DB1 thread was a fail let's see how this one goes.


So I got this pretty little 98 HX from a friend of mine around October 2014.
When I got it, it was 100% stock other than a set of F&F type 1 coils, and front and rear camber kits. I lied. It had a set of ebay HIDs and front lip that I got rid of right away.


Anyway, onto the pictures (taken with an organic farmer's market bought potato, sorry about the crap quality)


When I first got it, thing was kissing the ground.






I rode her around like that for a few days before I had time to lift her up.
For future notice: F&F coils ride like crap on their lower settings.






After a couple days, hitting everything everywhere got real old. I was even scraping going into my driveway.






So then I finally got a break at work and was able to get her up on a lift and raise it up. Holy ride quality difference, batman.




While I was under there, I got a good glimpse at all the damage that the thousands of miles of scraping had done to the car. Nothing I can't fix, but still pretty crazy.




I also noticed that even the car is spotless all around, that somehow magically the front subframe had rusted away to the point of no return.






Shortly after lifting her up, I went and got an alignment. Thing had mad positive camber.

 

First real mod I did was replace the eGay HID kit that worked when it wanted to for some Sylvania ZXE bulbs and order a cheap CTR style lip and grill until I can afford the real stuff later down the line.




I sent it off to paint, and tore the old stuff of the car and sold it. Pretty much broke even.




For being uber cheap crap, fitment is actually not terrible after a little fiddling. Will never be show quality, but this is also temporary.




Then I set out to look for a 99-00 climate control because I hated the 96-98 style look with a passion. It was a huge pain in the ****, and I hope none of you ever get the terrible idea of upgrading your climate control.


Pulling the dash




Dash out




Swapping over the vents and stuff




All nicely torn apart. Should've just bought a 99-00 dash since the mounting points molded onto the dash are different. I had to build a custom bracket to hold the new climate control securely into place




Back in place with the new climate control wired in

 

After the climate control swap, I decided to swap out my headunit that kept shutting down when it wanted to for a Pioneer bluetooth unit that I got a killer deal on through my work. I went ahead and installed my EX tweeters that I had leftover from my last car while I was at it.






Went out and had lunch with a good friend of mine. Buncha Honda kids.




Ordered some Spoon goodies




If you guys don't have one of these yet, do yourself a favor and get one. Best thing in the world.




Got some SI Stanley tails. Not a fan of the amber on the 96-98 units.




Picked up a clean subframe and manual rack from the local junkyard for $100. SCORE!


Decided to clean it up a bit and give it a coat of paint while I was at it




While I was working on things for my silver crapbox, a lot more silver crapboxes showed up at the shop.


The WRX wagon is a 600whp sleeper, and the Evo 8 is the shop track car.

 

Since I was gonna be taking the subframe down and taring everything apart, I decided to get this guy to do at the same time.




Removed all the P/S stuff to make more room for fun things.






Old subframe was soooo screwed. It literally started to crumble as I took the bolts out of it. Scary to think that this car was being driven with it in there.






Got some OEM upper control arms with good balljoints from the local yard and started playing with fire




Then got it all together. Nice and pretty.




While I had the sway bar out, I decided to ruberized undercoat it along with all of the subframe and arms after the install was done. Nevermind the $150k Supra in the background...

 

After all the major issues had been taken care of, fun stuff started happening. Picked up a set of green grids with Falken 912 tires for a good price.






Then on my way to work I heard a weird clunking sound. Though it was some stuff that I had loaded in my trunk making noise since it was coming from the rear. Get to work, look at my car as I go to walk in the door, and see what's left of my muffler hanging on my LCA. WHAT. THE. FUDGE.




Black Friday was right around the corner so I order myself a Yonaka catback for $206 shipped. Got it almost a month later after a billing/shipping address discrepancy and was quite pleased with the quality and fitment. +1 for Yonaka exhaust systems as a budget piece with a great sound.






The leftover remains of the scraped up 16+ year old system. Was leaking everywhere, including the donut gasket. Was gone beyond repair, so I replaced the existing unit with a cheap 4-2-1 header I had laying around and a Magnaflow high flow cat leftover from another build.


















Threw my HX wheels back on since we were supposed to get some snow that week, and replaced my rear valances for mudflaps. Chicago winters can suck it.




Then I went and got a car wash!

 

Looks like a good start. FYI look into extended top hats if you want to ride slammed. F&F does sell them.

 

Why not prep the underbody of your car to prevent further rust? I see some surface rust developing down there.

 

Good work! Seems like all these cars bought are victims of neglect and abuse... its up to us to bring em back to life! Also, how does that Spoon mirror mount? Does it go on your stock rearview?

 

Nice work! Look forward to more.

 

Great work thus far man. That subframe was super toast! How is your brakes, lines, and calipers looking? That little guy went through some serious snow in it's lifetime.

 

Thanks! Don't want to be slammed, already did that with other cars in my earlier years.
This car will be more of a performance/track oriented daily driver that will see lots of spirited driving and the occasional time attack event or track day.


Thing has already been through hell and back. I suppose I could undercoat the entire bottom end, but I was on a time crunch and needed to get the front together so I could drive it home. Maybe in the near future though.


The Spoon mirror is just a convex overlay that sits inside the factory housing. I did have to source out a mirror from a DC integra to make it work as the EK one is just slightly different in shape. I also painted the very outside edge of the factory glass with black because there's the slightest amount of factory mirror that shows through in certain areas and I didn't want that staring at me in the face. Best thing about this over a broadway is that you still have full functionality of the sun visors and no one notices that it's a modified item until pointed out


Thanks! Another big update coming later tonight.


It was scary to see the shape it was in once I pulled it out.
Brakes have had some maintenance before; new cheapo pads and rotors, one of the caliper brackets is new, and a few hard lines have been redone under the car.
I do plan on redoing the ENTIRE braking system. I already have EX front knuckles and a rear disc conversion waiting to go on, but I'll get into that on a later update.

 

Alright, so after a few weeks of the harsh Chicago winter, I decided to do myself a favor and install this cool little thing.

It's a DEI remote start/keyless entry/security system. Added a few cool hidden security features that I won't go into detail about for obvious reasons.




Gotta love wiring, right?




And the (semi) finished product:



Also decided to get rid of the wimpy factory horns and upgrade to a set of Hella twin trumpet units that will go off as confirmation. Tucked each one under the headlights so that they're out of the way. You'll see why soon enough




Then here's a random picture of my car thanking me that I can remote start it to warm it up as I dig it out of this mess.

 

After having had my most urgent maintenance, major issues, and wanted bells and whistles taken care of, it was time to get down to the nitty gritty.

I considered my primary use of the car and compared it to what I wanted out of a car in a perfect world. The list came out something like this.

-Usable powerband
-225whp or so
-Decent gas mileage
-Keep all creature comforts
-Decent ride quality
-Able to pass emissions testing every 2 years


I was stuck between two choices. Build another all motor B series, or turbo the D.
I figured that I would have to have short gears and a crazy cam setup to get to my powergoals in a B series, so I opted for the latter.
I'm more of a mid range torque kind of driver, so a small responsive turbo would really suit my needs more than a high strung B series would.
I did some research on what kits I could use that would retain the factory A/C setup intact, and decided that I would use an old school Greddy 15g kit.
After a couple months wait, I came across a very fairly priced kit and decided to pull the trigger on it.




Although it was only the manifold, turbo, and elbow, it was a superb deal that I just could not pass up. The setup seems almost new and the turbo has next to no play.

I decided to test fit it to see how much room I would have to build some sort of heat shield to keep my A/C compressor from dying.








Fitment will be tight, but good enough for me to get a heat shield made and wrap the lines in some DEI heat shroud material like we do with our race cars.


Later that week I bought some more things in preparation for the turbo setup.

Did a compression check and tune up and everything checked out OK.

Decided that with the car nearing 150k miles that it wouldn't hurt to do a timing belt, water pump, and tensioner.
Also picked up a set of ARP studs, upgraded valvetrain, new valve seals, and a Comp 59300 cam to throw in when I convert my Y5 to a Y8.
Also had a leaky clutch master on the inside of the firewall so I picked a new one up along with a braided stainless steel line.




I also got this nifty little intercooler (emphasis on little) and charge piping for $50 off a friend of mine. It's not what I'll end up with, but it'll do for now.




With the bumper on one can barely tell that there's an intercooler hiding in there. Just the kind of sleeper look I'm going for.




You can really notice the crappy-ness of the lip with the close-ups

 

Not a fan of your "build". The hx is a rare model and an economy commuter car. Putting the aftermarket header on it and relocating the oxygen sensor and taking away the lean burn function of your car is completely point less. Removing the power steering again is a pointless ricer mod. What made the car unique was its ability to get 38miles to the gallon easily in city driving and 44 mpg highway. But hey I'm sure when you part out the car the engine and ecu will go to some one who at least will appreciate it

So you spend the money on a turbo kit so that you can pass the Asian mom in her new v6 Camry from a light. Sleeper? Hardly, 15 second quarter miles and thrown rods here we come! Y8 head conversion ! Awesome bro that's like 10 hp right there Lots of bang for the buck

You put green wheels on it because that's the cool thing to do apparently because green is faster

How many stickers are you planning to put on the back window, or are you just going to go for one huge shocker across the whole thing.

I'll end my rant but I want to prove a point that the stock USDM vehicle is far more rare and valuable than a fart can coilover car driven by a race boy. A Honda civic hx is what it is, but have fun tearing it apart and losing any resale value the car would have had. Im sure the next owner will be thrilled to have the same horse power as a New stock 4 cylinder Honda accord and really won't want ac and power steering, because you know race car

Grow up. Get a shell and use the hx as a daily driver. Show some respect for the car dammit

 

I got that mileage without even trying out of my last Y7 and I could really care less about the Y5 and it's lean burn.
It's a bore to drive as is and what I want in a car is something economical and entertaining.
Let me guess, now you're gonna ask why I even got an HX then instead of an EX or something else?
Because I got a great deal on this on it's a decently clean car, something rare in the area I live in.
Yes, the wheels are green. Big deal. The main reason I got them (besides the great price point) is for the tires. They have matching Falken 912's on them in good condition unlike all the other sets of wheels nearby that have mismatched or no name tires.
I don't see a fart can or stickers on my car, hell, notice that I took off the banner and stickers that the car had on it when I originally bought it.
I lifted it because I didn't like how low it was when I got it.
And I replaced the entire exhaust system because it was leaking and rusted throughout.
I assure you that there's a method to my madness, and that every little thing that goes into the car is premeditated.
If you don't agree with what I'm doing to my car, that's too bad.
I'm doing what I want to do with it to suit my wants/needs.

 

Good for you, I expected to blow you out with my response.


I really have no respect for what you are doing to that car. I beg you to just pull the engine trans and ecu and sell it to member on www.ecomodder.com and use the profit to find whatever d series you want. At least some one will value that solid roller head that can drop into 3 valve operation and restrict fuel flow to make it one of the Most fuel efficient and comfortable non hybrid cars ever made.

I enjoy driving my hx with an obd2 scan gauge and monitoring lean burn settings to maximize fuel economy. There are fuel efficiency mods and data logging that make daily driving more of a sport of maximizing efficiency while using data logging to interact with it.

the Honda civic is what it is, 215hp is going to feel just as slow as that stock 115hp because the only races you'll ever have are with another modded Honda, which are all rusted fart cans at this point

The hx is a very rare model.
A clean sixth gen coupe with a manual transmission is nearly impossible to find

You can find tons of ex models missing ac and power steering on any street corner.

 

The Y8 conversion I got from a spare head that I had laying around and it cost me nothing but time.
I do still have all the factory stuff if you are interested in buying it, but I won't go out of my way to advertise it on a website that I'm not already a part of.

 

Also, if you were to take the time to read the posts, you'll notice that at no point do I mention drag racing.

I could really care less if the car pulls a 15 second 1/4 mile time after all my efforts.

I want to build the car for spirited driving and the occasional track day at local road courses.

 

Don't need any parts, I appreciate the offer. I'm all stock so I have no need for any of the rare parts because I still have them all.

Just thought I'd let you know the y5 head and intake manifold are far more expensive and desire able than the common y8 head and manifold

 

I'm sure the 20 year old economy car will make an excellent track car. after about $3000 in mods you will be almost able to keep up with all those stock miatas

 

You've made your point about the Y5 thing, which I clearly don't care for.
What you seem to be missing here is that I am making a year round car that's economic and fun to drive.
Not everyone has the luxury of being able to own more than one vehicle, so I have to make do with a single one.
Sure, Miatas are fun, I've owned one.
But they also lack in the practicality department, and much more in the year round department being that I live in the Chicagoland area where the winters are extremely harsh.
I have no problem driving this year round, and enjoying the crap out of it as I do.

 

No i think you're missing my point, you're not competent enough to keep this car running year round. You started off this build in the first sentence mentioning your last build was a failure. You will blow the bottom end on this car in the next six months and part the car out to find another car

 

Apparently you can't read.

I mentioned the thread being a failure since it got no responses, the car itself was great until I found a much cleaner car to swap everything onto.

I don't build Subaru's, Evo's, and Supra's among others for a living because I'm incompetent.

Get real.

You're a purist, and that's great and all, but if you don't have anything constructive to say you can go post your opinion elsewhere.

 

 

Its his car..........he can do what he wants with it. If your views don't align with what he is doing than the only thing I suggest is to just leave the thread alone.


HX can actually get up to 50-/+ mpg btw, but if thats not OP's thing than oh well.