Hello HT,

Contemplated throwing one of these together for a while, finally going to take a stab at it so here it goes.

This is actually my second 92-95 Civic Si. The first, was my very first car when i was 16, my dad bought me a 1995 granada black pearl civic si bone stock from the local honda dealer. 186k miles on the single cam, a little rust on the rear quarters, but other than that was very clean especially the interior for an Ohio car. Years later after doing suspension and wheel upgrades, getting paint and bodywork done, and going through several motor setups/swaps. I ended up wrecking the car and had to scrap the shell. I kept most of the parts since the damage was in the rear. Here is the last shot of the car just the day before we took our final drive together.



Fast Forward 2 1/2 years later, after searching that long to find a clean enough shell in my region of the states, I found my second 92-95 civic si.

Meet 'Smurf'. A couple buddies and i drove 2 1/2 hours to the boon-docks of kentucky to pick up this 1992 'once was' captiva blue but now '**** white' civic si. Here are pictures of when i picked it up and trailer'ing it home.







After getting it home, the first thing i lined up was paint and bodywork since all of the interior was out and the rear hatch glass was already pulled.



after it was painted, i had the rear hatch glass put in and trailer'd it home.



Now it was time to start putting this thing back together

First started cleaning up the interior guts a little and putting the carpet and panels back in the car



and here is her parking spot in a oversized one stall garage...lol. Had to move the lawn mower and the garbage can and the salt bags and yada yada yada everytime to get the thing out everytime i worked on it. (notice the motor bottom left corner of the pic)



Next was the suspension. Fortunately, i saved and re-used the suspension from my previous hatch as it wasnt harmed in the wreck.



As we worked more on the front end of the car, the radiator/ac stays were hacked off. so i picked up an OEM honda front core support to be prepped/painted/and put on just to make sure everything was going to lineup on the front end perfectly.



some other little things painted in the booth along with the core support



off with the old and busted...





on with the fresh new hottness!





prepping for paint





just after the first coat was laid



and just after the final coat was laid



After some bumps in the road...everything got smoothed out and started looking like smooth sailing. With the Help of some good friends (shoutout to Jeremy aka TECH15 for his help) started putting Smurf back together. Jeremy was gracious enough to let me use his garage for a couple months to piece some things on the car.



sprayed the fender wells with a black, did the arms in black as well, put GSR front knuckles on the car along with SS brake lines.



starting to look more like a car



Plopped the motor in with nothing hooked up



Got the car back to my house finally. While Jeremy and i were putting on the in-line fuel filter setup. We ruined the fuel line that runs to the back of the car to the gas tank. So i had to source a new OEM one from honda. There was only ONE left in the country, which was in Texas. So it sat until that arrived.



Started piecing the harness together and plugging up loose ends here and there



Saved the hood from my Black Hatch since it was in a rear end collision, i told the painter i wanted him to keep the black underneath as a sentimental memory of my old car.



Picked up some Mugen MF10L's. One of my all time favorite wheels.



Finally got the fuel line in from Texas and put that on, got the linkage and all the grounds on, put the fender liner in, everything buttoned up. And finally started her up for the first time...Man was that a great feeling after 2 1/2 years.



And here is what it looks like roughly 8-9 months later from when i started



I think thats a good stopping point for the first post...like it said it Took me about 8-9 months to get it to this particular point. I cannot tell you how ecstatic i was to be behind another hatchback. driving it, working on it, just a feeling thats like no other. I missed it....ALOT. This was my first official 'from the ground up' build. There were headaches along the way, but pretty proud of where it started, to where it is now. Stay tuned, i will post more of the build/timeline of Smurf here shortly. Thanks for looking!

 

Man, such a classic look with Captiva Blue and White MF10's. I'm in love

 

Love this car. I really need some 15s in my life...

 

Looks finished to me!

 

Awesome. Love those Mugen wheels, one of my faves too.

 

thank you fellas, really appreciate it.

 

Great job!

Where in Ohio are you? (I'm from Youngstown with a teal 93 Si)
Did you check to see if there was any frame damage before you painted it?

I kind of like the idea of the color-matched battery tray. Nice touch.

Keep up the good work!

 

Great build, it looks so pristine now!!!

 

Super jealous. Looks awesome!!!

 

Love that color!

 

thank you guys

 

Good job on the restoration.

 

So up until that point it was drive able, took it to its first car show, Slowmotion Motorsports Dyno Day 2012 (Shoutout to the homie ShockerJoe for the pics). I kind of got out of cars for the first year and a half after i wrecked my black hatch, focused on other things for a while. So it was nice to get back into the "scene" and go to a car show again and see old friends.





installed my spoon sports gen 2 steering wheel, Spoon sports duracon shift ****, and ITR Shift boot. I had USDM ITR front seats and a JDM ITR Rear seat at the house, so i threw those in as well.



Because of my personal style, ive never been into the flashy/trendy cambered/stanced wheels or crazy colors you see on engine bays or wheels. I love a simple, clean, effective, and well executed car. Using Honda Factory Performance and OEM Goodness, along with outside Companies (ex. Mugen/Spoon) that specifically design strictly for honda was my mindset.

Ive always loved Recaro SRD's, theyre super comfy, hug you like a raceseat without making your kidneys hurt, and look great too. So i swapped the USDM ITR seats out for the JDM ITR Version in black with red stitching.





I started cleaning things up a bit and added a few other things to the engine bay after being so anxious to get the car running and driveable so i could enjoy it for the summer.



Here's a shot from the Slowmotion Motorsports 2013 DynoDay



My buddy Ernesto had a decent camera and wanted to test out a new lens, so we went out and shot the car a bit.







Went to Import Alliance 2013 in Kentucky with a group of friends. First time ive been since 2009. Was a total blast. hanging with car friends, putting faces to internet names and cars, couldnt ask for a better time.





Shortly after Import Alliance. I Picked up a Spoon Sports Rear Upper Strut bar off of this forum. Had it polished up, cut the back plastics to fit it, and installed it.



Just shortly after installing the strut bar i came across a low low km JDM EG6 SIR Cluster i just couldnt pass up





I always liked the Aluminum Radiator look, so i started researching them. I ended up going with GoAutoWorks aluminum radiator with fan shroud setup, got the end tanks polished up, and installed it. Came out pretty nice and love the fan shroud setup. looks very clean.



And thats where we are today. Been a little over three years owning the car, two of which has been on the road. I am pretty content with where the car is today. Its always hard, when you have that emotional connection with your "first car" and you lose it. That car will always hold a place in my heart, but this particular hatchback has allowed me to really expose my personal taste and experiences building it. I really feel a car can define a person. It is a representation of me, who i am, and what i like. I never built my car for someone else, or what other people or trends were doing. Never wanted to build my car strictly to make it into a magazine or publication of any kind (although it would be an honor none-the-less). I simply built something that i could take pride in and call my own, and something i could go out and have fun in whenever i please. There is a short list of things i want to do to the car for 2014, which i hope to start tackling very soon (Ohio weather permitting). Stay Tuned!

 

Beautiful so far! Keep up the good work!

 

Awesome, last shot is sweet!

 

I LOVE THAT COLOR. This car is on point. I have always loved the clean look like this. Congrats and thumbs up

 

thank you guys, you're very kind.

 

Werd! Doing it big man! Beautiful combination of parts

 

Jealous of the Si. Nice car.

 

which side moldings do you have us oem or jdm thin?paint matched look really good.

 

Theyre the eg6 thin side moldings

 

I've seen this car in person and it looks dam good. Need the wiper delete and vx or cx rear diffuser... Clean build for sure..

 

thank you sir, i appreciate the kind words.

 

I love that oem key and that dead pedal! Nice!

 

Seen the car at IFO yesterday, was gonna speak to you but you were heading out. Beautiful and tastefully done hatch.