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5/12/20

It’s weird to think about, but I’ve been out of the Honda game for eight years. My last post on here was in 2012.

I had a couple EFs in my earlier Honda endeavors, but at the time I lacked money (and sense), so they ended up as tragic rice-a-thons.

I’d been lamenting for the Honda days passed recently, and it occurred to me that I could now afford to build the EF that my younger self would have only dreamed of. So I hit up Craigslist on a whim and found an unmolested ‘90 Civic hatch for $1,000. It seemed like fate, so I hit the road to pick it up.

This is my 1990 Honda Civic STD Hatchback.







Good news:

• Mechanically unmodified, down to the drinking straw sized DPFI intake tube.
• Zero rust

Bad news:

• The car was repainted. Poorly. Crappy dark blue paint over the original Superior Blue. Looks like a typical $300 paint job. No prep, overspray everywhere. Flaking off in places. Will be a nightmare to eventually prep for paint.
• The interior is pretty torn up and dirty. It looks like the previous owner pretty much used it like a truck. There’s grass and mulch and dirt everywhere, and the headliner has at least 10,000 punctures.
• Body a little banged up, but not horrible, especially for a 30 year old car.
• Blue interior.

So I’m pretty much just gonna use this thread as a build diary. I’ve done a poor job of documenting my builds in the past, so I want to capture this one as best I can. Hopefully you all will enjoy it.

I’m reserving several posts below to capture the different build categories, so you can jump to whatever section of the car you are interested in.

 

Post reserved for overall progress pics.

 

Post reserved for exterior updates.

 

INTERIOR UPGRADES

5/17/20

So when I first started toying with the idea of building an EF, I never would have thought I would care about the interior of the car. I could sit on a milk crate for all I care, because, ya know, racecar. But now that I've got the car and I'm spending time in it, I find myself wanting to make the interior nice!

I've got big plans for the future, but for now, I figured I could do something simple and get rid of this dopey *** two spoke steering wheel.

Wanted to do something unique, so I decided to go with a first gen CRX wheel. It's a three spoke, but it's different enough from the 88-91 Si wheels that I thought it might be cool. Couldn't find any info about fitment, other than confirmation that the hub was the same, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Not that expensive, anyways.




Here it is after wiping off 35 years' worth of hand funk.




The stocker, for reference. The top of it is coming apart and I end up with little rubber crumblies in my lap and embedded in my hands every time I drive. Pretty gross.




And the new (old) one in! Visually, I think it's an improvement!




Unfortunately, this wheel has the same issue as the Teggy wheels: it's much shallower, so the gap between the wheel and the headlight/turn signal controls is less than an inch. I drove it to see how bad it would be and I couldn't turn without switching my wipers on, and I damn near knocked my light switch off the column. Oh well. Guess I have a Nardi in my future.

 

BRAKE UPGRADES

5/16/20

Soooo, this thing would stop better if I just stuck my foot out the door and drug my heel. So I decided brakes needed to be my first job. The car is bordering on unsafe. I think it's the booster.

Since I was digging into the brake system, I decided to go ahead and replace everything, so I did rotors, pads, master cylinder along with the dead booster. Rear discs and a big brake kit are in the car's future, but for now, I just need to make it safe.

Here are the stoppers that were on the car. Rusty and ugly, but the surface wasn't in that bad of shape. But I already bought the pads and rotors, so they're getting changed.




These are the cheapo rotors and pads I got from PartsGeek. I paid $41 for the the whole set.




Annnnnd on the car.




Turns out the pads on the car were Brembos with a lot of meat left on them.
Guess I shouldn't have assumed the brakes were going to be in bad shape! Whatever, at least I've got brand new brakes.




Here's the culprit of my braking troubles. This thing has seen some ****.




Dear god, I hope I never change another booster for the rest of my life. Professional contortionists can't pull off some of the **** I had to do to get to these.




A couple hours of yelling and cussing later and she's in! All new and shiny!




Master cylinder in! The flare nuts have about had it so I'm pretty scared about upgrading to a bigger unit with the BBK later...




This little bleed kit was super handy. A magnet on it lets you hang it right there from the rotor. Got some sludge/sediment from every corner to start, but pushed enough through it to get it nice and clear! Never mind the spill...




And that's it. Brakes are ready to rock and roll. However, my brake light switch bumper disintegrated, so I have to pick up a new one before I can get her on the road and test them out! Freaked me out for a minute, couldn't figure out why my brake lights were stuck on. Thought I had majorly screwed something up! Oh well. $5 fix and then I'll report back on how she stops!


5/17/20

Here is the little bumper needed to fix the problem. $8




Here is the malfunctioning switch. Pain in muscles I didn't know I have flares up as I re-contort to capture this picture.




And fixed.




And that's it!

I hopped in my car, happy to try out my fancy new brakes. Pushed the clutch in, turned the key, and nothing. Try again. Nothing. I start to sweat, wondering what I could have possibly screwed up to cause a no start after a brake swap? After a few minutes of cussing and head scratching, I thought to check the switch for the clutch, and sure enough, the little bumper for the clutch switch was gone as well! What are the chances? I must have really been knocking some **** around while I was up in there. I couldn't find any remnants of the little bumper anywhere, so I guess I ate it. Anyways, another trip to the auto parts store to get ANOTHER $8 bumper (same register worker, looked at me very odd for my second rubber bumper purchase of the day), and now the car starts fine! I didn't get pictures because I was too pissed.

Took the car into a low traffic neighbor hood and did a bunch of low speed braking to get the pads worn to the rotors. After a dozen or so brakes, I started braking from progressively higher speeds. I'm happy to report that she is no longer a health hazard and is braking like a champ! Hard enough that it feels like the *** end is going to come up and roll over the top of me with this squishy *** suspension! No issues, no leaks. Pedal feel is firm and consistent, so I believe I got all of the air out of the system. Success!

 

Post reserved for suspension updates.

 

Post reserved for engine updates.

 

Subscribed! I also just picked up a 91 STD in about the same condition minus the paint

 

Nice! It’s sad how rare they are getting. I’ve also noticed how much harder it is to find parts. Last time I messed with an EF was like ‘05. People were basically giving parts away. Now people want $100 for a beat up valve cover.

 

I'd love to find a stock 90-91 SI hatch, saw an old man on the freeway in one the other day, should've followed him

 

Bump for interior and brake updates.