95 Civic Vx : With custom extended top-hats = smoother ride but still slammed

[Danronian]

I started this thread and have been adding to it. The most recent is at the top and older stuff is at the bottom. This car is being "built" to be a gas sipping daily driver that looks good. I was planning on swapping in a z6 or LS motor, but when gas prices went over $3 a gallon, I decided to just restore the economy it came with from the factory. Below is it's story.



Update for 10/24/07:

I was in Colombia for a while, but the job there fell through, so now I'm back. I uncovered the car from its 4 months under the car cover, and thankfully it still runs drives the same. Recently I've become interested in driving to see what the max. mpg can be with this car, and on my first two tanks I got 48 then 45 mpg...much better than the 35-38 I was averaging.

I bought some del sol cheaps for pretty cheap a little while back, and just installed them. They weigh about HALF as much as the old civic seats, and don't hurt my back like the OEM ones. They also make it so you sit about an inch lower, which makes this econo-car feel a lot sportier (much more like my old integra).

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_1032.jpg

In the search for better MPG, I also installed a experimental grill-block to keep the wind turbulence and unwanted cold-air out of my engine bay, which the OEM VX bumper came with one made out of plastic that sat behind the bumper grill. (Believe it or not, cold air does not help an engine get better MPG, though it does make more HP.) My next cheap engine plans for MPG include a sea-foam treatment, cleaning out the EGR, making sure the parts store gave me the correct plugs, and finding and installing the OEM intake/filter. I'm also going to install aluminum under the car to smooth out the airflow underneath it.

I added some halloween fun to the cardboard...

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_1029.jpg

So far the car does seem a little quieter inside with the cardboard in place, and the temp gauge hasn't gotten any higher, so I think this is probably a good mod for getting better MPG.

Update for 6/17/07:

The car is now running like a champ. Not a single problem I can even complain about. Clutch grabs nice for having the upgraded/new Exedy stg1 disk, but not too stiff due to using the factory PP. Doesn't take any coolant, oil, or smoke, and still manages to get around the 40 mpg it has always provided me. It just had its maiden road-trip to OC MD this week, and the thing car loved it more than ever before.

Finally snapped some pics of it being complete and clean!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000694.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000695.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000693.jpg

Some might notice the bungee around the battery...that's due to the battery that came with the car being too tall for the factory holder. When I come back and drive this car in two years, it'll need a new battery anyhow. The only thing I really need to fix on this car yet is the horn. It only has a single horn, and the thing sounds like a nearly dead bird. I actually bought one a while back for someone who ended up not needing it, I just need to find the damn thing.

Update for 6/5/07:

Well the swap is done, I just need to take some more pics. I realized I was going to actually install the motor/tranny myself, so I thought about it, and then just jacked the motor up on some cement blocks and boards, lowered the car down a little bit, raised the motor a little more with a jack, and it bolted right in. The only problem I had with getting the motor in was that the one lower ball joint, that I popped apart just a few days earlier, would NOT come apart. After mangling the living **** out of it, I then resorted to taking the two halves of the LCA apart, which gave me barely enough room to get the axle back in the spindle. Of course, the only reason I took the axle out of the spindle was so I could save the dry-rotted outer boot, and when I put it back in the spindle, it formed a little hole about the side of a pencil....great. Now I'll need to buy that axle if my luck fails and the entire thing rips (which it probably will).

I was too tired when actually installing the motor myself, and I didn't snap any pics. Too bad since it really was a sight me doing it myself...:lol:

The bitch-pinn cooperated soon as I showed it who's boss with the punch! I was very happy about that.

My car sat like this for two days:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000670.jpg

Before:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000671.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000672.jpg

Some pics of the shiney bay:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000677.jpg

Fixed my burnt wire on this side:

Actual culprit: (it wore through at where it goes through the fender and melted the wire all the way to the fuse box....:()
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000676.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000679.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000680.jpg

The old and the new (of course I spilled oil all over the new one when I installed the oil pan gasket):

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000675.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IM000673.jpg



Update for 5/31/07:

Took the motor out last night with the car raised up on jackstands and a jack under the motor and tranny. It went SO smoothly minus the shifter getting caught up after the motor was on the ground (I didn't have the punch I needed to get out the linkage pin.) The axle nuts came off with the impact gun (which is what I call a Honda miracle), and the lower ball jonts popped apart like they should.

I then took the motor apart to see that the clutch is practically new, so it almost sucks that I bought that stg 1 exedy clutch for $99 to replace it. I think I'll just shelve it and save it for when I turbo the car in a few years, though I think I might just use the exedy organic disk to make engagement a little bit stiffer.

The only bad surprise I found on getting the motor out is that the "downpipe" that comes off of the cat, underneath the motor, leaks at where it connect to the cat since it looks like one of the studs from the cat is completely rusted so it couldn't be tightned all the way. The car just started to make a little exhaust leak noise when it isn't warmed up, which I'm sure is coming from there. I think I might just heat the hell out of the bolt, and try to get it to tighten all the way...though I'm going to be very careful since I really don't want to have to replace that cat since I broke off a stud...that would suck to have to spend that $200 that I really don't have.

Some pics of the Engine pulled (well it was dropped)...

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/05-30-07_2202.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/05-30-07_2200.jpg

Dirty engine bay that is going to be power-washed till it's squeeky clean today. I was thinking of doing a wire tuck, but since I really don't want to mod this engine bay, I'm just going to fix the one burnt running light wire, and leave it at that.:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/05-30-07_2201.jpg

The torque mounts filled with some polyurathane goop to stiffen them up and fix the one that was ripped in two:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/05-30-07_2159.jpg


Update for 5/30/07:

Last night I installed the new gaskets for the valve cover, installed the CORRECT timing belt (not the same as a d15b or a z6...damn vtec-e being strange), and installed the oil pan gasket. The bottom end on the motor is pretty different looking since it has an oil pan windage tray, and a block girdle from the factory. The bottom end and top end of this motor look mint, so with all the new stuff on it, it should hopefully run perfectly.

Girdle:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/05-29-07_1955.jpg

Baffled oily pan:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/05-29-07_1956.jpg

I also did a compression test today on my current motor (241k miles), and it has amazing compression. 200-198-198-198 Since it does smoke, I'm now guessing that it isn't the rings, and that the head is just worn out from all of those miles. I was going to sell the head thinking it wasn't causing the smoking, but now I'm just going to stash it away for some day when I want to rebuild it and put it in another hatch to make another super-econo car for cheap.

I finally picked up a good throwout bearing today ($45...ouch) since the last one I bought that was supposed to be new, wasn't at all (from a homemadeturbo.com moderator). The one axle nut I haven't had off before just came off with the impact gun, so as long as I can get ahold of my friend tonight that has the punches I'll need to take apart the shift linkage, hopefully I'll get this lower mile swap installed tonight or tommorrow.

The car now rides SO much better thanks to the tokico blues installed in the back to replace the two blow agx struts that were there. The one strut is so blown that it was actually hot on the shaft due to it having no oil left in it... I cranked down the Maxspeed sleeves all the way down, but they really don't make the car that low. It does look good I think, and it rides smoother than it ever did, so I like it, but the height disappoints me.

Don't take my car the wrong way though, it doesn't handle, it's not fast, it just looks good I think. I know it's too low to help handling, and the 13 inch tires are God-awful for traction, but I like it.

Some pics:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/05-25-07_1826.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/05-25-07_1923.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/05-25-07_1928.jpg

As soon as the suspension was lowered down on the new rear struts, I drove the car 4 hours to Ocean City, Maryland for a free weekend at the beach. The car loved the drive and didn't take a drop of oil (since I didn't beat on it at all).

Pic at the beach: (I should actuallly take it near the sand next time.)

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/05-27-07_1313.jpg

Update for 5/25/07:

Well I cleaned up the new longblock and realized the tranny that came with it is shot. I then found a different Cx tranny, with low miles, for $85 shipped to me. Not a bad deal. I ordered up a timing belt kit, water pump, engine seal kit, and an exedy stg 1 clutch for when it gets installed in about a week.

For the interior I fixed the door handle, glove box handle, got a non-ripped shift boot, installed a used skunk2 shifter, got some non-painted speaker covers, fixed the speakers so they all work, and threw in some mint OEM floormats. Other than the front seats being from a coupe, and will never match the back seat, the interior is very mint now. I figure once I come across some cheap Integra seats, I'll get them. Till then, these civic seats are 90% mint and barely used, so they'll do just fine. At least the colors match.

For the outside of the car I added a set of Ek sideskirts (took a few hours to mount, but they look good, and I couldn't find the EG sides anywhere), and some front mud flaps. I'm still looking for the rear mudflaps for a cheap price.

My two rear AGX struts are leaking, and the one is entirely blown, but I just got in a set of Tokico blues I found used but in great condition for $50 shipped. Today I'm going to install the rears and lower the car down to see how far it can really go (the sleeves are almost to the bottom already). The car rides great at this height, and only every scraped probably once going up a very steep driveway with another person and an entire swap in the back of the car. I figure I can lower it till it scrapes a little bit, and then I'll stop there. Though I never got an alignment, the car isn't wearing tires, which I'm not complaining about at all!

I also sprayed my muffler, brakes, wipers, cowl, and undercoated all of the wheelwells to make the car look less like it just came from Maaco. Future plans are small, since I'm not going to put any more money into this car, just gonna drive it now since it's at where I want it to be.

Next week I will install the lower mileage swap, fix my wiring for my front running light, clean up the engine bay, and soon I plan on blacking out the grills (oem style), respraying the bottom of the bumpers black (oem style too), and repsray the wheels their factory color since they paint is far too stained from brake dust to be able to be cleaned up nicely. I really also should buy a horn soon too since mine sounds like the road runner right now, and it really should be louder for this being such a small car.

On to the pictures!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/ProgressontheTealEg006.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/ProgressontheTealEg008.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/ProgressontheTealEg007.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/ProgressontheTealEg009.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/ProgressontheTealEg004.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/ProgressontheTealEg002.jpg

Update (week after owning it):

Yesterday I changed the chocolate milk style coolant (and flushed it), installed new plugs/wires/cap (rotor soon, I got lazy), headunit but it still needs an antenna, shifter stabilizer bushings (but I now realize it needs a shifter since the "shifter bearing" is worn out), front bumper support that it was missing.

I also picked up a 100k mi motor that looks very clean inside and a tranny. The tranny looks like a different "age" compared to the motor, so I decided I'm going to try to figure out somehow if it actually is a Vx tranny or not before installing it.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/04-14-07_2223.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/04-14-07_2224.jpg

Cleaned up the Oem style seats to replace the "old integra" seats that are in it now.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/04-14-07_2225.jpg

Hopefully today I'll get that rotor installed and my interior cleaned with civic seats in it.

:eek:


Lowered more!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/LowerEG002.jpg

[4g4d4u]

x2 for liking teal. its a great looking color on both of the cars.

im suprised you dont have a b18 in there already, what with all the ones you guys get.

[Danronian]

First updated moved to this post b/c of length being too long...


First day update:

Lots of people hate this color, but I love it.

I had a 95 LS Integra I got for dirty cheap and sold for actually more than I bought it for about two years ago. I had it on Ksports at a time, but always kept it mostly OEM b/c I drive it often hours a day. I need money and am bored of my car, so I looked to find a civic.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/TeallyLS006.jpg

I came across this 95 civic Vx. It has new bg33p paint (Maaco quality), Apexi WS2 exhaust, an armrest (nice!), and some Maxspeed coilovers on AGXs. It has a ****-ton of miles, 238k, but runs strong and doesn't smoke that much at all, only when you are really beating on it. I drove it home 3.5hrs at 70mph+ and it took no oil, so it's not really in that bad of shape for the miles.

Here's a few pics...

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/SecondDayEG005.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/SecondDayEG003.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/SecondDayEG002.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/SecondDayEG001.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/SecondDayEG006.jpg

So far plans are..

Install the EG seats and take out the 80s integra seats that came in it.
Clean the engine bay and interior.
Replace rear shoes/one drum(gouged from some rust), rotors/pads, front tires.
Get car inspected and passed for emissions.
Do lots of maintence on the engine/tranny (timing belt, tune up stuff, some seals, alt belt, mount inserts, shifter bushings, tranny fluid change, and maybe a clutch change).
Black out the oversprayed parts of the car.
Amber corners to replace the ugly ones it has now, and probably some replacement OEM tails for the oversprayed ones it has now.
Lower it more (so far the back is lowered a little more than it was, I still need to lower the front brakes more) and call it done.
Maybe replace some suspension bushings and upgrade suspension components (to full coilovers of some type).

It gets amazing mileage already, so once it's tuned up, it should run even better and get even better mileage. I was thinking of swapping in a z6 or LS, but this motor has decent acceleration, and for all the driving I do, it has some great highway gears.

x2 for liking teal. its a great looking color on both of the cars.

im suprised you dont have a b18 in there already, what with all the ones you guys get.

I know. I was thinking I should, but the mileage is just too good to mess with this car. Right now the car is quiet, lowered, and runs great. I'm just afraid to mess with it considering I drive at least 2hrs a day during the week. :(

If anyone knows of someone getting rid of a VX swap let me know, I'll take it as an extra motor for this beast. :lol:

[Honduh]

nice man. did they previous owner sell it to you with all that crap in the interior?

[Danronian]

nice man. did they previous owner sell it to you with all that crap in the interior?

90% of it was his crap. I only added a few things to it. I can't wait until the mechanical issues are gone-over and I can actually clean the inside of the car.

[XxaltezzaxX]

I love teal hondas, great color I think. Nice find on the hatch.

[CleanNeon98]

nice cars...that hatch needs some major TLC

[Danronian]

nice cars...that hatch needs some major TLC

It's true, the interior looks pretty ****ty in that picture...but once it's clean, it'll look real nice. The engine bay is dirty too but I'm in the process of finding a low mileage vtec-e swap to put in its place. The motor runs strong, but I doubt 238k miles will last forever. :mrgreen:

[Danronian]

I love teal hondas, great color I think. Nice find on the hatch.

I saw fresh paint and bg33p (my favorite teal) and I was there with the cash. :lol:

[XxaltezzaxX]

I saw fresh paint and bg33p (my favorite teal) and I was there with the cash. :lol:

I was so close to buying a teal coupe, but by the time I had the cash in hand he sold it:mad:

[Loserkidwac]

I hate you...you made me drive your ass 3 hours and then made me follow you home 3 hours in a car that I am in love with...I'm so jealous

[mtwn]

teal ownz

[dt98gsr]

Not bad not bad... you just gotta love how Macco paint matches exhausts too :wink:

[Danronian]

Not bad not bad... you just gotta love how Macco paint matches exhausts too :wink:

I know...lazy tape jobs suck to clean up. I'm just going to paint the entire muffler black because that stuff is a real bitch to get off of there with steel wool. I might aircraft strip it first though just so that teal paint doesn't peel and make the black look like ****.

I really need to black-out the fenderwells too. I'm actually just going to layer some undercoating in all of them to rust prevent this thing and make the road-noise less noticeable.

I lowered it some more just now, I should snap another pic....the car feels small to stand next to when it's lowered...haha. :lol:

I'm in the process of finding a replacement swap for the car...I should have one this weekend with under 150k, yay.

The only things I'm doing to the outside are amber corners, blacking out the grills, and I'm replacing the tail lights that are semi-oversprayed. Maybe a respray of silver on the wheels, but this thing looks good enough for me already. I might throw on the oem lip, but only if it's dirty cheap since I can tell I'll be ripping it off real fast.

[Danronian]

Update for lowering it a lot.

[IntegrasAreBest]

drop a gsr in there! looks good man

[foss]

drop a gsr in there! looks good man

screw that stuff a k20 in it!

[mtwn]

screw that stuff a k20 in it!


pssh 3.5
:mrgreen:

[Danronian]

Replacing the brake shoes tonight so it'll be inspected and officially my legal daily driver.

[77F-150]

looks great... its just like mine well kind of, i only have a d15

[Nbboy7]

Looks good

[90IntegraC1]

wheel spacers asap to bring the hx wheels out to the fenders...nice pick up

[Danronian]

I installed the brake shoes in the back so it's ready to be inspected...I hate messing with drum brakes.

[HatchSurfer3]

looking very nice. Besides the overspray the paint looks nice. Good luck with the cleanup.

[Danronian]

looking very nice. Besides the overspray the paint looks nice. Good luck with the cleanup.

Thanks man.

The OEM front seats cleaned up nice, and the rest of the interior just needs a door handle and glove box handle to be perfect.

I just got the car inspected and emissions tested (:wink:), so now I just need to focus on replacing the noisey axle and changing the chocolate milk coolant.

[Danronian]

More progress in this saga!

[Danronian]

More updates.

[Danronian]

Updated for the motor pull/install.

[Danronian]

Just need to snap some pics of it in and the car clean.

[Loserkidwac]

Looking good wish i wasn't so busy lately...

[Danronian]

I need to clean it and take some better pics. I think I'll work on that right now.

[Danronian]

Finally loaded up the "completed" pix.

[Blkmax]

wow, thats a clean ass hatch. what a difference from when you first bought it. It looks great man, good job with it. I dont even see any rust or anything, its so rare. take care of it!

You wrote that you were in OCMD, i just got back from there on Friday, i dont know if thats when you were there.

[Danronian]

wow, thats a clean ass hatch. what a difference from when you first bought it. It looks great man, good job with it. I dont even see any rust or anything, its so rare. take care of it!

You wrote that you were in OCMD, i just got back from there on Friday, i dont know if thats when you were there.

Yup, I got back Friday around 2:30 and was there since Monday evening. I'll probably head down Monday or Tuesday this week too since I'm currently just getting ready to leave the country for my job in Colombia and until then I don't have thing to do.

I wish the car was rust free. It was repaired before I bought it, but it'll need to have the bodywork redone in I would guess 3-5 years. Not a huge deal to me though since it's something I'm pretty comfortable with doing.

I'm actually starting to think I might paint it a different "rare" civic color like that pink color they sprayed some of those newer civics in. I really like this color, but that pink would just push this car to something that is different (and I like different). :lol:

[Danronian]

My new favorite civic color:

http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2002205

[Blkmax]

yeah, i was there from Sunday 6/10 til friday..but i didnt have my civic. it was too crowded because of senior week tho, and there are way too many diesel trucks flying around haha.

My new favorite civic color:

http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2002205

i honestly have never seen that color before. at first i thought it was milano red, but its too light. cool color.

[Danronian]

yeah, i was there from Sunday 6/10 til friday..but i didnt have my civic. it was too crowded because of senior week tho, and there are way too many diesel trucks flying around haha.



i honestly have never seen that color before. at first i thought it was milano red, but its too light. cool color.

I didn't see driving as bad, but all the drunk seniors on the road made driving quite scary. I bought myself a senior week t-shirt actually, even though I'm a college senior...:lol:

The trucks were just annnoying, but the drunk people yelling out of the back of them to everyone on the road was more annoying. I wonder how many people fell out of the back of trucks like that.

[Danronian]

Some sol seats and an experimental air-dam. Gonna make some extended upper strut mounts soon to make the ride a little smoother.

[Danronian]

Some sol seats and an experimental air-dam. Gonna make some extended upper strut mounts soon to make the ride a little smoother.

Damn it. Still didn't get those extended top-hat strut mounts welded together. That's going to be a priority project since I'm still excited to feel the difference w/them.

Updates:

Car was broken into last night, though only food and a $1 worth of change was stolen.... Thankfully I got the window replaced today with no trouble, and now I've been inspired to change the interior a bit.

Going to dye the interior all black since the grey upper plastics are stained/scratched/burnt, the center console is gray, and the headliner could also benefit from being made a darker shade. After that, planning on getting some new carpet soon after since mine is original w/250k mi on it... Yuck. Also going to start shopping (at the junkyards of course) for some rear black integra seats to replace my ugly stained/stinking of oil rear OEM seat.

That's it. Car is treating me great lately, so I figure it deserves a change. :cool:

[redex04]

Let me know how dying the interior turns out out i would like to try it in my coupe. My plastics are grey and i wanted to go to all black. Wheels are sweet!

[speedooo]

saw it at maple grove. it was lookin nice and shiny all the way in the back

[Danronian]

Let me know how dying the interior turns out out i would like to try it in my coupe. My plastics are grey and i wanted to go to all black. Wheels are sweet!

I have some black VXs right now for winter tires, and damn they are UGLY! I did buy some bronze paint to repaint them, but that was three months ago, and I still haven't summoned up that motivation to do it... I also like bronze since it will hide the dirt, unlike the oem silver and black (which looks dirty soon as I pull out of the driveway).

I'm gonna polish the summer VX wheels, I think they'll look a lot better that way.

The dye-job should go great. I had to dye every plastic in my 75 malibu, due to it all turning pink/chalky. Took forever, but the paint has now lasted 6 years. If you just make sure you use some heavy-duty cleaner on it (purple power, simple green, etc), rinse it with water 100%, then scuff it up with some light sand paper, the paint will stick amazing. Just make sure you use very thin coats. Hopefully I'll work on those extra plastics I have within the week. I have a nasty rattle going on in the back of the car, behind one of the plastics, so they need to come out anyway.

[Danronian]

saw it at maple grove. it was lookin nice and shiny all the way in the back

Thanks.

Still looks pretty much the same other than a little dent in the hood and a dented fender thanks to a deer that ran into the side of the car... Die deer die.

[Danronian]

Little update:

Recently I did a few things to the civic:

Installed rear AGXs, rear mud-flaps, OEM fogs, air horn setup, EG6 JDM OEM fogs, and re-blacked out the front bumper as well as dyed some of the interior to begin to make it all black instead of gray/black.

Still need to make some extended upper top-hats for the struts and then lower it some more for the summer in Ocean City MD. :banana:

Coming this week are some old-school Denji style projector headlights I ordered.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2036.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2034.jpg

[Danronian]

Looks like I should be getting these lights in the mail tomorrow.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/blackeg6/DSCN3648.jpg

Got them for a pretty decent deal, and I think they'll work nice for some HIDs in place of the projectors at some point this summer. I heard the light output is meh with them, but the headlights now are so terrible, I'd be amazed if it was that much worse.

Some people hate these on the EG but I like them. :supz:

[Danronian]

Installed my new lights. I like em a lot.

A lot more light output, somewhat OEM appearance, and a good replacement for my broken/not-so-clear OEM ones.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2058.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2054.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2056.jpg

Lowered it a little more today, but it was mostly to just even out the front, which was almost an inch off side-to-side for about 6 months now... ooops. Tomorrow I have some softer springs to throw in the rear. Going from 470 in/lb rate springs to 340s. Should feel a lot softer I think. After that, hopefully soon, I'll install some home-made/designed extended upper hats, then the front and back will be lowered about a half inch more.

Today I also noticed that my one lower ball joint has some play in it, and my axle doesn't seem to like to spin too nice on the one side from having a ripped boot for about 20 k miles now... so that is some maintenance I need to get to soon in addition to the warped front rotors and the spark plug wires which seem to be giving me a miss sometimes with my brand new plug wires. I hate having to buy stupid replacement parts...

So break-down should be like this for those parts...
Ball joints - $30/pr
Plug wires - $55 (OEM ones so they last 10 yrs, not 1 yrs like these POS advanceauto ones I have that all pulled apart)
Rotors - $50/pr
Pads - $25/set
Battery should be replaced soon since it has like 3 months left on it - $40

So it looks like about $220 of **** my car needs this year. Oh well. Car does have 252k on it, and never breaks, so it's money well spent for this 43 mpg non-highway car.

[Danronian]

Ordered some hawk pads for the front. Gonna install them, new rotors, new lower BJs, and a new axle soon. All the OLD AGXs are starting to die out on me, so I'm gonna replace them with some skunk2 struts (only $230 a set!!) around May. Making some extended upper top-hats tonight.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2076.jpg

Ground clearance:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2073.jpg

[Honest_Bob]

you damn crazy honda kids...


I'm gonna steal your gas mileage!

[driftingrx5.7]

dam dude i thought my civic was low! but i will tell you i love those headlights i want them now for my eg

[HatchSurfer3]

Yea man those headlights are nice. I might come switch them in the middle of the night

[Danronian]

you damn crazy honda kids...


I'm gonna steal your gas mileage!

:lol:

GL doing that!



Thanks guys.

I like the headlights a lot too. They have so much better light output than the factory ones, and look cool. :mrgreen:

[Danronian]

Gonna install the extended upper hats tomorrow! We finished fabing them up tonight. :)

[redex04]

post pics of the tophats, i got an extra set i wanna extend sometime here soon

[Danronian]

post pics of the tophats, i got an extra set i wanna extend sometime here soon

I´m out of the country now, but after I clean them up, I´ll snap some pics before installing them.

They´re really simple to make if you have access to a welder.

[Danronian]

4/15/08 Update

Collected some Si interior parts including door panels and a rear seat, and a new steering wheel (only part that isn't installed yet), to upgrade from the not-so-nice VX parts.

Before/after door panels (before is on the right):

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2312.jpg

Interior all upgraded:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2313.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2314.jpg

And now for the biggest Si upgrade...

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2336.jpg

Yup, rear discs (they BARELY fit under the VX wheels). Found a rear brake setup of a LOW mile 99 Si for about a $60 trade with NIB rotors/pads already installed! Picked up a disc brake proportioning valve and installed that as well. Also replaced the front lower ball joints, and the front rotors/hawk pads all in one weekend, and WOW, after that weekend I am now beat. Lots of rusty bolts gave me a lot of trouble, otherwise this should have been an 8hr job at the very very most, but it was a decent amount more....

The end result is a car with SO much better braking. I was kinda scared it wouldn't be worth it, but wow, such a difference between the nearly new drum brakes compared to the rear discs that I just put on (aren't even fully broke-in). It's also a huge upgrade for the bushings in the rear since the old trailing arm bushings were 100% ripped as well as all the other bushings that were attached to the trailing arms (253k miles will do that).

I do have some carnage pictures of all the parts that were cut/mangled to get them off, not sure if I want to open them up to the public to see.. Kinda scary. HAHA

Hopefully I'll get some better brake upgrade pics, because the equal sized discs front/rear look so much better than those puny drums that used to be in the back.

[97`Rolla]

yes bump for my old door panels!

[whiteturbo]

I would just like to give you some props, i've been looking for a car and reading this whole setup makes me want to get a honda and save as much money for a nice car in the future. Nice job and keep it clean!

[Danronian]

I would just like to give you some props, i've been looking for a car and reading this whole setup makes me want to get a honda and save as much money for a nice car in the future. Nice job and keep it clean!

Thanks man. :supz:

As soon as I land a job and move (hopefully in AUGUST) I'm going to be picking up an s2k as the "nice" car then this can truly be considered the dd.

[Danronian]

Also..

The brake upgrade was DAMN worth it!

The car stops so fast now and no more terrible brake fade like the drums were giving me all the time. Rear alignment is off a bit now though due to one of the rear "toe arms" being siezed in the car, but hopefully I can mess with it a little and make it a little better!

[Honest_Bob]

Sexy door panels. :thumbup:

[Danronian]

Sexy door panels. :thumbup:

Thanks.

My sister said they were ugly so I wasn't sure if they only appealed to me since I'm a Honda lover, or because they actually do look good. Your confirmed what I thought. :lol:

[igo4bmx]

yeah i did the rear disc swap on my civic with stainless lines and it was night and day.
in fact this setup is better than the evo, which is sad

[Danronian]

yeah i did the rear disc swap on my civic with stainless lines and it was night and day.
in fact this setup is better than the evo, which is sad

Damn, that really is. :bigeek:

Some people were trying to tell me it's the same as with the drum brake, but no way. The fade with the drums was terrible. Now I can step on the brakes, and the car brakes smoothly and the same no matter how long I brake. I like it so much better. Makes me a lot more confident to test out those 25 mph turns at 45. :mrgreen: Haven't locked them up at all either. Not sure how much the Hawk pads helped out, but they're quieter than other cheap pads I've had before, so I'm not complaining.

[Danronian]

Forgot to add pics of my extended upper top-hats.

Loserkidwac on here (Matt) did the welding. Bad pictures, but they work amazing!

I basically just added 3/4 inch of pipe in the front and 1 inch in the back. Filled the extra space up with a bump stop, and now I have about a 1/2 in more suspension travel in the front/back and softer bumpstops. It rides a LOT better though that doesn't sound like a lot of travel.

Front:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2343.jpg

Back:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2345.jpg

Engine bay looking spotless:

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/danronian/IMG_2344.jpg

[Loserkidwac]

Looking good, those top hats came out great I need to make my own set soon!

[Danronian]

Looking good, those top hats came out great I need to make my own set soon!

I think your wheel wells are begging you to make them.