I found a 1982 Honda Civic GL 5-speed hatch on CL for a good deal. Normally I am a Mazda/Ford guy. But, my brother has an 83 Civic DX hatch he picked up just after the first of the year. I drove his a few times and fell in love with it. So I went to take a look at it. It was a little rougher then I thought from the pictures on CL. I was able to get it for a price I felt good paying. The car runs quite well but has it's quirks. It needs a turn signal relay. Needs rear shoes and drums. It's missing some of the side trim and the chrome headlight trim. Could use a coolant flush and some body work here and there. As for the good it has the cool 3 position rear seat with split bottom. A tachometer and clock. Awesome so 80's rear metal Louvers. I already put my mini cooper rims on it for now. They are only place holders until I get new studs and spacers. They contact the struts front and back surprised I squeezed 215/45/16's on it. I also have a set of fender mirrors on the way for it. My plans are to keep the 1500cc in it till it dies. Then swap in an accord 1800cc. Well enough with the words on to some pictures!

 

nice project but definitely some work ahead of you.

 

Awesome car. I've had two 1983 models myself (wagon and hatch). The Accord engine will be a nice addition to the drive train. I have one in my current '79 Civic. What style fender mirrors did you get? The square ones, I hope? Looks like a little work ahead of you......but that's the fun part.

First order of business? Take those wheels back off! And smaller pictures so we can more easily see them. Good luck, man.

 

Thanks!
Yes indeed square black plastic ones on the mirrors. I am not too sure how I feel about the rims on the car myself. I had them on my escort gt for a long time and they looked great. I would much prefer a nice set of 15's. I may attempt to trade them off but its hard to get rid of barley used falken azenis. They need spacers which makes me think about trading them off even more. Who, knows after I redo the centers to honda symbols maybe they will look better. Plus my mom works at a dealership and they get take off 16" tires all the time. Oh I did a quick resize on the photo's!

 

Well cool on the fender mirrors. Will you be removing the door mounted ones? It may be a minute, but I would imagine you could find a mirror delete or something.

As far as wheels go, I'm not a big wheel person myself. Especially on a small car. It just looks odd to me. Both of my 2nd gens had 13" wheels Fourteen would be my max. But tires are getting tougher to find for the smaller wheels so who knows.

Keep it up and I'll be watching.

 

I'll have to check, but I "may" have an extra set of the headlight bezels.

 

Yay 2nd Gens! Any interior pics and do you want to keep the tach option gauge cluster? I would love to take that off your hands if you don't want it.

 

I was working on the mirror delete today. I used the passenger mirror delete off an escort base cut up for now. I need to paint it and I will grab pictures. Would like to find a real one. But this works for now. As far as the wheels go I will see what happens.

That would be awesome, even if they are a bit messed up I would be in as I plan to paint them black.

I will get some pics when I clean it out. I am most definitely keeping my tachometer.

 

They look great!

 

Looks rough but it has potential. You really have to take those wheels off cause they are too big. Get some nice 14" or maybe 15".

 

The wheels are up on craigslist now, If I didn't already have them I would have gotten smaller wheels. I am thinking some 14x7 will probably end up on it. I am going to look at a set today. I need to start looking into finding springs. I know Spax makes a set and B and G used to. Also been keeping tabs on the coilovers for second gens. Anyone know of a reputable place stateside to get springs?

 

The Wheels sold, I found something else to drive though. So the car is for sale, if anyone is interested I am asking $800 for it. Runs and drives fine, has a stereo in it. Interior is in ok shape, the drivers seat has 2 tears passenger and rear are excellent. I will take better pics if anyone is interested.

 

[QUOTE=crazypunkerguy]
Current Pic


Interior shots since I have none posted yet.

Front behind the plastic covered chrome things that runs around the window.

Rear of the same rail by far the worst of it.

on the hatch

Same with this one

The roof rails were filled I had my dad help me clean and fix them. They just need new rails installed now.
My brother says my car runs better and is quicker then his 83. It's his Daily driver and he hasn't had any problems. I would assume it would make it most anywhere. I am a little more anxious to get this out of here as my miata will be at my house soon.