Honduh's Hatchcrap - Daily budget build...wait, what?
 

So I got this hatchcrap.

My friends wife was going to trade it in for practically nothing so I offered her a little more and now I'm going to make it into my new daily driver.

My plan right now is a clean, reliable, DD. In the future I'd really like to swap in a hx motor and make it a high mpg gasoline car. Lean burn mode FTW.

I already ordered some stuff. I bid on a armrest but got outbid by a dollar. I picked up a new fender and two new trailing arm bushings since I noticed they are SHOT today. If its not raining too bad tomorrow I'm going to try to hit the junkyard and find a head light and whatever else I can find, maybe stuff for the integra. I plan to order a timing belt/water pump kit for it too. And I need to investigate the noise the clutch is making, either the throwout/input shaft bearing (i hope) or a input shaft bearing.

One thing I really want to get to ASAP is the rust on the driver side 1/4 panel. Its certainly rot I stuck my finger through it today. Luckily it did not travel back behind the bumper at all and its about the size of a half dollar or so. My friend said he is pretty sure he can weld a patch panel into it. We will also be doing a single stage spray on it. Nothing special, trying to keep the cost down since the integra isn't done yet.

Ok now for a few pics.

2 nights ago:

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...414_205832.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...414_210003.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...414_210031.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...414_210148.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...414_210612.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...414_210827.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...414_211442.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...414_212028.jpg

And here are some I took today while I was working on it.

Rust :( :( :(

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...415_162323.jpg

Old wheels from the integra, also notice the dent behind the door.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...415_165050.jpg

Close up of the dent after my friend spent a few minutes on it, said it was the best he could do without his proper body tools for now. I think it looks better already.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...415_174005.jpg

Interior removed for deep cleaning and dent removal.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...415_181843.jpg

Nice and stripped

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...415_181921.jpg

Before

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...415_182247.jpg

Compare polished/yellowed

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...415_193642.jpg

if you dont mind me asking how much you paid?

is that a dx or cx? i guess sunroof was an option?

Its a dx. I was stoked to see it had a sunroof.

nice to see a smart and sensible Honda owner. i like how your FIXING it first rather than putting on sweet "suspenshin yo". good work, keeping on eye on this thread

Yeah that is rare around here with honda owners lol People are quick to buy some rotas and ksports suspension instead of making it reliable or nice looking. Who needs a paintjob when cans of flat black paint will never run out!

Nice pickup, i was looking at a vsm hatch but it sold already

Thanks guys!

Today I got to the junkyard and I wasn't lucky enough to find a headlight, BUT I did find a armrest! I also pressure washed the engine bay, vacuumed/shampooed the carpet and front seats, cleaned and reinstalled the center colsole, and cleaned the spare tire well. Here are some pics.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...416_231105.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...416_231128.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...416_142843.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...6_231253-1.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...416_231242.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...416_162439.jpg

**** that carpet looks brand new!

-Jesse

Looks great Brian. Now come over and help me clean my daily. :)

That's how I roll, son.

Thanks man! As long as your daily isn't covered in dog hair like this car id be glad to help. It took me an hour to vacuum and shampoo the back seats today.

Wow thats a clean hatch, every time you post I become more and more jealous of you lol. I've been looking for clean hatches for a long time and everything in this area is ricer food, or is more rust that metal lol.

I'm definitely in for seeing progress on the cleanup, as someone else said its refreshing to see people fixing issues first rather than doing mad tyte jdm upgrades lol

Def nice. I've always liked the hatch Honda's.

Thanks guys!

Today I was able to put a few hours into the car and I got the back seat all shampooed and vacuumed, but forgot to get a pic. I also did my best attempt at paint restoration. I washed, clayed, compounded, polished, and waxed the passenger side fender. It came out ok. I want to pick up a circular polisher and hopefully it will yield even better results. Pics don't give it justice since the lighting was low and they are from my phones camera. Compare it to the hood since its untouched.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...417_133009.jpg

Looks good man, what did you use to shampoo the carpet? Both my car's interiors could use some love.

I'm using Turtle Wax carpet shampoo. Comes ina green/yellow can. Product itself is good but the cans spray mechanisim seems to malfunction quite a bit. Costs about 4 bucks at walmart. I've used 3 cans so far and I just have to do my floor mats and hatch carpet now.

Wow that paint really came back from the dead, the difference between the fender and hood is massive. I'll have to try to perform some of that magic on my paint lol.

No dog hair in my car. Actually, my carpet is covered in rust stains from a previous water leak somewhere.

It's not that I can't do it (obviously), moreso that I just don't feel like doing it. :P

good stuff. keep it up

this is gunna be hotttt

Thanks! I hope so. But I have to keep reminding myself that its JUST A DAILY and I have to get the integra done. LOL.


To update on the progress:

I got the rest of the interior cleaned. Thank GOD no more vacuuming dog hair. The entire front interior is in, but not the back yet. I ordered a headlight off ebay so that will hopefully be here tomorrow. I also cleaned my airbox and intake tube with armorall.

*edit* I don't recommend buying from D&H autoparts on ebay. I ordered my fender on friday night, saying they had SEVEN available. Well I never got a tracking # from them so I called today and they said that it came in today and that it MIGHT ship out this afternoon. **** them.

I also picked up this bad boy to see if I can burn a hole through my paint :)

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...419_150845.jpg

screw that pos buffer and just get A pneumatic one or just do it by hand those things never work the way you want to lol

was using a new craftsman one today and just decided to do it by hand


ill trade you my pos hatch for yours???

You are right, the cheapo buffer isn't that great at all. But it was less than 20 bucks so whatever. It does just as good if not better than I can by hand and my arm isn't falling off after.

As far as trades...I'm not exactly sure what your car looks like. I was considering trading it when I first got it but its shaping up a lot better than I originally expected. Maybe someday but right now I just want to drive it for a bit.

wanna come and buff my hatch :P

haha looks good

needs wheels that dont fit.

i got some parts for that hatch. pm me and i will give you a list of what i got. im in the philly area. i like your progress so far. looks like a nice un-molested car. rare find.

this is a perfectly logical idea

take a bone stock clean ek and get sum m@d camber

stick with a random orbit, just get a professional version, i run a porter cable 7424 xp with a combination of megs 105/205 compounds and polishes with yellow and orange pads and then finish off with a white pad with gold class wax.

Will do. And yes stock hondas are hard to find these days.

Hahaha yeah it does.

Mine is a pro series, it just sucks lol. How much did that porter cable cost? I'm not sure how much I want to invest in this paint since I plan to paint it sometime this summer.

Ok so I've almost got all the detailing work over with. I stopped on my way home from work to finish up waxing the doors. All that is left now is the bumpers.

I removed both pin stripes, the dx badge, and the dealership stickers.

Next on the to-do list is:

Timing belt
Trailing arm bushings
Figure out the noise in the trans

I rolled her out today and snapped a few quick shots. These are all off my camera phone. I haven't dusted the Cannon off in over a year :(.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...426_165958.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...426_170021.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...426_170037.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...426_170048.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...426_170133.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...426_170143.jpg

Compare those new shots to this:

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...417_133009.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...426_172914.jpg

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...426_181036.jpg

Progress :) car's looking good

Had a few free hours today so I got the timing belt, tensioner, and water pump replaced. I was going to do a write up for a DIY, but got lazy lol.

Snapped a few shots:

Tools organized and ready to work
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...428_123543.jpg

Draining coolant
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...428_123611.jpg

Old belt
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...428_134218.jpg

New belt on
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...428_150833.jpg

Didn't get any shots of it back together.

Oh and I got my other headlight done the other day. Here is a shot. The middle one is the old broken one to compare to the polished ones.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...427_154448.jpg

looking good....what did you use on the headlights?

You used ALL those tools just for the timing belt and water pump?! :bigeek:
If so d-series must be VASTLY different from b-series or f-series motors lol.

Its a long process of wet sanding, compounding, polishing, and plastix wax.

ha I knew someone would say that. And no I didn't use all the tools. The car is at my friends shop and I have a lot of my tools there because my friend is very unorganized and it would take twice as long searching for his tools. I snapped that picture after I had organized all my tools and cleaning the area before starting. Plus i'd rather bring too many tools then have to run home because I don't have something.

Yea I kinda figured I was just busting your balls, I agree 100000000000% on being over prepared and having excess tools.
I figure you had the tools for taking the bumper, headlights, etc off laying around too.

ps. how do you like the matco electric impact gun? all the guys at my shop have snap on ones and they work great, but I hate our snap on dealer cuz hes a sleazebag and wanna get one off the matco guy but don't know if it's as good a quality.

I've had the matco gun for about 4 years now and its still a beast. Batteries hold a charge for very long. My frfiend has a snap-on 1/2" electric gun and its bulky and his batteries took a dump. I normally swear by snap-on but I like this matco gun better.

I bought it because I hate being attached to a hose all the time, ecspecially when working in the interior. Its also clutch in the junkyard.

Oh cool I'll have to pick one up then, cuz I end up borrowing electric impacts off the other guys all the time, I have a little 7.2v snap on electric one but it has no where near enough torque lol.

Anyway thread jack over...

So that hatch, wooooooooooooo isn't that thing just a sex machine or what guys?!? Keep up the good work man!

porter cable was about 140 for just that, not to mention the pads, and all the other pro stuff i invested in lol

soo uhh you wanna buff my car i got the oem red honda paint fade to haha only on one side though

but good stuff on the hatch dude id rather have a car looking clean then making it go fast

Lol I have no interest in buffing a car that does not belong to me. Takes waaaaaaaay too long.

And I have my integra to be fast I just want this for a reliable daily that looks half decent.