t04ecvc

Kinda long...get out while you can!

Its been about 10 years since I've owned a Honda (car at least). My first brand new car was a 97 Civic Dx Coupe, and it was so slow. Ive owned a bunch of different brand cars; Pontiac, Mazda, Mitsu; Subaru etc, but I have owned a Honda more times than not. Back in 04-05ish I sold my last Civic. It was a White 92 Civic Hatch with a built motor and big turbo. It put down 402whp and around 260 tq. It was my fun car to drive and beat down Corvettes car. It was around that time that I decided I needed to grow up and buy something a little quieter, more refined, and more economical and useful. I didn't want to be the dad that picked up his kids from school in a beat up EG with open exhaust and street slicks. From there I owned a couple FC Rx7's, both of which I swapped in a V8 motor, a 06 Pontiac GTO, a couple WRX's (one of which I still own) and a few beater cars. Before all that though, I owned 5 different HB Civics and a CRX (pos that I ended up selling 2 days later) from 97 to 04. I built them all to various stages, from super ricey to show cars, race cars and then eventually street sleepers. Before you ask, I worked at a performance oriented shop until 06, so it was easy to stay in the Honda game. Once I was out, I still missed having a Civic.

About 4 years ago I bought a 04 CBR600RR to ride to work, and be the daily commuter so I didn't have to drive my 06 WRX every day. A year ago I moved to Central Cali, and the heat here during the summer and my weird work requirements made it inconvenient to ride. So last month I had an epiphany, I should sell the bike and pick up a CRX! I could spend the next few years building it with my son. I could teach him all the basics of maintenance and repair, and when he is old enough to drive (3 years) it would be his. So I sold my bike and started shopping.

Well, finding a CRX cheap is hard to do, and the ones that were worth the money were even harder to buy (owners kept changing their minds). Eventually I found a CRX that I thought would be perfect, but after a thorough check I found multiple issues; low compression on a cyl, wiring nightmare, AC had issues and damage to the front corner of the frame. Luckily, the seller took it back, which he didnt have to do. He also had a EK Civic HB that he was selling, and it had its own "quirks" to deal with. We agreed that I would give him the CRX back, and he would give me the Civic and some cash back. DEAL!

So here we have my 97 Civic HB. It came modded with a factory EX sunroof, 99-00 Climate control, power windows, mirrors and door locks, alarm, rear disc brakes, some knockoff rep seats, SK2 coilovers, and 99-00 front end swap...that does not color match lol. It also came with some horrible wheels and bald tires.
Lol, so the cutting job on the sunroof was not that good at all. That will need to be addressed in the future. It doesnt leak or anything, it just looks bad. The car didnt come with A/C, but I got some of the pieces with the car. The headliner was not up, but it came with it. The front end doesnt seem to be lined up as well as it could be, the same with the rear bumper. The horn didnt work. No check engine lights. Rep seats were faded like crazy.

The first weekend, we decided to work on those seats and headliner. We went shopping for headliner material and decided on some Avenger print. It wasnt too hard to do, but I did have to go buy a better spray adhesive. I highly recommend the 3M super spray stuff, it will pretty much stick anything to anything.





Here you see the headliner installed. The EX coupe and DX hatch headliners are not the same length and the holes for the lights and sunroof are not the same. Here it is a little saggy, but I made some brackets for the dome light that raised the liner higher, just dont have a pic of it.


Now to the seats...

They were super faded, and needed some TLC. We steam cleaned them and then used interior cleaner to help get the nasty out. We were undecided if we wanted to keep them red or go to a different color. I looked into the Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric paint and it seemed like a good idea to try.
First we made one of them black. This took 3 full cans to do, and i think it could use another can really. After it was all said and done, it was easy to see where we didnt make it black, and its starting to rub off anyway.


We sprayed the other one back to red. It only took 2 cans and it looks much better. It seems to be holding up well, but that seat doesnt get sat in very often. I think we will try to find some nice factory ones to throw in eventually.



I found the rest of the parts I needed for the AC and threw it all in. Its ice cold and much nicer than before.
Swapped out the junk wheels and tires for some other used ones that were cheap.



Yesterday I decided to look into why the horn didnt work. I found an empty cable reel sitting under the airbag. So I ran out to the local pick and pull and found a good cable reel to throw in. When I was installing that, I noticed that I didnt see as many yellow plugs and cables as I did on the donor car. It turned out that a previous owner at some point took out all of the SRS cables and boxes. So now I have a car that I thought had airbags, that doesnt. I think I could install all of it, but then I would have to wonder if it would work correctly. There arent very many DIY's when it comes to installing the SRS stuff, but I do have the service manual. Just wondering if its worth all the hassle.

Thanks for checking out this thread so far, I'll try to keep it updated as I go.

Gratuitous pic of my WRX

Eddie

Very nice man

spanishstud

iTrader: (2)

Welcome back. I kinda came back the same way except it only took me about 6 years to grow up

Now with a wife and 7 month old, things are a little more settled and calm. Looking forward to more updates. Good luck!

ryley911

Very nice...I have a couple cars myself. I just got my dad's 97 sedan in my name, and have been driving a Chevy Colorado around for two years.