakers and any audio related items. No backseat or seatbelts either. Painted fuel pump cover because it just looked nasty, matches red lip on rims as a bonus.
Here's what I did:

Will get more pics up as work progresses. I'll probably paint the calipers and drums and get all that cleaned up next. After I got the new wheels on the crusty brake parts really stand out. Stay tuned...

It's coming along slowly, but at least it's getting there...

k0rupt_ed · 10-15-2007, 07:29 PM

looking good man lookin real good, just gotta get rid of that dam automatic

the red highlights are a nice touch

Sirfallsalot243 · 10-15-2007, 07:33 PM

Looks good. Paint your calipers, but leave the drums alone. Or paint them black. Its too much color under there if you did them red or something. Are you keeping it a 1 seater?

OverDrive418 · 10-16-2007, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k0rupt_ed

looking good man lookin real good, just gotta get rid of that dam automatic

the red highlights are a nice touch

All in good time and thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirfallsalot243

Looks good. Paint your calipers, but leave the drums alone. Or paint them black. Its too much color under there if you did them red or something. Are you keeping it a 1 seater?

Thanks. Got a ceramic red paint for the fronts and black for the drums. Two seater.

mad-ass · 10-16-2007, 01:49 AM

i don't know about slow..it's moving pretty fast

riceboy89 · 10-16-2007, 11:23 AM

was there any odor from the truck liner?

OverDrive418 · 10-16-2007, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mad-ass

i don't know about slow..it's moving pretty fast

I've got a list of things that NEEDS to get done and WANTS to get done. The NEEDS list is just about 3/4 done but the WANTS list...goes on forever! I'm trying not to rush it and do it in stages so I'll spend less $$$ on mistakes and/or redos. But I got it running smooth now and the interior cleaned up so I'll be moving to the outside next.
Paint is a big debate in my head right now as far as what color and finish:
1) Gloss OEM black (boring...snore)
2) Satin/matte black (easy to repair track boo-boos)
3) Gloss Rescue Green (as on the new Jeep Sahara)
4) One of the Hot Rod Flatz metalic pearl colors (cool custom) -
http://www.tcpglobal.com/kustomshop/ksflatz.aspx
I'm digging the Old Gold metalic color.

Quote:

Originally Posted by riceboy89

was there any odor from the truck liner?

Really not that bad, the Krylon Banner Red I used for the cover smelled way worse! I sprayed it outside with the doors open for ventilation, also there's not a lot of loss to the air(I guess because it's heavier particles than acrylic paint). I parked it in the garage with the windows down overnight to dry and the next day after it set there's hardly any smell at all. I wiped it all down yesterday with some diluted Simple Green and that smelled more than the liner.
Once it fully sets it's more like thin plastic than paint.

OverDrive418 · 10-17-2007, 01:37 PM

Well last night I got twitchy about getting the interior panels back on and knew if I was to do that I had to get the carpet installed. I was not looking forward to it but it turned out not to be that bad at all. Here's how it turned out:
Laid out and trimmed before the panels were installed.

After panels installed.

Floormats.

There was a 3-pc heavy steel(?) beam that originally went under this part of the carpet held in with about 9 bolts, it would've been under the rear seat. Don't know how important it is to the structure of the car but it seems to be ok without it. Please tell me otherwise if I need it. I don't want to pull a "Herbie the Love Bug cut in half" trick down the road one day!

Working on the seat brackets so they should be the last of the major interior work. Caliper and drum beautification will have to wait another day...