chrysler kid

As all good purchases go, hey I've got this honda and it doesn't run.

So after overhearing that part of the conversation my next question was is it a manual or automatic. A manual, ok I'm interested.

So I was told it is a 1997 honda civic lx 5 speed and that it hasn't run in a few months. Asking a few more questions I found that it is primer in color but it was completely stock with no dents. OK I'm in, you tow it up here and I'll give you 400 cash, but hey text me a picture first



It arrives as expected and I'm told it needs a fuel pump but ran fine before it died.



Step 1, never take some ones word on any car parts. It's time to pull the valve cover to literally see how deep I just got into this engine. The d series valve cover is easily removed, and there are 2 retaining bolts on the cover itself. I'm sure the damage would have already been done if the belt was snapped, but I hadn't handed over the $400 yet and he was willing to wait 5 minutes




Ok so I'm not up to my elbows yet, after checking the coolant and oil there are no signs of milk chocolate in the oil or in the coolant. The head gasket is intact and my timing belt looks ok. He flashes the title and I give the cash. He says he put all of the stuff he had for the car in the trunk if I want them



Score free swag. I love the jdm style fog lights and they are a great cosmetic upgrade on a cheap car. I also received a set of autometer gauges I can easily flip and make a hundred bucks on. The interior is also rip free and intact with no broken door panels or missing pieces, very good for resale value

chrysler kid

So day 2 now and I'm hiding the shame from my wife at work where it was towed. I was told it needs a fuel pump so the first thing we do is get a good battery and starting fluid from the parts store. The engine sounds like it's turning over and I'm hearing compression but nothing else. A buddy and I spray some starting fluid down the stubby stock intake and the car makes no change in the noise it makes turning over. It's not fuel.

I pull the wires which are ngk, and pull off the cap to inspect inside the dizzy. As the cap comes off I am greeted with green corrosion on the cap, blue corrosion inside the spring on the coil, rust on every screw, and a green colored ignition control module.





Ok here's where the gambling starts, I know the dizzy is bad and a new coil, cap, rotor, control module add up to 250+ so it's time for a parts store dizzy for $200 with a lifetime warranty.

Success is soon made. The car struggled to start initially, but after a little struggle she starts and the valve train is very quiet. I give it a quick drive around the parking lot and the mushy brake pedal and scraping noise from the drivers wheel well greet me as I circle a corner. It runs great, so far I'm $600 in the hole.

chrysler kid

Day 3 now and I'm still hiding my now running junker in the parking lot. As I inspect the body closer I notice shiny green pain chips under the primer. I give the previous owner a call and let him know his diagnosis of a $40 fuel pump was a $200 distributor and I casually ask about the primer paint job. He tells me he wanted to paint it pearl white because he didn't like green. Hmm ok so did you guys have a bunch of dents and need bondo and decide to primer everything? No I was just going to paint it white so I had it primered







I casually ask him If I removed the primer would there be any bondo, he laughs and says Naw it's green but why would you want to take off the primer we did a good job on it.

No it can't be that easy I tell myself...




To be continued

StokelesS_g2

Good deal. Lights, gauges, sub, etc $.

Over here we can scrap those cars for $350-400 over here so it's hard to find deals like those unless people are desparate to get em out of their yards.

Former User

Somebody is having fun.

chrysler kid

I love the d-series in stock form. I still have a hard time finding project cars that aren't chopped up dented up and missing ac compresors.

chrysler kid

Alright so day 4 a little progress. The primer isn't coming off of her easily. The paint stripper in a spray can is the best way to lift just the primer, the canned gel is hard to control when applying. The gel seems to take longer and doesn't wrinkle the primer to show when to scrape or peel the old paint off. I also tried a strong pressure washer with little success.

I did clean up thr engine bay drastically. Pressure washer and elbow grease with degreaser really worked well. You can see the block and trans are silver now.

I'm thinking my usual maintenance items with a timing belt and water pump with a few cosmetic upgrades and sell or trade this car as a strong runner

Herpes HerpDerp

Good looking Civic. $400 .. I like.

Its also a 96-00 so you got the ugly one.

tony_2018

its a ****** 96-98 dumbass.

chrysler kid

Is it strange to you that the 96-97 obd2a cars are my favorite. Anyways..

I told the wife about the civic and she was fine with it once I talked her up to it. Got a ride up to bring the car home, had to double check everything before the 45 minute rush hour commute. The "radiator hoses" look like generic bulk length heater hose and they are super spongy but they hold, heater hoses are definitely bulk bin hose but they work.

I can't verify that the radiator fan works, I left the car idling for 20 minutes and it never went to half on the gauge, seemed to stay at a quarter on the dash.

The rear drums have to be dead because this thing won't stop for anything. I zip tie the bumper and head out of the parking lot. As I focus on my interior surroundings I feel the sticky kiss of the shifter and feel my skin peel off of the steering wheel cover. As I put on a set of gloves I look at the buttons on the radio and see them as black dirt covered buttons with brown dirt covering the dials. Only been sitting for 3 months I laugh remembering the comment the previous owner made, the tattle tale marks of a muddy flat tire on the back told me it had been at least a year, the buttons tell me Maybe it was 2 years.

I make it home in the beater without being spotted. No issues, no stalling, no irradic idle, no check engine lights. Just a little $400 civic

More parts I ordered online arrive tomorrow.

oneheadlight

I'm enjoying your stories! $400, wow an insane deal. But yeah it definitely sat a long, long time somewhere with all that dirt on the radio! Sounds like someone just wanted it gone from their home!

White_EG1

Chill the **** out, have some respect for OP's thread. And actually they do change appearance thru out 96-00.


Nice find OP. Whenever you flip this car or whatever look at the auctions. Running, straight body civics in my area I've seen go for as little
as 50 bucks.

chrysler kid

Yeah I've seen some sedans on the local import Facebook group going for as little as $1200 running and driving with ac and the original paint. It's probably not going to a tuner though. I've got to be careful with this car there is not much of a margin and I don't feel like this car is quite deserving of money yet. I was 50/50 on making this thread but I'm trying to also make this "build" more of a how to thread for a new civic owner. I would really like to give out good information in an interesting way to some one who may not know much about their car before they create a post asking why their civic isn't running right. Page 2 I will get into the cleaning of all the serviceable engine sensors that can be cleaned

I am usually able to sell these cars in my upper income area to parents whos kids have either just wrecked their last mustang or want a manual car for their first vehicle. My HX's I sold actually went to people who lived over an hour away who tried to find clean cars and we're willing to pay for condition. This car isn't going to have that so I'm going to have to do it based on engine condition.
----------'--------


So the 96-98 cars have a cheap set of foglights on ebay available that really fit the front of the cars very well. Last night I set to work on the front bumper area to get the fog lights installed. The first set I ever purchased a few years ago acted like fish bowls when it rained, and it was all from the rubber seals that hold the glass housings to the foglights assembly. I've described how I seal these things but I've never taken pictures of my process. As long as you use a generous amount of rtv these things will never get foggy



This set did not have a good set of instructions but I've done this a dozen times now, and on my last HX played with them for weeks getting the fitment right. I usually purchase these on amazon, last time I got headlights and fog lights combo for $86 shipped, but these were just free in the trunk. Remember how I said the profit margin might not be where I want it, so I'm still planing to use the damaged front bumper with the addition of the ebay lip to give it a little more style, and more so at this point to cover the crack





I've got a few more parts arriving today and the weekend off. Have to decide if I want to focus on the interior, exterior, or engine first

Herpes HerpDerp

You know 1996 to 2000 looks the same, right?

chrysler kid

Stop posting in my thread

StokelesS_g2

Damn NOOB, STFU...

96-98 look the same, and the 99-00 look the same.

HT Noob? I think Honda Noob. Read my Sig, and take your STDs else where...

dsol

I am in for more on this car and its journey. Good to see a beater brought back to life.

chrysler kid

Ugh the drivers door gave me hope, the drivers rear crushed my spirit.

Anyone have any information on the Japanese made imports, this is the first I've seen, most are Canadian or us made




The drivers front wasn't prepped and gave me hope but the rear and quarter panel have bondo and were properly scuffed and prepped








So that's where I left off today. I'm sunburned and my arms are sore from sanding. I really like this Forrest green color, didn't know they made them that color in 97. Not sure what I'm going to do with the body work at this point. Rattle can seems like a pain and I really don't like primer

oneheadlight

hey chrysler kid, thanks for the update. That is disappointing that bondo you found. Probably dents and instead of trying to do the metal work, bondo was quicker/easier. But what I don't get is this mentality of primering the entire car instead of just repainting the one door with that cypress green pearl (i think that's the name of it, had a lot of depth to it, great color!). And even if someone wanted to repaint it, why not take it down to primer and repaint it.. Oh that's right, cheap approach to things.. Either do it right or don't do it at all..

I know you said you were sunburned, but you've done a lot of good work! Guess to save money you could have that door sprayed. Any DIY garages around you that might have a spray booth? They're popping up more and more. That way you could spray it without a rattle can.

chrysler kid

Yeah I was really suprised the drivers door even ce out so well. My add was kicking my *** today, I was just going to scuff up the door since the lower primer was coming off but I was able to get everything off of that door cleanly with wet sanding slowly with 180 grit. Out of sheer force of habit and more so, just to see if it could be done, I even buffed that door so it shines again.

I'll check for the official color code in a few. I really like the dark green of the door

I also put on some $20 window vent visors and received my $48 silicon hose kit in the mail. Was hoping fed ex was coming with my $30 front lip but not today


This is before I buffed the door btw. I'm now thinking about trying to rattle fan the front fenders to see if I can get a close match. The only rattle can I ever have success with is duplicolor, pull the fender off and see if I can get it close enough to match

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

paintscratch.com does a good job on OE colors. MUCH better than using the tiny duplicolor cans.

deschlong

iTrader: (8)

The Japan-built sedans have a different older style fuel tank and fuel level sensor but that's about it for major differences.

chrysler kid

The windows are also different, they do not have the vin number etched on them, they have a production number. It's a code like S035142 stamped on the glass. But yeah they are identical. I believe tax/tariff laws ment that only 10% of total vehicles sold could be produced abroad for sale locally

chrysler kid

So today my arm needed a rest from all of the sanding so I took some time to do the radiator hoses with the $45 kit I bought online. I have done my last 3 imports including my prized bone stock gst, all as required maintenance. I highly reccomend these cheap kits, even on my gst with only 110k miles the heater hoses were in terrible condition. What made me do this the first time was a small leak on my black hx I couldn't track down, so when I replaced everything I found the U shaped hose had a slit.

I plan to wrinkle paint the valve cover black and the header just silver

Anyways the kit I received



This kit was pretty good, no trimming needed. On my dsm I had to cut about 6 inches off of the lower hose because it was too long. Better longer than short

angrysmileyface

Where did you get the hose kit on amazon?