So I bought myself an EP1 Civic and it is miraculously pretty rust free for the place I live in, Ireland, so having in mind that I would love to keep the car for a while what would be the best way to prevent rust from appearing, which will happen if I don't do anything.

It has to be doable at home, I am a mechanic so I have knowledge enough to do it myself but don't have the best equipment at the moment. So cannot fully dissasemble everything while the car is on stands and do it then.

 

Undercoating for bare metal will work.

Since you cannot disassemble it all, I would at least put all sides on jack stands and spray the wheel wells and spray as much as you can under the car.

Sand any rust you have, prep the metal and the rest of it and spray undercoating or 2k epoxy primer then undercoat it.

 

I was looking more into active prevention methods like hammerite or POR15

Any ideas on those?

 

You could use por15. If you have any rust I would at least get rid of the rust then apply it.

 

Check out my friend Pete's DIY autoschool. HE's got a video on por15. Check it out.

 

The simple answer is to avoid driving the car in salty or snowy weather, minimize driving it in wet weather, and to keep it clean of of dirt and debris.

Slathering your car in POR15 is the quickest way to make sure it is no longer a clean, unmolested car with a high value. You can never get it off, it will never fully harden, it's a big mess.

A trick I use in New England is to spray the car down with a product called "Salt Away" in the winter. It neutralizes salt and stops it from causing rust.

 

You should also think about where and how these cars rust.

They rust in the fenders and quarters where the metal meets the plastic bumper. What happens is over time the plastic bumper wears through the paint on the steel fender/quarter leaving it open to rust.

pull your bumpers, remove any rust that's already there, seal it back up with regular touch up paint, then put a piece of tape on the fender/quarter where it meets the plastic bumper so it won't wear through the paint.

 

The best product to protect from the inside-out would be 3M Cavity Wax.(or similar product/brand) Apply inside panels through grommets and access holes with the 'wand' that is intended for application.