Project Status = Dead. Sold for scrap after finding irrepairable body damage (12/23/08)
Let me tell you about my project!
I bought this 1994 Honda Civic del Sol SI from a friend of mine who wanted to turn it into a show queen. What he didn't know is that it was totaled TWICE and put back together very poorly. I picked it up from him for $2100 (not many Sols in Alaska) and immediately hashed out my plan.
First thing I had to do was remove the body kit. This was very easy since it was installed with a combination of 3M tape, dry wall screws and zip ties. I probably could have recouped some of the cost of the car by selling the kit on ebay, but the dumpster 15 feet away was so much easier.
Once I had all that mess taken care of I navigated my way to Majestic Honda at hondaautomotiveparts.com to pick up the OE side skirts and all the little clips and screws that were missing. I found the OE front bumper on ebay for cheap, and the rear bumper at a local junkyard. The one piece headlights were a bonus when I bought the car, the owner had purchased them, but never installed. I found out why when I put them in. The front harness was trashed. I went back to Majestic and ordered all the parts I needed to build the headlight harnesses.
After I installed all those parts it was starting to look like a car. I drove it around a few times, and noticed a few major problems:
1. The whole car vibrates unless you turn hard left.
2. The exhaust is loud enough to make your ears ring. It's a no-name ebay cat back with no resonator a 4 inch tip and no silencer.
3. The rev-limiter kicked in at 6600 RPM and VTEC never kicked in.
4. There was a mystery toggle switch mounted on the console, wired with speaker wire.
I tore apart the rear hubs and found that one of the wheel bearings seized, and was then broken free. I wish I had taken pictures of the bearing, it was completely burned up.
I then took a peak at the ECU to see if maybe it was the reason for the lack of power. Sure enough, someone put a OBD1 Civic LX Auto ECU in. It took some doing, but I was able to find a virgin ECU at my local junk yard.
Now that all the major stuff was taken care of I dedicated about an hour to figuring out the mystery switch. Turns out it was wired to the fan relay, so anytime you felt the car was running to hot, you had to engage the fan. I think it was done like that because of the wrong ECU issue.
Now it was starting to feel like it had potential.
After all this, I was sent on a 15 month vacation so the car sat un-loved in my apartments parking lot. My wife started it every weekend and let it run for a little bit, but couldn't drive it because she is afraid of standard transmissions. When I got home it was a little worse for wear. Someone had backed into it and cracked the carbon fiber hood, the weather stripping did what it is known for and leaked all year. The car reeked of mold. So now on my ever-growing to do list was repair the hood and replace the interior carpet and seats. I have been back for 5 months now and everything has been hectic. Around March everything has finally calmed down enough for me to start up again. So far since I've been home I have:
1. Repaired the hood.
2. Tore out the weather stripping.
3. General body work and repairs.
4. Started painting.
One last note, my self-set deadline is NLT May 2011 with a budget cap of $10,000. And yes I am ok with painting over carbon fiber.
Engine Specifications:
* D16Z6 125hp@6600
Engine Misc.:
* Short ram intake
Exhaust:
* Fart can from hell
Weight reduction & transfer:
* CF Hood
* CF Trunk lid
* CF Rear garnish
* A/C Delete
* P/S Delete
Suspension, wheels & tires:
* 13 Fronts 14 rears... wtf?. Horrible short ass no name coilover suspension.
Interior:
* All Stock in mint condition except carpet and driver seat.
Exterior:
* OEM Front bumper
* OEM Rocker molding
* One piece headlights now featuring working turn signals!
Other mods:
* Invader body kit delete
* Installed Structural front bumper beam
* Replaced $700 worth of small clips, screws, and caps.
PAGE 2: FUTURE MODIFICATIONS>>>
