Dekorum

I wanted to make this thread to discuss what I have been noticing lately, and to hear others' opinions on this matter.
Whenever I order a "new" part from Honda (Majesty, other dealer, etc.) I compare the part that I get to the old part that I am taking off of my car, "original". I've been noticing that A. it seems like quality control has decreased because the plastic pieces don't seem as finished, theres always more swirls in the plastic and/or little pieces of plastic hanging off that I proceed to rip off as if it was rushed to be created or something, and B. some parts are a little bit DIFFERENT. I thought that Honda would have a machine to make these parts identical, or it could be possible that since my car is a 92, some parts were modified to fix a problem they noticed and decided to sell only the new style part under the same part number.

One current example is this cowl that I just received. I took a few pictures.



On the "original" one there is marks that show the weatherstripping/foam wrap around and go along the very bottom of the cowl, and the "new" one doesn't have that.

You can see the bottom not weatherstripped better in this picture. The bottom would be the left in this picture. Also on the top right by one of the windshield wiper holes, there is a foam piece that sticks up and there is not even a mark of that ever being on the "original" one.

This picture was just to compare the difference in look. The new one definitely looks a lot better, but my "original" one wasn't too bad either for a 92. I am aware of the difference in that the rubber hood stripping is not on the original one because I took it off.

This is the weirdest difference. I never understood what that purpose of that plate was, but on the "new" one it is no longer there. I am lifting up the rubber to show that it is just not there. I am not sure why there is still an indentation for one though.


These last two pictures show the grid on the back which I think may explain the differences. It either means what month of what year it was made in (where the last circle is), OR what year/month made Civic's the cowl is replacing or acting as.

Yeah, this is kind of random but I wanted to talk about it a little because it was a bit annoying seeing that there were differences at all.

BryanM.

iTrader: (1)

Neat thread.

OP you are a purist.

egsleepercivic

the dots show when it was made the original looks like july of 92 and the replacement looks like september of 95, which I believe is when they started making the 96 models

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

I think you're being overly analytical.

Dekorum

So, these parts are just laying around in the warehouse after being made in 95 and no later than September? I thought they made sometime recent because it seems like they would run out by 2011.

egsleepercivic

I recently got OEM floor mats for my 93 si, I will check the dots when I get home later, some parts I believe were made well past when the cars went out of production

94EG8

Some parts are already discontinued. They only made so much of this stuff, once it's gone, it's gone. Some parts, like say bolts that have the same part number and are used across numerous models and years legitimately have changed, bolts used to generally be a gold color, now most of them are silver color. Ball joints for 5th gen civics have changed (you'll notice the middle of the part number says S04 now, which means '96 - '00 Civic) new part supersedes old part)

Oh and btw, honda sometimes made the same parts in different factories in different parts of the world, or used different parts depending on where the car was built (for example '92 Japanese production civics (some 5th gen sedans were built in Japan and shipped over) used Denso alternators, while the US and Canadian built Civics used Mitsubishi alternators (as well as all replacement alternators being Mitsubishi)

VinhTEC

I feel you bro I am a lover of OEM just better quality fit and form. But I bet Honda is sending it to another company to manufacture this stuff or they might have leased out production of the old sutff? Maybe they are able to make it cheaper for themselves to save money. As we all know Honda has suffered in a lot of sales and the market for cars has gone down I bet they cut corners as all companies do. But I hate to see our cars take the cut man Honda has outstanding quality and beauty. I think the down fall of the market for Hondas came when they made the damn Civic FGs :x

Dekorum

Haha, I noticed that about the bolts as well.

So does anyone know what that little panel thing is for in the 5th picture and what could be the reasons that they took it out or why the didn't put a line of foam along the bottom. I assume that these were changes in the later year EGs, maybe 94-95. This is definitely not a good analogy to parts that are superseded because I understand that, lol. These parts were not used on anything after the EG.

94EG8

There were numerous subtle differences between '92 - '93 Civics and '94 - '95 Civics that most people don't notice. Like the dash. the grey bezel where the dash switches go (dimmer, rear defrost etc) is smooth and has some silver flake in it for '92 - '93. For '94 - '95 it's textured and a darker grey with no silver flake)

NOFX

I love this thread.

Sometimes I feel like other people just don't notice this sort of thing.

I always took it to have something to do with being a part that wasn't part of the original "pressing" of the item. The items not originally put on the cars coming from the factories could be part of a separate purchase by Honda from the maker of the part. Making a lower number order could cost (per item) more, so quality might slightly suffer.

Could be a different manufacturer. Could be that the material was changed for whatever reason (price, quality, availability, toxicity, maker went out of business, etc.).

TwoFaced

^ Lol didn't think of toxicity but seeing how old some of our cars are it wouldn't surprise me.

I've noticed a few differences in items ordered from majestic, and I always thought maybe the piece on my car was replaced with a non OEM item from the owner before and I am putting an OEM item on now...I didn't think they really changed now I'm going to have to start paying attention more. I wish I would've seen this thread a few hours ago. I just replaced my inner fender wells...quality actually seemed better on the newer ones.

redef90si

iTrader: (3)

Good thread,interesting stuff I never looked into it that much.

Blacknight117

iTrader: (1)

Yea, I noticed that too. Especially in my '95 Civic, my bezel is darker than my dad`s who drives a '93 Civic.

Dekorum

Yeah, I've noticed the color of the dash switches and this difference still exists because if you look up the parts under Majestic for 92-93 or 94-95 it says the color you will be getting, which is different.

The cowl difference that I am seeing, on the other hand, does not exist anywhere..
NOFX, I agree with some of the ideas you have on the sources of the differences. But does anybody know if that piece of foam that actually sicks UP from the surface of the cowl, that appears in the 3rd picture, is normal? When the cowl goes on the car, isn't it going to flattened down? Makes no sense to me right now.

NOFX

From other cars, I remember the foam being there.

Probably either to prevent scraping or vibration or to help keep debris out of there. Or all of those reasons.

egsleepercivic

floor mats ordered about a month agoIMG_0147.jpg

looks like march 96

rear strut cover original to car looks like march 93

IMG_0148.jpg

gold bolts and silver I got one of each when I ordered a year ago

IMG_0151.jpg