1990 Honda Civic DX ("Grumpy")

I figured that would be the answer, but I was holding out for some sort of magical chemical hardener that would just make it flake off, or something. Oh well, I have no real problem using fire -- even when it isn't necessary.

Torch is definitely standard on doin the bushings on this car; you got a hell of a steal man! I've been looking for a lemons car for awhile, and see this pop up occasionally with a lot more issues for more money.

Thanks. It certainly helps to have some idea what you're looking at and be dealing with previous owner who has no idea what he's looking at. When fortune smiles on you, you've gotta strike. The fate of Grumpy is still up for debate in the Dustoff household. Mrs. Dustoff still isn't sold on him (especially since he still smells like cigarettes inside) and we're tackling some home improvement projects right now. So, he may be sold for a healthy profit. Although, I would thoroughly enjoy his continued presence in our garage (and I think the Missus might be slowly coming around...maybe...).

I have purchased everything (hopefully) that he needs to get back on the road and I'm still in it for less than $1000.

Good looking little project. I am late to the project like usual, but I hope you replaced the rear main oil seal while you were there...

noddaz wrote: Good looking little project. I am late to the project like usual, but I hope you replaced the rear main oil seal while you were there...

I remembered it right after I put the trans back into place... Luckily it wasn't leaking much, so if I fix all of the other seals, then I'll only have one little, itty-bitty leak. I can live with that.

So, I got most of the old bushing material out, including the metal sleeves which were removed thusly:

I removed as much rubber as possible and then used the hack saw to cut through the bushing sleeve. Then it was a tag-team between a torch, PB Blaster, a couple of old screw drivers, and the dead-blow hammer to drive them out. All I have left is one more lower control arm and the rear trailing arms. The sleeve on the RTAs has to stay in place for the Energy Suspension bushings, so it will be the torch and a wire wheel to clean those up.

I found when I did my rear LCA bushings on my Accord that a hole saw of the right size made quick work of the rubber in the old bushing. After that, a quick zip of the reciprocating saw and a couple hammer bashes to get the old sleeve out was all it took. I'm never doing those another way again, I can get a side done in about 5-10 minutes that way.

That's an excellent idea. I'll have to try the hole saw in the morning. I'm pretty sure I have one that's big enough...

I think mine was 1-1/4". I'd have to look it up again.

I've been getting tired of slogging through this suspension stuff. Only being able to work for an hour at a time a few days a week is dragging this out longer that I like. So, to lift my sense of accomplishment this morning, I decided to complete a project that I could do from start to finish in the short alloted time.

This is what I picked:

I pulled the old brake proportioning valve and put on the unit that I got from the CRX to facilitate the rear disc brake swap.

Side-by side comparison -- they look basically identical (old on the left, new on the right):

The new one in place (I know, the pics look almost the same, but it's a project done this morning from start to finish -- it felt good):

I also continued with the suspension prep -- finished burning out old bushings and cleaning everything up except the Rear Trailing Arms and their associated dog bones. Here is a picture of fire!

I found that a lot of fire, combined with a small wire brush did the trick very, very nicely -- no scraping involved.

I'm going camping tonight with the family, but tomorrow afternoon I'm going to try the hole saw method to finish up the RTAs and hopefully start putting this stuff all back together. Hopefully...

Those dog bones will get replaced with the rear camber kits when you get them. Strongly suggest ingalls smart arms.

solfly wrote: Those dog bones will get replaced with the rear camber kits when you get them. Strongly suggest ingalls smart arms.

Every time you reply to my build, I end up adding things to my shopping list. My wife may hide my debit card soon...

Things are actually starting to be put back together! With any luck, Grumpy will be back on the road by the end of the week.

I got the old RTA bushings burninated and ready for the new ones:

You can see that there was quite a bit of debris.

I also started inserting the new poly bushings:

It's coming together!

DustoffDave wrote: Things are actually starting to be put back together! With any luck, Grumpy will be back on the road by the end of the week.

These are the types of statements that I should never make -- they usually turn out to be exactly the opposite. Between a basement remodel, a bunch of travel for work, training for an upcoming backpacking trip, preparing for an upcoming 7-day canoe trip, and learning that child #3 is on the way (and the planning that takes place with that -- even though it was not unexpected) I've been forced to sideline a lot of the work on Grumpy.

However, that doesn't mean that the work has stopped completely. Over the last week-and-a-half I have finally gotten Grumpy's legs reattached (with new disc brake hind legs).

You may notice that there are some critical pieces missing from this picture:

I wanted to replace the outer tie-rods because I had one that had boogered threads and didn't want to hold while I tried to tighten it to the knuckle. Well, I quickly realized that neither of the outer rod ends was going to come apart from the inners, so I pulled the whole apparatus on both sides and picked up some outers and had to order some inners. They should be going back on tomorrow.

Then all that's left is to bleed the brakes.

So, with any luck, it should be done sometime by the end of this millenium. (See, I've learned my lesson).

I woke up this morning to put on the final touches before Grumpy hits the streets again. As I was making adjustments to the new clutch cable, something just didn't seem right. Luckily he was still on stands without wheels bolted up, so I started him to see what would happen. The clutch was extremely light and I could not get the transmission to stop spinning the hubs by depressing the clutch pedal. If I popped it out of gear, then it would stop -- otherwise it just kept spinnin' and spinnin'.

So, in about an hour and half, I dropped the transmission, flipped the clutch disc around the right way, and got the trans bolted back into place. Sooooooo, it looks like the final reassembly will take place either this afternoon or Monday morning.

After that, a quick trip to the alignment shop and we should be good!

Oh, I did get the brakes bled (I love my Mighty Vac) and the tie rods in place a few nights ago as well.

You can press those bushings out too if you have access to one.

Did you check the big ones in the rear trailer arms that also control toe?

Dan

In reply to dankimber:

Yeah, I pressed out all of the others, but I didn't want to haul the whole of two RTA assemblies to the shop where I was using the press. When it all came down to it, they came out pretty easily with fire and a wire wheel.

After getting everything generally back together, there was still a bit of positive camber on that front driver's side wheel. Since I know there is almost no stock front camber adjustment, this tells me that the cross-member that holds the front lower control arm probably got a bit bent out of shape when the guy hit the curb (not uncommon for that kind of incident, it seems).

The plus side is, now that the clutch pack is installed correctly and there is a new clutch cable everything shifts very nicely -- so that's done at least...

So, after I got the trans back in place, I removed that cross-member and will be heading to the pull-n-save yard to grab a "new" one today. I was amazed with how easily it actually came out with just the steering rack, sway bar, lower control arms, and shift rods disconnected.

I was just going to wait before I installed the steering rack, sway bar and shifter bushings that I already have (you know, I'm just anxious to get it on the road), but now it seems pretty silly to do that, and they are all quick fits.

It looks pretty good so far. If the wife doesn't complain about you keeping "Grumpy", replacing the carpet is a second or third item to replace to improve the look of the interior and help get rid of the cigarette smoke smell. New carpet smell is good.

I am certainly considering that. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I've got about a half pound of coffee grounds scattered throughout the interior to soak up some of the smell. I think that, plus a good interior steam cleaning will help get rid of most of the smoke smell (I know that smell likes to hang out in the ducting, too, but I'm not sure what to do about that.

I did retrieve a clean (and straight) subframe during my lunch break today, so that should be going on in the morning and the major mechanical stuff should be complete. The next maintenance project is all new belts and a front crank seal -- it's leaking a fair amount.

timing belt too?

In reply to solfly: Oh yes. Back when I was much younger and less experienced (and very, very poor), I pushed it too long on an old timing belt. Luckily it was a non-interference Subaru 2.2L, but changing a timing belt in a parking lot, in Salt Lake City, in January was enough to teach me the lesson.

I finished putting everything back together this morning, did a quick eye-balled alignment and took Grumpy for a spin. Engine runs well, clutch works perfectly, but I've still got a bit of positive camber on the left front.

I replaced the subframe (which helped some) and I compared the suspension parts to the right side when I had them all out of the car and didn't notice anything. However, if I missed even a small bend or irregularity, it could easily be exagerated to the point of being visible once the wheel is on.

So, I'm thinking it's one of three possibilities: (1) Lower control arm (which seems the most likely culprit); (2) Upper control arm; (3) Steering knuckle (seems the least likely). Is there anything I've missed, or are there any other considerations I should be aware of? Can an alignment shop fix it without remove parts (just bend it back), or am I just going to have to replace one piece at a time until I find the culprit?

Compare to a known good part? Sometimes things aren't immediately obvious, but when lined up with another part it's easy to tell. Where are you located?