Okay, please spare the "engine swap" talk... I have the chance to pick up a 97 Civic EX for $6900 from someone who'd going off into the military.. He has no idea about performance and bought the car for the reasons of: it's cheap and it's reliable and it's great on gas..VIN is clean.. I had the chance to drive it around after work, I ran compression and leak down tests on it.. They turned out to be perfectly stock numbers... It drives fine, needs some brake work (warped rotors, new pads)... It's got some dents in the doors but no scratches and the interior is good.. I already have a Civic of the exact same year and it's been supercharged for 70K.. Only issue I have is, I bought mine new and I know how I took care of it.. This doesn't have any serious mechanical issues that I could tell.. But appearances can be decieving.. I just want a car that I can strip totally out and autocross with.. I really don't wanna beat on my daily driver anymore (although, it has been faithful).. Anyway, I'm tossed on the issue, any help?

 

Do it...if it blows up so what? A new D16 is only around $600...

 

Well, sounds like it's in pretty good shape, although if it's going to be an autox car you sure you want to start with an EX with all of its heavy power options? (Sunroof, PW, PM, etc) I own a 95 EX coupe myself, so I can vouch for the fact that it's not exactly the featherweight of the Civic models.

Aside from that, it sounds like a pretty good deal to me.