Hi my name is Frany and I've been lurking these forums for a while now, but decided to join because I wanted to hear your thoughts on my current situation.



Last December I bought my first EF a 1988 DX Hatchback 5 Speed with 220,000 Miles on it and have been driving it ever since.



Now on the Outside the car came repainted with a thin overcoat of Navy Blue which is now pealing in several spots to reveal it's black spray painted undercoat. Its sitting on aftermarket springs of an unknown brand which are as low as possible and 1980s Volkwagen Rabbit Cabriolet Rims of which the back two have been painted Copper/Gold like color and the front are stock silver with spots of many different colors because the guy who owned the car before me decided to paint strip the rims, but stopped with the fronts after he noticed there were about 10 different coats of paint on them. Most of the Rubbers have tears in them and are very worn out.

On the Inside the Seats were torn and I replaced them with a pair of 92 Prelude Si Seats. The Dashboard has several tears and stains which don't come off with anything. So I bought a dashboard cover and swore never to look under it. Underneath the steering wheel all the wires seemed to have been connected using heat shrink and the indicators don't reset themselves by turning the wheel. The rear wiper doesn't work, neither does the trunk light, glovebox falls off when opened, AC doesn't work, blower motor barely blows, the trunk doesn't have a lock in it and the car smelled like gas when it ran, but that is not fixed. Lots of screws are missing and the car makes lots of squeking and crackling noises whilst driving along.

Under the hood the engine is a D15B2 which is worn, but runs and even though it burns a little oil I wasn't too worried about it. I've since replaced: Spark Plug Wires ,Timing Belt, Water Pump, O2 Sensor, Fuel Sensor, Engine Mounts and Valve Stem Seals yet the engine continues to spew clouds of white smoke whenever I let off the Gas and the speed drops by 10 MPH.
The Exhaust is the nicest and best sounding exhaust I've ever had the pleasure of owning and this is where the previous owner spent all his money.

So that's my first EF all summed up.



Now Whilst working at a Local car Dealership I came across another 1988 Civic DX which had been sitting at the dealership for over a year without once being turned on.


Now this EF has what I would call the Definition of a Clean interior with no scratches, tears, or wear of anything kind. Everything works and feels amazing and all the Rubbers are like new. The Car has 97000 Miles on it and drives great with the same D15B2 engine as the other one.
The issue with this car is that it's an Automatic so the joy factor while driving it is massively cut down for me even though it shifts extremely fast its just not the same as doing it yourself. Also the car has some body damage in the form of Dented and Rusted Panels.


My Question to you is: What should I do with these two EF's?
Should I build one great car out of the two?
Should I sell both and buy something better? If so what could I expect to get?
I really want to hear your thoughts as it's driving me nuts thinking about it for weeks now.

I look forward to your replies and really appreciate you taking the time.


Under the Hood Comparison





Interior Comparison





Panel Damage



Red EF Odometer

 

if ur happy driving around with the 5spd then i would just build that one. then try to get it close to ur liking. transfer motor and dash. sell the red one to regain the money u put into the blue one.

 

^^^

I was going to say the exact same thing, transfer the motor and dash into the blue car. Plus the body seems to be in better shape.

If you're good with bodywork though, I'd just swap the 5 speed into the red car. The lower mileage and clean interior is something that catches my eye. Just my opinion though.

Are those Honda window visors? PM me if you're interested in selling them.


Good luck with the cars though.

 

Thanks for your reply

Those aren't Honda Visors, but a real nice pair I've got off ebay.

 

what I'd do. sounds like ef1 has lots of minor issues. I'd take 3 days off strip the stick shift ef1 inside and swap over all the interior from ef2 . then call it a day.later pull out ef2 engine and throw it onto ef1. as its same engine dpfi plug and play. just sand down primer or repaint ef1. and reput together ef2 and sell it for as much as you can. in other words build one great car.


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Yeap!

 

Strip all of the remaining good parts off of ef1, put them on ef2 (things like the clock and gauge cluster if its got a tach). Then swap the 5 speed into ef2. Then sell ef1 and put that money into ef2.

Clean, low mileage ef's are hard to come by, so keep the one you've got and make it even better

 

I'm going to go the opposite way and say pull all interior out of the red hatch and put it into your blue hatch. go to the junk yard, pull a new manual body harness out of a parts car, and swap that in while you're at it, unless you want to do an auto to manual conversion on the red cars' body harness.

the reason why i say this is this:

honda did NOT provide the propper clutch bracing/brackets in automatic civics from 88-89. so you would have to cut/weld those parts into the red car. plus, other than needing a paint job again, the blue car looks really strait, where as the red one is banged up, rusting, etc.

 

I'd use the blue one for a myriad of reasons. Also has AC components. However be it me one would be occasional use vehicle and the other a DD.

 

damn those are both really nice cars by 'rust belt' standards. where are you located?

without a doubt I would presonally build the red car. molested cars are a pain in the **** unless you plan to redo everything and then some. the damage on the red car is strictly cosmetic. but then again it depends on where your strengths lie. if you can do sheetmetal work and welding, then red car is a no-brainer. if you don't mind swapping everything on the blue car, then it looks like the body is in better shape. problem with that is you don't know what is hiding under all those coats of paint.

 

x1000

A few thin coats of paint can hide some nasty ****...

And a few missing screws leads to many more problems.

 

pick one to keep and rape the other for parts sale the stripped one and put that money into more parts for the one you keep.

 

I really appreciate all of your replies guys!
I will take all of them into Consideration, but I was wondering what you would estimate either car to be worth?

Thanks!

 

in my area i would say blue car 1.5k, looks nicer. red car even with low miles 1k.

 

I am closing this because there is no real tech. The opinions of what to do have gone on long enough. Thank you