I'm up to four cars now. The Tacoma 4x4 daily driver, the C10 (long thread on here somewhere), the Miata (also a long thread here) and now, the 500 dollar Civic.
I don't know why I picked this up. Bored maybe. I guess I can part it out and profit if I had to. It's a full running, driving car. Cold AC. Not any real fatal flaws. Needs a windshield. Has significant hail damage. The drive home revealed a check engine light for cat converter and a howling front wheel bearing. Preliminary reading shows that it being the EX model, I have the better engine as well as higher option package, and the standard trans is a nice bonus.
Much more to come soon.
Damn southerners. That car would be like $2,500 up here - "rust free civic! never modified! survivor!"
You know I'm on board to see what you have in store for this one. I happen to really like these cars.
Love that generation Civic. Sounds like a good buy!
Car looks real nice and a smoking deal.
Don't anybody get the wrong idea here. This car has hail damage. How much hail damage ? When it got hailed on a few years ago, the insurance check paid off the entire 5k remaining on the car loan for the owner at the time.
The story here is that this car is a fire department ho'. One of my firemen owned it and drove it as a commuter for years. Then it got hail damaged, so he sold it to another fireman at my station for his kid's first car. Then kid gets older and joins the Air Force. So I buy the abandoned car out of their driveway. I'm the third guy at my department to own this car.
It will be strictly an appliance for me. I will do full maintenance, add a set of wheels and tires, and drive it. No fancy stuff. Just basic mechanic work and a little bit fancier rolling stock to make it no quite as generic. But currently the AC blows frigid, the radio sounds good, and the gas gauge didn't move on my 50 mile drive home with it. Those are all the makings of a solid daily commuter in my mind. Rust ? I'm not familiar with the concept. Why would a car rust ?
Much more to come.
Day 1...
This will never do. Even for an appliance. Not on my watch.
Much APC (All Purpose Cleaner) and scrub brush action ensued...
It's now driver quality clean.
Then, a trip to the yards.
There were three things I noticed on the drive home that I needed right off.
1) Windshield washer squirter to replace a missing one.
2) A hood prop rod. The original one was broken, as were a great majority of the ones in the yards.
3) Sunvisors. The visors on the car were shredded. All of the Civic visors in the yards were the same. Apparently the factory material lacks durability. I chose a pair of visors from an Acura that looked interchangeable. They charged me 6 dollars for the pair and that was maybe too much. Better, but nowhere near nice.
More adventures to come.
In reply to Cousin_Eddie :
What's your go-to underhood APC?
AngryCorvair said:
In reply to Cousin_Eddie :
What's your go-to underhood APC?
Either straight Simple Green from the gallon WalMart jug or 50% diluted with water Simple Green for more delicate stuff. I have considered exploring other options though. I'm a little bit of a nerd on detailing supplies.
nice! I'm amazed that with as many cars as you have I never seem to see any of them around town. Side note, if you need to use a lift for any of them let me know, you bring the beer.
Cousin_Eddie said:
AngryCorvair said:
In reply to Cousin_Eddie :
What's your go-to underhood APC?
Either straight Simple Green from the gallon WalMart jug or 50% diluted with water Simple Green for more delicate stuff. I have considered exploring other options though. I'm a little bit of a nerd on detailing supplies.
The results you've posted here and in your Miata thread clearly show you've got the detailing stuff pretty well dialed in. I've got a filthy mess of an engine compartment in my E60 525xi, and a failing alternator, so I'll get a jug of SG and get things cleaned up while I've got it pulled apart.
The most minor of updates.
Next week I will place significant orders from Rockauto and Crutchfield. I have the last half of the month off of work so I'll hit it hard and get all the maintenance caught up in that time. Then I can begin daily driving it when I go back to work from vacation.
Cousin_Eddie said:
<...>It will be strictly an appliance for me. I will do full maintenance, add a set of wheels and tires, and drive it. No fancy stuff. <..>
<...Later that day....>
Day 1...
This will never do. Even for an appliance. Not on my watch.
This is why we're all on this thread. :)
accordionfolder said:
Cousin_Eddie said:
<...>It will be strictly an appliance for me. I will do full maintenance, add a set of wheels and tires, and drive it. No fancy stuff. <..>
<...Later that day....>
Day 1...
This will never do. Even for an appliance. Not on my watch.
This is why we're all on this thread. :)
I had to laugh. I guess you guys have my number. Y'all can predict me better than I can.
Not really many photo opportunities, but much work is progressing.
First, arm thyself with knowledge.
eBay was real good to me on that manual. It has apparently gone obsolete from Helm, who is the printer of Honda manuals. So, most were running about 120 on eBay. I found this one for 29 shipped. Super score. Honda puts out a damn good manual BTW.
Then (insert artisitic black and white picture)...
- replace timing belt
- replace cam and crankshaft oil seals
- replace water pump
- replace accesory drive belts
- replace valve cover gasket
- replace distributor o-ring
- replace distributor cap and rotor
- replace fuel filter
- replace catalytic converter
- rebuild shift linkage
- replace oil pan gasket
- replace manual trans oil
- engine oil change
- replace one motor mount
- replace both headlights (cracked)
- replace driver window regualtor
- replace stereo speakers
- replace front driver side wheel bearing
Then it should be pretty close to daily drivable. That will be nice to keep the miles off my Tacoma.
I will likely also be installing some kind of mild lowering suspension and some nicer wheels and tires. The factory hubcaps are all cracked and 14" wheels at that. I'm really leaning toward a set of fairly decent Enkei RPF1 wheels to offset the rest of the car's shabbiness.
Don't forget to add "adjust valves" to your list while you are in there.
Definitely a valve adjustment. I forgot to list that. I figure I’ll do it last thing right before I drop the valve cover back on.
Engine is now all back together with all new seals and maintenance items. On a whim I grabbed an extra valve cover at the junkyard and threw some wrinkle powder on it. All the kids say that will give me more horsepower.
I wasn't proud of the antifreeze that came out of the car and the old hoses make me lose sleep at night, so I have one final order coming in with all new hoses, thermostat, and radiator cap.
Still left to do...
- Replace all coolant hose, flush cooling system, fill and burp
- Flush brake fluid and clutch fluid
- Replace driver side front wheel bearing
- Replace rear stereo speakers
- Detail car to remove previous owner's funk
- Register, inspect, title work
- Drive to work every day and face the ridicule of my coworkers
I'm waffling on the wheels and tires right now. Maybe, maybe not.
Answer carefully; wheels and tires will determine the trajectory of your relationship with this car for the rest of time.
Cousin_Eddie said:
Those bolts. Tell me about them. Are they stock bolts that are just cleaning up that well or new ones or are you replating? Unsightly bolts are starting to bother me. A lot.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Stock bolts. This car isn't one I would replate hardware on. What I've been doing lately is pouring a splash of WD40 into a small cake pan (1 gallon of WD40 from Home Depot is reasonable price) and throw the hardware into there when I remove them. After sitting in the WD for a while, they toothbrush clean in seconds. It doesn't damage the hardware's protective coating but it does strip the grease off of them without any effort on my part.
Every few weeks I have to splash some more WD into the cake pan. It doesn't really evaporate much and sits comfortably on my workbench at all times.
In reply to jfryjfry :
I'm really wanting Enkei RPF1 wheels.
Front wheel bearing job today. Harbor Freight shop presses are good. My methods are shady though, due to lack of good fixtures to use said press.
In the end though, success without any undue drama.
