1996 Honda Civic Hatchback Brought Back to Life

Honda Civic is wrecked, ragged and in need of a clutch, but it well on its way to being a fun daily driver.

Honda has sold a great many Civic hatchbacks over the years, so it isn’t hard to find one with a low price for a project car. Of course, the key problem with these 20+ year-old economy cars is that in many cases, they have been ridden hard and put up wet or just plain driven into the ground. This means that a low cost Civic hatchback will require quite a bit of work to get them looking good and running correctly, but as this Honda-Tech forums project thread by “Mr. Rubixx” shows us, it isn’t hard to bring a 1990s Honda back to life with some elbow grease and a donor car or two.

The Introduction

When the OP first introduced the forum to his 1996 Civic project, he shared an array of pictures of the car when he first got it along with a look at the sedan donor vehicle. Of course, he explained why he bought the car, what it needed when he got it and when he planned to do with it going forward.

I took quite a lot of photos throughout this project so I thought I’d share. I ran into some issues (of course) so I’m hoping sharing this might save someone else some time. Let me know if any of this helps or if you have any input. This is my first time really sharing any projects like this, go easy on me if you disagree with something I’ve done. I’ll also be posting this car for sale so if you have any interest, pm me.

Bought this pretty cheap for obvious reasons. The engine and trans are good. Just needed a clutch and a very good clean. I already had a y8 swap for this project from a donor car, along with a few other goodies to swap out. I’ll probably rebuild and swap out the z6 block in my girlfriends coupe for the y7. Or sell the y7 swap… dunno

As you can see, the paint is faded and the passenger’s side is in rough shape, with a large dent on the rear corner on a sharp crease running down the door and into the quarter panel. There also doesn’t appear to be any seats or door panels in the project car, or at least there is very little inside in the pictures of the 1996 Civic when it was acquired.

In short, it needs a clutch, a bunch of interior bits and some body work on the passenger’s side, along with some TLC pretty much everywhere else inside and out.

Civic Interior Refresh

First up, the OP tackled the interior of his 1996 Civic, removing the seats, wiring harnesses and the switches from the donor car and installing them into the project car. This interior swap included the carpeting, seats and trim pieces, so that the inner panels of the donor doors matched the rest of the interior.

The OP found that removing the old wiring from the hatch was much easier than removing the harness from the sedan, but once everything was out of both cars, he installed the wiring, carpeting, trim and seats into the hatch. He also rewrapped the headliner, sun visors and portions of the door panel in suede, along with wrapped parts of the interior in leather, giving the cabin a bit more premium look and feel.

As you can see in the pictures here, the swapped interior and newly-wrapped bits really look great in the 1996 Civic project car.

Working on the Body

Once the interior was mostly finished up, the OP turned to the exterior, starting with the doors from the EX sedan with power windows and locks. He also installed the cleaner front fenders and fascia, completing the build of the body while pushing out some of the dents where possible.

He also explains that he purchased the tools to do some proper body work, with the hopes of being able to smooth out the dents and dings without using a ton of Bondo.

I’m going to attempt body work on this car. Bought a few tools to help push the dents out as much as possible. Hopefully I can get all the lines out with the new tools. I’ve already gone in and tried to remove as many dents as I could by hand. I could really only push them out a little bit but it made a pretty big difference.

During this time, the OP also dropped in the Y8 engine, using parts from the donor car and some items that came on this 1996 Civic, getting it up and running, leaving only the heavy body repairs and paint before the project will be finished up. However, the OP mentioned that he is loving it, and he might continue building it rather than selling it when finished.

I have a lot more fun driving this than I thought I would. I’m thinking about putting the LS swap in this instead of my EG.

There are tons more pictures and extensive detail on this project, so for a closer look, click here to check out the entire build from beginning to the current stopping point.

Join the Honda Tech forums now!

Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com