Zyla's '98 Honda Civic (EJ6) - Overdue Update

[Zyla]

I've finally decided to make a thread for my Civic. It's hard for me to not share something with everyone that I spend most of my time thinking about. It's a bit of a mess right now, but it's a work in progress. I'd like to start from the very beginning; when I purchased the car. I'll cut out most of the fluff but leave all the essential bits in there.

Rewind to late September/early October. I was in search of a vehicle to replace my Ranger. I cannot remember what made me want to get rid of it, but I think it was something related to the transmission. Anyways, I was driving past all of the used car dealerships in the middle of town when I spotted an awesome-looking Focus ZX-3. I pulled in and looked over it, and became more excited at the discovery of it being a manual! I started to turn toward the building to go ask for the keys when I spotted a cute little white Civic sedan on the south side of the lot. I rerouted my destination and started speed walking over to it and peered inside the driver window. 5-speed. Bingo. I was hyped. I had already forgotten about the Focus and made my way to the building for the keys. After acquiring said keys, I approached the Honda once again and started looking over everything. I checked for rust (there was a small amount on the rear fenders), major body damage, interior condition, opened the hood and trunk, and even started the engine. Overall it seemed pretty promising! I asked for a dealer plate and set off for a test drive. The clutch was almost too easy to use. I kept letting it out so fast and slamming it into the floor because I was used to my truck's more rigid transmission. After a short while I got the hang of it all and felt comfortable driving it. Everything about the car seemed to be in great working condition. The only thing I couldn't ignore was the clutch chatter (thankfully that's no longer a problem).

The car was OK'd by my dad and myself and the keys were handed over after filling out all the paperwork and such. Now that I had the car, I had to do the typical Honda owner thing and modify it! One of the first things I made sure to do was change the ghastly chrome tail lights someone had put on it.

You'll notice that I also removed the reflectors on the rear quarter panels as well.

---

Within the month of October alone, several parts were purchased for the car, including: timing belt and water pump kit (that I still haven't needed to install), a short shifter, a new shift knob, an OEM front bumper replacement, an oil change, new wiper blades, and SeaFoam.

After that, a few other things were purchased for it (front bumper reinforcment bar, front fenders, headers) but the cold months were rough for me. I was unable to buy hardly anything for the car except for gas. But I'm out of that rut now and things are picking up again.

Right now, the car has no backseat in order to make room for the 8-point roll cage I plan to buy for it. There is also no carpet, but that isn't permanent; I intend to buy red carpet for it sometime in the near future. The clearcoat has been sanded away. I had a brief phase of wanting to ratrod the car and I ended up spray painting it. After maybe two days I couldn't stop cringing at the thought of it and sanded the spray paint away and went back to the original plan. I should also mention that back around the time I bought the car, I looked into fixing the rust around the edges of the rear fenders and found that a lot of the body was rotten, but only in that general area - everywhere else is fine. All of the holes have been ridden of the rust and filled with Bondo. A while back, the exhaust rusted through and fell apart in two different places, so I'm down to running just a manifold and a cat. It's loud as crap but I've had no trouble from police about it. So yeah, the car is rough looking right now but it's on it's way to looking good.

The car runs and drives excellent though. It has 225k miles on it and it feels like it has 1/3 of that amount. The transmission is tight and shifts smoothly. I've yet to have a single mechanical problem with the car. It does, however, have a busted motor mount that causes some vibration on the freeway, but nothing too worrying until I can get it replaced. It was only recently discovered.

I currently have a lowering kit on the way, consisting of D2 springs and TruHart sport shocks. After the car is low, I'll be purchasing my exhaust system and wheels.

That's basically all I have for now, but I should be seeing that lowering kit on my doorstep fairly soon, so stick around. 👍

 

[Zyla]

The shocks and springs arrived on seperate days, but I've finally got my suspension! Unfortunately my work schedule will keep me from getting it installed for a while, but I'm hopeful that I will have the time tomorrow evening. It's so pretty!

 

[Heldenzeit]

What spring rates are those? They look stiff.

 

[Zyla]

What spring rates are those? They look stiff.

It was unspecified, but I've heard good things about them, and for the price, I had to give them a shot.

 

[Zyla]

As of last night, the Civic is "low". The suspension installation was a 6-hour process, with the help of my dad and brother. Let me just say that the rears were much easier to do. The fronts were a bit more complicated, but we got them done. However, since my brother was doing the fronts, they aren't seated quite right. What a friggin' knucklehead!!! I kid. He was probably just out of it because it was rather late. The front springs both sit like this as of right now:

Nothing too major. All it's effecting is the height. I noticed the passenger side was sitting 1/2 inch higher, so I got under and found what you see in the image above. Nothing that can't be adjusted when I have the time. Despite not being snug, they are installed right, and they do a fine job. I'm very surprised by how comfortable the ride is considering they are springs. I would have expected it to feel like a Dodge M37, but I can cruise around and feel as good about it as before, but when I get into the twisties, that stiffness comes into play. A very nice combination of comfort and tightness. I'm happy with them.

I tried to take a pic at the same angle as this older one to show a nice comparison. Keep in mind that I haven't "broken in" the springs, and the seating hasn't been adjusted yet. Even still, a nice difference if you ask me.

I have to keep reminding myself that the change won't seem as drastic until I get my new wheels and tires. I'm currently running on 14s.

 

[eiriksmil]

What was wrong with the original front bumper?

What you should sand down is the headlights. Would make a ton of difference

Also why did you sand down the paint lol. Let's see the whole car lowered

 

[homeforsummer]

Yeah, cleaning up the headlights would make a big difference to the look of the car. Fine grit sandpaper to clean up the worst yellowing, and the budget way to polish them clear is toothpaste. Though you can buy kits pretty cheaply to do it properly. If you can afford coilovers then investing $20-odd and an hour of your time in cleaning up the lights should be a doddle.

 

[a112]

You can do the headlights above professional level with minimal effort. Even the most shops and pros don't do it that way because they are lazy, it's a hour and a half job to do it right.

400-600-800-100-1200-1500-2000-3000 grit and meguiars after that, if you don't have plastic kit the all metal stuff for wheels etc. works great also on plastic.

 

[Ibonibo]

If you follow the advice above....

Please buy some UV coating before. Otherwise you can redo it every few months because they will rehaze pretty fast.

The toothpaste trick... meh.... while it works... it works like wax on scratches. Once the fillings are washed out, you have again hazy lights. PLus toothpaste dry the plastics out due to their ingrediants. It's toothpaste, not headlight paste...

Meguiars have a complete kit by the way. But there are better kits out there, but the Meguiars is plenty good

 

[homeforsummer]

Please buy some UV coating before. Otherwise you can redo it every few months because they will rehaze pretty fast.

This is indeed good advice. After I did the lights on my Insight for the first time it was maybe six months before they were almost as bad as before. Lesson learned.

Meguiars have a complete kit by the way. But there are better kits out there, but the Meguiars is plenty good

That's the kit I used. Works great. Would certainly recommend it over the toothpaste comment, but I just mentioned that as a suitably cheap/lazy way of going about it. Like I said, if someone can afford a set of coilovers, they can afford a decent headlight restoration kit.

 

[Zyla]

I'm not going to be putting any effort into cleaning my lights because I'm buying new ones with clear corners. My current ones are broken anyway.

 

[a112]

If you follow the advice above....

Please buy some UV coating before. Otherwise you can redo it every few months because they will rehaze pretty fast.

The toothpaste trick... meh.... while it works... it works like wax on scratches. Once the fillings are washed out, you have again hazy lights. PLus toothpaste dry the plastics out due to their ingrediants. It's toothpaste, not headlight paste...

Meguiars have a complete kit by the way. But there are better kits out there, but the Meguiars is plenty good

Good advice, althogh I did more than few sets without it and it's all like the first day even after 3 years on the sun, believe it or not. Metal paste has some additive in it already.

 

[eiriksmil]

Like I said, if someone can afford a set of coilovers, they can afford a decent headlight restoration kit.

Meh.. I bought my first set of coils nearly ten years ago and did my first headlight restoration this winter.. Priorities..

Having said that, doesn't look like coilovers to me, looks like dampers and springs. Let's see the whole car Zyla

 

[Zyla]

@homeforsummer, @eiriksmil is right. They are not coilivers. Didn't you read the post?

Edit: I will post the whole car soon.

 

[homeforsummer]

@homeforsummer, @eiriksmil is right. They are not coilivers. Didn't you read the post?

Tomayto tomato.

 

[Zyla]

Tomayto tomato.

What? There's a notable difference between the two. lol

 

[homeforsummer]

What? There's a notable difference between the two. lol

Just as there is between the spelling of coilovers and

coilivers

? :slightlysarcasticwinkingface:

A coilover unit is at a very basic level a spring surrounding a damper. You've bought springs that surround dampers... the only real difference is that the unit we now typically call a "coilover" is a single piece usually with some adjustability for ride height and occasionally damping force, whereas your spring and damper were sold separately.

But really, we're splitting hairs. @eiriksmil had already corrected me your further correction was unnecessary, and the point of me bringing it up in the first place was that if you can afford [insert generic spring and damper combo here], then you could afford a headlight resto kit. And since you've already declared that you're buying new units anyway, I think that probably wraps up that little diversion.

 

[Zyla]

Just as there is between the spelling of coilovers and

? :slightlysarcasticwinkingface:

A coilover unit is at a very basic level a spring surrounding a damper. You've bought springs that surround dampers... the only real difference is that the unit we now typically call a "coilover" is a single piece usually with some adjustability for ride height and occasionally damping force, whereas your spring and damper were sold separately.

I suppose you're right.

 

[Zyla]

Wow! What a quick year it's been since I last posted. I completely forgot about this site and honestly wouldn't be opposed to giving it another shot, since I've had some pretty fun times on here.

That said, I will attempt to visit and post more, if it falls through however, eh.

About the Civic, I do still own it as a matter of fact! The first of my cars to make it a whole year. One year and four months later, I still love it to death and want to modify it. I finally settled on a ratrod look for it like six months ago and as of now it's definitely looking good and ratty. It's also sitting on a different suspension from the previous post - Megan coilover sleeves. They are a very nice system and allow for much scrapage. I had it set to a height about an inch above scrape level. Did great. I rose it two more for winter and it's still at that height. Waiting to be installed are a few parts such as: headlights, tail lights, an airhorn , footwell lights, and some stancebro stickers. I also bought a roof rack for it! Just need to find a better set of bars. It is currently on day seven of sitting in the garage, as something in the ignition went and caused a double misfire. I'm ordering the parts later today. It's super late so I'm not gonna ramble on too much more than that. I'll try to remember a pic for my next post.