black300zx

Monday night I picked up a 1997 Civic DX coupe. This car will be my daily driver, seeing about 120 miles per day round trip from my commute to work. My other car, which I had been driving daily since the winter of '07, is a 1994 Nissan 300zx slicktop that I bought as a project car, but wound up driving daily before I could get to the body work. Prior to that Z, I drove a black 1990 300zx from about 2003 - 2007.

Some details about the Civic:

-128k miles
-5spd with a recently replaced clutch
-Manual windows & mirrors
-Manual steering
-Aftermarket sunroof (I'm hoping it doesn't start leaking down the road)
-It had a minor front end hit at some point that was 'sort of' fixed.
-Bone stock other than the sunroof

I picked it up for $1900 cash. The only things it really needs are:
-Timing belt job, since there's no record of it being changed.
-Front exhaust pipe
-Axle boot
-Rear lower control arm bushings are going bad
-The A/C system has a leak that I need to pinpoint and fix

My plans for it:
-Keep it mostly stock, unless an aftermarket upgraded part is either a) cheaper and better quality than a parts house replacement, b) could help gas mileage, or c) will tighten up the suspension
-I'd like to get a set of stock alloy wheels so that I can put dedicated snow tires on the steelies
-If the roads on my commute to work get nasty in the winter, I'm considering an OBX LSD, depending on the feedback I can find regarding quality
-Decent alarm
-I'm an ex car audio addict, so I'm sure I'll piece together a nice SQ setup for it.

Monday night I ordered parts for the timing belt job from Majestic Honda. I'm pretty **** about preventative maintenance, so I'll be replacing the belt, tensioner, tensioner bolts, water pump, t-stat, and the cam/crank/valve cover seals. I'm hoping they'll be in in the next day or two so that I can have it on the road this weekend. Is there anything else I'm missing in terms of preventative maintenance?

A few pictures:

Exterior:








Good shot of the front end damage


Interior

original_CRX

Well welcome to ht. For the timing sounds like you got everything covered. Just to b safe if it wasnt documented I would check the spark plugs and wires and just do a mild tunup. Deffantly would replace the axle boot before the axle startes poping. Other than that souds like you go a really good deal.

black300zx

Plugs are NGKs and are in good condition. Wires also look fine. I'll be replacing the axle boot when I toss it up on a lift to replace the front exhaust pipe.

Edit: I was browsing through the custom interior thread a bit down the page, and I realized that there was an optional armrest (standard on some models). This is definitely high on my "to-do" list, as the lack of one was driving me nuts on the way home. Is my interior "Excel Charcoal" or "Classy Gray"? As soon as I can confirm the color, I'll be posting a WTB ad.

EJ8freek

Nice pick-up. 120 miles per day you say? Damn. At least you'll save some gas $.

black300zx

Yup - My rough estimates say that my civic should cut my gas costs in half compared to if I was using my Z to make the commute. Not to mention cheaper tires, cheaper maintenance, and the fact that I'll finally be able to finish the body work on my Z now.

original_CRX

Good start. Keep us updated.

black300zx

Finished the timing belt, tensioner, water pump, and cam/crank seals up on Saturday morning. The job wasn't bad at all. It took me about 3.5 hours with cleanup, and I went back to the computer a couple times verifying the alignment and tensioning of the belt, and verifying that the single mark on the pulley was for mechanical timing, and the cluster of 3 was for ignition timing.

Today I just need to change the t-stat and install the new condenser and then I'll finish cleaning up the paint. I'm using the Meguiar's 3 stage sytem, but with the No. 17 High-Tech yellow wax instead of the deep crystal wax. Once I get a good coat of carnuba on the paint, I'll maintain it through the summer with a synthetic, probably either NXT or Ice. Friday I got from the windowline down done with the paint cleaner, so I only have a few hours of work left to do on the exterior before I post some new pictures.

I took a trip down our boat this weekend. It's a 140 mile round trip with about 95% highway driving. I averaged 40.6 mpg with the windows down, sunroof back, AC off, no cruise control, and averaging about 65mph. I'm pretty thrilled with that. This car is going to save me a ton of money compared to driving my Z daily.

Finally, my dad just told me this weekend that he has a set of alloy Honda wheels up his shop that he was getting ready to throw out a couple weeks back. I'm anxious to see what they are, since I'd love to score some free alloys and ditch the hubcaps.

Matt93eg

Congrats on the car man, enjoy it. Glad you got the Timing Belt/Waterpump job behind you. There not hard at all but I remember way back when I did my first one just being kinda nervous for some reason. Now you will have piece of mind you won't pop the belt on your commute.

Ya-Ya

Congrats on the new daily. Sounds like you have a pretty good idea on what you want to accomplish with so good luck and have fun!

PSU

iTrader: (2)

Congrats on the car and good job with the timing belt.

If I were you, I'd change out the transmission fluid with some Honda MTF while you are at it.

I just changed mine and it is super smooth now.

black300zx

That's another thing on the to-do list, along with flushing the brake fluid. I already flushed the clutch fluid last week, and the old fluid was almost black. I can actually feel what the clutch is doing now The MTF would have been changed already, but the closest Honda dealer is 30+ minutes away, and I've had other priorities. I'll likely pick up some fluid in the next week or so and get it changed.

Also, could anyone verify from the pictures I've posted, which color gray interior I have? I believe it's the darker "Classy Gray", but I'd just like some confirmation before I buy an armrest.

black300zx

I wasn't planning on putting this much effort into cleaning up the paint, but I got lazy when applying the Meguiar's paint cleaner and decided to use an old buffer pad, rather than running out to get a new one. The next afternoon I realized that I swirled the crap out of the paint using the old pad, so I was sort of forced into giving it proper buffing.

-Griot's Garage Claybar
-Meguiar's Mirror Glaze No.9 (scratch and swirl remover)
-Meguiar's Hi-Tech No.26 Yellow Wax
-Stoner's Invisible Glass on the windows

Once I get the trim cleaned up (some of the residue is from me, some from the previous owner), I'll be giving it a good coat of synthetic wax (Either Turtlewax ICE or Meguiar's NXT) to keep the trim looking nice and to protect the carnuba that's on there now.

I also changed the tranny fluid this morning, and it was dark as used motor oil It does shift buttery smooth now. I guess all of the previous owners just drove it, changed the oil, and didn't think about anything else.

Yea the body is far from perfect, and it's got a healthy amount of orange peel, but it's shiny and protected





My "To-Do" list is getting shorter:

- Flush the brake fluid
- Fix the exhaust leak
- Fix the driver's side door lock (The interior lock doesn't work, but it locks fine from the outside with the key)

Pothole987

for the inside door lock, their is a anti lock on the lock ( if you understand that) so you dont lock your keys in. try opening the inside door handle ( hold it open) and try locking it.

CrAzE191st

i also just got myself a 99 civic dx a couple of days ago, but this is my first car ever so im a little clueless and I was also thinking about what i could do in terms of preventative measures, this post is definitely gonna help out. Trying to make a list before I try to do anything. Good job with the find, definitely a good deal for the car.

Kidnkorner

Creative user name

JasonYo

Looking good.

Yeah like mentioned above the lock is like that, just open the handle a bit on the inside.

And as for the armrest, that came on ex and si models, you can probably find one on ebay easily. Your interior is probably charcoal.

black300zx

Bingo - you nailed it. Thanks

Yup - I found out which models they came on shortly after I made that post. I've got a pretty killer junkyard fairly close, so I'll be making a run down for a couple odds and ends, both for my Civic and for my Z. If I can't find a clean armrest there, I'll grab one off ebay.