munkydotorg

Hey everyone, I'm a n00b to the honda-tech forums, but not a n00b to the ef's or to the import world. Granted, I've been out of it a long time (I stopped modding back in 2003, and minus an a4 that was modded when I bought it, have been driving around in completely stock cars).

Anyways, I'm finally resurrecting an old project car that I stopped working on 7 years ago. It's an 89 Si that I bought back in 05 with a bad motor, no radio, a mostly straight body, and a very good interior. Prior to that, I had a 91 CRX Si back in 2000-2001 that I loved to death but unfortunately was broken into twice in 10 months. Second time I said to hell with it and had it sold in a week for twice what I paid for it. Damn near bought it back in 2005 (now with a turbo DOHC ZC and a lot of work) for less than I bought it the first time, but someone offered more for it than I could afford so.. I bought this hatch.

The original plan was to swap a DOHC ZC in it, I/H/E, lowered suspension, throw a set of 17's I had on it, get it retinted, and have a good lil daily driver. But life throws up curve *****. First is the a$$hole who sold me a motor with its #4 rod snapped in half. In my rush to get it going, I did a rookie move and installed it, didn't discover it until I went to crank it. Thankfully I bought it on the card, so I only got screwed out of shipping and a lot of time.

Picked up a second motor for dirt cheap, checked it through, replaced the head gasket. Got it in, but I couldn't get it to turn over. At that point I ran out of time and money so it sat. And sat. And sat.

Fast forward to 2013. For the first time in years it finally got a bath. The mildew was so bad on the paint I had to wash it using Tilex (that was a first for me!). After washing it I realized that minus the roof, the paint held up better than I thought. I've had to do some quick work to stop the surface rust that had started in a few spots, and I hope to get the body sanded down and primed soon to protect it.

The interior is not as mint as it once was, although for a 24 year old interior, that got beat up by the sun for most of that time, it has held up pretty well. Some fading of the fabric has occured, but not much. I have a couple of spots with water damage because the latch for the rear quarter glass broke. I've got to replace a couple pieces of weatherstripping. But really, most of what's going on inside is minor work. I might go ahead and replace the carpet in it. And the driver side door panel (apparently one spot was on a perfect angle with the side view mirror, and somehow got torched. best guess at least).

So what's in store?

After much debate, I decided against going with an H23A Blue Top VTEC swap (as much as I would love to, the kind of $$$ involved puts the whole project at risk. i'm tired of my wife bitching about it!) and instead plan to rebuild the DOHC ZC I have. I am considering getting some head work done on it, with a mild cam upgrade and adjustable gears, we'll see if that happens though. At the end of the day it has to be reliable and decent on gas, but needs some pep in its step.

Body wise, sticking with OEM bumpers. I'm debating between the black trim panels or painting them along with the rest of the car. As much as I would like to change colors, I'm not sure I want to go through the full work of a full color change (I'm not doing a half *** job, I hate when you see some sweet looking car, and they open the door or the sunroof and bam, completely different color. Not knocking on people who have their ride like that, I just refuse to do it to mine). I might go with a different white though, at least the difference is must less noticeable. I've been eyeing the Glacier White Pearl that Audi has on their cars currently. We'll see. Not to mention, doing the minor bits of body work needed on it.

I'd love to get projector headlights, but most of what I've seen looks too ricey for my taste. If I find some that look like the COULD HAVE been OEM, I might go that route. Corners light definitely going full amber, along with amber bumpers. OEM Taillights as well (hopefully I can find a CIVIC garnish for my center section). I wouldn't mind the JDM spoiler with the long center brake light, but that's more of a wish list item. Also, I may remove the factory antenna and look into other antenna options (such as a small sharksfin on the roof like my a4 has, and yes, that is sat radio antenna on the a4).

Interior wise I'm aiming to fix what I can, replace the carpet and anything that I can't repair, and do a center console swap (dc2 perhaps). I need cup holders. I'd like to upgrade to power windows too, not as important. And maybe swap the cluster to a 2k Si. I'd also like to add some sound insulation panels to the floorboard, like EF9SAMMY did. Minor tweaks here and there.

Suspension will definitely get a change. I'm planning on going ahead and swapping out all of the bushings, probably need to replace my ball joints as well. Should go ahead and degrease and paint what I can, along with replacing wheel bearings. New struts and springs as well, no decisions there yet on what type/brand/etc. I'm also eyeing doing a swap to rear discs as well.

I also may go through the trouble of reinstalling AC. Apparently the previous owners solution to a broken AC was to rip everything out from under the hood. When I first bought it I was a bit younger and for some reason our summers didn't seem so hot. Now we are settings records every summer and triple digits + high humidity doesn't work well with 3 - 60.

Edit: I also intend to do some form of security system on it, with whatever improvements I can find honestly. But even once I figure that out, I probably won't go too much into detail (for obvious reasons. (Thanks grog for the reminder!)

I'm writing all of this more or less to hold myself accountable. I can deal with my wife nagging at me about something, but psychologically it's different when other people get on you about it!

Anyways, here are a couple of pics of the hatch shortly after I first bought it. In the last photo you can see the other damage to the body (rear qp)

grog

Its nice to see someone with some passion for a project.

I have to say I really like the look of a white EF with the black trim, but I have a soft spot for the 2 tone look. I regret not keeping the black when I had my car painted.

One thing I didn't see mentioned (that I should hold you to, lol) is a good security system. I would suggest looking into a "stealth" install (not a product but a way of installing).

Good luck with the build.

munkydotorg

You are absolutely right on the security system. For some reason I think of it, but never put it on the list. Especially as easy as it is to pop the glass and get in on these cars..

Yea, I've got a soft spot on the two tone myself, but only for the older cars. I don't know what it is.

Thanks!