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I was close to not finding it, but I had let go of a silverado I was actually gonna purchase, and found this beauty.
First of all, my names Jairo. 19yrs old, new to the site, and this is my first car. Not the prettiest car most young guys aim for, but I sure as hell like it.
Recently on Craigslist I saw this Honda Civic 2000 DX coupe, with a 5 speed!!! The guy wanted $800 for it, and after looking at the car I was able to talk him down to $650. Salvage title, a little bit up, clear coat peeling, and no exhaust. Best thing about it was, it runs, and boy does it run good.
I want to make this an on going post, I plan on bringing my car back to tip top condition. Oil, filters, hoses, belts.. all of it, will eventually be replaced with the exception of the engine and transmission. I plan on making it run like new, then focus on its looks, because what's the whole point of having my car look nice, when it'll leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere, right?
So I got the car Friday, July 15th, right after work. Drove it home, and didn't get the chance to stay out with it because of the storm. The next day, I went over to the local pull-a-part and got myself the trunk latch since the one that was on it was broken and was being held down with a rope. Now, there's no rope and trunk closes and opens normally. That was a $14 dollar part.
Total spent: $654
Today July 17th, I went over to the junk yard again, got some wipers that were 95 cents a piece, an under body panel that was like $6. I later went over to walmart, grabbed some Mobil1 Full Synthetic oil, and a filter, which was right around $26. I was going to change the oil tonight, but ended up finding an exhaust on Craigslist going for $100, managed to talk the guy down to $80. Full exhaust system, with 02 sensor.
Total Spent: $768
Now, the oil isn't changed yet, and the exhaust is not on yet either, but I have to get to work tomorrow, so I'm going to risk it and drive this over. It's about an hour drive but I'll take it slow so it'll be an hour and 15 minutes so I don't stress anything that's not doing so good. Although, everything seems to be good, car doesn't shake or anything in that matter. I know I shouldn't take it without changing the oil, but the oil isn't that bad, still plenty left, and doesn't seem to be the bad dark brown either. However, I promise I'll change the oil, and slap on the exhaust system when I get back from work.
The exhaust I grabbed is a RS-Type. I'm sure it might sound like crap but it's only temporary, not gonna be there for too long.
I'm gonna start doing body sanding since I'm only gonna be replacing the front end of the vehicle's body. The rest of the body parts aren't dented nor cracked so I'll just leave them on. Now, I'm not rich, so I'm waiting till Friday when I get paid to make an order for hoses or some of thing to make my car more mechanically sound. Please do advise me on what I should replace to make the car more reliable. I will take it all into great consideration, because I want a grear car 2 months from now.
Yes please listen to us, I know this is your first car. But believe us, you want to get a pair of jackstands and a floor jack to lift the car up by the central jacking point. There is one in the front and one in the rear (tie down hook). We don't want to hear you died because you were crushed under this car with that temporary jack. And if you have two jackstands you'll need to get wheel chocks to block the other tires from moving. $12 at tractor supply or harbor freight. You can get a good pair of jackstands for like $25 at sears. Harbor freight has some nice jackstands too. But please listen to us about being safe!
Please listen to everyone when they say you need a jackstand. i heard too many horror stories about people getting crush by their car (mainly young people)
but im jelly about your cd/tape player. my old EM1 came with just a cd player.
Thank guys, will be getting those today. I have to change the oil and install the exhaust. Can't wait to hear how it sounds, although I'm not expecting the best sound out of this exhaust.
On another note, the car made it to work at 5am, not so much warm nor cold, and back home with temperatures in the 90's. It's a 60-70 mile drive each way so it really shows the car is still full of life. Got up to 80 easily and even got to 90, "accidentally" lol
Please listen to everyone when they say you need a jackstand. i heard too many horror stories about people getting crush by their car (mainly young people)
but im jelly about your cd/tape player. my old EM1 came with just a cd player.
By the looks of it, this car is worthy of me investing money in it, I will eventually go about and change the sound system. I need something that can handle Bluetooth connectivity. If you'd like I can mail it to you, once it's out and the new is in.
Looks like you're going to need a header and cat. You're exhaust has a test pipe on it and you're missing a flange on the end of the header. An exhaust shop can always weld one on, but you might be able to find a complete one at a junkyard for the price of the flange and labor of the welding.
It also looks like you might have an oil leak. I'd start with cleaning up the engine and bay.
Looks like you're going to need a header and cat. You're exhaust has a test pipe on it and you're missing a flange on the end of the header. An exhaust shop can always weld one on, but you might be able to find a complete one at a junkyard for the price of the flange and labor of the welding.
It also looks like you might have an oil leak. I'd start with cleaning up the engine and bay.
eH.
its a y7, cat on manifold. see the secondary o2 at the bottom? will need welded up, flange is missing.
Looks like you're going to need a header and cat. You're exhaust has a test pipe on it and you're missing a flange on the end of the header. An exhaust shop can always weld one on, but you might be able to find a complete one at a junkyard for the price of the flange and labor of the welding.
It also looks like you might have an oil leak. I'd start with cleaning up the engine and bay.
eH.
Sounds good, will do. I'm planning on doing that tomorrow, it really needs a good cleaning.
its a y7, cat on manifold. see the secondary o2 at the bottom? will need welded up, flange is missing.
Thanks. I'm no mechanic, nor have any experience, but this all helping me a lot. Things that I should take care of first so that I won't have any issues in the future is what I'm hearing. Hopefully I can provide more detailed pictures so you can see if you spot something else lol
Looks like a great project, a running driving car for $600 is a great deal.
Try to focus on sections of the car, rather than the car as a whole. Since the engine bay looks neglected it's a great start to change the oil and even the air filter.
Since thr engine bay is so filthy the car probably will need to have the timing belt water pump and tensioner replaced before you do any long distance road trips.
Since the car runs good already My next step would be changing the hoses with one of the ebay hose kits and replacing the thermostat and then fitting up the system with all new coolant. After you fill the coolant be sure you turn the heater on and start the car with the radiator cap off and burp the system by letting it get up to operating temperature with the cap off and the heater turned on.
Timing belt, water pump, tensioner and hoses and the car will last you for a long time. Get it reliable and then you can start day dreaming about modifications. Take your time and do the maintenance things first, as mentioned a cheap set of brake pads is probably a good investment since the car was probably never taken care of for a long time
Cheap stuff you can do to improve the car is cleaning the interior and under the hood. On a heavily stained carpet like yours I would use alot of interior carpet cleaner and scrub it in with a plastic brush. After you scrub it in I like to soak the scrubbed area with water, scrub the stains again, and then use a shop vac (or the free vacuums at the car wash lol) to suck up all the nasty stained water. Don't use a power washer inside the car obviously I usually just bring a bucket or gallon of water to loosen up the soap and dirt so then they can be sucked up by a shop vac. Don't use a regular house vacuum, it needs to be a shop vac which is ment to suck up water
By the looks of it, this car is worthy of me investing money in it, I will eventually go about and change the sound system. I need something that can handle Bluetooth connectivity. If you'd like I can mail it to you, once it's out and the new is in.
Thank you, but I don't own a Honda anymore. Maybe once i pay off my new car, I will be in another Honda. More than likely it will be a 99-00 civic dx, I don't need the sunroof or power windows.
07-17-2016, 08:03 PM
$650 Honda Civic DX coupe 5spd (New here!)
