Civic Si - 1987

Do I need another car right now? No. But I can't keep myself from finding fun cheap cars on craigslist, and I haven't owned a honda yet.

The car in question is an 87' Civic Si. I've come across two of them recently in the $1k range without tons of rust and with a good bit of life left in them. What I would like to know is if these older civics are worth buying if the newer chassis ef/eg cars are approaching the same price range.

From what I understand they don't have as many parts that swap with the newer generations of civic but that doesn't mean they can't be fun in their own right. I tend to keep my cars closer to clean and stock than outlandish and heavily modified.

I like the 80s-ness of the car, and it happens to be as old as I am.

We (read: i bought) had a 1985 Honda Civic 1500S.

It was a blast.

I had an 87 CRX Si. I would certainly buy another if it came across my path in good shape. The engine is a laugh riot, great on gas, and I'd imagine the hatch is very spacious for the size.

These cars fit your leanings perfectly. If you are looking for a car to put a B18 in, buy a newer Civic. But a clean stock example is a blast in its own right, and pretty rare nowadays. If you have the itch to swap, the same generation integra motor is very simple to drop in, or a JDM ZC motor would be similarly simple.

Call me crazy but I think the simple angular lines of these cars are perfect.

I've owned three 1G CRX's, loved them all. I've always wanted to try out an Si hatch. They're small, fun, and get crazy good gas mileage. Although parts aren't plentiful, they're out there if you look.

Also, since no one has mentioned it: redpepperracing.com

nice find.. I like the looks of those years

Are those Pennsylvania palm trees?

Aren't those pretty competitive Auto-X cars still?

Woody wrote: Are those Pennsylvania palm trees?

No, I did a search to turn up some nicer than craigslist images.

We've had several of these Civics pass through our hands, and I had an '86 Civic Si back in the day. Fun, fun cars.

I had an 1986 Civic Si; absolutely great car. I'd love to have another one.

David

The 85-87 Civics are my favorites! Of course my second favorite would be the CVCC, but I'm strange that way.

IIRC when the 1500S was released Car and Driver called it the best car in the world.

Just sold my red 87 Civic Si. Still have my neglected project 87 CRX. God I love these cars, and I actually waaaaay prefer the hatch to the crx.

I will say parts are getting way harder to find. 5-10 years ago, you could find stock engines everywhere and they were CHEAP! - to the point where we didn't feel the least bit guilty blowing them up. Now they're drying up. I'm down to a couple blocks and a few "parts" heads, and I'm not giving them away like I used to.

Performance parts are getting harder to find too. Koni stopped making adjustable struts for them a few years ago, and I've seen people asking crack-smoking prices for them. OPM used to sell a mack-daddy adjustable rear bar, but those are long gone. There's a company called Medieval-Pro who started selling torsion bars and some other stuff a few years ago. I hope there's enough demand to keep them in business, and growing.

Civics rust around the rockers. Check the torsion bar mounts and panhard bar for rust. These are not fun fixes, and I'm seeing more and more rust-free cars (certainly by PA standards) that are having panhard bar mounts rust out.

Some people will (especially on redpepper) swear up and down that it does nothing for power, but we've swapped the 1G integra ECU and injectors, advanced the timing as far as she'll go, and seen 93hp at the wheels, which is a noticeable improvement. Also bumps the rev-limiter up 500rpm IIRC.

D16A1 from the 1G integra is a pretty easy swap, though you wouldn't know it by how long mine's taking (stalled out because I don't want to paint the damned engine bay, but the rest of the car is too clean not to.) But again, they're also getting hard to find.

Look (ask) for the rear cargo cover, interior sunroof cover/tray, and the BAG for the sunroof. These are usually not in the car, and tough to find. Also, the sunroof screen pictured on the black car is tough to find. Of course, I have all of these things hermetically sealed should you need one 20 years from now.

PS: If you have a little more coin to spend, Gabe (who used to work for GRM) is trying to sell his 87 right now. Former Hong $200x Challenge car, probably one of the cleanest 3g's in the country. D16A1 swapped, recently passed emissions.

And here's my girl:

I've had several 85-87 CRX si's, but not a civic from that generation. I drove a couple and didn't like them as well, but that's just me. They are a blast to drive, although the EF's are light years better cars. I'd say that if it looks like a good car and you like it, buy it. Make sure you look underneath and verify that the inner rockers and jack points aren't rusted.

Figures, I wait a few days and the nicer of the two finds is sold. It was a garage kept 87 si with about 120k in need of a clutch for $1k. Still interesting to know more about them.

Those cars aren't complete without the little Mugen spoiler for the top of the hatch.

Of course, I can't find a single photo of one right now...

I love this generation of Civic S and Si. My wife had a '84 S which a SUV demolished. The car was 20 years old but looked brand new. Impossible to find another like it so got an Accord. Now I have a '91 Civic Si with 80k miles and it looks and drives like a new car and gets 40 mpg. These old Hondas are better than the ones they make now.

In reply to miatadon:

I would gladly purchase your 1991 Si and keep it in a nice garage

I just wish you guys would stop replying to this post, because I'm compelled to look and want one every time I see that first one!!

Doh!! Just did it myself. OK, another link to drive me more nuts.

Maybe two:

-Rob

I had an 86 for a month before I sold it. At the time it needing a bit of work & I didn't have the motivation for it so I sold it. One day I'd like to pick up another in better shape, fun car for what it was.

Oooh....Mugen wheels......

poopshovel wrote: PS: If you have a little more coin to spend, Gabe (who used to work for GRM) is trying to sell his 87 right now. Former Hong $200x Challenge car, probably one of the cleanest 3g's in the country. D16A1 swapped, recently passed emissions.

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