90 Civic EX

ksconekiller · 90 Civic EX

I've had my Civic sedan for about 2 months now, so I figured it was time to start a project log about it. I bought the car from another state from a wholesale dealer who had received the car from the local Honda dealership as a trade-in. It was a bit rough, although it looked pretty good from 30 feet away.

The good news is that it was recently repainted; the bad news is that the repainting was done with rattle cans and was full of drips, runs, and orange peel to the point that I have had to sand the entire car down and plan for a repaint.

Here's what the paint was like close up:

It's kinda hard to tell, but there is a major run just to the right of the door edge. The whole car was like this, and I spent about 8 hours sanding the car smooth. Then I scuffed the whole thing to prep it for paint:

I removed just about everything I could, and it's about ready for paint. The husband of one of my wife's coworkers owns a body shop, and I'm going to have him finalize any prep work and do the priming and painting. The car was originally black, but I'm planning to repaint it Storm Silver, which has been available on the Honda Fit for the last couple of years.

This is where I am with the car now, and I'll repost as progress is made.

As for other plans for the car, I will be doing very little to the drivetrain, although a full tuneup is planned right away. The car has 170K on it and seems to run fine, but I don't know how long it has been since maintenance was done. Most of my time and effort will be spent on the suspension. I'm planning to use lowering springs on the car with Koni sport shocks, and I'll likely install a rear sway bar. I'll get 15x7" wheels and 195/50 or 205/50 tires (my current plans are Drag DR-16 wheels and Bridgestone RE-01R tires).

Ultimately I want the car to be a relatively comfortable daily driver that can keep me entertained on the straights and be a real hoot in the corners. 30 MPG would be nice, also. I don't think that should be to much to ask of an EF sedan...

More to come!

Mike

EF2dudesocal

Looks good the body looks like they took care of it. good luck and i suggest for corners 205 series tires they are a little bigger and they will make ur car handle great

ksconekiller

I do know a thing or two about handling. Perhaps you noticed the white EF hatch in the background... It's a fully prepped STS-class autocrosser. It uses 15x7 wheels and 205/50 Falken Azenis tires currently. The Falkens are not the fastest tire in the class anymore, but they work nicely for street use. When the racing season is over next month, I'll be using these wheels and tires on the sedan until I get new ones next spring.

I appreciate the response and advice. Thanks!

EF2dudesocal

what kind of engines do u have on them?

C-Rex

Cool cars man looking forward to seeing the progress..

Any pics of the hatch Cool

ksconekiller

EF Sedan Enthusiast

Welcome! Looks like you're off to a good start. Looking forward to the pix after paint Very Happy

ksconekiller

I found a picture of the sedan when I bought it. It looks pretty good in this picture and from 30 feet away, but one look at the first picture in this thread shows you that it needed help:

I also snapped some photos of the white hatch to appease C-Rex Very Happy

:

I should be arranging paint for the sedan this week.

C-Rex

Nice one man two really cool cars Cool

What wheels are on the hatch?
The sedan should be nice when its painted and on the drag wheels?

EvanFullwood

nice sedan, you got a clean body, and that's always a plus Smile

ksconekiller

~Sp33~

The painted steelies really make it look fresh.

C-Rex

They look great on the hatch really race look and obviously light too Cool

Ther sedan should handle great had mine on track and was unreal on Toyo Proxie R888 (semi slicks) and TEIN SS coilovers

ksconekiller

I'm not sure if I'll stick with the 90-91 tails, but I decided to update them a bit:

I still have to reapply the "Civic" lettering, but that's the overall look I wanted. I do still like the 88-89 tails also.

C-Rex

Man they are really cool on the black car Cool

~Sp33~

Have you voted on our poll for tail lights yet?

JDQCIVIC4DR

those tail lights came out pretty clean looks good. 90-91 tail lights look better.

ksconekiller

The sedan is in the process of being painted, so no real updates. I'll post again when it's finished. I did change my color from silver to white. Even though I already have a white EF, I really like the way they look, so I decided to change my color choice on the sedan.

Mike

ksconekiller

It's not quite finished yet, as I have to do all the trim work and attach all the bumper supports and such, but I couldn't wait any longer to give a little preview of the new look:

It's not perfect, but it's leaps and bounds better than what I started with. I'll post more pictures after it's fully finished.

Mike

~Sp33~

The link isn't working, but i saw it over on HT, and it's looking great. I thought you were trying to not go with white though?

ksconekiller

I wasn't going with white, but I ended up changing paint methods. Given the car's various cosmetic blemishes, I just couldn't justify spending too much on a paint job, so I rolled it on myself. My only color choices were black, white, primer gray, red, bright blue, and hunter green. Only gray and white were ones I was happy with, and my wife didn't like the gray. So we compromised and went with her plan of white. Shocked

Like she said, I won't be driving them at the same time, so it's not like people will see them at the same time.

Now I have more funds available to get maintenance and upgrade items for the car. I'll be changing the timing belt and water pump tomorrow, and it will be road worthy.

Here's pics from today:

The next phase is to install the exhaust, and then I'll do the springs and shocks. That should be about it until spring, when I'll do wheels and tires. That is all I have planned for the car, which should be enough to keep me happy and reliable.

hondacivicdx

the 91 tail is still the best

~Sp33~

Fix those links! I wanna see those pics.

89civicracer

^^ Yea. . what he said!!

ksconekiller

They appear just fine for me...

Tried to to the timing belt today, but that crank bolt WILL NOT come off. I may have to drive it to a shop and have them loosen it first.

~Sp33~

Copying and pasting the URL into your browser gets them working peeps Smile

http://www.photobucket.com/albums/v337/squareback/100_0642.jpg
http://www.photobucket.com/albums/v337/squareback/100_0653.jpg
http://www.photobucket.com/albums/v337/squareback/100_0652.jpg
http://www.photobucket.com/albums/v337/squareback/100_0651.jpg

If you just click it, it'll come up with this:

Mr.ef2sedan

89civicracer

~Sp33~

COPY THE LINK INTO YOUR BROWSER.

89civicracer

AHHHHH. .
I SEE! Shocked

ksconekiller

I've been driving the car for a couple weeks now, and lately it seemed down on power. I also noticed more smoke coming from the exhaust, especially on acceleration. Fearing the worst, I did a compression check today and confirmed my suspicions; the rings are shot. I'll keep driving it until I decide what to do, but in the meantime I've put a post in the drivetrain section here to get opinions on what to do.

I got my new wheels today, so I'll get pics tomorrow after they are mounted and on the car.

ksconekiller

Pictures as promised

Off-roading, anyone? Gotta get that fixed once it's running right.

Mr.ef2sedan

clean sedan Very Happy

~Sp33~

So clean.. Shiny rims!

EF Sedan Enthusiast

Very clean, loving the progress Very Happy

BiG ChOr!Zo

looks good...it would look hella better if you dropped it...!!!

ksconekiller

It's coming soon enough, and I couldn't agree with you more.

fwdftmfw

sicky with the tail lights!
did you just get kyrlon stained glass tint in red?

ksconekiller

I tinted the tail lights with Testor's model paint in Candy Apple Red, then put on several coats of clear. Basically the same as Krylon's stained glass tint. At some point, I'll do it again, as you can still see some of the amber color at the moment.

I couldn't stand the stock ride height any longer, so I went cheap and cut the springs; 2 coils up front and 3 coils out back. It's not too low to be on the bumpstops, but it's a much better look that didn't seem to affect the ride quality.

I still haven't made any progress on the engine build.

BiG ChOr!Zo

looks nice but i wouldn't recommend cutting the stock springs...theres plenty of drop springs for cheap out there...!!!

jkgonzalez3

too late now lol

~Sp33~

ksconekiller

Exactly. And since I'm doing it for looks, not performance, there is little chance the car will be pushed to the point that it hits the bump stops. Once I've finished the engine rebuild, I will do the suspension right, including springs and shocks. I'm considering Tokico Illuminas with Tokico springs or Koni yellows with Progress springs. The latter is nearly double the price, but I believe it is a nicer setup.

At least the car looks nice now.

ksconekiller

Progress! I actually started almost a month ago, and I got the parts back from the machine shop last week. I have rebuilt the block and installed it back into the car. I expect that I'll have the car ready to start by next week.

I decided on a mild build, milling only what was necessary to level everything out and doing only a .5mm overbore to get the cylinders right. I also had the head completely refreshed. I will be upgrading the cam soon, but I'll break in the engine first.

I'll get more pics ASAP.

~Sp33~

Awesome.

ksconekiller

I got everything bolted up last night and was ready to start it, but the battery had gone dead. It's less than 2 years old, so I took it in for a replacement. Turns out it was low on water in 3 cells. It's charging overnight, so I'll try the first start tomorrow.

ksconekiller

It lives! I turned it for the first time Sunday night, and it started with no drama. I did the initial break-in and am working on getting those first few hundred miles on it. It seems pretty strong, so I think I'll be happy with the final results. I still have to replace a clogged brake bleed screw so I can bleed the brakes, and the main relay is acting up. Other than that, the car is pretty nice already and will only get better as I break it in and fix some of the little things that need attention.