so... i got 2 hatchbacks (1990and 1991) Free of charge.

they sat for 3-4 years in a field under a tree, asked the owner he told me to take them.

one is sadly to far gone for my skill set, but parts is parts.

i will do my best to fix the one and hope to drive it till i die... so this may be a slow process.

now pics ( i know you guys love stories with pictures)




how it sat (after being dragged out of the field) you can see the Lovely black crap the trees left on it....

they both fired right up with a jump (after cutting the belt to the alt on the parts car ) drove right onto the trailer with no hesitation (Bonus the E-breaks still work)

now for a bath and interior removal...



now for the ugly... i blame road salt but its also neglect



hmm rust stains....



ok not that bad =/



O_o! i can fix that



Much bigger then i thought (thats what she sayed)

so you can see the white crap all around the problem areas, someone "Fixed" the holes with fiberglass.





now the slow and long road to recovery.

PS: please feel free to call me a "Newb" or tell me to Gtfo, i will go back to just watching other peoples builds and mind my own.

< JM >

 

Looking to see where this goes

 

interested to see this build also, what kind of time frame do you think it will be?

 

1-2 years ish

trying to fix up my house at the same time (at the age of 24 ) its alot of time and cash i dont have =P

 

Gonna need a lot of work. I'll be following this. Good luck!!!

 

I hear this! My spare bathroom needs a sink for the children and I need a washer and dryer. Still trying to find time for my hobbies.

Good luck with it. It will make a great daily that you can pretty much not care about.

 

I'm not sure how appealing a rusted-out a 20+ year old Japanese tin-can economy car would be anymore for a daily. That thing would fold like a house of cards in an accident.

Now, if a project car for weekends/roadcourse/autox, then fine. Otherwise, not sure I'd be too excited to sit in that thing during rush hour. It is no longer worth it to drive such an old car if you have a family to take care of. OP will probably figure this out and revise his "drive it until I die" statement.

 

totally agree with this. Our cars are "unsafe" enough being as small as they are and without airbags, ABS, crumple zones, etc. The rust on that chassis is making the car worse than one held together with 3M panel adhesive - and unless you do a crxguy resto on the entire chassis- it's going to be unsafe.

The only way that will be suitable for a daily is if you're the only one in a car and everyone else is on a bike.

Not trying to criticize, I just want to share the feelings I get when I drive my hatch and I'm surrounded by F250s, Navigators, and Escalades. When their front ends are taller than the roofline of my hatch, sometimes I get the notion to go back home and hop in one of my other cars.

 

Wow. My 1st car was a 1974 VW beetle. No air bags. No ABS. Rust everywhere. I drove it on the street and still do. I would daily drive it to work and back but I'm actually working on it right now. Am I doing something wrong? I have a family that I take care of and my car does the job just fine. Not everyone has the ability to hop in another car.

 

To each their own, but I'm not putting my life in the hands of some other person who is focused on everything else but driving.

I will stack the odds in my favor any way that I can by daily driving something modern.

 

Alright. Driving is a risk regardless of what you are in and you can't control anyone else.

But OP, you can do some floor pan swap/repair very easily. I've done it time and time again. Just cut it out with an angle grinder and weld in new steel. Very easy. You can get someone to do the welding if you can't.

 

It's not wrong, but do you really want to risk your life? It's a hobby and it's fun to have a project car, but I personally draw the line when the car becomes impractical. I rode around in the back of an ED sedan as a child, and even back then my parents decided to get an Accord for more safety.

Hobbies and recreation shouldn't take priority over safety, IMO.

EDIT: I forgot to add. I'm pretty sure none of us here can say "I can't get another car, can't afford it, etc, etc." I've realized that with the money I've spent modding both my cars, I could have easily bought a third vehicle-something along the lines of a used mid-2000s Accord. And I've spent very little compared to some members here.

The floor pan on the OP's civic is the easiest of jobs to tackle- it's the rust near the tail lights and A pillar that will be difficult to cut and shape. You know what everyone else says: if you don't cut out all the rust, it will just come back.

 

as far as the Safe yes i agree it is an old deathtrap of a car. I plan on installing a small rollcage to solve that problem (my dad has built 15+ full cages for race cars, most still on the track to this day)

and yes the 1-2 year time is to cut ALL the rust out and replace with new.

as for the floor pan swap...there is next to nothing for scrap cars around me. the clowns crush anything older then 02...and any car with no rust = big $$$$$

i cant find any place that sells oem style pans @_@

now the option i was looking at was new sheet metal with some beads rolled in it =/

also the old school 1.5L will be out and a fresh rebuilt B20 will take its place for better Daily driving reliability

*ALSO*

Old Hatch


New 40$ hatch

 

A rollcage isn't a solution...all it does is introduce another issue to a car driven on the street.

Are you going to be strapped in with a 5-point harness in a race seat with a helmet on? If not, then don't do a rollcage for a car that'll see the street on a daily basis.

Maybe a 4-point cage in the rear...but that's not going to protect you from frontal and side, the most dangerous areas.

You're in the position of damned if you do and damned if you don't.

 

I spy an OEM exhaust - does it have/would you sell the chrome exhaust tips?

 

Inside the car! HA. I was looking around, "There is no exhaust on this car!" But I found it.

The B20 should be nice for daily driving. Probably the most fun daily B-series motor. It has the most torque and that's really the most fun you can have while obeying the law.

 

completely understandable, im wanting to build my em1 but with no garage and the parts Id like to have it are just depressing when added all up haha, I just cant seem to bring myself to drop this much money on a car to build, with no garage haha

 

The no garage is holding me back too! I want a garage so bad. Or at least a large carport. I think the OP got the car for free, so he should still come out really cheap when he's done.

 

you sound like a sales person =P trying to sell me on a new "safe" car.

yes i know if i crash at 80kph or faster i'm likely DEAD (i'm in the city and hate highways >=( so im usually only doing 50 kph any given day) the rollcage was just an idea and i had a design in mind that would be out of the way for daily use. (daily being late spring and late fall "summer")

Good eyes Mister Clean =P the tips have sadly rusted off and had disappeared Way before i got it. the rest of the piping is in damn good shape.

my Garage = A dirt lane way that fits 4 cars, yay mud.

the build is on hold for now thanks to ~3" of snow yay Canada!