EJ1 wilcox

I have been looking for a Sedan to start my project with and came across this one on CraigsList.

I want to be realistic about what to expect from an 18 year old $400 Civic before I go to look at it.

Here's the listing from CraigsList: http://portland.craigslist.org/car/92010639.html

It looks pretty good from the pictures so I emailed the owner about the condition and asked him a few questions. Here's the email I got back from him:

The car is a DX with the 1.5 16 valve engine

I think it is a clean title, either I don't know how to tell the
difference or I have never seen a salvage title

It has been in a couple of minor fender benders since my daughter got
it about 5 years ago

It has a few dings and dents on the front end, some rust around the
drivers tail light and probeley a couple of little spots elsewhere

The interior is solid considering the car has 282000 miles

The engine is using water and it does not leak water or oil. My son
said the the last trip it took of over 5 miles steam was coming out of
the tail pipe

I have decided that I will take $400 dollars for it. And here is a
little more info. the aircondining works. The car will start and seems
to run smooth But I am afraid if any one tried to drive it more than
a couple of miles it would start to steam out the tail pipe again.
When I decided to take $400 for it I removed the front wheels that are
in the picture and I put on a couple different Honda wheels but they
are not a perfect fit. They would work to tow it a ways but the two
wheels would need to be replaced to get the car back on the road
Thanks, Good questions! Remember the car is 18 years old. Thanks again

My plans are to swap in a d16z6 so I don't need it to be running. I am also going to put my wheels on there so it doesn't need to have good tires or anything.

I just don't know what to look for when I go to look at this thing, this will be the oldest car I have ever bought so I don't know what the common things are to look for. I know it will have a few dings, which I'm not too worried about because it is an 18 year old car.

For those of you who have experience buying these old project cars, what do you look for? Does this sound like a car that is worth taking a look at?

Thanks for your feedback! If this doesn't look like a good project starting point than I can keep looking but I figured for $400 or less I could afford to fix a few things.