Hey guys, my names Matt. Some of you may already know me from my saturn build or possibly my very short lived aveo build. anyhow, onto the build! I've always liked the shaped and bodystyle of the 6th gen Civic hatchbacks, so I decided to pick one up and build one of my own. about a month ago I started browsing the web and car ads for something rust free, not to badly beat up, stock, '96-'98, and hopefully black in color. Eventually I stumbled across this one which managed to meet most of the criteria.
(The stock wing that came with the car was broken and I had already put this one on before taking pics.)
the car however was fairly rough on the edges, but had almost no rust. the cars back bumper had been replaced with a cheap reproduction bumper that fit horribly
the passenger fender had several dents in it and the hood had been hail damaged. also someone had put on a very cheap clear hood protector film which seperated and ruined the front part of the hood.
as well someone had attempted to fix a dent and some rust with bondo.
and dents on tons of panels.
the interior was also rough... someone had broken into the car at one time. The owner tried to fix it but the door card didnt sit right anymore, the car couldn't be locked from the inside, the speaker cover was gone, and the window crank was gone.
the other window crank was also missing, and the whole car was pretty much filthy.
and of course the radio didnt work
As well the previous owner tried to spray paint things on the outside to "fix" scratches and such. All that accomplished was weird looking splotches of less gloss paint. but it was cheap and rust free!
So first thing to get fixed was the rear bumper, manged to find an alright one at the junkyard. it needs some filler in some spots as well as being properly aligned, but its better then it was.
and i replaced the dented and bondo'd passenger fender
found some weird breaks and rust on the inside of the passenger door so I decided i would be better off just swapping the door. it still needs to go onto the car.
swapped in a center with an armrest as well as heated seat buttons
got a cluster from an acura el with a tach
I also picked up a set of acura el mirrors, I find they look very similar to the jdm ctr mirrors. They're power and even heated, plus they fold.
But of course being from a 4 door they have some fitment issues i will need to clear up first.
also in the plans are the newer '99-'00 style center hvac controls, Si tweeters, power everything (locks and windows). already have 99% of the parts for it
To me it seems most civics are done up like race cars (gutted, race buckets, roll cage) which is fine, its just not as appealing to me. Instead I would like this car to have almost all the options you can get for comfort like: power windows, locks, heated seats and mirrors, nicer interior and so on. it's going to make the car heavy and goes against what most of the honda comunity seems to do, but I wouldn't have it any other way. style and comfort are the priority.
But of course I would also like this thing to sit on the ground.... so it will be on air. I had already picked up a set of used airlift struts before i had found the car. Accuair will be ordered relatively soonish.
probably won't get the warmest welcome from the honda-tech guys, so i'll stick to here for now sorry for the loooooong intro and too many pics
(The stock wing that came with the car was broken and I had already put this one on before taking pics.)
the car however was fairly rough on the edges, but had almost no rust. the cars back bumper had been replaced with a cheap reproduction bumper that fit horribly
the passenger fender had several dents in it and the hood had been hail damaged. also someone had put on a very cheap clear hood protector film which seperated and ruined the front part of the hood.
as well someone had attempted to fix a dent and some rust with bondo.
and dents on tons of panels.
the interior was also rough... someone had broken into the car at one time. The owner tried to fix it but the door card didnt sit right anymore, the car couldn't be locked from the inside, the speaker cover was gone, and the window crank was gone.
the other window crank was also missing, and the whole car was pretty much filthy.
and of course the radio didnt work
As well the previous owner tried to spray paint things on the outside to "fix" scratches and such. All that accomplished was weird looking splotches of less gloss paint. but it was cheap and rust free!
So first thing to get fixed was the rear bumper, manged to find an alright one at the junkyard. it needs some filler in some spots as well as being properly aligned, but its better then it was.
and i replaced the dented and bondo'd passenger fender
found some weird breaks and rust on the inside of the passenger door so I decided i would be better off just swapping the door. it still needs to go onto the car.
swapped in a center with an armrest as well as heated seat buttons
got a cluster from an acura el with a tach
I also picked up a set of acura el mirrors, I find they look very similar to the jdm ctr mirrors. They're power and even heated, plus they fold.
But of course being from a 4 door they have some fitment issues i will need to clear up first.
also in the plans are the newer '99-'00 style center hvac controls, Si tweeters, power everything (locks and windows). already have 99% of the parts for it
To me it seems most civics are done up like race cars (gutted, race buckets, roll cage) which is fine, its just not as appealing to me. Instead I would like this car to have almost all the options you can get for comfort like: power windows, locks, heated seats and mirrors, nicer interior and so on. it's going to make the car heavy and goes against what most of the honda comunity seems to do, but I wouldn't have it any other way. style and comfort are the priority.
But of course I would also like this thing to sit on the ground.... so it will be on air. I had already picked up a set of used airlift struts before i had found the car. Accuair will be ordered relatively soonish.
probably won't get the warmest welcome from the honda-tech guys, so i'll stick to here for now sorry for the loooooong intro and too many pics
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