Last year I swore I was going to give up wasting my money on junk cars, but I just love these old Hondas way too much.

I bought this thing in 2014, iirc, and fixed a few things, but never really had a plan or the ambition to see it through.

This car is rough, but I love a challenge.


1994 Civic DX
Phantom Grey
273,000+ miles











It's actually pretty good mechanically. No leaks, no grinds, doesn't burn oil. Tracks and brakes straight as an arrow. Doesn't feel like it has a quarter million miles on it.

Anyway, body parts are so damn cheap for this thing, I figured why not. How in the hell do they sell me a new fender for $39 shipped from halfway across the country? I couldn't even ship the giant box that is came in for $39.

I also took a ride Chesapeake, VA - 1000 miles round trip - to grab some new'ish Si seats to replace the nasty OE seats. Made it 1000 miles on $60 in gas. Ironically tolls were twice that much.

It's coming together okay for what it is.

Haven't decided how to repair the rust yet. Cheap glass or expensive metal. I'm leaning towards just glassing it.

 

Im in.. love to see how you repair that typical wheel well rust.

 

Parts are so cheap for these cars I hardly see it as wasting money on them. If you fix the car right, it will pay you back in the resale value. Car looks great, the only battle you have left is those quarter panels

 

Even cheap parts add up to big bucks.

I paid $700 for the car, and I've put about another $1500 in parts into it so far.

That's $2200 invested and the car is worth about $500.

It needs a lot. It needs rear trailing arms. The backing plates for the rear drums are shot, and the parts are NLA, so I'm going to switch over to discs. That's like $350 plus another $50 for a 4040 valve.

Then I'll need to go through the suspension, but I have lots of new stock suspension parts sitting on my shelf, so that won't cost anything, but it's lots of work on a rusted car with 275k on the clock. I've got lots of other projects going so my time is valuable.

That will get me to like $3,000 invested, and it will still be a $500 car.

The body work is something I've decided to pay a shop to handle, so that will not be cheap. I figure $2,000 on the low end.

I love these cars and I've realized I need to keep feeding my project addiction, so I'm fine with spending the money. But I have a realistic idea of what the true value of the car is vs what I invested. It's definitely wasted money.


Its even more money invested than i thought. I keep meticulous records, here's the breakdown so far:

Motor
Walker Exhaust Muffler $95.86
New Alternator $76.91


Transmission
Rebuilt Si/EX S20 Transmission $450.00
Exedy Clutch and Pressure Plate $125.00
OEM Flywheel $100.00
Prothane Shifter Bushings $10.00

Steering and Suspension
Safety Brand Outer Tie Rods $41.76
OEM Lower Ball Joints $13.99
OEM Front Upper Control Arms w/ Ball Joints $42.99

Brakes
OEM Front Calipers $85.00
OEM Brake Pads $20.80
OEM Front Rotors $38.10
OEM Brake Shoes $9.99
OEM Drums $49.99

Wheels/Tires
OEM 13" Steel Wheels $30.00
OEM 14" Steel Wheels FREE

Interior
1992 Civic Si Pinstripe Interior $280.00
OEM Cup Holder $20.00

Exterior
Fender Liners $125.00
OEM Passenger Door Pillar Trim $23.42
OEM Passenger Side Fender $39.11
OEM Driver Side Fender $41.86
OEM Hood $288.22
OEM Bumper Cover $78.64
OEM Hood Release Lever $15.00
OEM Hood Latch $19.35
Depo Headlights Passenger and Driver $79.68
Depo Turn Signals Passenger and Driver $74.64
OEM Thin Side Mouldings $55.00
OEM Rear Inner Tailgate Taillights $35.00



Total $2,365.31

 

Fender Liners sell for $10.99 new on ebay.

What's with the oem obsession on a car you say is only worth $500?

 

I bought the cheap ebay fender liners. They were a joke. Seriously. OEM is the only option for decent fender liners.

My obsession is something I've been trying to understand for myself for quite some time. I've been though and built a half dozen of these since 2012.

I truly enjoy building EFs and EGs. I've got an E36 with $10k worth of parts sitting in the trunk, and no motivation to build the car. A couple of really nice Subarus that ive got no motivation to drive let alone work on.

The Hondas just have my passion. Can't explain it.

 

Its like Legos except every part has the added thrill of the hunt to find it. Building the car you want instead of just a car you drive are two different things, there are worse hobbies to have lol

 

You should be able to find a rear disc set-up for less than $350. Hmotors sells them for $185+shipping. No need for a 4040 prop valve.

I did the rear disc conversion over a year ago. I didn't change the original prop valve (3040) and I've had no problems with braking/stopping.

What you've done looks good. You're adding value so it isn't a $500 car any longer. Don't undervalue your efforts.





eH.

 

HMO sells a pair of trailing arms, rotors, calipers, discs, hubs, and correct ebrake cables for $185 shipped to my door?

I doubt that.

I'm going to use the right prop valve.

I guess I should clarify, its not that I don't want to spend the money, it's just that I understand there will be no return on my investment. If that was an issue, I'd start with a cleaner shell or somebody else's unfinished project.

 

Where in the hell did you find OEM lower ball joints, for $13.99, and OEM upper control arms for $42?

 

Uro brand on eBay for the arms.

I've used them on several cars now (including racing applications) with nothing but success.


Control Arm Tie Rod Ball Joint Strut Bellow Suspension Kit New for Integra Civic | eBay

 

$185+shipping<---see the +shipping. And yes, it's the complete rear trailing arm with the entire disc set-up. Go to there website before you post your doubts. It isn't that tough to verify what I'm saying.

What's the difference between a 4040 prop valve and a 3040? I've read quite a bit about prop valves. Care to share what makes one correct and not another?





eH.

 

I have no idea what the 30/40 is, but EGs with rear disc and Integras use the 40/40, so that's what I'm going to use.

My guess is that they proportion the brake line pressure differently, since drums and discs require different pressures to operate correctly.

I had a bad experience with HMO, don't care to give them my business ever again.

 

ah. Ok. the "OEM" part thru me off because I just paid more than that for one lower ball joint.

 

Some swear by swapping the prop valve, some don't. Personally I never have and have never seen any issues.

 

I get what you're saying. By OEM, I just mean the part isn't some fancy adjustable aftermarket version.

 

I believe the drums need less pressure, so if you use a prop valve designed for drums with discs, the result will likely just be poor rear braking performance, which would likely be imperceptible to 99.9999% of drivers.

However, if it's the opposite, you can definitely get issues with rear lockup if the bias is wrong.

And it only costs like $50 and takes 10 minutes to install. No good reason not to use it.

 

Rear drums on the snow are bullshit. I'm in texas and we never have snow but those ******* will just lock up on you with even just light brake pressure, it could just be that there is no weight in the back of these cars too though

 

That has not been my experience, but then again I am extremely proficient in threshold braking, and I always run dedicated snow tires in the white stuff.

 

make sure you undercoat the back of those cheap chinese fenders and hood, they rot out QUICK if you do not. about the same price as a gallon of bondoglass. 1992-1995 Civic Hatchback Rust Repair Panels

under $30 a side. all you need is a tack welder, they're cheap used and probably even cheaper at harbor freight.

 

before everyone gets all sandy in the vag about the tack welder comment, thats about the only way to weld these on. they're thin, thinner than stock metal. they can't handle a normal weld without warping. fun sidenote- i riveted a set on a beater i used to have. ground the **** out of the metal to blend them in, smoothed out with bondo, and it was pretty hard to tell.

 

Decided to sell this junk.

You can find it on eBay if anyone is interested.

 

with the title situation, how would one register it in another state?

 

You can't even buy snow tires In texas


You can tap out on the civic, but you know you're just going to be back on this site in 6 months with another one.

 

Surprsingly....he called it junk....