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So, I have had a bunch of requests for a build threat about my EG Civic restore and this is it. I was in the Honda game in the 90's and got out of it for a while. But my love for the EG endured. One day, I got a hair brained idea to do a build the way I always wanted to when I was a late teen early 20-year old but lacked the adult money. I now have the adult money...so I just jumped it. The car is mostly done now...i am in the final stages. It's taken me about 2-2.5 years to get it here. I will break down the process in multiple posts and provide some good info for those wanted to do something similar. Overall, the plan for the car was the following:
Restore to practically new condition with some OEM upgrades
Total body strip and full paint job inside and out
Engine swap
New suspension etc.
Interior rework...etc.
So let the story begin...
One day on a Central Florida Craigslist I came across someone selling a 1992 Civic Si. Guy had a decent price on it and it was in decent shape...but it was, like most Civic's - somewhat hacked up and "custom". It didn't matter...I had other plans for it. So I bought it. Here is how it was when i got it.
It had the original D16Z6 but someone added a GReddy kit to it. It ran, but had blown/failing piston ring in it. Over all, it was in decent shape, but there were defo some hacks and what not. It didn't matter...but I knew I had to go over it all with a fine tooth comb. So the tear down commenced.
Started with the exterior - took off the bumper and impact assembly, fenders, doors, and rear hatch. Then I remove the D16Z6. setup and ended up selling the engine and turbo kit for some coin that went towards the project. I kept the D16Z6 wiring harness and P28 since the donor engine would be OBD2. As I started breaking down the engine bay, i noticed there were some broken things - frayed/hacked up wires, broken AC (which I knew already), leaking PS rack, bad brake lines, and other things. Didn't matter I knew what I had got into. Once the engine bay was completely cleared, I moved to the interior...
I did remove the windshield and quarter glass too, even though these are still shown. I tried to save the windshield, but, given its age and the adhesive, it broke when I removed it. The quarter glass wasn't too bad - for those of you who have never removed them - don't be afraid of it. Just take your time. The big issue was the glass surround seals were destroyed from age and rot...I knew these were going to be a trick as they weren't manufactured anymore.
On to the interior...this is where some more electrical fun was discovered. Hack wiring job after hack wiring job. A dense spiders web of wires...stuff like this everywhere.
Took out the dash, complete interior harnesses, engine bay harnesses, AC box, seats, carpets, headlines, moon roof assembly...I mean everything. I even removed the existing sound deadeners in the floor using dry ice (yes, it works perfectly..but note if you leave it on too long, it will freeze off the undercoatings.) It took some time, but, eventually I had the chassis down to the bones. The only systems that stayed on it was the E-brake and steering.
I cleaned all the factory glass mounting areas, thus the grey primer you see around the windows. ALWAYS prime bare metal if you have it sitting...especially in coastal Florida. I loaded up the doors, hatch, and other parts needing paint on the trailer and truck and took it to the body shop.
During this, I came across another deal on Craigslist for a 95DX coupe...fully running with automatic trans and some minor body damage. The kid sold it to me for $500. So I ended up having another car for donor parts/bolts etc.
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
Originally Posted by punk0mi
The quarter glass wasn't too bad - for those of you who have never removed them - don't be afraid of it. Just take your time. The big issue was the glass surround seals were destroyed from age and rot...I knew these were going to be a trick as they weren't manufactured anymore...
Looking forward to reading how you removed the quarter glass, and how you dealt with the surrounds...
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
Originally Posted by 94 Civic Si
Looking forward to reading how you removed the quarter glass, and how you dealt with the surrounds...
Ok, so removing the rear quarters is a game of finesse and patience. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of that process...but can talk about it.
I'd like to admit that I removed them without ruining the rubber moldings, but I didn't. Time and sun had hardened and rot them pretty bad. I got one out in fairly OK shape, but the other didn't survive as it was brittle. The service manual was very helpful because it showed where the seals had adhesive strips in addition to the window weld.
First step was slicing the adhesive on the two clips on the pillar. The clips will stay in place on the body when the window comes out. These clips are still available by Honda USA. There are three types available from Honda so take note of the color before tossing them out - the uppers can be blue or white/natural and the bottoms are natural/white. Honda P/N are as follows (these are the same no matter which side):
Once those were cut, I used a long razor blade to start cutting out the urethane window weld. This part took a while and I just worked at it slowly - broke a few blades doing it too so have spares. I did contemplate using an oscillator/multi-tool as i've seen many people use those on other auto glass, but the curvature of the quarter glass doesn't make this doable with a short blade. I made sure to put on a suction cup handle on the window and painters tape to make sure it did not just fall to the ground once freed.
I got the windows out and removed the existing seals. There are adhesive strips on these molds that adhere to the backside of the glass. At this point, I just cut the molds since they were destroyed. While the glass was out, I removed the crap window tint and cleaned the glass thoroughly.
With the windows out I then started to remove the existing urethane from the body flanges. I used a box razor scraper and got off as much as I could. Using a razor did mar the painted surface on the flange. This didn't matter much since I was doing a complete paint job. With that said, I used roloc's and took what was left of the urethane and the paint around the windows and the flanges to the metal. After that, I covered it with and etching primer. (This can be seen in the pics)
What was surprising was that 25+ years old adhesive was still strong.
Honda USA doesn't sell the quarter glass molds anymore (Right - 73810-SR3-000, Left - 73860-SR3-000), but, it still looks like Honda in Japan still produces these or has a stock of them - I ended up buying Honda OEM window molds shipped out of Japan for about $170 for the pair. Took about a week to arrive. Putting the new molds on is a bit of work because the seals are much tighter than the "relaxed" old molds. I personally started putting the molds on the front part of the quarter glass and slowly worked them around. LEAVE THE ADHESIVE PROTECTOR ON during this process - it can be removed once the mold is seated and in place. It did take some muscle to get the mold properly on, but don't be scared to pull/stretch it a bit.
Putting them back on...well, that was a chore - simply because i've never done it before. Make sure you have rubbing alcohol available to clean up any urethane window weld. (I ended up removing urethane at least once because of a mistake) Since I was putting this on fresh paint, I lightly scuffed the paint and put on some 3M window primer on the body. This is a key step for a good seal and adhesion. Be warned that primer isn't cheap - but the little vial of it will do both windows. 1 tube of 3M window weld from the auto parts store was enough to do both quarter glass. There are tons of videos on Youtube on the best ways to put these on but I recommend this one:
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
The next step was body work.
Fortunately I had a friend who does body work and we worked out a deal to get this thing done. Before I took the chassis to the body shop I gave it a power wash with my 4000 psi pressure washer to remove as much grime and oil from the car (it also took up some of the sound deadener in the floor). After that I transported the car to his shop and started this long process. I've never done any sort of paint work before, but wanted to learn and my buddy offered to show me the ropes - so I defo have sweat equity in the body work. Since the paint job was going to be complete inside and out - this required a lot of sanding. Started on the inside and the engine bay.
Sanding the interior was not fun...especially the floor pan. All the ridges and bumps make this difficult. Also, I wasn't able to fully remove every bit of the factory sound deadener in the pan - so I sanded as good as possible. In fairness, I did get a tad lazy on the floor pan with the deadener but it didn't really matter since this paint wasn't ever really going to be seen. There were once or two small areas around the firewall that had a small rust spot - treated those chemically. Also had to reseal a floor plug with seam sealer as some how it looked like someone punched it out previously.
On to the engine bay....i thought the interior was a tough to sand. I was wrong. Here is an example area that is time consuming...
The area behind the shock tower has to be done mostly by hand since a DA wouldn't reach. It wasn't terrible, but it did take a bit longer to work those areas. Also, i never really noticed how many nooks and crannies there are in the EG bay until doing this. The firewall is just like the floor pan with raised and recessed areas, the mount locations, etc. I ended up just hand sanding the firewall and the tight areas, the rest was hit with a DA. Also, yes, I left most of the bolts in to keep paint out of the threads (again, a tad lazy as i could have put cones of tape in them).
The color. I was torn between two colors. Toyota's Cement Grey (seen on Tundras and Tacomas) or Audi's Nardo Grey found on a the R8 and S line. We took a scrap hood and did a comparison on color to help me make the choice...
The left was Nardo Grey, the right was Cement Grey. At one point I was pretty sure it was going to be Cement Grey until I saw this side by side. I did not realize how much more blue the Cement grey was. After seeing that, Nardo Grey was selected and I am glad I did (Paint Code for Audi Nardo Grey = LY7C/T3). If you are ever between two color, try to get a side by side sample and look at it in the sunlight like this. It may cost you a little, but, it can save you the disgust of not loving the color once it is done. I decided to do the paint in an odd way I suppose - I used two types of paint. One for the interior and engine bay and one for the exterior. This was done mostly for cost savings and for the fact that the majority of the interior was never going to be seen once the plastics were back in place. The exterior got the good stuff. The engine bay and interior got a single step.
That is a tad over $1000 in PPG Deltron products for the exterior - this is the premium stuff. Once we had all this sorted out and the interior and engine bay was sanded, we sprayed it with primer. After a few days off we went ahead and sprayed interior and engine bay.
We got the interior and bay done in one evening. Left it in to dry and pulled it out 24 hours later...
As you can see, there was some sound deadener left on there...oh well (I did eventually remove it all after the fact). Again, no one will ever see it. Now it was time to focus on the exterior. I had some dents repaired by a friend of my who does PDR. Fortunately there weren't any major issues that required significant filler use. We did have to adjust the radiator support a bit - the area around the latch was "modified" to fit a very poorly made carbon fiber hood...and by modified, I mean they hit the latch area with hammer to push it back a bit. This was fixed with weld on dent pullers and more patience. I will say that sanding the exterior of the car was much faster than the interior. Had that thing done in about a day using a DA and #400. Here is what it looked like ...
The toughest spots to sand are the recesses for the body moulding and the rockers. The gas port was done by hand. Once this was all prepped...in to the booth. Before we sprayed we tested the base coat and we were glad we did as there was an issue. PPG (or the PPG dealer) had a bad tint that had specks of blue in it. We saw these specs in the filter when blending. PPG gave me a new, fully blended base to replace the defective one no questions asked. On to painting...
Oh yeah. Looks good right! Let it dry and rolled it out 24 hours later...
So, after the chassis was done we worked the doors, fenders, hood, etc. The original SI had crap after market fender panels. The donor DX Coupe had perfect OEM panels, so I swapped those out since they just fit so much better. Then this is where the first major whoopsie happened in the project. The original doors on the Hatch were junk - someone did hack work on them and used A LOT of bondo. So I took the doors off the donor DX coupe and used them on the hatch. (Did i mentioned it's nice having a donor car?). Well, all the doors were sprayed and my buddy had laid them out to bake in the sun. All was good until someone at a dealership he does work for decided to drive over one of them accidentally. Door was ruined. At least it was only one.
Ugh. Well, we took it up with the dealership that did the damage and they cut me a check for like $900 bucks. Awesome. Now I just had to source a new door. Being that these cars are slowly being recycled into tuna cans again, they aren't easy to find in good shape if at all. I scoured the web and finally found some. In an odd way, I was glad this happened because it opened the door (no pun intended) for me to convert the manual SI doors over to full power window and locks from an EX coupe (I'll talk about this conversion in a later post). Thankfully I found a junk yard in Lakeland, FL with intact doors from an EX Coupe and got them both for $200 with the door cards, glass, and the harness parts needed to convert, etc. So I drove over and got them. They even came with this rad paint job...
For the record - as some of you may know, there is no difference in the Coupe and Hatch doors. In fact, both can also accept window power or manual motors/regulators and power/manual locks. The difference is just the door harnesses for whatever features you have. Sedan doors = no worky. I also came across a goodie at my JDM Importer...the wide third brake light hatch spoiler. They came off it cheap because it had been sitting there longer than they thought it would. I snatched it up and also got it painted.
After about 3 months (maybe it was longer? either way, yes, we worked on this in our spare time after working our normal jobs) I had a spare bedroom full of painted fenders, doors, tailgate, bumper covers, a hood, and other parts. I loaded up the chassis and brought it back to my garage. The clear coat still needs to be buffed and polished....but still looked great without.
Being that I don't have a tall enough ceiling for a lift, I improvised with a 4x4, some chunky eye bolts, and a strap and built a chassis lift using my engine hoist. Worked like a charm and just lifted from the rails and got the chassis on jackstands to continue working on. Also, if you go thru the effort of a nice paint job, spend the money to protect it as best you can (yeah, i did my best, but there were one or two boo-boo's along the way sadly)...Harbor Freight moving blankets are cheap and do the job as you can see.
Well, thats enough for now...stay tuned for the next post....wiring joy and more...
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
Heh, I'm having that same issue tracking down parts for my car. All these things are ending up in the junkyard in absolutely thrashed condition and its difficult to find things like fenders, doors, etc that are clean. I have a CX hatch without the holes for the molding which makes tracking doors and fenders down really hard.
Also, that's a neat way to lift the car. I'll need to do that when putting the new engine in and maybe taking the subframe out to refinsh. Do you reckon there's enough room between the 2x4s and the firewall to fit an engine up from underneath? I've seen threads where people have tied the bottom rad support to the crane, but I'd prefer if I could lift it some other way.
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
So, on to the wiring.
As I mentioned earlier, I ended up getting a deal on some Coupe EX doors with and I decided to go ahead and convert form manual doors and locks. Overall, the conversion on the doors isn't hard. Doors on the EG will accept manual or power systems...you just have to have the right wire harness and parts. For those that don't know and want to venture down this modification you will need the following:
Door harness
Power lock control module
Power lock switch
Power door lock actuators
Power window regulator and motor
Door cards made for power control
Window controls for Driver and Passenger side
Interior harness (with both interior and exterior connectors)
Power window relay
5x 20A fuses
Fortunately for me, the EX Civic I got the doors from was intact and had the door cards in decent shape. The only item missing item was the power lock switch and lock control module.
Removing the interior harness would have been very time consuming at the junk yard as it runs in the major loom behind the fire wall. The yard didn't mind be cutting, so I cut the drivers and passenger side connections out as well as the two connectors at the interior fuse block. I could easily re-create my own harness. If you aren't confident in wiring, soldering, or reading diagrams I would not recommend this route.
Recreating my own harness wouldn't be too bad considering I had the entire interior harness out of the car already. Plus, there were some hacked wiring "mods" I had to repair...so it was time to do them all. Bought some wire and got to work.
Repairing the harness and creating my own interior harness took about an evening. There are some parts of the rear interior harness that will need to be repinned. Went ahead and did that. Sadly, I did not take many pictures of this process. But if you want to have a decent visual guideline, check out this post on H/T --> https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...-swap-2337026/. Between that thread and the Service Manual, I was able to get this all buttoned up.
If you are doing a restore on this level, do yourself a favor and go thru all harnesses visually and with a ohm meter. It may be time consuming, but, there is no better time to check for electrical issues than when the harnesses are out of the car. An ohm meter set to check for continuity is the best way to prevent odd electrical issues. Found hacks like this all over the place...
Common places to look for hacks: ECU connectors, ignition harness, engine harness, AC Harness, headlights.
Once I got the interior harnesses I installed the firewall harness, rear harness, and SRS systems.
Once the interior harnesses were done, I turned the focus to rebuilding the doors. Given the age, there was a lot of work ahead. All the rubber and seals needed to be replaced. The only seal that I did not replace was the window runners - these were in decent shape. I was able to source OEM Honda seals with the exception of the main door seal - that was an after market seal. Good news is the main door seal was actually made well and fits excellent. Take your time installing new rubber seals. I'd also recommend opening them from the packages to "relax" from sitting all folded up.
I recommend taking your time when installing the new seals. The edge seals were by far the trickiest to install. I primarily used plastic spudgers to help get the new seals fit into their channels. I went ahead and order new motors and regulators from RockAuto and installed them and the power lock actuators. Also sourced a power lock control module from eBay and installed that. Finally I ran the wire harnesses in the doors before I mounted the glass. I left off the power mirrors until the doors were mounted on the car. When it was all said and done...this is how the doors looked fully assembled
Fortunately, we are still able to get the window sash and window moldings from Honda USA. Those part numbers are:
The AC system in the SI was completely non functional when I got it. Since I live in Florida, AC is a must. The SI was a 92 and therefore used R12 refrigerant. The donor DX I bought was a 95 and used R134a. Since I was already rebuilding the AC, I converted the entire AC to R134a using the compressor and suction and charge pipes off the 95 DX. I disassembled the entire interior HVAC unit as I knew it would be disgusting...
The picture just shows some of the dirt and leaves found in the HVAC unit and the coils...well it was amazing any air was able to flow thru it. I took the time to soak the plastic body parts of the HVAC unit in a bleach solution to clean them up. Also cleaned the styrofoam housing of the evap coil. Once they were dry, I went thru and replaced all the foam gaskets. This was a challenge as these foam gaskets are not sold. It required some ingenuity. I ended up using some adhesive backed neoprene pads and HVAC foam tape. This was a painfully slow process because each seal had to be hand cut. Re-assembly of the HVAC unit is a tad tricky too, as it MUST be reassembled correctly of the electronic control will not be able to operate.
PRO TIPS:
Thoroughly clean all the gears and articulating points and then re-apply fresh grease to these.
Ensure to use new o-rings everywhere (appropriate for the specified refrigerant).
Cover/wrap the expansion valve bulb with the right material.
I ended up getting a brand new evaporator coil, expansion valve, heater core, heater core control valve, and blower motor from RockAuto. All in all, I think the rebuild of the HVAC unit was about $150 for everything (I believe I used Four Season parts) Also fully purged and cleaned the suction and charge hoses and let them fully dry (I would assemble them later).
As I still had some interior work to do, I decided to hold off installing the HVAC assembly until I finished installing all the noise deadener (yes, I wanted a "refined" ride lol) and the factory firewall mat.
Next time I post...I'll take you down the suspension rabbit hole and how I converted to JDM ITR 5 lug while rebuilding everything...and I mean EVERYTHING.
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
Originally Posted by reconsiderit
Heh, I'm having that same issue tracking down parts for my car. All these things are ending up in the junkyard in absolutely thrashed condition and its difficult to find things like fenders, doors, etc that are clean. I have a CX hatch without the holes for the molding which makes tracking doors and fenders down really hard.
Also, that's a neat way to lift the car. I'll need to do that when putting the new engine in and maybe taking the subframe out to refinsh. Do you reckon there's enough room between the 2x4s and the firewall to fit an engine up from underneath? I've seen threads where people have tied the bottom rad support to the crane, but I'd prefer if I could lift it some other way.
I feel your pain on sourcing parts...eBay and private forums are the way to go most of the time. Junk yards are great, but as you state, most of them are beat to crap.
When i did the frame lift I had the original idea of doing the same - dropping the frame on top of the engine. Sadly, the 4x4 is much to big (i did try). A 2x4 may be better than a 4x4. I too have seen folks lift from the radiator support, but that is a bad idea IMO - those are only held on using spot welds really. I did use some mega tall jackstands to get the entire car off the ground which was helpful - I could use my chair and wheel around to work on most areas.
EDIT - Oddly enough, someone just posted a whole 92 CX/VX hatch on craigslist in my area for $2k.
Not sure if you have put everything back together yet, if not, consider using an evaporator box from later Civic so you can run the cabin air filter. Details: https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...276594/page36/
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
Originally Posted by punk0mi
Honda USA doesn't sell the quarter glass molds anymore (Right - 73810-SR3-000, Left - 73860-SR3-000), but, it still looks like Honda in Japan still produces these or has a stock of them - I ended up buying Honda OEM window molds shipped out of Japan for about $170 for the pair. Took about a week to arrive. Putting the new molds on is a bit of work because the seals are much tighter than the "relaxed" old molds. I personally started putting the molds on the front part of the quarter glass and slowly worked them around. LEAVE THE ADHESIVE PROTECTOR ON during this process - it can be removed once the mold is seated and in place. It did take some muscle to get the mold properly on, but don't be scared to pull/stretch it a bit. https://youtu.be/X_gRc8Udiag
I was going through the Honda online EPC and saw you can still get the L side quarter glass assembly, which includes the mold!
Not sure if you have put everything back together yet, if not, consider using an evaporator box from later Civic so you can run the cabin air filter. Details: https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...276594/page36/
Hey man, I appreciate the compliments. I got part numbers all over the place. When I do the JDM ITR rebuild, I will share a bunch of helpful part numbers for rebuilding them.
Sadly, it is all back together and installed. I saw those posts about the cabin air filter and wish I had seen it or considered it earlier. If the AC fails again, I will defo add the cabin filter because it helps keep the coil clean and less likely to degrade as those leaves start to breakdown.
I spend so much time shopping parts between the different Acura and Honda parts places online it wasn't even funny. As a rule, I'd always try to use Honda/Acura parts places that were in Florida to save on shipping. However, bottom price always won out. I ended up getting parts from an Acura dealership in Tuscon, AZ a few times for the B18C-R (oddly I didnt photograph any of that process...ill just talk about it), a Honda dealer in Pennsylvania somewhere, and one in Ohio. The only major area that did not get a lot of OEM treatment was suspension...the bulk of my suspension is aftermarket.
I did rely on RockAuto and NAPA a bit minor bits - but for the most part it was all OEM.
If you have a good Honda parts place online, share the link...its always good to have another place lined up.
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
Originally Posted by punk0mi
I spend so much time shopping parts between the different Acura and Honda parts places online it wasn't even funny. As a rule, I'd always try to use Honda/Acura parts places that were in Florida to save on shipping. However, bottom price always won out. I ended up getting parts from an Acura dealership in Tuscon, AZ a few times for the B18C-R (oddly I didnt photograph any of that process...ill just talk about it), a Honda dealer in Pennsylvania somewhere, and one in Ohio. The only major area that did not get a lot of OEM treatment was suspension...the bulk of my suspension is aftermarket.
I did rely on RockAuto and NAPA a bit minor bits - but for the most part it was all OEM.
If you have a good Honda parts place online, share the link...its always good to have another place lined up.
I like the guys I linked above - Honda/Acura Online. They are in Indy, so prob about the same distance from me as they are from you.
I used a dealer in AZ, so we probably used the same one, but when I needed Acura parts for a B18C1 and my EG, these guys seemed to be overall pretty good on price.
For steering rack the shipping was going to kill any savings, so I just bought that at the local dealer...
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
Had a crazy few weeks and didn’t have time to do the next section on to the suspension….
So, being it was an EG SI, it already had 4 wheel disc brakes. That was great, but, my local JDM importer made me an offer I could not refuse on a 98-01 JDM ITR 5 lug suspension for like $600. I jumped on it. In this section I will show you how I fully rebuilt the JDM units and include some part numbers if you need.
So, the first thing I did was remove the existing SI suspension and then I tore down the JDM ITR setup. Given the age of everything, I replaced every bushing in the suspension with HardRace rubber bushings.
Fortunately, I have a 20-ton press, so getting these in an out isn’t too bad. If you ever want to try this yourself, you must have patience and a careful eye. I pressed most of these bushings in with sockets and press cups. Grease everything up before pressing. And remember, if it isn't going STRAIGHT in, STOP and re seat and retry. If you don't you will wreck your bushings.
After the bushings were done, I tore down the ITR calipers down so I could get them powder coated. The front caliper are straight forward – pop out the pistons using shop air and remove the boot and seals. The rears take a bit more time – slowly disassemble them and it will all be gone. Make sure you remove ALL seals and rubber if you want to powder coat - if you don't the oven will melt them. Also, make sure to cover all areas that you don't want coated. (Most reputable coaters will know this if you don't do it.)
I also took the cross member off to get it powder coated as well. Good thing I did because in the process I discovered that the cross member had broken sections where the suspension would need to bolt it. So off to a salvage yard. Found a whole crossmember off a Integra in great shape with a steering rack for $100. Spent time with the degreasers and my 4000 psi pressure washer and got all the gunk and residues off the components.
So off they went to the powder coater and and this was the result…
So let’s talk about rebuilding JDM ITR knuckles. These CAN be rebuilt using parts here in the USA. There are only a few that are not available…so here is the list of equivalents.
So, the CR-V’s use the same knuckles as the JDM ITR….so a good portion of the parts will work on rebuilding ITR. The only part I didn’t use OEM on was the hubs and lower ball joints. OEM hubs are outrageous – so I went with some from Dorman. They were good quality. If you are pressing your own bearings in, remember to keep at least one of the old ones because you can use that to press in the new one. Pressing in the hub is straight forward, but remember to support the bearing races so they don't press out.
Remember to place the brake splash shields on BEFORE you press the hub into the bearing! If you don't and you press the hubs on you will likely need a new set of wheel bearings. For the record, my 92 did not have ABS, so I went ahead and removed the tone ring sensors. When it was fully pressed, they came out like this:
As for the lower ball joints, I originally went some aftermarkets from ProForged. I've had good success using their products and took a swing on them. I pressed them in, but, I would find out later that these have a bit of a design flaw/issue. Can you spot it?
OEM on the left, ProForged on the right.
So the ProForged, while excellent in quality, but the bump on the top of the ball joint will bind up on the axle tone rings. In the end, I went with OEM Honda Lower Ball joints (they also press in a tad easier IMO).
Rebuilding the brakes isn’t too bad. Just make sure everything is clean, cover all your gaskets with the appropriate lube, Take your time. The OEM kits come with small packs of lube, but you can use other lubes. (I know some people only use brake fluid.) The hardest part of rebuilding the brakes will be putting the dust boot on. It is a bit of a trick to put the dust boot in the caliper lip and then getting the piston back in. What I did was set the dust boots in the caliper first, then stretched the boot around the piston. Once it is around, push the piston back into the caliper and the boot will seat on the piston grooves when it settles.
I converted to a ITR power steering rack. Got a rebuilt OEM one from NAPA for a reasonable price. Went ahead and mounted it with some new Energy Suspension mounts. Once that was done, I put the cross member and LCA’s back on the chassis.
I needed new shocks and springs. I mulled over the many brands out there. In the end I decided to go with Koni Yellows with GC Coilovers. It is hard to beat this combo - performance and price is unmatched.
Got it all assembled. Installed PowerStop rotors and pads and then installed Goodridge steel braided lines. Turned out good!
The civic Si uses a smaller brake cylinder and it just isn’t up to the task to power these new large ITR brakes. So I obtained a 1” JDM cylinder and booster off eBay for $100. I kept the 40/30 proportioning valve as it was adequate enough. So, the issue with the JDM booster and cylinder is it was designed for use on a LHD vehicle and my EG is a RHD – brake lines won’t line up. This requires you to risk making bends to the factory lines or making your own. I chose to make my own from NiCop (you can use steel, but why? It is harder to bend, flare, and is prone to rust). Making brake lines isn’t hard, but it does require some patience and the proper tools (line bender, flaring tools, tube cutters). It went something like this…
I just realized I didn’t take a picture of the rear install at all. Oops. For what it is worth, the rear install is easy. Use a jack or some sort of stand to position the rear trailing arms. You can use the EG civic e-brake lines on the ITR brakes.
Since I did lower the car, It would require some additional parts to compensate such as adjustable upper control arms, rear camber and toe adjusters. I went with Hardrace products for these.
Last but not least, I had to get some wheels for the 5 x 114.3 lug pattern. When with 16” Konig Backbone rims and General GMAX AS05 225/50-16 rubber. They matched the look I had in mind.
So that is enough for this post. Not sure what I will post next time...but rest assured there will be a next post.
Last edited by punk0mi; 03-30-2021 at 06:13 PM.
Reason: typos
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
Looks like things are coming along quite quickly! Curious as to how the doorman hubs are compared to the OE honda ones. My left front wheel bearing is going out and I'll need to replace it at some point in the near future. Not super thrilled with the idea of having to torch or cut the inner race off of the hub since that's where it's stressed the most.
Also looks like the doorman hub came with extended studs? Or are those just stock length?
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
Originally Posted by reconsiderit
Looks like things are coming along quite quickly! Curious as to how the doorman hubs are compared to the OE honda ones. My left front wheel bearing is going out and I'll need to replace it at some point in the near future. Not super thrilled with the idea of having to torch or cut the inner race off of the hub since that's where it's stressed the most.
Also looks like the doorman hub came with extended studs? Or are those just stock length?
The Dorman was good quality. I've driven around on it...no issues yet. The studs you see are what they come with. I did put a micrometer on them to compare...they were just as good in terms of thickness as the ones I took off.
Re: My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
Well, i've been slammed busy, but the car is done.
Sadly, a teenager girl backed into the drivers side quarter panel recently, so It is about to go to the body shop. Had to fight with the insurance company - they wanted to total it, I told them to pound sand. So I am stuck paying the bill to repair.
I will try to take some time to post an update soon! Thanks for staying tuned in!
03-04-2021, 06:59 PM
My 92 Civic Restore Project (a/k/a Grey Ghost)
