Hello All,
I've been a lurker here for around a year - when I obtained my Civic. My gf bought this car certified used as her first car (gotta love Daddy...). Last year, a fuel line rotted out and shortly after was backed into during a snowstorm. She was done "throwing money away" and decided to lease a 2012 Ford Focus SE (5spd). She elected to GIVE me the Civic for all of my efforts (water pump, timing belt, CV axle, along with other minor things). I was driving a 2000 S10 at the time, and I have never regretted ditching it since.

My '98 EX currently has 223k miles on it - even the clutch is original. It is 99% stock - Sony head unit. Since I took ownership, I removed both AC and PS belts and get 35city/45hwy mpg (I spend a lot of time in neutral). It does have a small oil leak/burn, which I am getting ready to track down. Idles low-and-steady and purrs nicely. This has been the favorite car I've ever owned (my first non-American vehicle).

So, down to business...
Last week, I finally decided to do a minor tear down and recondition. My focus is to make her super clean and put her on a diet. I'll get to the photos soon.

 

As it currently sits.

 

Is that OEM styrofoam in good condition? DAMN lol.
Interesting. My initial thought was that it cost 98 cents, before I opened my eyes. Clean up that dusty bay!

 

Can't beat a free car. It looks to be in decent shape. Are you keeping this motor, or doing a swap? Either way do yourself a favor and use only OEM honda tune up/replacemnt parts. These are very good cars and last a really long time. Congrats and good luck with the build.

 

Thanks. Before I decide on a motor swap, I want to do a compression check and drop the oil pan to inspect. If there is no sign of wear/weakness, I'll keep the Y8 and focus elsewhere. If I do have reason to worry, I am either going to do a b18c swap or a d15b 3-stage swap. Project goals are still up in the air.

I respect my vehicles, and use OEM as often as possible. Before I moved, the parts guy at my old town's Honda dealer knew me by name...

 

Turbo + built D-block can get you a good 250-400HP for the same if not similar price of a measly 160-180HP B-series.

 

I don't know if I want to go through the engineering problem that is turbocharging. I feel that if I were to, I would certainly make it have 300+ hp. The barometric pressures associated with more than doubling output will require adding, what I feel, too much weight in the front of the car (one of my main objectives is reducing mass as much as possible to improve handling characteristics). But I'm still doing my hw on the matter.

 

You didn't have to pull all those pieces to gt good MPG...I average 36 mpg in mixed city/hwy driving while consistently using my AC and of course power steering. When I've really been miserly I've pulled 42 MPG mixed.
Like you said...use neutral more often than 1st gear.

 

SO...I've went further into the car than I had originally intended to. No shocks there. On a whim I decided to tear out the interior to inspect for corrosion. It has snowballed into a full-on restoration as the salty-Michigan-winter roads have shown to be more of an issue than I had anticipated. The car is going to be sitting for a while until I can clear out space in the garage. Hopefully, I can sell some of these parts...my garage is tiny.

I love finding dead things under the carpet...


Their home...


Trunk floor is going to need some TLC.

 

This shall be interesting. In for more!

 

That trunk floor is sad. You're fighting time with that one. Especially up in the rust belt.

Good luck! I'm trying to save another Civic myself right now.

 

Nice car but exactly why i wont move up north. Too much rust. Did the po never undercoat the car?

 

Michigan only uses salt during winter because it has one of the largest underground salt deposits in the world. Otherwise, Michigan is awesome - I prefer it to the sticky south. I would love to move back.

The underside of the car does appear to be rubberized, but when I removed the rear bumper cover I realized that the air outlet was missing - which would explain all the debris and be a likely culprit for the rust. I'm anxious to drop the fuel tank and inspect...