Sevas

So starting off I'm new to the Civic world and this is my first Honda. Aswell I've not had a ton of experience doing anything on cars, and am planning to learn as I go to keep this civic running as long as I can

The Car: after weeks of searching for the perfect car, I stumbled upon a post of an almost 100% stock 99 Dx Coupe that had only one previous owner, and she had just retired so no longer needed a commute vehicle for work. It has 185k miles, and I got it for $1780. I'm not sure my goals with the car, it's going to be my daily, but I want it to look cool and learn about cars and engine work.


Before:



The interior was extremely clean and the engine bay was pretty gunked up, so I decided to have a go at cleaning it up and making it look nicer.

After cleaning, painting the valve cover.
First time every actually taking off a valve cover, was actually really fun!

Took forever to sand this thing down









To do list:

Timing belt and water pump replacement
Resurface/replace Rotors(I have a pulsing feeling when breaking above 30mph, but not in the steering wheel. Not really sure if this is the rotors or not.)
repaint steelies since they're very rusted looking.

any other suggestions are welcome, I want to make this car look nice, don't care as much about performance since it's my daily, but it's definitely fun to drive.


also any advice on what all maintaining work I should do and how often, obviously oil and coolant flush but other stuff, since i didn't do a good job at it on my last vehicle, I may keep a log or some sort of notebook, detailing when and at how many miles I did certain repairs and I things.

Sevas

Also decided to restore the headlights.

Used a kit to sand them down and a UV sealant of some kind afterwards

Sevas

thanks for the feedback, do you have a link to any good spreadsheets for maintenance?

civic402lx

Spreadsheet are nice, but i kept a little note book in the glove box for my maintenance record. Everytime i do something, i write it down once i complete the task. I note odo, date, and what was done. Spreadsheet would kept it organize though. Also put down part and part number. Oe or aftermarket.

When i buy new vehicle i always do a good tune up, especially if there arent any records provided by seller.
Oil and filter
Cap and rotor
Spark plug wires
Spark plugs, gapped to oe spec
Pcv valve, honda only
Brake fluid flush if look dirty
Resurface rotors and new pads front
New drum in rear
Clutch fluid flush
Tranny fluid drain and fill
Coolant flush
Oem thermostat
Power steering flush, if avail.
3 new accessories belts, bando or gates
Valve lash adjustment
Check for oil leaks, distributor o ring, vc gasket kit..
Clean up all ground point. Mainly sand and reseat them. Clean off ALL corrosion of present.
Check and verify ALL fuses are not blown and have correct amp rating. Make sure non are missing.
Rotate the tires

Those will get you going for a long while. May burn a small hole, or big hole, in your pocket for a bit while. But now at least YOU know it was done and done properly.

Sevas

this is exactly what I was looking to hear. I'll make sure to do as many of these as possible.
i think I definitely need a Rotor resurface, my local oriellys does them for $15 a rotor. How can I tell if they need tesurfacing? When I brake the car and pedal pulsates, but not in a the steering wheel so I think it's just the back rotors. Seems like an easy job.

still waiting to get another post approved on this thread to show a few other pics

civic402lx

If there are rings or groove on your rotors, then it need to be resurface. If they are smooth then your pads may be worn. I like akebono pads, no bedding or break in required. Install and go.. Depending on the state of your rotor, whether or not it has been resurfaced before. How much thickness, or material left, if its warped.

Thing to remember while doing brakes job, always clean lube moving parts. Like the calipers sliding pin. Get some brake sil-glide or syl-glide lube. Clean of old grease first then apply new..

​​​​​​Once you cross off most things from the list, then you can look at upper and lower ball joint. Control arm bushings. Depending on how much you want to invest into your dd.

Im slowly working on bushings now. Not in a rush or priority. Taking my time to enjoy my car.

Sevas

thank I'll take a look at them tomorrow and see if they have groves on them.

also how do bumper/lips work on the civic? I've seen a few that i really like and want to look into getting in the future once the vehicle is all tuned up.


after the initial list, are there anything that you recommend doing in intervals/every so often that most people probably don't think or know about.
Trying to keep this car running as long as possible

DanielP

As of right now you have the ideal front end everybody loves, the 99-00 front end, so your bumper is ready to have a lip installed, you can buy one on amazon or ebay and clean the bottom surface of your bumper. Then you can use self tapping screws or another way to secure onto the bumper. That's about it.

civic402lx

Intervals can be found in your owner manual. After everything is done you will be set for a long time. I wouldnt worry bout interval. Do the normal oil and filter regularly. Everything else will set you back another 50k miles or more. I would hold out on appearance mod until the engine is in tip top shape. Especially since you want to keep the car for as long as you can. Money you spend on appearance mod would be better benefit on maintenance mod. But that's just me. I like my motor to go as long as it can, therefore i spend money on tune up and maintenance more than anything else. I personally like to prioritize certain things..

its your car, so do what you feel is best. Mix and match if you want. Do some maintenance, add a lip, do more maintenance, add some rear lip..etc..etc..
Or do it all at once..everything on the list, then add a nice lip kit. If money is not an issue that is..

r_Senik

id look into oem civic si lip and grill. it'll cost more, but it will fit and look better imo.

Sevas

I think that's exactly what I was looking for like the grill in the picture I posted. Thanks!

edit: after researching a bit I tried to find a place to buy a pain Matched OEM si grill and lip but couldn't find any that weren't replicas or some eBay parts. Where can I finds some online ?

Jimi Hondrix

Civic402lx provided you a very good list. Did the seller have service records?
If you going to change the timing belt..it's best to replace the tensioner and water pump at the same time. Also, a good time to replace accessory belts: a/c, p/s and alternator. Might as well do a valve adjustment too after the new belt is on and valve cover is off.

A good pair of aftermarket rotors will cost about $50-$80. I'd rather spend that amount than a resurfacing that will cost half that but, last half as long (or less). Buy a good brass brush and clean the wheel hub and studs as thoroughly as possible. After cleaning with brass brush, spray with brake cleaner and wipe with clean (lint-free) cloth. You want a clean, flat mating surface for the rotors to mate to. Syl-Glide synthetic grease (Napa) is great stuff for slider pins, back of brake pads and brake clips greasing. It's also good to put on window's rubber tracks and window regulator's moving parts.

Rotor replacement read: http://www.autoanything.com/brakes/h...ke-rotors.aspx

Sevas

yeah I'm not short on money at the moment so maybe buying new rotors is the best bet. Any brands that you recommend?

also how can I tell which rotors need to be replaced or should I do all 4 together? And should I do the brakes and calipers together aswell?

Jimi Hondrix

I'm sure there's many brands to choose from but, I installed these: https://www.pepboys.com/product/details/621610/00398 on mine two years ago and they stop very well and are quiet. Use promo code for additional 20% off.

Your car has rear drums, unless a prior owner swapped in disc brakes. Drum brake pads generally last a long time (up to 100k miles) and the drum cover last even longer. You can pull the drum cover off to inspect brake pad thickness or bring to a shop that will inspect them for free. If, it does happen to have rear rotors inspect the pads thickness but don't replace rear rotors until your replace and test the front rotors and pads first. It's usually the front rotors that cause judder/vibration.

No need to change the calipers unless they are leaking brake fluid. Remove, clean, and re-grease the slider pins with a synthetic grease (such as Syl-Glide). Definitely replace with new brake pads. There's many choices of types and brands of pads...I generally use ceramic pads. Here's pep boys selection of pads: https://www.pepboys.com/parts/brakes...-1590%25201.6L Akebono brand seems to come on forums as a very good ceramic pad. I used them and they are quiet and stop well. Just to note I'm not pimping Pep Boys products..they just happen to be the nearest parts store to me and the rare times I use aftermarket parts their stuff seems to be good and priced well. I'm sure others will chime in for parts recommendations so read reviews, descriptions and keep an open mind.

Sevas

awesome, some good advice, I'll be sure to figure out my options, I was looking some things up and a place recommends using the ebrake to test which rotors are causing the pulsating. Didn't even think about it but yeah the back has drums, so are the rotors different?

And unfortunately i cant think of a pep boys anywhere near me lol

Jimi Hondrix

Rotor vs. Drum: https://www.edmunds.com/car-technolo...m-vs-disc.html

Pep Boys online does shipping to your home also. If you want to go OEM here is a link: https://www.hondapartsnow.com/genuin...1-sr3-a00.html if, you go this route make sure to go to HondaPartsnow home-page and search by your VIN number to get correct part. As you can see aftermarkets rotors are half the price but, OEM rotors last several years. Brembo is another high quality rotor manufacturer: Honda Civic Discs, Rotors & Hardware | eBay

Sevas

So I've bought new brake pads and rotors for the front wheels and plan to put them on tomorrow.

now one thing I'm also interested in is a SI/CTR grill and lip in vogue Silver Metallic

thing is I can't find the SI in the silver, but I think that's maybe because they didn't come in silver, but it looks like the CTr does come in silver and the grill and lip are identical but I just can't find a place to buy the OEM ones. If anyone knows where I could get some that'd be awesome

AdrianClayton

Im not sure where you can get one new, but they do come in VSM color. source: I own one. Old picture taken with potato camera but it'll do.

Sevas

yeah after a bit more research apparently they just didn't realize them in VSM in the US, but they did in Canada and maybe Mexico aswell, so I may have to find one and order it In, thank you for posting this as it inspired me to research a bit more.

AdrianClayton

Ahh that explains it, as I live in Canada.

Sevas

lucky! I wish I could have found a nice Si but the y7 will have to do.

Deetz

My 2000 SiR, em1 in oem vogue silver

.

Sevas

deetz ive been following your build thread since before I got my civic, it's what inspired me to get mine, found it mostly stock and in good shape. Has a slight bit of clear coat peeling right under the grill on the bumper but other than that it's in good shape. I really wish I could find a place to get the silver grill and lip.

thing I'm concerned about is it always sounds different, if I haven't drove it all day it will idle very loudly.
also, would you be willing to sell any extra Civic Clusters you have for 6th gen?

Sevas

Had to free time this weekend so I decided to swap out a few things and clean the car up a bit

replaced the plug wires with NGK blue performance wires, changed out the brake pads and rotors and swapped off the janky air intake for a better one and new filter.

also decided to paint up all the black plastic trim on the car since it was all very faded.

pictures:

Took off the grill and bumper, man I love this car.
You can see how faded some of the black plastics were.
Didn't seem like there was a way to remove the black plastic parts from the bumper so I had to tape the whole thing off.

Wish I would have taken a before pic of the side skirts as they were super faded.





Not sure if the joint is bad on this but noticed both boots on both sides were damaged.

Should I replace the joints or just the boots?
This little f***er took me 3 hours to remove, all of the others came out with a screwdriver, had to drill the head out on this one.
Seems to be semi damaged


All cleaned up! With black plastics restored!
Also decid d to leave off front license plate.

civic402lx

You took off a generic filter to install another generic filter?