This is my EF (I know it's really an ED)




















It's in pretty rough shape right now. It's replacing my jaguar as my dd. $800 bux and a long weekend and I finally took ownership on Sunday.

So here are some goods and bads:

1989 Honda civic dx

-181,xxx
-The guy said he did the rings in it last year (I don't really believe him...)
-paint isn't as bad as it looked in the photos he sent me
-Crappy tint, but it's better than no tint
-Engine feels strong, clutch is firm
-3rd grinds sometimes, but I'm wondering if thats my noob 5 speed driving...
-Leaks some oil near the dizzy and by the cam gear (I looked at the motor from the drivers side...the header blocked the big oil spot from my view) Not really bad. Just enough to cover the whole bottom of the car and some of my wife's windshield...but it was over the course of a 5 hour trip
-It came with a rad skunk2 shift ****, arospeed fartcan, and walmart cd player, crappy clear corners that don't fit, the cheapest seat covers ever, hyper white-ish bulbs in the headlights
-Did you know the backseat windows opened? I had no idea!
-Paint sux on the hood and is a little bad on the roof
-It's got a constant battery light, I'm going to check the alternator this weekend
-Cel comes on when it gets up to operating temp Car drives fine but it feels like it misses or stutters or hesitates or something. I'm guessing an O2 sensor or something
-The steering wheel is melted or something at 12 o'clock position.
-I found some brokely's in the glove box! Score!
-Handbrake does not work. Thats what the can of WD-40 is doing next to the drivers seat.


My plans for right now:
-Replace the front and rear bumpers. (I'd like to find some at the junkyard that have the paint instead of straight plastic. Did they make those in this color blue?)
-Pull out the dent in the rear and straighten the hatch.
-Screw in or glue the cloth on the back of the backseat (Staples??? WTF?)
-Clean it out. (Yes thats a biscuit on the passenger floor.)
-Fix the clear corners
-Degrease the engine
-New steering wheel
-Find a gauge cluster with a tach (Anyone know which one I can get/will fit?)
-Maybe a center console? (Any ideas?)
-Cloth front and back seats. The plasticy seats get hott!!!
-Fix the handbrake
-Fix the glove box
-Tune up
-New head unit
-Fix the door locks and hatch lock. (I have no idea what to do. None of them work and I don't want to have a key for the doors and a key for the ignition)
-See whats up with the A/C
-Passenger side mirror
-Floor mats
Pretty much cheap/free fixes for now.

I'm headed to the junk yard tomorrow morning to see what I can dig up. After that, I'm going to my dad's house and we will try and diagnose the CEL and battery light.

My goal for the car:

Keep it pretty simple. Not flashy. No big turbo or crazy high compression/loping idle. Maybe dpfi to mpfi mini-me or a whole D16z6 with bolt-ons. Ex/Si tranny. New suspension. Some fat fives. New tint. Fix the paint. Nothing too big.

So I'm open to any/all feedback and suggestions. I am kind of poor though and I'm not into the whole JDM craze. I'll update and new pics when I can. Money is pseudo tight right now, so not too often.

But first things first...a bath and vacuum!!!

 

Yeah that's a real fixer upper. Good luck why don't you come out to Auto Zone on Bemiss. There every saturday at 9 and you'll make friends that can help out with your build.

 

You got some work ahead of you. How much did you pay for it? I just picked up a 91 hatch for $250. Your's is in way better shape than mine I'm pretty much going down the same route you are. I got my gauge cluster with a tach from a crx. It was plug and play. Since your's is an 88-89 you have to get one from an 88-89 crx. For the center console, you can get one from an Integra 94-00 model. That's what I plan on using in mine.

 

wow cool thanks for the info about the tach and center console. I don't know if they made dc's with blue interiors though...

And I'll try and look for you guys on Saturdays.



edit: oh yeah $800 bones
My wife said I'm crazy, but what does she know?!

 

Here's my pos.


Good luck with your build.

 

thanks mang!

 

Looks like a nice project good luck

 

Nice fixer upper


I've got a crx cluster with a tach for sale. Send me a pm if you are interested. Either way, good luck with the car!

 

Damn man $800, you didn't shop around much did you?

 

good luck with it

 

You got an 89, so an 89 civic si or an 88-89 crx cluster will work.

 

thats gonna take some TLC bro , but goodluck on your sale

 

I got my 91 si for $300. But it was only running on 3 cylinders and flooded with oil. Good luck with this, You'll probably spend a lot of time at the junkyard

 

oh yeah, that thing is mild alright. hehe! good luck with your new project!

 

ok...I've been pretty busy. Heres a pseudo update.

I washed, scrubbed an armor-all'd for about 2.5 hours at the car wash Saturday. Went by the junk yard today and picked up that rear plastic molding. I'll take some pics tomorrow. It's gonna look dirty though, it's raining right now. I hope to do some body work on Thursday.

So yeah
pics tomorrow

 

not to sound negative or anything but that is not a "dent" in your drivers quarter panel. That is called a buckle, it is caused by that rear end hit, you most likely have a minor kink in your "rail" somewhere right near the rear from that re-bar getting stuffed. The rail might be fine, it could just be your rear body panel got stuffed far enough to kink the quarter. Either way the only way to get rid of that buckle is to straighten the chassis back where to specs other wise your just going to be fighting stretching metal and 1000 oil cans in the quarter.

 

going to hook it up to the come-along and pull very gently until it pops back out

 

I didn't get a whole lot done. It's been rainy and I've had to help my wife with her photoshoots.
Here are some pics:

 

Wow. Looks like she needs a lot of work.

Good luck.

 

well did a whole tune up. Car runs a lot smother. The oil was blech! Gotta run by Honda tomorrow and pick up some MTF. New highbeam bulbs.
The CEL is gone...O2 sensor wire was cut in half. Doh! Butt connector solved all that. Cas doesn't smell/run like crap after it warms up. Haven't really had time to work on the body. Hopefully soon!