My Project


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Well, my project may come to an end soon cause I'm in search for a new vehicle. I realized that I'm in over my head with this car. I originally planned to buy or trade for an Accord for safety and comfort reasons. If I'm very lucky though, I can EASILY make an exception. I came across this car and if the guy is willing to trade then I can have one unbelievably clean and awesome car.

teaser pic

cars1009.jpg

and

and

AND

cars1010.jpg

I just like the first picture, it wasn't blurry.

It's a 1992 Honda Civic Si with a B18C engine swap and this car is in perfect shape. Plus the guy converted it to power windows essentially giving it everything my last car had except cruise control. This thing has had a 5 lug Integra Type-R brake conversion which also gave it 4-wheel disc brakes. Oh man this car is AWESOME. I hope he'll trade. Of course I'll have to give him a little cash on top of it cause his is worth a little more than mine. Particularly considering my car being a project and his being a finished project.

I'm drooling on my keyboard over this car.

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OH

MY

GOD!!!!!!!!!

He's actually wantin to come take a look at my car. Holy crap. I may be in a new car soon. You are kiddin me. It's a dream come true. My dream Civic in reach.

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nevermind about that car. The project continues. I've got more important things to worry about right now.

I should be buyin a brand new oil pan with all the bolts and drain plug for $60 tomorrow. All I need to do is order the gasket and my oil leak issue will be solved. Then I get the differential and one belt that squeals every time I start the car replaced and my car will be mechanically perfect. Aesthetically, it will look like crap still and parts on the body will still be zip tied and hung by wire.

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nevermind about that car. The project continues. I've got more important things to worry about right now.

I should be buyin a brand new oil pan with all the bolts and drain plug for $60 tomorrow. All I need to do is order the gasket and my oil leak issue will be solved. Then I get the differential and one belt that squeals every time I start the car replaced and my car will be mechanically perfect. Aesthetically, it will look like crap still and parts on the body will still be zip tied and hung by wire.

Too bad that seemed to fall through mighty quick. You were really excited as I would be.

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Well he seemed to show more interest in another car that too was a finished project (95 Integra LS with JDM Type-R front end, ITR block, B16A head, ITR internals and few other mods) plus I just don't want to leave this pile in someone else's hands unless they are serious about wanting a project. I'd still love to have that blue hatch but I sent a message to the guy and told him not to bother to come look at the car (it's a 4 hour drive for him anyway). I'm just going to keep ole Midori and try to at least get her half-way decent looking. Further on down the road when it gets alright looking and is in perfect running condition then I will consider a trade or sale but not now. It's mine and its stayin that way.

Hmmm, I'm bout to just buy me some frickin power window doors and do the conversion cause honestly I'm sick of hand crank windows. I love to cruise with both windows down but it is a pain if for some reason I have to roll them up. Plus I'd like to add power Civic Type-R mirrors. If I can get a hold of 99-00 Civic Si or 96-97 Del Sol VTEC cruise control unit than screw sellin this car. Power windows plus cruise are what I'm lookin for. Slap on that Buddy Club Spec III exhaust and a new header and I'll want to keep it for a long time. New headlights, front fenders, bumper, hood, grille, Bondo, and a fresh coat of paint and this thing will shine like the freakin sun. Oh and according to my manager, my new hatch will be painted professionally sometime this week for cheap.

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My Explorer needs replacement "nerf" bars. $800. Aww, rust doesn't look THAT bad!

I probably could get aftermarket bars for less but haven't looked yet.

What bothers me is just five years ago when I bought the car (already five years old), they looked like new. Five years in MY possession and they're covered in rust. What am I doing wrong?!?

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Owning a Ford.....Maybe?

Only rust on mine is where the vehicle has been damaged in an accident and where the bumper mounts on the fenders are damaged. That's why I have new hatch getting painted and why I'm basically buying a new front end for this car.

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My Explorer needs replacement "nerf" bars. $800. Aww, rust doesn't look THAT bad!

I probably could get aftermarket bars for less but haven't looked yet.

What bothers me is just five years ago when I bought the car (already five years old), they looked like new. Five years in MY possession and they're covered in rust. What am I doing wrong?!?

Take them off and have them powder coated. Shouldn't cost too much and itll look great.

Are they chromed?

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Take them off and have them powder coated. Shouldn't cost too much and itll look great.

Are they chromed?

Yeah, I should have them redone, but I'm SO lazy! (And cheap, and BROKE. :D) They're factory finished with a kind of stippled silver-ish color paint.

I'm well past the age where I would consider doing anything stupid, but I do look longingly at other Explorers with pristine bars. (Ahem, just a couple of minutes with a cordless wrench - Zipp! Zipp! Zipp! Zipp! -- and ... well, I wouldn't ... not really. I learned that lesson a long time ago. :blush: )

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you bought a NEW Ford and I bought a USED, abused, engine swapped (always trouble with a used swapped car), and previously wrecked car. It has also been involved in a basic hit and run (backed into). I have good excuses. Had this vehicle been completely stock and never involved in the number of accidents it has, it'd be a perfectly reliable vehicle.

We were lied to when we bought this thing. There was an obvious wreck that had never been reported due to the mismatched bumper and busted mounts (we had a carfax but this accident didn't show up). We couldn't tell that when we bought it cause the bumper wasn't on. The mechanic removed it to get it into the shop due to the car's lowered status. We also found after buying the car, that the tow hooks had been bent. Still, time and some money and I can return this enormously abused car to it's former glory. That's why it is called a project. If I had bought a perfect car then this thread wouldn't be called My Project.

Many Civics are in this shape cause owners abuse them. That's how many of the gorgeous ones you see start out. Someone buys the car off an owner that didn't take care of it and restores it, swaps it (or turbos/builds motor already in it), and makes a decent car out of it. I wanted another vehicle cause I don't have the money to really make this car into what I want and I'd be better off with something that was already in good shape so I won't be tempted to dump a bunch of cash into. I'm going to try and restore this car mechanically and worry about body stuff and mods later.

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Many of those add-on things are painted with one coat of lacquer. Fast, cheap and doesn't need a primer on metal. Silver/metalic paints don't hold up as well as solid colors because of the clear coat. They just can't put enough UV inhibitors in them. And they break down faster.

My suggestion would be to clean them up with a green scrubbie, apply a coat of "Rust Reformer" by Rustoleum. and re-spray them with two or three coats. I've used RR on many rusty things and it's great stuff. It changes the iron oxide (rust) to a very hard, durable material. Even a picnic table I did with it has not rusted through again in 8 years. Just be careful applying it. If you leave brush marks they are VERY hard to sand out.

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you bought a NEW Ford and I bought a USED ... car. ...
My Explorer needs replacement "nerf" bars. $800. Aww, rust doesn't look THAT bad!

I probably could get aftermarket bars for less but haven't looked yet.

What bothers me is just five years ago when I bought the car (already five years old), they looked like new. Five years in MY possession and they're covered in rust. What am I doing wrong?!? [emphasis added]

To clarify, it was a used car when I bought it and it's ten years old now. I found a high school ID in a compartment that leads me to believe it was driven by a teenager, so I think we can assume there was some abuse going on.

I know what you mean about "hidden" problems, I found some broken glass under the rear compartment carpet, which led me to look further. The rear window defogger had fresh solder on it ... Hmm, now how did the rear window get knocked out? Just exactly what happened there? How much damage are we really looking at? I've never looked because I don't really want to know (nor do I really want to crawl around underneath the car).

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Many of those add-on things are painted with one coat of lacquer. Fast, cheap and doesn't need a primer on metal. Silver/metalic paints don't hold up as well as solid colors because of the clear coat. They just can't put enough UV inhibitors in them. And they break down faster.

My suggestion would be to clean them up with a green scrubbie, apply a coat of "Rust Reformer" by Rustoleum. and re-spray them with two or three coats. I've used RR on many rusty things and it's great stuff. It changes the iron oxide (rust) to a very hard, durable material. Even a picnic table I did with it has not rusted through again in 8 years. Just be careful applying it. If you leave brush marks they are VERY hard to sand out.

I haven't had good experiences with that rust conversion technology in the past, but I'll look into the brand name you mention and see if it works better.

A green scrubbie is all you need? I've used everything I have before (not professional grade equipment) and I've never had much success getting down to bare metal, and you say a green scrubbie is sufficient? (As long as I use the rust conversion paint.) Hey, I can do that!

Didn't know about the fast/cheap method of coating parts or that silver paint is inherently weaker, I thought most car manufacturers were already beyond such cheapo methods. I've owned a Ford from the 80's so I KNOW about cheap construction, so it surprises me considering how much better this car is they'd cheap out on such an exposed part.

Or ... It's something I'm doing wrong. That was kinda my point since the bars were in perfect condition after five years, but quickly deteriorated once I owned the car. I am no longer car-obsessed, or at least not as much, so I no longer wash the car by hand and that makes me think using auto-washes may have contributed to their deterioration.

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Well, RR's instructions state you don't want/have to remove all the rust, just the loose scale. It is, after all, needed for the reaction to take place. In fact it can even be left unpainted if you apply two coats. Something like the nerf bars are built by another facility and installed, sometimes, at the dealer. The problems they had with the paints back then was because they were switching over to a "water-born" paint to reduce emmisions and VOC's. It ended up being a tough learning curve with paint peeling on every manufactures cars. I wouldn't blame your washing for the problem. Five years is a long time if, in fact, it was a lacquer without primer. (check the back side of a chip for a different color.) So scrub it up, RR and spray on some new paint. It will probably last longer than the original.

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I'm considerin another trade now. This time it's a more realistic trade and it'd be straight up, since both cars are worth about the same. HIs has what I want and mine has what he wants. His is a 94 Integra LS with a GS-R B18C1 engine swap (1.8L DOHC VTEC). It has all the power options and cruise like I wanted and he's wantin a swapped EG or EK hatch. i.e. my car is a B16A2 Swapped EK Hatch. This would be a pretty sweet trade cause I'll be getting a more powerful motor and all the power options (probably be just as fast as my hatchback since the hatch is lighter) but the car has some slight rust on the fender wells and that's bout it cosmetically. Talk about an easy and cheap fix. I'd have to seriously save my cash though for a front end conversion for this thing. Honestly 94-97 Integras aren't the prettiest cars on the road but 98 front ends look much better and JDM Type-R front ends look even better. Unfortunately the Type R front end costs more than $3000 (almost what the car is worth) while the 98 front end would only cost around $700-800. This is without paint too.

No Guarantees that I'm gettin it. It's just maybe. A pretty big maybe at that.

Took some pics of the hatch under one of my Sakura trees (Japanese Cherry Blossoms)

sakuras008.jpg

sakuras003.jpg

sakuras004.jpg

sakuras006plateblock.jpg

the car is nasty as all get out in these pics but since the pollen that is covering it is green, you can't tell. You can only tell by the carbon on the bumper and the brake dust on the front left wheel. There's not as much dust on the front right wheel for some reason.

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Since you didn't include a pic of (any) Integra I looked it up. I think you're wrong about the looks, it looks clean and racy (though I like the later cars, they do tend to be more gimicky) (Not CERTAIN this is the year you're talking about, it's from a web image search so I have to take their word for it):

1994acuraintegralsje0.jpg

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Standard USDM Front End for 1994

94tegfront.jpg

Standard USDM Front End for 1998 (this particular one is a Type R)

USDMTypeR.jpg

JDM Type R Front end (this particular one is actually a USDM 95 LS with conversion like I wanna do)

carismas95tegTypeRfront.jpg

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