I've picked up a couple of 5th gen Civic's over the past 6 months with intentions to rebuild them. I thought I'd start a thread, if for nothing else, to document the process for my own amusement. It's been 17 years since I've worked on a golden era Honda, unless you include a '97 2.2CL. These will both be long term projects that I plan to work on over the next few years as time and money becomes available. I'll try to update the thread fairly regularly as things progress.

Both cars were probably the cheapest variants that I could find within a few hours of my house, with clean titles and manual transmissions.

Back in September of 2023 I brought home the shell of a '92 DX hatch. I don't know how many owners it's had, or it's real mileage. I was just looking for a bare (non Si) shell, and this was the closest thing that I could find within a reasonable distance. From what I understand, the last couple of owners drag raced this car and were putting down some big numbers with a couple of different turbo B series engines. It looked like the dash had been out of the car at least once since there were some broken clips and missing bolts that I found when stripping the interior. I don't think anything on the car had been untouched.

Here's what it looked like when I towed it home. I can't figure out what happened to the exterior paint. It looks like they primered over the original paint with a spray can, but there's also a metallic prink or purple overspray all over the core support and shock towers.





It had an automatic EX cluster with mismatched Integra seats. The fronts look like there probably from an LS and the rears are probably from two different GSR's? The false floor in the hatch was missing and someone put a 1st gen CR-V folding table in there as a replacement.






The car took at hit in the passenger side front. You can see where someone tried to bend the fender well back out with a hammer. The welds on the core support look pretty crusty as well, and it looks like the holes where the stock intake resonator and washer fluid bottle were located have been modified for intercooler piping.



Stripping the interior and what was left in the engine bay didn't take much time. I plan to leave the steering components, e-brake and suspension intact so that the car can be pushed around when it makes its trip to the body shop.



I can't tell if the floor board is bent up under the drivers seat, or if that's how it's supposed to be? The passenger side looks like this too, but maybe not quite as bad. It's not as noticeable inside the car, but the drain hole plug is missing which raises suspicion. The previous owner had a transmission let go on him, so the underside of the passenger floor is completely covered in oil. I'm not sure how I'm going to clean that off without a rotisserie.



Two of the bolts holding the battery tray down were badly rusted. I tried a couple of different bolt extractors, but nothing would bite. I ended up cutting out the tray with a sawzall and grinded it down so that I can try welding a nut to what's left of the bolts. If I have to resort to drilling them out, I've already bought a Helicoil kit in preparation.





Finally, the mounting point for the rear drivers side lower control arm is splayed out. It looks like someone had a tough time fitting these aftermarket arms. I didn't actually notice it until I removed the bolt and saw that it was stripped. Then I had to pry out the LCA because it was wedged in there tightly.





I was able to run a thread chaser through the nut on the subframe and then thread a new bolt through it. The treads appear to be fine, so I'm hoping that I can bend the forks straight again and there won't be any issues.

That's about where I left off with the '92 hatch. I want to have someone come out to remove the windshield and rear side glass and I need to find a new body shop to get the body straightened out.

 

Wednesday of last week I brought home an unmodified '94 LX sedan. I spent a few months searching for a cheap, non EX with a manual trans and a grey interior. This one finally popped up in Virginia. I've always liked the 4 doors and I thought this could be something that I could drive now and begin to restore/modify while the hatch is getting put back together. The seller bought it in 2018, and in 2020 he broke off one of the spark plugs when trying to remove it. He said he was doing some minor maintenance at the time, but otherwise the car was running fine before then. He couldn't repair it himself and didn't want to pay someone to remove the plug, so he parked it against a fence along a wooded tree line until now. I had to drive down into his back yard and hook a tow strap to it, then get it turned around and drag it back up to the road through a narrow fence opening where the tow dolly was parked. Fun stuff...

Here it is after getting it home.


The interior is in decent shape I suppose, for being 30 years old and almost 198,000 miles on the clock.


The stock D15B7 in all its glory.


First thing I did the following day was wash it with dish soap to remove the heavy grime from sitting for almost 4 years.



I then went over the entire exterior with a clay bar to remove the rest of the stubborn dirt. Once I got the car back into the garage it was time to look at the spark plug. It was hard to tell where the plug had broken by peering down the spark plug tube. It sort of looked like the hex part was still intact when I looked at it on the day that I picked it up. I put a 5/8" socket in there and was relieved to find that the hex was still there. I let the car sit for a few days with a little penetrating oil in the spark plug tube. The broken plug wasn't difficult to break loose with a ratchet, but it felt tight the entire time I was backing it out. I'd turn it 1/4 turn in reverse, then tighten it 1/8 turn, then turn it another 1/4 turn in reverse, then turn it forward 1/8 turn. I kept doing that until the plug came out.



I put some new plugs in with anti-seize on the threads. The threads still felt tight when screwing down the new spark plug, but it went all of the way to the bottom and I was able to torque it the appropriate amount.

With that taken care of, I changed the engine oil next. The previous owner had it overfilled by a quart. I opened up the old oil filter to see if I could find anything concerning. I didn't see anything metallic in the pleats, but there was a sludgy residue on the sides of the filter housing.



When I was emptying out my used oil container, I noticed that the residue didn't look normal. Aside from the sludge, I would usually expect to see an even coat of oil cling to the bottom of the pan. This stuff looked like it was trying to separate. The used oil also didn't feel as slippery as I'd expect and it smelled funny. I'm wondering if some sort of additive was used?



I also changed the transmission fluid, which was almost a quart low, then replaced the clutch and brake fluid. All fluids were black and well past due for a change. Before starting it up for the first time, I replaced the battery and the fuel filter.



The car almost started on the first crank. I blipped the throttle pedal and little bit on the second crank and it started right up! I let it warm up until the radiator fan kicked on, then drove it around the neighborhood for a couple of laps. Surprisingly, the a/c works as do the power door locks and all 4 window motors! The only issue that I found was that the turn signal stalk was broken. The right turn signal sounded like it was hyper flashing and the bulb wasn't turning on. The left turn signal flashed at a normal rate, but again the bulb wasn't working. If I hit the hazard switch, all 4 turn signal lights would work and flash normally. Also, the wiper stalk wouldn't stay in the up position so the previous owner stuffed some tissue paper under it to prevent the wipers from constantly turning on. I just went ahead and stole the stalks from the DX hatch and that took care of those problems.

The front edge of the drivers side fender took some damage which pushed the bumper out and broke one of the tabs where it screws to the fender. I was able to rig it back together temporarily with a zip tie and get the bumper refitted.



The cars exterior paint is in bad shape, but I tried to clean it up as best as I could with polishing compound and an orbital buffer.

50/50 shot to see the improvement.


The car needs new tires, so I bought 4 new ones earlier in the week to put on the EM1 wheels that were originally on the hatch. I took a closer look at the wheels last night and found that 3 of them have a slight bend. I the dropped the wheels off at a repair shop where they're being straightened. It looks like I'll be able to get the tires mounted on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

This morning I made a trip to the DMV tag office to change over the title and receive the plates. I'll get the plate put on it tonight and take it for it's first drive out on the main road.

 

So the sedan seems to at least have a blown head gasket. I put the plate on Saturday morning and rebuilt the drivers side caliper, then took it out for its first drive. The car ran great for the first ~20 minutes. It was quiet and idled smooth. The a/c was blowing cold. Then I noticed that the temp gauge quickly jumped to the red. I turned on the heater and headed back to the house. On the drive back, the temp gauge was moving between half and three quarters. The engine would idle normally and then the revs would fall to about 200 or 300 RPM. There was little bit of white smoke from the exhaust. I already had a new thermostat and distilled water on hand, so I drained the radiator and engine block. There's a lot of corrosion in the cooling system. I'm not sure if this debris actually drained out with the coolant, or if it was on the front the engine block when the coolant poured out.



The water neck to the thermostat housing looked pretty gross.



With the new thermostat in. I refilled the coolant system with water and a bottle of radiator flush. On cold start, the engine idled fine with a only little bit of white smoke from the exhaust as it warmed up to operating temperature. I took it for another short drive and again after roughly 20 minutes, the temp gauge started climbing. I headed back to the house, but this time the white smoke was bellowing from the exhaust. The car would also sputter and hesitate when pulling away from stop signs.

I'm going to pull the engine this weekend and assess the damage. I was really looking forward to getting this one running good with the stock engine and then just focus on the steering, suspension, brakes and a little bit of body work. Long term plans were to K swap it after the hatch was completed.

 

I can't wait for an awesome hatch build thread!!!
How are you going to re-seal the quarter windows to the car after paint???

 

It sounds like this was hard fought to get this one out of its resting place!

 

Love me a good build/documentation progress thread. Sub'd

 

I'm also in the Charlotte area. Would love to check out this build in person. I'm still debating on what car to get next since I sold the Accord wagon last week.

 

The hatch should turn out really nice as I don't plan to skimp on anything. This project should move along rather quickly once the body work and paint is completed. I still have my '92 Si that I wrecked in '07 with (I think) 112k miles on the odometer. This will be the donor car for the DX hatchback. The interior is in excellent condition aside from the passenger door panel. It was bowed in from the accident, so I don't know if it will be salvageable. There may be some other damaged pieces that I find once I dig into it, but the engine swap and interior are taken care of for the most part.


As for rear window seals, I think you mentioned something about that previously in another thread, which prompted me to purchase one of the sets of NOS seals on ebay. I know that I'll also need to acquire both the driver and passenger side door sash trim, and the passenger side belt trim since all of these parts were damaged on the Si during the accident. It will take some time to piece it together.



Me too. I'll do my best to keep the updates coming. I think this thread will keep me motivated to work on the cars.



Yeah, for sure. I'm actually about an hour north of the city, but I still claim Charlotte since I still work here.


The Accord wagon is one of my favorites. I've always loved the styling and thought about getting one more than a few times. The CL1 Euro R Accord is old enough to be imported. If I wasn't preoccupied with these Civic's, I'd seriously take a look at one of those.

 

I've been working on the sedan for a couple of hours each night this week. The engine and trans are now out of the car.



You can tell which cylinder was burning coolant. This explains why cylinder 1 sparkplug was difficult to remove. I'm thinking the threads were corroded from coolant getting into the combustion chamber. In all likelihood, the engine probably wasn't running fine when the previous owner broke the spark plug. I'll check the block and head for straightness once I get the engine onto the stand. If this engine is worth saving, I'll spend some time cleaning and degreasing everything. It's literally covered in oil from top to bottom.



Also, I picked up the wheels from the repair shop and had the tires mounted. The repair shop said that two of the wheels were moderately bent and a third only had a slight bend which they thought would balance out. I went with their suggestion of only having two wheels repaired. The tires are just Toyo Extensa all seasons.

 

Short weekend update; on Saturday I put the engine on the stand and removed the cylinder head. It looks like there was a ~5 mm wide section where the gasket blew out. It took forever to remove the leftover material from both the head and block.





The block seems pretty straight, but the head was warped, mostly on the exhaust side. There's a spot between cylinders 2 and 3 where a .0035 feeler gauge could squeeze through. I'll drop the head off at the machine shop this week to have it resurfaced and cleaned.

 

Nice that you got some time in to pull the head!

 

Yeah, it was nice to get it done sooner than expected!

I dropped the head off at the machine shop yesterday then ordered new OEM cam holder o-rings, a cam seal and dowel pins. Rock Auto had the Fel-Pro valve stem seals on a wholesaler closeout for like $11, so I went with them instead of paying ~$65 for OEM. I also ordered the Fel-Pro cam seal kit just because it comes with new gaskets for the cam cover.

These past couple nights I've been trying to degrease the engine block. I wish it were cleaner, but I think it's good enough for this motor. At least now I'll be able to handle it without getting oil and dirt all over my hands.

Before




After




Next up is the transmission and then the engine bay. I don't mind cleaning, but man... this is going to be a lot of work.

 

Wow, that thing was greasy!!!

 

So I'm still waiting for the machine shop to let me know when the head will be ready. It was supposed to be done by last Friday. Now it looks like I might get it tomorrow.

In the meantime, I've been still scrubbing away at these oily engine parts. The intake manifold, transmission, starter, valve cover and timing belt covers are all done along with some various brackets. They look 10 times better than they were. I also started degreasing the engine bay. Yesterday I placed an order with Prismatic Powders for a wrinkle black and a satin black powder. The valve cover will get the wrinkle black and I'll probably powder coat some of the rusty brackets and the battery tray in satin black.





I'm trying to decide which coilovers to put on the sedan. I've had Function & Form Type 2's on my CL for the past 14 years. They've worked pretty well for a road car, and I like that you can still buy replacement shocks for it. Lately I've had my eye on the Progress CS3's along with their rear sway bar kit or the ASR kit. It will be a few more weeks before I get to the suspension, though.

 

Go with Progress. I have their CS-IIs on my Del Sol and love them.

 

That's really good to hear. I've only ever had their lowering springs, but they've been around a long time and have a good reputation. I'm pretty certain that the sedan will have Progress suspension.

It's been a busy weekend. On Friday I stopped by the dealership and picked up the new head bolts, a front main seal, a D16Y8 MLS head gasket and an o-ring and gasket for the oil pump. Then in the afternoon, I stopped by the machine shop to pick up the head and started reassembling it that evening. I finished the head on Saturday morning and then replaced the rear main seal, and removed, inspected and reassembled the oil pump. The crank had a pretty deep groove worn into it, so I didn't drive the seal all the way in. I left roughly 0.2 mm of clearance between the seal and the back of the housing. I would have preferred a little more clearance, but the seal wasn't going in completely square and it was nearly bottomed out when I finally did manage to square it up.





This week I'll replace the water pump, finish cleaning the mating surface on the block and install the head over the weekend. Then it should be all down hill from here.

 

WTF is with that groove?!?

 

It's definitely a bit worrisome and something that I'll have to keep an eye on. The outer groove is very minor and you can barely feel it with a fingernail. The inner groove is much deeper. It seemed awfully bad for just under 200k miles.

 

Is that from the oil seal?

 

Absolutely. It is very common.

 

I got the valve cover powder coated this week. It really turned out nice. My wife wasn't happy about me using the patio furniture for table legs, but they cleaned up just fine afterwards with a bit of compressed air.



The embossed lettering could use a bit of block sanding to sharpen them up.


The water pump impeller looked pretty rough. I'm going to flush the cooling system at least one more time and then replace the radiator. The old radiator doesn't look like it's in too bad of shape, but I feel like the passages must be at least partially constricted based on how much debris that's already been drained out with the coolant.

 

WP looks pretty crusty!

 

Lots of parts showed up this week with more arriving today including an Exedy OEM style clutch kit, slave cylinder, and a LUK flywheel. I've never used this brand of flywheel before, but it was only $47 on Rock Auto and the reviews seem decent enough.

I had to order a steering rack yesterday. I noticed something leaking on the ground over the past couple of weeks and thought it was just water dripping out of the hoses to the heater core. I took a closer look at it and found this it was steering fluid leaking out of the end of the rack. With the engine out, there's no better time to replace it.

The engine bay is cleaning up well. Most of the oily grease has been removed and I've been working on powder coating the various brackets.



The engine is all back together. I'll probably get if off the engine stand this weekend and mount up the transmission. Once the new steering rack is in, I should be ready to lift the engine back into the car.

 

You are making things happen!
I have a Luk clutch in a different vehicle - no complaints.
Where did you source your rack?

 

I'm running a LUK flywheel on the Del Sol. Looks 99% like the factory Honda one. No issues here...

BTW, if you ever need any welding done, hit up Adam at ARH Designs, 9216 Westmoreland Rd Suite D Cornelius, NC 28031

He's a good dude. He and his crew can take care of your welding needs for really reasonable prices. Last time I was there, he repaired the cracked wastegate dump tube as well as braced my turbo manifold. I think it was like $100 total.