Auxient

Hello everyone,

I am going to try to keep this as brief as possible as I am known for rambling. I have a 1995 Honda Civic Ex coupe that I picked up on a trade back in March. When I got the car, it was a mixed bag. The exterior was TERRIBLE, with a trash eBay hood, broken corner lights and headlights and the worst 18" chrome abominations of wheels that I had ever seen. The interior, however, was literally mint aside from one small tear in the driver's side seat back. I owned it for about 6 months and sold at the beginning of October. In the 6 months that I owned the car, my girlfriend and I did a lot of work to the car. We replaced the clutch and rear main seal, replaced the headlights and corner lights, removed the terrible purple tint from the inside of the car, replaced the radiator, put decent wheels on the car and put a decent amount of miles on it as well. I was going through some depression and sold the car for a reason that even I don't really know even now. Luckily, I just bought it back the other day and now she is back and is not going anywhere. My girlfriend and I have decided to turn it into a project. We are calling it "Patience" because of how many times it has already tested our patience. Below are the details of where the car currently stands in terms of specs and needed repairs:

Specs:

• 1995 Honda Civic EX
• 208,000 Miles on the original D16Z6 engine. It burns oil after sitting and at high revs but still runs strong.
• Original 5 speed transmission (grinds into reverse pretty badly).

Problems:

• Engine: The engine runs very well but it is getting tired and judging from the exterior, this car was rode hard for some of it's life. It smokes at cold start a little bit and smokes at high RPMs but other than that it is pretty good.
• Transmission: The transmission in this car has taken a beating and has lost a piece of the reverse gear which I found when changing the oil in the tranny. Still shifts fine but whoever did the clutch before me managed to cross-thread all of the bolts that hold the rear mount to the tranny.
• Suspension: The rear suspension is fine but the front is a **** show. The front passenger lower control arm bushing that sits where the shock fork mounts is disintegrated. Tie rods and ball joints should probably be done and an alignment is needed badly.
• Interior: Not much to worry about here. The sunroof needs help to tilt up before it will move on it's own. The driver's side window comes off track because of broken window channel rubber. The passenger side door panel is missing the top dew wipe piece and the dash lights almost never work. Seems like a wiring issue.
• Exterior: This is where most of the issues lie. Starting from the rear, the trunk lid has a nasty dent below the license plate mount and I will likely just find a replacement. Both rear quarter panels have about a 2 inch square area of cancer. I want to get this fixed as the rest of the car is rust free. The drivers side door and right behind it have a long dent that seems like someone hit a curb with the car. The paint is turning pink because of the crappy pigment used red cars in the 90s. The front fenders both should just be replaced or repainted at least. The hood, front bumper and core support need to be replaced. Other than that, it is straight and dent free.

Plans:
Right now this car is my daily and it will probably stay that way during most of the project. I plan to work slowly on this car and get the suspension done first. I trust this motor has some life left in it so I plan to drive it and get all of suspension and exterior work out of the way and then when the motor goes, I plan to swap it. Not sure with what, I want something that is going to be fun to drive but also reliable. As far as wheels and tires and ride height, I want a sort of "track stance" with some 15's and decent tires. I want a simple lip kit and eventually I want the car painted white.I also will be on the lookout for any JDM goodies or rare items for this car. As for the interior, I just want to replace the seats and possibly the cluster and retrofit a different center console in. I want the inside to be comfortable and quiet so I will look into sound deadening and also I will be installing a higher quality sound system.

I know that restoring this car is not cost effective or anything but we really love this car and I want to keep it around and make it something that I can be proud of. I'll post some pictures below. Feel free to add suggestions and I will continue to update as I get things done.

Thanks everyone!



UPDATE 12/13/2018

It is winter here and pretty damn cold outside so I haven't had time to work on the car at all. I am going to try to get the faulty dash light wiring figured out soon. As soon as spring comes, I will start working on some of the suspension work and the cosmetic stuff. Lot's of great stuff to come so stay tuned!

UPDATE: 12/16/2018

Just got a red hood for cheap ($20) and replaced the terrible black eBay hood that was on the car. Also figured out the dash light wiring issue, which turned out to be a faulty dimmer switch. In the process, I broke the dash bezel so I need a new one as well as a dimmer switch now.

UPDATE: 12/31/2018
It's been a busy few weeks Christmas and all that, but I did manage to get a few things done. I replaced my dimmer switch, clock, cluster and a few other parts with parts from a friend's old Civic. I still need a dash bezel though. I also got a replacement door stopper (that holds the door open so it doesn't close on you on a hill and a few pieces of trim that I will install when it is not 0 degrees outside. Happy New Year everyone!

tony_2018

AWESOME

94 Civic Si

In for seeing more!

hatchaholic

Sweet! Excellent snow car in reno! And new suspension will make it kick *** again.

Freedo_Civegra

hatchaholic

There's a Dent-Pro guy out of Spanish Springs (if U are in Reno area) that does mobile work - comes to you, that took a few dents out of my car when I had the interior out. Didn't need any paint and can't see where they were any more. I can't remember what he charged but it was reasonable. He couldn't get one out of the rear fender or spoiler cuz he couldn't get behind them.

Auxient

Dents aren't really the problem here. Does he deal with rust?

hatchaholic

Nope he only does dents. You'd mentioned what might be curb rash along the right side - he could probably straighten that out if you have the interior panels out of the way. I know that be a real PITA for aft of the door!

Auxient

I have updated the original post and will continue to do so regularly.

Jon Petersen

Hey man, I bought a white 95 Civic coupe as my first car 2 summers ago. I had a lot of problems that I had to fix on her, kinda like yours. It was real hard. I also had some depression. Sucks man. I'm really sorry. It always gets better, for some strange reason.
Let me know how the car goes. It's a good car.

Triller831

I hope this works out for you man.

Auxient

Thank you! It has been working out. Just replaced the beat up eBay hood with an OEM red one that matches the car.

Thanks! It has been treating me great!

Auxient

Updated the post as of 12/31/2018. Oh, and Happy New Year everyone! Here's to a great 2019!