I bought this 97 coupe off a guy in a Walmart parking lot for $800. Not a bad deal considering it came with Si Seats, Skunk2 coil overs, OmniPower front camber kit, and new lights. 135K miles on the body, around 100K on a rebuilt D16y8 engine.

It was a mess though. The body had bondo spots, and a half done primer job.

Here it is after I got it home and into the garage:
Attachment 525138

Attachment 525140


Stripped out trunk that leaked whenever it got wet:


The interior cleaned up pretty well


The headliner and sun roof panel were trashed


But it drove, and seemed to have a really strong little engine. Here it is tucked away with my other rides:
Attachment 525145

 

One thing I noticed right away was that the car was REALLY loud. I took a look underneath and discovered why.


That's the exhaust pipe venting straight into the fuel tank.

 

I bought a Spec-D exhaust system off Amazon with new header, down pipe, test pipe, and muffler.

Out with the old, and in with the new.

 

looking good. When ever you can post a link to info on the FD.

 

hahahha MOAR FD!!


Did this car come with a title?

Plans?

 

The new header looks much better.


Here is the mid section going in.


Testing the fit of the muffler.



The fit was a little bit off, and I was missing a hanger or two. A quick trip to the local auto store, and I was back in business. I love how cheap and plentiful civic parts are.

I actually got stuck under the car putting the mid section in, and had to call my buddy Kevin over to help me out.

Here is the exhaust finally installed and working.


It was pretty loud though, so the aforementioned buddy, who can also weld quite well, pie cut and welded the tip.



It is much quieter now without the silencer in it.

 

Contents of my garage

- 1993 RX7. Tein Monoflex Coilovers, Tien EDFC, CCW Wheels, rx7.com launch kit, Devil's Own meth injection kit…


- 2004 RX8


- 2012 Tundra for hauling the toys


And of course the 97 civic coupe.

 

Yes, I got a clean title, it had obviously been hit from behind at some point. The trunk had some smushed bits. But the frame was straight, and it drove well.

No plans for now. The build is complete. I am working backwards from my photo archive. You'll have to be patient to see how it looks now.

 

Love that gen Tundra, diggin the coupe. FWIW I think the yonaka would've done better job than that. But its your ride, nice find btw! That is insanely cheap for a coupe w/rebuild (if it is indeed rebuilt).

 

The wheels were next on my list, so I picked up a set of Enki Sesto 16x7 wheels with Kumho 205/45/16 Ecsta tires.

I figured while I had the wheels off I'd paint the drums and calipers as well.










It was starting to look like something I wanted to drive.

 

I hadn't seen the Yonaka coil overs before. These look like a nice replacement for the skunk2's.

The engine sadly did not have all of the promised parts. No Brian Crower springs, valves, or pistons, no upgraded cam shaft, no Eagle rods, just a stock D16y8. Still it's running strong and I haven't had any problems with it so far.

 

Nice!

 

Actually I meant the exhaust. Also on the engine situation, I didn't major rebuild. More like a stock rebuild. Did you get any paperwork to prove it was rebuilt?

 

I added an NRG quick release hub, personal steering wheel, and a Kenwood KVT-512 touch screen DVD player. The DVD player was pulled from my RX7 to make room for other electronics.




+5 hp!!

Here's a quick walk around at this point in the build.

 

The Yonaka exhaust looks really good too. I wish I'd known about that prior to this build. I've certainly bookmarked their site for future upgrades.

I got the car, and a title. Nothing else. For the price I didn't expect much, and subsequently was not disappointed.

 

I picked up a turbo kit and enlisted my buddy Kevin to put it all in. He's a mechanical genius!



- Greddy turbo manifold
- Custom 2.5" downpipe
- Garrett t25 turbo .48 A/R
- JDM Sport intercooler and piping
- HKS SSQ blow off valve
- P28 ECU
- Oside Tiger 550cc injectors
- New oil lines
- ARP Headstuds
- Walbro 255 lph fuel pump
- Boomslang ODB2A-ODB1 jumper harness






Bung hole being welded into the oil pan


All welded up!



Header and intake piping are in. Turbo is on.


Custom weld for the intercooler


There it is all in


Everything is so small that you have to look hard to even see the turbo. A/C and power steering are still in place and working. It's currently running 8 pounds of boost, and is super quick and fun. I haven't had it on a dyne for actual numbers.

 

I took it down to Maaco to have some paint and body work done. They originally quoted me $600 to shoot it back to black. After debating what color I wanted for several weeks I finally decided on a Dupont Blue-By-You and had the whole car painted including door jambs, hood, and trunk lid. They put 2 coats of clear+UV protection on it.

Attachment 525103
Attachment 525104

A quick walk around directly after it came out of the shop:

 

The final product.

Attachment 525097



Attachment 525101

 

Ok.. that front grille needs to be fix. There are plastic tabs that stick out of the back of the grille, you need to slide them into the grooves on the bumper.

EDIT: DAMN nice blue, I thought it was the civic si electron blue.

 

Ok, so not quite finished

About a month after the paint went on I blew the clutch. Although the seller told me it had a stage 1 ACT clutch in it, it turned out to be nothing more than stock. So I opted for an ACT streetlight flywheel and 6 pad clutch.



Out with the old, and in with the new




I literally shredded the old clutch



In addition to getting a nice new clutch, I managed to shed 5 pounds off the flywheel



All sexy and ready to roll

 

The extra power from the turbo, and the milage caused whatever was left of the stock motor mounts to wear out. The engine was moving around quite a bit when shifting, so I called my buddy over at Humble Performance and he hooked me up with some Hasport motor mounts.

 

The P28 had the car running terribly, so I swapped it out for first gen AEM ECU

 

Fixed the trunk


Added a front lip



And some floor mats


At this point I need to replace the door panels. They're cracked pretty badly, and re upholster the headliner and sun roof panel. I suspect the D16 will blow up eventually, and I may consider replacing it with a B16 or B20, but that is a whole new build thread.

 

Took it to the autocross

 

Got it on the dyno. It made 180 WHP at 7.5 lbs of boost.