Pyro's Daily - La'shonda

[Pyr0monk3y]

Last weekend I made what I hope to be a fantastic investment, but I'd like to fill in some backstory first.

I bought a huge turd earlier this year, it was a absolute wreck. A 1997 Civic HX with near 290,000 miles, but it was super cheap and I was driving a Miata with track suspension and no AC.

http://i.imgur.com/Vhij076l.jpg (http://imgur.com/Vhij076.jpg)

It needed everything. Timing belt, every oil seal, clutch, brakes, window regulator, it had a cracked exhaust manifold, body damage, rust, trim falling off, countless leaks and rattles. (It was really cheap) But I have a lot of experience with this car. My brother has had one for 5 years or so and he has put about 150,000 miles on it at this point, for a total count of 300,000 miles on that vehicle. No problems for him, and no problems for the rest of the fleet of these cars made up of our friends. My brother is in his late 20's and I am in my early 20's. Us and all of our friends are at that point in our lives when jobs and girls and educations are pulling us in all different directions all over the country. This turd I bought from one of our friends had two cross country trips to Seattle, WA under it's belt. Between the 6 of us we might have 600,000 miles of experience with this specific variant, the EK Civic HX. I figured I could save this one given our experience.

I was wrong, at least for now. I have been working 30-40 hours per week as an engineering technician for a blue chip company, meanwhile trying to finish my bachelors degree in engineering. I have had truly no time to dedicate to restoring a car. I did the timing belt, a few gaskets, the window regulator, and then said screw it. I was drowning, but I had confidence the car would keep running despite my abuse. It did, and it still runs, but I have been summoned to Iowa next summer for a special project. I need to move halfway across the country for 3-6 months, and I won't be living the city life, so I will absolutely need a car. A cleaner, better maintained, newer HX was what I needed, and that's exactly what I found.

This one has 120,000 miles, and by the looks of it, has been meticulously maintained. The owner was an older lady, and it was maintained by her son who is an automotive technician (supposedly). Thus, I don't have maintenance receipts, but there are some bread crumbs suggesting decent care.

http://i.imgur.com/AluI6GPl.jpg (http://imgur.com/AluI6GP.jpg)

The engine bay is fairly clean. Fresh battery, clean brake and clutch fluid, clean air filter (Honda OEM), oil filter is also Honda OEM, dark green Honda Type I coolant.
I don't know why it has a strut tower brace, but it does.
One of the fender's VIN does not match, but the headlights, front bumper, and hood are all original, and there is no bent metal to be found, so I think whatever happened was minor.


http://i.imgur.com/yDsuUufl.jpg (http://imgur.com/yDsuUuf.jpg)

Some of the wiring and sleeving going to various sensors looks curiously clean. It was either washed very well or replaced recently.
The AC works and the hoses look brand new, perhaps it has been worked on recently.

http://i.imgur.com/Y0cG1Mhl.jpg (http://imgur.com/Y0cG1Mh.jpg)

Things get a little ugly here, the bolt securing the timing belt tensioner is not factory, but these are very prone to ringing off so it is understandable.

http://i.imgur.com/TNLmuicl.jpg (http://imgur.com/TNLmuic.jpg)

Whoever did the timing belt did not replace this top cover correctly so the dipstick rattles a bit.

http://i.imgur.com/yUDvhEtl.jpg (http://imgur.com/yUDvhEt.jpg)

It looks like someone tried to close the hood with the hood prop still in place. This is fairly common.

http://i.imgur.com/XMuKHVGl.jpg (http://imgur.com/XMuKHVG.jpg)

The interior is really clean. Factory floor mats!

http://i.imgur.com/YWZE7IEl.jpg (http://imgur.com/YWZE7IE.jpg)

Really oldschool aftermarket radio

http://i.imgur.com/E9AXfGcl.jpg (http://imgur.com/E9AXfGc.jpg)

Every gauge and all of the lights work great, even the HVAC lights are still nice and bright.

http://i.imgur.com/VsO8exIl.jpg (http://imgur.com/VsO8exI.jpg)

Ignore my breakdown and survival kit, it has trunk carpet and trim! I've never owned a car that didn't have a gutted trunk until now.

http://i.imgur.com/W16IcZ5l.jpg (http://imgur.com/W16IcZ5.jpg)

These wheels are not plastidipped, they are beautifully powder coated. This protects them from that brown blotchy look that so many of these wheels succumb to over the years.
It also has fairly new Michelins, another sign of decent care.

http://i.imgur.com/iPL3Kq9l.jpg (http://imgur.com/iPL3Kq9.jpg)

Here it is in front of the old 1997, now a parts car.

http://i.imgur.com/fnNC0BXl.jpg
(http://imgur.com/fnNC0BX.jpg)

I don't really have any special plans for this car other than good maintenance and a few mpg mods.
I'll probably replace the old head unit, then maybe design some sort of data logging system to track gas mileage.
I'd like to learn about aerodynamics. We have been building a splitter, undertray, and wing for the chump car lately and I find that field very fascinating. I might see if some sort of partial under tray and DIY adjustable cooling inlets are possible (for mpg, not speed). I know those things have been done before, but I want to keep it looking stock, and completely reversible.

I'm super happy to have a respectably clean car for once.

[NCGreasemonkey]

I know you and your gang know this, but...

Check that the wiring harness was clipped back into the timing cover for the Crank sensor. If not the alt. belt will rear its ugly head on it.

Peace and best wishes my friend! Have a happy holidays!

Love the Pup giving it the once over!

[freedomgli]

My grandmother drives a very similar silver DX coupe. Good cars from Honda's Golden Era, although I don't much care for them without a B16, B18 or K24 swap as they're just too sedate. But it's good to have at least one sane, sensible car in your fleet so you can have even more fun with your toy car. The only thing that would keep me from owning one is the high theft rate. Do thieves steal the HX models or only those cars that have performance parts on them?

Good luck with the move, new job and the eventual projects.

[tsingson]

So no Navi to Iowa? Nice pickup. I love the hatch version of the same years.

[kung fu jesus]

Good car. It would be on my list for a cheap commuter. Honda nailed it on that car, later versions not so much. One of my favorite commuter cars I've owned was a '92 Integra. Pretty basic, A/C, CC, PW, but the seats were great and car ran flawlessly. I only added Tokico Illuminas and 14" grippy tires. It was a lot of fun to throw around when I wanted to take the back roads home, terrific for eating miles on the highway when I didn't.

[tsingson]

Always have a soft spot in my heart for 90-93 Integras also.

[Pyr0monk3y]

I made some progress today. I've always loved the head unit I put in my Miata a couple years ago. It's a Sony MEX-N5000BT, and it's awesome. As soon as I hit the ignition, my phone pairs and I can resume whatever tunes, podcast, or audiobook I was listening to. Also, the illumination is RGB, so you can change it to match the factory color of your dash. I sniped another one on ebay for the civic.

Luckily, whoever installed the previous head unit used a harness, but they did it poorly. Why would anyone twist and tape? and how could you deal with such a mess?

I tried to do it right and keep things neat, but the harness I had was way shorter than I would have liked. I had no motivation to recrimp and repin it, so I had to save as much length as I could, thus all of the splices are in the same place. This makes for a lump where all of the splices are and you run the risk of the splices chaffing and shorting to each other. I used the lineman splice technique and kept things as tight as I could, and double heat shrinked everything. It came out ok, especially considering no one will ever see it.

A decent lineman splice, no heat shrink:

http://i.imgur.com/fsEyk96l.jpg (http://imgur.com/fsEyk96.jpg)

Before, After:

http://i.imgur.com/ClkYZfPl.jpg (http://imgur.com/ClkYZfP.jpg)

Installed, I got the right bezel and everything:

http://i.imgur.com/64UdwwKl.jpg (http://imgur.com/64UdwwK.jpg)

I installed my awesome radar detector. I don't speed, but for some reason I still like having it. The Valentine 1 has a mode that turns off all of the filtering, so it tells you whenever any sort of signal hits it, and since I'm into radios and I'm an electronics nut in general, I find that interesting rather than annoying. The install is easy, just an inline 1A fuse, and find switched +12v somewhere. I don't like cutting factory wiring, so I always try to find a way to grab power from a screw post, but I could not find one without disassembling the dash more, so I used a blade connector and grabbed +12v from the fuse block. I plugged in where the power window fuse for the backseat would go if this were a 4 door model. That's one good thing about having a two door civic, you get some extra electrical load overhead and empty fuse space.
I ran the cable through the A-pillar and was able to fish it through the headliner without taking too many things apart.

http://i.imgur.com/5AWLnrVl.jpg (http://imgur.com/5AWLnrV.jpg)

http://i.imgur.com/OUXpWa8l.jpg (http://imgur.com/OUXpWa8.jpg)

http://i.imgur.com/UQeKONRl.jpg (http://imgur.com/UQeKONR.jpg)

Done:

http://i.imgur.com/s50gR73l.jpg (http://imgur.com/s50gR73.jpg)


I plugged this guy in too, just some velcro and the obdII port. Eventually I'll get around to building a logging infrastructure that will show me trends about how much time the car spends in lean burn, mpg, etc. but for now I'm just getting familiar.

http://i.imgur.com/eOApA2ml.jpg (http://imgur.com/eOApA2m.jpg)

http://i.imgur.com/mnpvZhFl.jpg (http://imgur.com/mnpvZhF.jpg)


The dog is always really interested when I work on cars, maybe she's a gearhead too.

http://i.imgur.com/HNzeEoQl.jpg (http://imgur.com/HNzeEoQ.jpg)

[NCGreasemonkey]

You had me about to ask questions, then you show Dog!

Love the input on everything! Need more Lab. in this! My Pug gave a leg up vote!

Oh yeah. Anyone with a decent Fluke (and can use it) is a friend. 88 is the 'Mechanics choice'. I have an 87 (no temp.) but love its accuracy.

Have several thermal devices for temps.

Peace my fellow nut!

[Pyr0monk3y]

You had me about to ask questions, then you show Dog!

Love the input on everything! Need more Lab. in this! My Pug gave a leg up vote!

Oh yeah. Anyone with a decent Fluke (and can use it) is a friend. 88 is the 'Mechanics choice'. I have an 87 (no temp.) but love its accuracy.

Have several thermal devices for temps.

Peace my fellow nut!


I love the Fluke 80 series, I have a Fluke 87 of each generation. The 87-III is my favorite for electronics work, so it stays in the lab, the 87-V lives in my toolbox for automotive stuff. They screwed up the 87-V when they made it default to AC amps. Who the hell has ever used a multimeter to measure AC amps? That's what current clamps are for.

The 87-V actually does temp, not great at it, but it works for basic stuff.

[Demon I Am]

Gorgeous car

[Pyr0monk3y]

I learned a few things last night during an oil change. I took the time to fix the dipstick from the previous owner's improper assembly after replacing the timing belt. It looks like he chose decent parts, the timing belt is Honda OEM. The engine looks very clean, no sludge or any unsavory debris.

http://i.imgur.com/7boZFykl.jpg (http://imgur.com/7boZFyk.jpg)

http://i.imgur.com/xrkQ2Zml.jpg (http://imgur.com/xrkQ2Zm.jpg)

http://i.imgur.com/C3BKZNEl.jpg (http://imgur.com/C3BKZNE.jpg)

Unfortunately, I found a leak from both of the front brake calipers.

http://i.imgur.com/o8yBTK1l.jpg (http://imgur.com/o8yBTK1.jpg)

I can't tell exactly why they are leaking, they could be cracked or just have bad seals, but either way, calipers are cheap enough that I just bought new ones.

I went ahead and ordered the rest of the brake parts too. Front pads, rotors, lines, rear shoes, drums, wheel cylinders, all of it. I need the peace of mind, and this car deserves to be taken care of.

[kung fu jesus]

I'm sure you did, but with the VC off were the valve clearances checked? Got to do it from time to time.

[Pyr0monk3y]

I should, I'll do it Monday before I leave for an 800 mile road trip. I had a '95 with the d16z6 and the valve clearances were out of spec when I bought it, but I've never seen the clearance wonder on the '96-2000 engines. Still, you're right, it's worth a look.

[kung fu jesus]

Worth getting a baseline. My b18 were a bit out at 145k.

[Pyr0monk3y]

Update time for this masterpiece. I love this car, I can't wait to drive out to Iowa this summer, it eats up the miles. After daily driving that Miata for so long, a long road trip in this is no big deal.

I never could get the old calipers to stop leaking, even after a rebuild, so I replaced them. I also ran through the rest of the brakes. New lines, rotors, and pads for the front, soon I will do the same to the rears.

http://i.imgur.com/VgBlx4Wl.jpg (http://imgur.com/VgBlx4W.jpg)

I checked the valve clearance as KFJ suggested, no issues there. What was a problem was the timing! It was so far out I took it apart to make sure the belt was not a tooth off. It turns out that whoever replaced the oil seal where the distributor goes into the head had no idea they needed to mark it before removal. It was at around 22 degrees before TDC, the spec is 16. I thought I was hearing valve lash, but it was actually ping :| Oh well, I guess it's OK now.

[Pyr0monk3y]

Welp... I'm having bad luck lately.

Got rear ended at about 15mph. It bent the impact bar and pushed the trunk in about 5 inches. I happened to know the person that hit me, since I know where they live we elected not to file a report. This is my first on road accident. I've hit a couple tire walls on track, but this is my first time getting hit without a HANS or harnesses. It was a lot worse than I would have thought. My neck was a little sore the next day, but it's fine now.

http://i.imgur.com/lgnQ0PHl.jpg (http://imgur.com/lgnQ0PH.jpg)

http://i.imgur.com/Wy5aSlll.jpg (http://imgur.com/Wy5aSll.jpg)

http://i.imgur.com/AeX2cjRl.jpg (http://imgur.com/AeX2cjR.jpg)

http://i.imgur.com/Eo4AQdUl.jpg (http://imgur.com/Eo4AQdU.jpg)

After Chumpcar racing for three years, I'm a bit of a ninja at bodywork. I had it pulled out and tacked up in two hours. A new impact bar is on the way, $35 on amazon! The rear bumper cover popped back into shape after a few hours in the sun.

http://i.imgur.com/7sALtKPl.jpg (http://imgur.com/7sALtKP.jpg)

I hit this milestone yesterday:

http://i.imgur.com/RX90Obil.jpg (http://imgur.com/RX90Obi.jpg)

I'll post before and after pics once I get the new impact bar and get it all back together. You'll barely be able to tell.

[Pyr0monk3y]

Life got a little busy. I moved halfway across the country, to this place:

http://i.imgur.com/mSG8YG3.jpg (http://imgur.com/mSG8YG3)

Waterloo, Iowa. This is a prairie preserve in front of John Deere's Product Engineering Center.

http://i.imgur.com/iw9r8lq.jpg (http://imgur.com/iw9r8lq)

In this picture you can see the outcome of the collision repair. You can barely tell it happened.

I'm really loving this car. I packed all of my essentials in it and drove 1100 miles in 17 hours. I flipped my sleep schedule to nocturnal and left Raleigh at 8:30pm on a Saturday night, I had to arrive between 1pm and 2pm the next day to move into my apartment. I didn't want to stop at a hotel with my valuables in the car so I just drove straight there. I arrived at 12:30pm the next day, almost perfect timing, I should do a rally!

The car did great, averaging 48 mpg for the trip. I was pushing for 50mpg, but I think passing through the mountains killed those chances. I had to downshift a lot and spent hardly any time in lean burn. Not too bad considering the amount of weight the car was carrying.

I'll be here for a few months, with no Miata :?. I have only seen one in the three weeks I've been here. A small population of Miatas here is probably for the best considering the rust issues. There are NO sports cars here. Drag racing and dirt circle track racing is all there is. Hopefully I can be a disciple of the curvy roads.

[tsingson]

Night Kids will be awaiting your return.

[Martin]

You'll head back home before winter, right? Winter in Iowa can be interesting.

[kung fu jesus]

A small population of Miatas here is probably for the best considering the rust issues. There are NO sports cars here. Drag racing and dirt circle track racing is all there is. Hopefully I can be a disciple of the curvy roads.

Drag racing and circle track are popular BECAUSE there aren't any curvy roads there. ;)

Good luck! Hope you enjoy your internship!

[Pyr0monk3y]

Drag racing and circle track are popular BECAUSE there aren't any curvy roads there. ;)

Good luck! Hope you enjoy your internship!

I've actually found some decent ones in the Cedar Valley area. It's not as hilly as Raleigh, but it's not flat. The dirt roads here are amazing. Dirt roads in NC tend to get muddy and bumpy really quick, I think it's something to do with the clay, but here the dirt is pretty smooth.
I've done a bit of front wheel drive rally practice :burnout: