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So, given I keep having problems with this car, I'm going to keep all my questions, comments, concerns, pictures, whatnot, in this thread so it's cleaner in the forums, if that's okay with the mods.
(also if I can I'll be deleting my old threads and moving the information here)
Here's the long story of why I even have this car and what I've done to her so far:
So, I used to own a 1995 Ford F-150 that I drove from Connecticut to Seattle Washington back in February. (I always wanted to move out west and finally decided to do it). I loved this truck, even ended up living in it for a little while, but the Northeast is not nice to vehicles and she had quite a bit of rust. I also found out that doing oil pans on those trucks is not something I'm equipped to do.
Anyway, I botched trying to replace the oil pan and left myself without a vehicle. With $500 I managed to scrounge up through returning things and selling others, I went on craigslist in search of a small, mod-able, manual, preferably hatchback vehicle. After getting rides to see an Accord (that ran well but ended up not having a title) and a Del Sol (that was horribly modded and didn't start when we got there), I finally found this kinda ratty '91 Civic hatch. It ran, although poorly, said the ad, and the kid didn't know much about cars but needed to make room in the driveway. After one long Uber ride, I took the car around the block, listened to it run, and gave the kid $500. It did run like crap, but hey, it ran. I drove home in my first ever Honda.
This is the day I got the car, after I pulled it into my work. Boy did this thing run like complete dog.
The faux carbon fiber wheel.
So, I set to work, giving the car a new set of plugs, wires, cap and rotor, and an oil change. It ran better, sort of, but still burned oil like crazy, occasionally sputtered, and also idled super lumpy. I did a compression test on the car, and found just about 60psi on all cylinders, and the car was pushing oily coolant into the overflow bottle. I also found two major vacuum leaks and smoothed the idle way out, and got rid of the CEL that had been on before.
The head gasket was swapped in all of an hour. Getting the exhaust manifold back on took another two as it wouldn't seem to line up no matter what we did until it magically slipped on.
Hoping this would fix the occasional sputtering issue, I learned how to do a major (for me, at least) service on a vehicle, the previously scary head gasket repair. Before this, I had done basic maintenance, pulled a gauge cluster to fix some bulbs, and did a TPS on my truck. Nothing like pulling a head off, though.
Also, in-between these two services, I picked up a grant wheel from work that was far better looking (at least to me) than the fake carbon fiber wheel.
Well, as we know now, the head gasket, while blown was not entirely the cause of the sputtering, or the poor compression. One of the local Meineke shops my work (the green Irish auto parts store with the catchy jingle) delivered to offered to take a look at my car for free. They did a leakdown test and discovered completely worn piston rings was the cause of my god-awful compression figures. This led to me doing a very major service, an engine swap
How's the sight of a D15B1 in a 2017 Civic? It took us all of 3 hours to have the old motor out of the shell and on the floor. Then it took all of 20 minutes the next day to have the new motor mounted and the axles in. And boom, after two days, we had finished the swap.
Now, this fixed the compression issue, but not the sputtering. That wouldn''t be fixed for another month or two. In the meantime, confident in my newfound shadetree mechanic skills, I finally decided to give Pick-N-Pull a visit, having never been before. I picked up a tach cluster out of an auto wagon, now we can actually see what RPM we're at!
(also I found an old roll of stickers at work that I put over the grant logo on the horn button...I'm kinda curious as to what this logo is for, as I quite like it) Also picked up a DA Integra driver's seat. While not in the best of shape, it was actually far better than the mostly destroyed original vinyl seat, and the adjustable lumbar and bolstering was quite a novel thing for me. I also grew tired of the 13" stock steelies and found a set of VW P-slots for $160
. Also, #racecar. Decided to gut the rear interior and take out the carpet as I'd never done that on a car before.
Now, finally, and a bit ashamedly, it finally dawned on me to check the fuel pressure to see if that was the cause of the sputtering. Sure enough, we were getting about 20 cycling the key on and off and about 27 with the FPR vacuum line unplugged. Time to tackle another type of job I'd never done, removing a fuel tank! Took about two hours, but I was quite proud of myself when it was done!
We finally had adequate fuel pressure, about 40 cycling the key on and off and about 45 with the FPR unplugged. So far, no more sputtering!
Next in the saga, I finally got pulled over in this car, for doing 5 over the speed limit and having tinted taillights. The cop actually let me go after I told him the tinted lights were the work of the previous owner, and that I didn't like them as you could barely see them at night. Back to pick-n-pull I went, in hopes of finding a hatch amongst their inventory. Success! Sort of. I'm not a huge fan of Altezzas, I think they're kind of rice-y, but at $20 a taillight, it's cheaper than having the next cop not be so lenient. Before After. The difference is, well, night and day. Now people can actually see my taillights and turn signals.
Just two days ago the GF and I made a journey from Tacoma, Washington to Lincoln City, Oregon for Thanksgiving with her parents. I now have to figure out a potential oil consumption or high RPM leak issue (as right before I left I checked all my fluids, and the oil was spot on, and then this morning when I went to go get Starbucks for the family, there was some oil on the driveway (it has been raining so, it could have been a lot, could have been a little that just spread out. It wasn't enough to make the driveway slick, I'll say that) and there was almost none on the dipstick. I did get the car up to [redacted] MPH on a long, straight, lonely road on the way to Oregon, but it didn't perform any differently after doing so.
Here she sits right now in the driveway. I actually like the way the P-slots look without the center caps more.
So, here's a long thread and a tribute to a car that has taught me how to work on cars more than any before. Thank you, Wendy, you've been a fun, although sometimes frustrating car, and I hope now to make faster. I have a lot more confidence working on cars and diagnosing issues. Next thing we're doing will be paint, as I'm super tired of the awful rattle can job.
Also, other things I've fixed but didn't have pictures for:
New distributor (after the old one's seal failed and it filled with oil)
3 Re-man Alternators (first one was bad out of the box!)
New fan relay and wired the fan back in (why it was cut I'll never know...it works now)
Bled the coolant many many many times until finally doing it the right way.
Replaced a seeping radiator hose
Put in a cheap head unit (still have to figure out if I'm missing a ground on it...It works but there's a bare wire in the radio wiring that doesn't seem to carry any voltage. the wiring harness was cut before I got the car)
Removed a switch that went to nothing under the dash.
Replaced the main relay.
Replaced the 02 sensor after my buddy accidentally ripped the wire off it. (that was fun. Took a breaker bar to get the old one out)
Replaced the passenger side seat belt clip thing. The old one decided to just stop clipping in one day.
Replaced the door light switches as the old ones were sticky and hardly worked
Replaced the dome light fixture with one I got out of a wagon (and put an LED bulb in it).
Deleted the charcoal canister and just plugged the vacuum lines going to it.
thats such a great story so far man haha
ive always said that this is why i like ef owners more than any other
because most of them have to go threw this when they get there car and they learn alot while doing so
but after this is just enjoyment and alot of adventures
and that is just beautiful...knowing that your car is alive and well and its all thanks to you
Also any reason for bringing the tinted tails back? I thought you had switched to the Altezza ones?
Also, you painted your third brake light!!
hah there’s a lot of overspray on the ground whoooooops.
Also aesthetically the tinted tails look better...and the altezzas kept leaking no matter how much I siliconed them...I even baked the lenses open sealed them that way.
also! The third brake light doesn’t work and I’m planning on getting a wing for it anyways hah
So, I’m having an odd problem. My rear defroster switch turns on my third brake light, and as far as I can tell my defroster does not work. There only seems to be one wiring clip that goes up the hatch that seems to do both the defroster and the third brake light. What am I missing? Should I be checking under the dash??
Have you checked the wiring? There's one clip accessible under the psuedo-spoiler on the far passenger side. I'd start there and check continuity, because it definitely sounds like something's shorting. Hopefully it's under the dash, because better that then tearing your hatch apart, or following the harness that runs from under the dash (driver side footwell) aaaaall the way back to that hatch plug. No, there is no break all the way back, and yes you have to pull half the interior to get it free.
So, for now I’ve just disconnected the defrost plug and third brake light plug. Haven’t needed it the past few days. However, I did get! Working gas struts for the rear hatch (autozone actually sells replacement ***** for them, look on their website under “lift support hardware”, it’s part number m300 or something like that) and an Accord front lip, both at pick n pull.
Got a spoiler off eBay! Also got some more stickers on amazon, and one of those obnoxiously large bubble shifters!
Also tomorrow I’m getting the parts to do an MPFI swap finally. It’s a Z6 intake manifold, I’m not sure if the injectors are OBD1 or OBD0, from what I’ve read if they are OBD1, I just eliminate the resistor box and wire all the yellow/black wires together and wire them to pin A15? And if not, wire as normal? Also I’m a little unsure as to how all the vacuum lines are run on this manifold. Here’s the photos from the FB marketplace listing. I’ve got an SI dizzy new from work, wire, wire loom, and a soldering gun. Also heat shrink. Any insight would be helpful. surprisingly, I’m more nervous about attempting this than I was swapping out the old D15B1 for the rebuilt D15B1
Do you have a multi-meter? If not get one. Check resistance on the wire run before you chop. Check again when you're done soldering your extension/modification. If it hasn't changed more than a hundredth, you did alright. Heat shrink 'er up. It doesn't have to be pretty, but it does have to be damn close to stock or you'll send your sensors/ECU into fits.
If you have any ability to work on that harness off the car, do it. I've tried both ways. You get a much better result when you're not trapped in the engine bay.
11-23-2017, 01:26 AM
Wendy, the Problem Child
Also tomorrow I’m getting the parts to do an MPFI swap finally. It’s a Z6 intake manifold, I’m not sure if the injectors are OBD1 or OBD0, from what I’ve read if they are OBD1, I just eliminate the resistor box and wire all the yellow/black wires together and wire them to pin A15? And if not, wire as normal? Also I’m a little unsure as to how all the vacuum lines are run on this manifold. Here’s the photos from the FB marketplace listing. I’ve got an SI dizzy new from work, wire, wire loom, and a soldering gun. Also heat shrink. 
Any insight would be helpful. surprisingly, I’m more nervous about attempting this than I was swapping out the old D15B1 for the rebuilt D15B1
