I am a documenter to say the least, so I want to keep all my progress piled into one thread. This is my newest project. Purchased on April 27th, 2011. 1994 Honda Civic CX hatchback with fresh JDM D15B swap (will be kept stock, sorry boys ). Engine has 45k on it, runs beautifully, gets 40+ mpg's, couldn't be happier. Exterior was in overall good condition, I would say a 9/10. No major dents, just a few dings and some oxidation on the roof. Interior was also a 9/10, everything is there and in good shape for the most part. Came with cheap KYB suspension, eBay type-R lip and eBay intake.

My plan is to create a nice and sexy daily driver. This is how it sat a few days after I bought it, I had already switched out the stock tails for these at this point:




This was a perfect candidate for me to learn on. I'm pretty new to everything, and I learn everything online and learn by doing. The first thing I did was replace the clutch as it was starting to go, it was my first time really getting in there and taking stuff apart, and it went smoothly:





I also installed a B&M dual bend short shifter with new Energy Suspension Shifter bushings, but I don't have any pictures of the setup.

Next was audio. I don't have any pictures but I installed a Kenwood Excelon head unit and some Polk coaxial speakers, man what a difference. Sounds great! It was my first time soldering, here is the finished wiring harness:



Next was suspension. The KYB suspension rode like ****, wasn't adjustable and wasn't low enough for me. Stance is very important to me, so I had to upgrade. Out with the old:



And in with the new:



Function&Form Type 1's purchased new. Not the nicest setup, but affordable. I'm happy with them. After I installed them:



Next was wheels. I searched around for quite a bit and discovered Stance Mindset wheels and fell in love instantly. They were perfect to me. Low offset, step lip, had a Euro style to them. I had to have them. A few weeks later, they were at my doorstep



comparison: stock vs. Stance Mindset.



It was love! 15x8 +25 with 195/50/15's




At this point, I figured it might be a good idea to get an alarm installed because there was some sketchy stuff going on my neighborhood and I'd be super bummed if my hatch got stolen. So I had a local audio shop install an alarm for me. I'm way more comfortable leaving it on the street now

Next was paint prep. This was by far the most labor intensive part of my build so far. It also sucked because I work on my car at my dad's house, which is 30 miles away from my house, so every time I went to work on it, I had to drive it home at the end of the day. So I always had to put everything back together so I could go home definitely inconvenient, but whatever. I wanted a really clean body. My plan was to shave all emblem holes, license plate holes, fix dings and dents, etc. This was my first time doing body work of any kind, so it took some trial and error, but in the end it was all worth it. Starting prep:







Went to a local meet/show with my ghetto *** setup haha, my buddy's Mazda3 and my hatch:



Bought a different hood because mine had a weird dent in it. Ended up selling it for more than I bought this one for and started prepping it:





A buddy of mine helped me weld up the emblem holes because I don't have a welder (Thanks Joel!) and I grinded them down and filled them and smoothed them out. I don't have pictures of the end product, but here's some progress shots as well as my buddy's 59 Chevy that he is working on:







Here are some shots the day I started painting it. The emblems and license plate holes are shaved, the body is fully prepped, and I had all my equipment ready. My dad has a huge army tent that he let me paint the car in. My dad helped out a lot by getting the tent, air compressor and generator ready. He also helped me with some masking. Painting the car was a 2 day process. Day 1 was door jambs, hatch jambs, hood and bumper. I let everything dry overnight so I could put the doors back on and spray the rest of the car. Day 2 was everything else. After weeks of driving around a christmas themed mess of a hatch, I was so excited to finally have it all one color again

Day 1:












Day 2:



Day 3:




Got it all back together and was pumped on how it turned out




Put my Ex/Si lip on and took some better shots. I am painting the grills black soon, and also getting the windows tinted 20% all around. I have a JDM 2-piece SiR wing coming in the mail which I will be painting the same color as the car (either that, or I'm selling the SiR wing and getting a subtle duckbill, not the super inclined one but the mellow one, and color matching that).

 

Nice...i like it, did u end up painting it the same OEM color? Want to see some more...

 

Nice

 

nice build, get some more pics up asap

 

No, I'm not a big fan of the teal green. I actually painted it with an Epoxy Primer. I know you're probably thinking "oh great, another primered hatch", but this paint looks cool. I thinned it down quite a bit which gave it a satin semi-gloss look. I love the way it looks. It basically just looks like a satin finish. It's a dark red color. I did all the door jambs and everything except engine bay, so it's pretty legit.

thanks, will do!

 

looks good so far

 

spewin, I like that colour. very rare here in aust

 

updated!

 

Nice car man! When i first saw it i told myself i hope he lowers it lol!! You going to get a rear lip? I just got my car painted and had the lips and everything painted and AFTER everything was done relized my exhaust wouldnt fit with my lip... so u cut the exhaust off for now haha!! but good paint man!!

 

hey look at it this way with the full primer aint job if you want to respray to a different color you wont have to reprime just block and spray lol

 

thanks. I'm personally not a big fan of rear lips, they just don't sit right with me. Sorry to hear about your dilemma haha at least you got a temporary solution

Exactly. And it's a legit primer too so it'll look like this for years, it wont get all dull and chalky. If I happen to get tired of the look (which I don't really think I will, but who knows) the prep for a real paint job would be minimal

 

im liking the new color man nice job! you should yank the eninge out and spray the bay to match it

 

thanks! However, that's pretty unlikely, to be honest haha

 

Was hoping to see it teal again but thats why its yours and not mine lol. Keep it up.

 

:/ no more teal... I would have left the body as it was. Your car. Have fun.

 

Looks great! I would love to have an eg for a daily but it would get stolen too fast around here.

 

nice any updates?

 

Looks great man and the red doesn't need to be painted over!

 

dexter body double?

am i rite doe?

 

will post updates soon

that's how its gonna stay!

haha thats funny, I've been told I look like dexter before. I love that show

 

update:

Beware: This is where the term "budget build" really comes into play. Stuff's about to get pretty ghetto in here. If I could do this the proper way, I would. I'm almost embarrassed to share haha.

Anyways, my Civic is the "CX" model, which is a base model. AKA manual windows, locks, no power steering, etc. Honda also decided it'd be a good idea to put less sound deadening throughout the vehicle to save on costs. So as you can imagine, the road noise is ridiculous. Very overpowering, I can't hear my music too well when I'm on the freeway, so I decided that had to come to an end. Most of the noise is coming from the hatch area, as that's usually the loudest part of a hatchback anyways. I did some research on some poor man's sound deadening and discovered "Peel and Seal" from Lowe's. Some swear by it, some say it's pointless. Either way, I figured it was worth a shot. I bought two rolls (6" x 25') which I thought would be plenty. It didn't cover nearly as much as I thought, but I'm sure it will help out somewhat with road noise.

I figured now would be a good time to strip my interior and give everything a good pressure wash and start on the sound deadening:





I was pleasantly surprised at how clean everything was. It was obvious the factory carpet had never been taken out before because it wasn't cut anywhere. You need to cut a couple small sections in order to remove it. Not bad for 7 year old carpet:



Started pressure washing everything:





Before (not even that dirty):



After, all clean and ready for Peel and Seal:



Ok, this is where it starts getting pretty ghetto and hard to look at. I was pretty limited on Peel and Seal so it couldn't really cover too much, which is why there's little bits and pieces everywhere. I even cut a sleeping bag in half and stuffed it in the quarter panels HAHA!






Made some more progress. Everything was dry from the previous day of pressure washing, so I started reassembling the interior. It came out really clean, the interior looks near immaculate now. I couldn't pressure wash the driver seat because I had to drive home that night, so I will have to do that another time. I forgot to wipe down the dashboard so its still a little dirty in the pics, but I'm happy with how clean everything turned out. I'm not a fan of the seats whatsoever, maybe I can upgrade one day.

The sound deadening definitely made a difference too. The cabin is a lot quieter now, even at highway speeds. The car also feels more solid now. Overall, the car is really starting to come together now.





I also received this:



It's a 2-piece JDM EG6 SiR spoiler imported from Japan. I bought it used on eBay, as you can tell. The paint is in horrible condition, but I'm repainting it anyways so it doesn't matter. I can't decide whether I want to keep this spoiler or get a Spoon style duckbill, the Spoon's are really starting to grow on me. We'll see what happens, I'll test fit it and go from there




Started sanding all the paint off:



All naked





Primered:



Painted and still drying (bad pictures):



To be honest, I'm not too pumped on this wing. It doesn't even really look that much different to me. I think I'm gonna post it up for sale/trade and get a spoon style duckbill.

Befores and Afters. Car is dirty:






And a few miscellaneous shots:

 

good **** like it so far

 

Looking great so far dude! As for the SiR spoiler, it looks prefect IMO

 

thanks, yeah it's definitely starting to grow on me. I think I'm just gonna keep it

 

i like that spoiler, not too dramatic
great progress