einzelherz

Bought it last Friday and knew that there would be work to do. I haven't even had pistons in my normal car for some 7.5 years but I've had a 98 four door to work on during that time so I'm mildly familiar. It's at 145,000 miles and was a fleet car in the northeast so every piece of metal has rust. So far:

Bled brakes (still quite squishy though)
Bled clutch
Adjusted very loose parking brake (still a little wobbly side-to-side)
New plugs
New cap/rotor
New air filter
Torqued two closest camshaft bolts to the cam gear (that was a scary sight)
Topped off missing/low fluids
Ordered new aluminum radiator (old one cracked and already had been JB welded; also filled with copper stop leak...)
Ordered new plug wires
Adjusted uneven trunk (mostly)
Zip tied up rattling muffler (I'm cheap )
Changed oil (missing 1.25 qts and old crappy filter was REALLY on there)

Still need to:

Fix left turn signal - Blinks fast/slow with running lights off/on. My searching says this is a relay or switch either up by the driver's headlight assembly or down near the interior fusebox.

Replace rear view mirror - I'm going to assume that the mirror itself getting very loose is fairly common on these cars. My clips for the sun visors are also broken so I'll probably look for some of these too. The sun visors themselves have tears in the fabric but that doesn't bother me as much.

Replace trunk lid brake bulb - easy.

Door roof light doesn't work, but in the on position it does.

Replace drive belts. AC belt is currently half four-groove and half three-groove. All belts are extremely tight too which should be a no no.

I'll probably get a new set of radiator/heater hoses as well as a thermostat too. No idea how old any of those are and some have been cut and refitted rather than have the full hose replaced.

Windshield wiper stalk gets stuck in and does not activate wipers in the spray position. I assume that this is just a bad stalk (mechanically) and will be fishing for a replacement in a junk yard.

HVAC blower motor makes a slight noise related to speed. I assume it'll just need to oil its bearings.

Sticky gas pedal. The throttle has some stiction in its at rest position that makes very light throttle rev matching kind of difficult. I've also noticed that the gas pedal sits lower (behind) the brake making heel-toe downshifting difficult. Is this normal?

The most fun of all has been a very rough cold start idle. That doesn't mean that the warm idle is spectacular. With the replacement of all of the ignition parts so far (fuel filter this weekend) and the lopey sound of it (constant missing, almost 3/4 cylinder sounding) it leads me to believe that one of my injectors is clogged. I have not messed with the IAC valve though and I believe that can be another cause.

I am interested in swapping the rear drums (I hate drums and loathe having to work on them) for discs. It seems that I can take either Civic or Integra rear discs as long as I take the suspension pieces they're attached to and do a direct swap (including parking brake cables.) I am a little confused about the proportioning valve though as some writeups say that I have the same valve as the cars with the discs in the first place.

Is it also suggested that I swap the fronts as well to keep the braking distribution even, comparably? I'm also unclear about the brake master cylinders as well.

Waiting on paperwork confirmation that the timing belt was changed fairly recently because I REALLY don't want to do that again. On the plus side my cylinder compression isn't too bad at 165, 172, 162, 176. The previous owners/mechanics though sawed off the upper timing belt cover lip that the valve cover helps hold it in place with.

Sorry for the wall of text. I haven't had a car that needed this much help in a long time and since I'm still pretty unfamiliar with Civics I figured I'd throw it at you guys for advice.

Former User

Fast blinker is often caused by a blown or incorrect bulb.

The rear view mirror can be tightened by a screw behind a rear cover.

Dome light stops working when stock radio is replaced with aftermarket one. There's an easy fix. See FAQs sticky.

The light and wiper switches can sometimes be repaired. See FAQs sticky.

Blower noise is often caused by leaves and debris that collect in the fan over time. Remove blower (three screws) and clean out.

Thoroughly clean the throttle body. Grime makes the throttle plate stick. Make sure the throttle cable is adjusted to have about 1/2" of slack.

The cold start problem might be fixed by cleaning the FITV and IACV. See links in my signature.

einzelherz

Thanks Ron. I wish I could be at home ironing out these kinks but instead I'm stuck here at work being "productive." It's a shame, really.

einzelherz

Tranny woes. The gates between the different gears seem very vague. I'm also getting a lot of lateral play in the shift lever when actually in gear. I assume this isn't normal and I have worn bushings somewhere.