Hey this is a carry over from my introduction thread. I'll be showing off what I have done with my car and then some thoughts of what I would like to do. Any suggestions would be nice. Im going for more of a sleeper look since this is my daily driver so no lowering if I can avoid it but I do want it to handle well. Anyways onto my progress.

So this is my 1988 Honda Civic DX


When I got it as a graduation present it had around 190000-200000 miles on it. It had the stock D15b2 with no AC or power steering. It also had bad speakers and a bad radio. Since then I have put a new radio by pioneer and a decent set of junkyard speakers in. The car ran great for 1 1/2 years but in December the timing belt snapped.

So i went ahead and got another D15b2 for 100 dollars. Only problem was that it burned oil and it had an MPFI intake instead of a DPFI intake on it. My car was not wired for that.

So i swaped intakes and dropped the motor in. Ran it for 2 days then realized that it was burning more oil then it should. So i pulled the pistons, honed the motor, and put new rings on.

Oh ya and don't worry i drained the fluid. This is my first time basically rebuilding a motor. So i had no idea what to expect.
Anyways so i put it all back together and am able to drive 33 miles before my brand new timing belt snaps......
So from there i said F it. I went from my house in Belfair,WA to a junkyard in Chehalis,WA and picked up an entire D16Z6 upper end.

I get it home and i started cleaning it up. I pulled the valve cover off and i started prepping it for a coat of blue paint.

I then took a flat file and shaved the logo clean. (i was very much inspired by Mighty Car Mods)

From there i got all the gaskets and other parts i needed and started the installation process.



















































I also bought a new Lost Motion Holder so that i wouldn't have any issues.


As i was installing the motor parts i also decided to pull apart the front end and repaint the bumper and clean the bay.
















I have also done some mods on the inside of the car. I tore apart my dash and got into the gauge cluster. I then added two 12v led strips inside hooked up to the dimming relay so that way they would help illuminate the gauges at night.

The other mods help with diagnostics.


And all this work was done under this car port.



So if your to this point i would like to congratulate you for working your way through this. It has been quite a journey and i still have a ways to go. I had to order a new crank since the old one was to worn and i really don't have a reliable machine shop near by. But as far as future upgrades i eventually plan to put the 15" steelies from an accord on and put some wider tires on not to mention probably make the suspension better. I also would like to get other things to make this motor even better and fun. Maybe even take the car to the track some day. Any suggestion would be awesome since i am still somewhat of a noob at this game. I love working on cars though i have found that out. Anyways hoped you enjoyed and i appreciate any feedback.

 

Nice keep up the good work. I wonder why your new timing belt snapped?

 

The first one was of age I think. But the second on i have no idea.

 

So I had a couple rod bearings go out so I needed to order a new crankshaft. It will be arriving Friday and I'll be installing it into the motor that same day. There will be more photos taken and uploaded to this thread when that is done.

 

For the amount of money tour putting into that engine, you could have bought a low mileage used one

But i like it so far

 

I not only have put a lot of money into it, But i have learned a lot about Honda motors. i dont mind that i have put money into it, i love the car. i have made it what i want it to be and it'll be fun to drive it once it is done.

 

So i got sent the wrong crankshaft (how that happens i have no idea) new one should be here this week.
I also got a new strip of blue leds for my dash to match the steel/blue theme i have going.


Not only that though but i started cleaning up the block a bit and working on the body of the car. There was some rust starting to show up so i am dealing with that. I dont have any photos for that but i will have some soon.

 

SEM 69504 Rust Mort works really great for rust .. its a liquid and it converts the rust to a paintable neutral material.

You cant really leave the rust on there you have to wire brush it off as best you can but when you get to the point you can't get any more off wipe it clean then put a little bit (a real little bit i usually use a paper towel that will fall apart while putting it on) of this stuff on it and it will turn black.. let it sit for overnight or as long as you can then wipe it with water .. dry it good .. then primer sealer in a can until you can color paint..

worked real well on my wheel well rust spots .. then i used kitty hair fiberglass enhanced bondo .. no popping

good luck with it

question .. crank bearings .. did the place selling you the crank match them or did you measure them?

 

They are sending me the correct bearings for the crankshaft. Also i manged to get the rust off with a wire brush and sand paper. I'm going to be picking up some primer and color matched paint tomorrow.
Ill also have to get some of that Rust Mort tomorrow as well. Thanks for the advice.

 

So I got the correct crankshaft in. It's installed into the engine and I did a pre breaking with all the spark plugs out and the injectors unplugged. I used the starter to spin the engine until oil got all around the block multiple times and then I pluged everything in and fired it up. And it ran! Sounded really good to. More progress photos below.








My buddies 1975 Honda CB200T is there to the left. We have to do some engine work to it so that's why its a bare frame.New Crank is in the box on my jack.





The Crank is in.





All back together.

 

Its been running really good! It has 210 miles on it so far and more to come. I have a lot more plans for it in the future and will post more photos as they happen. If you have any ideas what i should do next let me know. I want this to be a really nice car that will eventually take to me to all of the lower 48 states. I want it to be a fun car. So ya thanks for taking a look at this project.

 

Start with fixing the tailight and repaint the trims and the small details. That's what I did with mine. Best bang for your buck since all you need is paint, sand paper, and filler. Plus you'll be surprised how good the car will look. Nice start though.

 

Ya that was going to be one of the biggest things for me to do next. Especially since there is some rust forming on the body. Do you have any tips and tricks to make it look better or for prepping for the paint? I haven't painted much on a car non the the less an major body paint.

 

So its been a while seen i have given an update. I have put well over 2000 miles one the motor now and it runs really well. I managed to find an LX that someone was parting out and so i got some upgrades for the Hondurp. I also got a set of stainless steel headers for the car but i have to take it to have someone weld on the stock flange. The previous owner had welded the headers onto a pipe that ran all the way back. but that shouldn't be to hard. just a matter of time. OH also i had to knock out my Catalytic converter due to it being completely clogged. That was a big pain in the ***. But ya im still open to opinions and what not.

 

Straight pipe FTW lol