SiRedge

Just discovered and read through. This also makes me happy in the pants region.

Washing happened, car is clean. Time for the post paint reveal. . . . and a couple of JDM style blossom pics, for the hell of it: As it happens, today also marks five years since I've owned the car - I don't think there are many better ways to celebrate than this. Love this car.

Well, things have been rather madhouse for me over the last couple of weeks - along with several appointments to attend (and ladies to attend to ), I've been in the process of moving house. So much crap involved with it . . . not a lot of fun! Still got a heap of sorting to do, but because I'm now finally in the new place, along with all my stuff, I don't have to do it all straight away. And I really wanted to get the Civic back together again! Reinstalling the roof lining proved to be just as tricky as getting it out, much as I expected. There was many swear words used, and even with my Dad helping me out it still took several hours to get it in and have everything back together again.Then once it was back together, the sunroof wouldn't lock closed properly. The glass fitted in exactly where it was meant to, as expected, but when closing it the lever wouldn't lock it closed, and it was a little loose. I had no idea why it was doing this, but since I was busy moving house I wasn't able to look into it. Today was my first free day for a while, and it was a cracker of a spring day too. I started out sorting through boxes of crap, but soon got sick of that and decided to go play with the Civic instead. Something posessed me to look at the sunroof locking bracket again, see if I could figure out what was up with it. I was extremely surprised (and delighted) to discover that, upon partially unscrewing the bracket, it could be slid forward or backward nearly 10mm - clearly a built in adjustment nobody I spoke to knew about. I slid it back and tightened it up again, and presto! Sunroof now closes perfectly. Great success!! I celebrated by giving all of the interior plastics a clean (as best I could manage without taking vents etc apart anyway), and then vaccuming it out - the whole interior was full of dust and crap from having been at the panel shop for two weeks. Tomorrow morning I plan to give the outside a good wash and clean the windows on the inside as well . . . then it's time for some pics!!

CMR Panel and Paint on Walker St. They did an excellent job - definitely recommend them.

Well . . . I've got the car back again. Short version? It just looks incredible, blown away with how good it looks. It needs to be put back together again and given a good wash - that'll have to wait until I'm back from the Coast unfortunately. But in the meantime, here's a little sneak peek:

Greetings, reader. . . . Hmm? You still here? There's nothing to see . . . . . . Nope, nothing at all . . . . . . Oh alright alright, jeez! Here it is ready for paint. Picture dump!! I've been told I can pick it up tomorrow afternoon. Excite!!

Time for a little rust update (click for bigger images). As previously mentioned the idea was to check behind the tail lights for rot, as this is a common trouble spot with these. But I've been fortunate in this case - there's no sign of any rust which is great. There was a couple of small rust holes around the rear hatch seam, which will be patched (you can see the piece of steel that will be welded in sitting on the bumper): The rust in the rear passenger window seam has been patched: There's still a little work needed before it can go to paint - sunroof hole, bonnet, and other prep work, but it should be ready next week. Exciting!

Recently I acquired a set of floor mats out of an AH Civic. They were covered in filth, but after a fair bit of cleaning product, elbow grease and liberal use of a water blaster, they've come out looking quite reasonable. When I first got them: And after a clean: The colours won't match with my interior of course but whatever, interested to see how they look in the car!

After a bit of prompting from people who know these cars, I decided that since it's going in to have a bunch of rust fixed all over the place, it'd be a good idea to go looking for more in the usual trouble spots - might as well get it all done at the same time. The boot cavity is seldom a problem. The seam around the rear hatch (under the hatch rubber seal) however, IS. As is the cutouts where the tail lights come thru the body. Water sits in the sponge insulators and rots things out. So with this in mind, this morning I pulled out the boot hatch seal to have a look: There are a few patches, but it doesn't look too bad on the whole. A bit in the upper left corner: A patch in the lower left corner: And a little along the bottom edge: I'll need to take out the tail lights and have a look in there as well - hopefully it's in the same sort of condition as most of the rest of the car - patches here and there on the seams, but pretty minor. Maybe I'll get lucky and there won't be any! A guy can dream. LOL.

Never seen one of those before! No I haven't got one. They're good for undoing screws that are in too tight to get off with a regular screw driver?

It ended up being much more of a faf than I hoped, but the roof lining is now out of the car. Honda helped me undo the sunroof locking bracket screws, and loaned me a tool to remove the plastic push pins as well which was great. I ended up having to undo all of the seatbelt upper mounts to take the side trims off so the roof lining would come free properly. In doing so I had to pull the rear window rubbers out . . . and discovered a little rust on the passenger's side rear window frame at the bottom. I've decided there's no sense in only having the sunroof fixed at this point, when there are other bits of the car that could use the paint while it's in there. So I went into the place that'll be doing the work (CMR Panel and Paint on Walker Street, just down from Honda Cars in Christchurch, if anyone's curious) and had a good chat to Pete, the guy who owns the place. He remembered the car from when it was in having the A pillar rust fixed. Anyway after a bit of banter he was pleased I'd taken the roof lining out "because it's a cunt of a job (tell me about it! )", and that would make fixing the sunroof cheaper. I'm also getting him to fix the bonnet where those pin dents are (from when I did the shocks and fucked it up ) and repaint it, fix the rust on the rear passenger window frame (it's not much), fix the paint on the driver's door (the trailing edge is in need of a tidy up, chips and wear marks from use) . . . and paint the Purple Speed front lip that's been sitting in my garage almost a year. Most of this stuff won't be obvious to the casual view, but knowing it's been done will make me feel good and make the car actually quite tidy, instead of 'tidy, but don't look too closely' haha. Having the bonnet fixed and repainted and the new front lip on will be pretty sweet though. Here are some pics from yesterday. Pulling out the roof lining, trim hanging everywhere: Roof lining out: All the trim that's hanging loose in the above picture was removed afterward. I bolted up the driver's seat belt and rear vision mirror again so I could drive the car. Here's a look at the rust at the trailing edge of the passenger's side rear window frame: There's some at the leading edge as well. It's not as extensive as the rust on the driver's A pillar was, but it has to be fixed really, so I'll get that looked after when it goes in. All in all, it will have: Sunroof rust hole fixed, painted Rear window rust fixed, painted Bonnet pin dents fixed, bonnet stripped and re-painted Touch up paint on the driver's door Purple speed front lip painted, ready for me to fit to the car Boot hinges rust killed, possibly a splash of paint there too So a fair bit of work, but once it's done the car will be pretty good. I hope!

And, the most recent update. I've got the car back - it now has a fresh pair of KYB shocks in the front, and a fresh WOF to match. Also the new shocks feel great on the road - a little softer than the Gymkhana shocks I had in there previously, but still a good feel. Apart from being unhappy I've had to fork out for shocks yet again, I'm well pleased with them - so that's a big plus. Also, I've finally got my new steering wheel installed (click for bigger pictures as always): They actually sent me the wrong steering wheel - this one is 350mm; the one I ordered was 340mm. It's actually almost exactly the same size as the OEM wheel, but fuck it, it looks and feels sweet. Holding it gives me a semi. Cracked into getting the roof lining out so the damage to the sunroof can be fixed. For the most part I didn't have much trouble getting the interior roof fittings out . . . oh, and the OEM wheel chilling there too: . . . but I couldn't get the screws for the interior sunroof locking bracket to budge. They would not be persuaded. Not too sure what to do about that, but I certainly can't make those screws budge. I might whip into Honda again tomorrow and see if they can help. Anyway, pretty much everything else holding the lining in place has been removed or undone, so once the locking bracket has been taken out the lining should come free. Then the car can go in to have the rust damage repaired. Here's what it looks like from the underside, with the roof lining out the way: Well, at least the front shocks are dealt with - the new ones feel excellent, and the new steering wheel is pretty sweet too. Looks like I won't be getting the OEM one refurbished any time soon (money ), but that's okay - using the Personal wheel is no hardship!

About a week after the above post . . . The driver's side A-pillar seam rust has been repaired: However . . . I was silly enough to ask them to have a quick look inside the sunroof, because I knew there was a little in there. I was hoping it was mostly surface rust, and that knocking it on the head at the same time would be a good idea. It was mostly surface rust. Mostly. However . . . Here's a look at the passenger's side locating slot. The tongues of the sunroof go in these so it can tilt, and also lift out. Once the locating slot was removed the area was sandblasted to determine the extent of the damage (click for a bigger picture): Looking a bit closer at where the passenger's side locating slot was: . . . oh dear. Neatly hidden away under the locating slot, the rust had penetrated the metal. That will have to be repaired. Unfortunately, at the worst possible timing, I've just lost my job. I was already in a tight spot financially before this, but now it's much much worse. Not only was I not expecting to have to fix the A pillar rust (yet) or change all the shocks yet again (third time in three years), I have this to contend with. Now that it's been exposed the car will leak if it isn't taken care of. That won't do. I want to get the car warranted so I can at least drive it, so I'll have to fix the shocks at least. The A pillar rust is already done, they've done a pretty good job. But I just can't afford to have the sunroof rust done yet. It's in a tricky spot so it's more costly than the A pillar in spite of being much less extensive. I'll have to remove the roof lining myself in order to help reduce costs a little, but that's a fiddly job that isn't very easy on your own. Feeling a bit defeated at the moment.

A few updates I've failed to post in here - oops! Copying across from other forums to keep this at least semi up to date. Took the Civic into Honda for a WOF. Got a call from them earlier - failed the WOF on shocks and rust. Rusty driver's A pillar: F/L shock leaking quite badly: R/R shock locating pin broken free: Fortunately the rust isn't too costly or difficult to repair. The shocks, however, are really frustrating. I've bought two full sets of shocks in the last three years at not inconsiderable expense, and yet I'm back to square one yet again. Very frustrating. Fortunately I haven't thrown out my old rear shocks, so I can throw those back in the car. However I'll need to buy new front shocks to fix the fronts. More money, money I don't have at the moment (bloody broke).

I saw that - it had bits I wanted! Notably the F1 Edition floor mats - I've never seen a set other than that. I'd have loved them. Oh well! I've been a bit bad on updates lately - about to post up a bunch of them.

Took some pics the other day: Yep, still a Civic. Photos taken at the Sign of the Bellbird in the Port Hills above Christchurch.

Whoops, been a bit slack in updating this build! Sorry about that. Recent work that has been done: Installed the Gymkhana shocks (pictured on the previous page) and Cheddas extended top hats. The shocks give a much firmer ride than factory - it's possibly a bit too firm given the earthquake ruined roads over here, but the car handles pretty well which is good. Unfortunately I didn't realise that the top hat bushes needed to be lubed, so they squeak and rattle and carry on, generally making a nuisance of themselves. Something I'll have to rectify. In other news, the car has been in to Honda here in Christchurch for a fairly extensive load of maintenance work: New water pump and seals New cam belt and cam seals New clutch, pressure plate, release bearing etc Rear main seal Valve stem seals Plugs and leads Miscellaneous other belts, various seals etc. Dropped in to pick it up again last week and had a lively conversation with the shop guys, who said everyone in the team had enjoyed having it in the shop as there are guys who've been working in the shop for a long time and remember these being around They ended up putting their most experienced guy on the job - he's usually held back for the more complicated diagnostics work, but as it happens he enjoyed doing the work and wouldn't let anyone else near it!

Sadly I will not be able to come because of illness

So all my new suspension bits are ready to go in the car. I bought some new bump stops, much shorter than factory, and my extended top hats have arrived from Cheddas. I was all set to get cracking this weekend but I've been pretty unwell, so it's been shelved until I'm feeling a bit better. Meantime I ordered a K&N panel filter (off eBay, cheaper than buying locally) to go into the factory airbox. It arrived so I popped it in. The underside of the factory air filter, which is only about a year old, was looking pretty grotty. Went for a bit of a hoon afterward to see if I could tell the difference. Sounds slightly different and perhaps revs slightly more freely as well, so I'm happy.

Mmm, Burger Fuel. I'm keen.

Took some photos yesterday - click for moar bigness: You can check out the rest of the photos here.

I've been toying with the idea of making some videos of the car, with in-car footage while driving, the car driving past a fixed point, or rolling alongside another car filming, that kind of thing. I guess I feel like it would give a different perspective of the car than just photos of it - you could get more of a feel for what it's like on the road, how it sounds etc by watching a video. Anyone done much of this before? I guess I should be considering a GoPro? Here's a short clip I made earlier today:

Some stuff has arrived for me to play with. So, what have we here? What could be contained inside? Aha! A Purple speed front lip, that'll look good on. . . . and . . . what do we have here? Some Bridgestone Potenza Gymkhana shocks. Excellent. They're a bit scruffy looking but specifically valved for these Civics, which is exactly what I want. I've also ordered a pair of extended top hats from Cheddas Auto to help with front shock travel as well. The only downside is that they have to come around the world to get here! Once they arrive I'll put the new shocks in, change the rear springs, and lower it about 30mm. Looking forward to that!

Christchurch > Timaru has got to be one of the most boring drives out there. Still, if excuse to use my tent and not freeze my knackers off, I'm down.

Cast my vote for Burger Fuel. Nom Keen to get the car out for a drive too, mind you. Need moar photos. I don't care that I already have loads, the car is always changing!