I'm joining this forum because I drive a 1988 Civic DX sedan that I love and hope to drive for many years to come HOWEVER there’s a lot to be improved upon. Her name is Alita by the way.

I acquired her in January 2021 with roughly 63k miles. Because she had been owned by an old lady and Maryland, as well as her automatic transmission, she was in good condition, albeit with significant undercarriage corrosion. Three years and 30k (mostly midwestern) miles later there’s a lot I want to work on.

Corrosion has worsened and the suspension leans to the driver's side; she also drives slightly but noticeably to the left when the driver is not actively steering (I hit a curb a month after I bought her. Oops)

After a severe breakdown in July 2023 that required replacing eight parts, Alita's on the road again but now surges at idle. My Virginia mechanic thinks the idle airflow control is at fault, but that's one of the parts my Ohio mechanic replaced after the breakdown, though he used an aftermarket part.

Some less pressing projects I want to pursue someday are installing AC and a stereo. The rub is that Alita is poverty spec, other than the automatic, and has at no point had AC, a stereo, or speakers installed, by the manufacturer or otherwise. I suspect installing a stereo and speakers would be the most challenging of the two projects, because I have no reason to believe that Honda would have built audio wiring into a car without a radio, and I have no idea how one would add wiring without completely dismantling the center console, dashboard, and front doors. Frankly, I'm getting on this forum mainly to understand better what logistics installing AC and audio would demand.

Finally, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in a manual conversion. Far, far away from a do-or-die project. I don't even know how to drive stick! But those manual EF Civics have an immense reputation, and I would love to experience it. Alita does not have a tachometer, however.

I've never used an online forum other than Reddit, so let me know if anything in this post breaches etiquette. I hope to learn some things on here!

me and Alita

 

pull your radio delete cover off and take a look, i think you may be surprised.