DieMaster

iTrader: (1)

Well after a year of having it, I finally decided I should make a build thread to record my progress if nothing else.

When i picked it up From the used car lot in Spring Valley:

It's a 1995 Honda Civic DX Automatic Hatch w/ AC and Power Steering. yes it says $4K on the sticker. WAY OVERPRICED for having 152K miles on it. I talked the sales man down to $3K but he could see I wanted the car so in the end I got raped on the price of $3K but it's a project and I know I will never get my money back.

First thing I did was take it to Sears auto to get new tires and a new battery. First they didn't have the 195/50/R15 tires it came with (the origionals had ~25% tread left) so they put on 195/60/R15 against what i asked for. They also called me and said the steering rack was shot. I knew this b/c on the test drive there was almost a 2 inch play in the steering wheel but I thought it was like a ball-joint bad or something simple. So between a new/rebuilt rack, tires, battery, and a few other small things + labor, it was close to another $4K. Well when I drove it home, the bigger tires started to rub on the fender on every bounce. It actually cut into the tire a little with a groove you could catch your fingernail on. So i took it back to sears and the rep. test drove it. With no rubbing, he refused to exchange or return the tires as I had driven on them and they were "used." I told him I went home and back; not 25 miles. So he called his boss and he called corporate. They still would not honor there return policy. Long story short, I went to Just Tires, got the 195/50/R15 tires i wanted, and put one "used" tire in front of each of the closed garage doors at night with a note on one of them: "here are the wrong tires you sold me against what i asked for. I'll see you in court" about 2 weeks later I got a letter in the mail with check for $1K from the corporate office and an apology from "Mr. Sears" informing me that the rep had been fired as a result. i decided not to go to court.

According to car-fax, I am the 3rd owner. It was a government/state fleet vehicle first so im sure it sat outside in a parking lot for years. I'm assuming it was sold at a auction-like sale probably to some kid as their first car. When I got it it was all riced out. I HATE the fact it's white (I was looking for a OEM paint blue or green one but I plan to paint it Fiji Blue Pearl eventually) and also the Rims, BUT at least there not Steelies. it has no-name (probably cheap ebay crap) shocks/struts and springs. I'm 90% sure it's lowered and there's about 1.5" gap between the tire and fender but weather it is or not actualy lowered, I don't know. It sure rides like it's lowered; stiff and very bumpy. It had those crappy neon lights under the dash, Altezza tail lights, and various accent cheap led lighting stuck all over the dash. When i tried to remove them, 2/3 of the time I'd brake the dash plastic. The dash is (was) EXTREMELY brittle for being 20 years old as well as some of the other plastics like the center console/E-brake area. The car came with a alarm and aftermarket solenoids for power locks.

Right now I'm gathering the parts for a mini-me swap but eventually I want to do a motor swap. Maybe a B18C1 or H22A. I don't want to go K. I would like 200+ hp not boosted but I know my options are limited. Maybe I'll go the other way and swap a D15Z1. I don't know what I want to do yet. It's eventually going to be a DD so it needs to be fun and reliable.

So since i plan to add several OEM goodies not offered on the original trims, I started the tear-down:


and eventually striped the interior bare.


The wiring was atrocious. For example, the previous owner must have put in higher-than-stock wattage headlights as the wiring and headlight connector was all melted:


One of the upgrades im doing is a power conversion. Power Mirrors, locks, and windows DONE THE RIGHT WAY. None of this sub-harness or aftermarket crap. In addition I'm adding little features like a low fuel light, adding cruise control, integra lights on chime and Maint. required light, maybe an integra cluster, adding heated, and maybe power, seats, and i got EDM power folding mirrors, mostly by following several of Deschlong's DIY's (thanks for the power parts bud ). The wiring was in such bad shape im using the original harness for spare wire and got all the wiring from a EX coupe off ebay. I'm in the middle of dissecting both harness and making a hybrid harness. I'm finished converting the doors:



I got some Denji headlights with a HID kit and installed them:


While installing a new fuel sender with low-fuel light sensor i was using a flat screwdriver to loosen up the lock ring covered in a tar like substance and managed to poke a hole in the gas tank. DOH! I Had to find some gas safe epoxy to repair it with.


So anyway that's about all I've done so far. I replaced the Altezza tail lights with OEM junkyard lights. Here's how it sits as of this post:



I got a long way to go on this probably never ending project. Let me know what you think.

EDIT: post 1800. cool!

durette121

looks good and clean! what bottom/top end combo are you going to use for the mini me?

DieMaster

iTrader: (1)

I was going to slap on a Z6 head on the B7 block with using a Y8 metal head gasket to bump up the compression a bit. im still reading up on the mini me swap and gathering parts, but it wont be for a while. Since the car was running before i took it apart, I want to get the car "back to stock" with all the features, both stock and oem add-on's working before I do anything to the motor.

durette121

i just did that exact same setup on my buddys hatchback, pulls nice

bks84

iTrader: (9)

by "done the right way" you mean what exactly? are you swapping cabin and floor harnesses or?

DieMaster

iTrader: (1)

short answer, yes I'm swapping harness. I'm taking the EX harness (that already have the wires needed) and modding it with the hatch harness. For example, The rear speakers went though a plug that went to the rear shelf/trunk area. I took those, too short, wires out and am replacing them with the hatch speaker wires. im also adding wires neather harness had like the low-fuel light wire.