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).



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...



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!







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...

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:


Before:



Some pics of the shiney bay:


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....)





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







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)...





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.:



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




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:


Baffled oily pan:


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:







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.)



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!













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.





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



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




Lowered more!

[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.



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...











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.

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

[Honduh]

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

[Danronian]

Originally Posted by Honduh

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]

Originally Posted by CleanNeon98

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.

[Danronian]

Originally Posted by XxaltezzaxX

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.

[XxaltezzaxX]

Originally Posted by Danronian

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

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

[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

[Danronian]

Originally Posted by dt98gsr

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

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.

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]

Originally Posted by IntegrasAreBest

drop a gsr in there! looks good man

screw that stuff a k20 in it!

[mtwn]

Originally Posted by foss

screw that stuff a k20 in it!

pssh 3.5

[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