R.i.p. Old Friend

[Bubba Bob]

Hey Honda Boy, ask around at automotive forums. There's usually someone around with a subscription to carfax that would be glad to look up a car for you.

About about your choice. THree words. Ford Focus SVT. The best hatchback you can buy

Edited September 21, 2006 by Bubba Bob

[Honda_Boy]

I think I may have found my car.

1997 Honda Civic EX Coupe 5-Speed

Basically my old car in the next body style in green. Stock. Unlike my APC covered car. I would still jack the muffler off my old Civic and slap it on this one. Hey if we can recover the D16Z6, when the D16Y8 in this bad boy dies I got a spare.

[JDoors]

Seems OK but wow, that's some high mileage there (which explains the price). GET IT!

[Bubba Bob]

I know it's a honda... but 170K miles? Rather bland to... But so are most imports compared to domestics.

Really though, I wouldnt pay over $4k for a 97' with that many miles. What's the blue book value? Good luck on the hunt.

[Fatso913]

yes, i agree milage is a little high but hey! its your choice ;-)

[Honda_Boy]

well hey, it's the only frickin car in 75 miles from here we can afford. plus honda motors are so easily swappable I can either use my D16Z6 if we can get it working or I can scrape up $2000 over the next while and drop in a B16A2 or A3.

We are on a tight, I mean TIGHT budget for this car. The 95 just kinda fell in my lap. I lucked into that one. It just so happend my 85 Sunbird broke and t just so happened my brother was buying a 4Runner for hauling recording equipment and was selling his Civic. I've looked long and hard for 87-98 Civic, 94-97 Integras, 91-98 Accords (which there are actually load but the 94-97's are harder to come by which is what we are really looking for) 87-91 CR-X's, 92-97 Del Sol's, and 92 or newer preludes. Accords, a lot. In fact many 5 speeds. It's just the good ones cost too much and the others are sketchy. Integras. One GS-R. too good to be true. exactly. Preludes. a 93 VTEC for $3500. I nearly crapped my self. Bad trans, dents and dings, faded paint. CR-X's. Non-existent. Ditto on the Del Sols.

Hardly any Civics. No Si's. Only EX coupes it seems (which SI hatch and EX Coupe are the same form 93-95 it's just the coupe has power windows). Well this 97 is the only car in our price range. There was a white 95 that was gonna cost the same but that is a rip off. My brother bought the 95 in 01 for the same price. This 97 is the best deal I can find. There are almost 0 Hondas for sale in this town. THis Green 97 Coupe is it. It's what we can afford and doesn't look sketchy. I'd rather get something else to be honest. I don't particularly care for 96-98's but I need a car and I ain't drivin nothin but a Honda unless it's a toyota truck. My dad said If I had waited a year to wreck I woulda had his 98 Tacoma.

[JDoors]

Well, first of all, that's what you get when you want something with high resale value: High prices, low inventory. Betcha there are a lot of Cavaliers for sale!

If you were thinking of later "scraping up" an additional $2000, why not scrape it up now and get a better car? I noticed at THAT price point (the one you posted @ $4400 plus $2000 = approx. $6000) I saw a LOT of better cars -- newer and with much lower mileage. (Yeah, I know, you already know what you're willing to spend, but since you mentioned scraping up some more funds I'm just pointing out what I saw online.)

Since you're determined to obtain a fairly specific model, it might be worth some travel time and expense. There are places where Hondas are commonplace (though not necessarily cheaper). At least you'd have more to choose from.

Edited September 22, 2006 by JDoors

[Honda_Boy]

Well the extra cash would be for an Engine swap and maybe some tuning. The motor I mentioned is a 1.6L DOHC VTEC instead of the 1.6L SOHC VTEC the Z6 and Y8 are. I could actually do a lot more with this car than I could mine. My Civic had a ton of dents and scratches plus a few Mechnical problems. I'd have to pay to get a lot fixed before staring on tuning or anything. THis car however looks to be in great shape so I don't have to pay for any of that mess.

Also this may not be the car. It's just one we are keeping in mind cause so far it seems to be the best we've found. We are going to Nashville, Murfreesboro, and Franklin to scope out some more cars. There are no Honda dealers out here in my town and thus there are fewer used Hondas. Remember, in High School, I had one of only 6 Civics my Senior year and 1 of like 7 or 8 Hondas total. Even then I had the only EG chassis Civic. All the rest were 96-06. My lucky @$$ friend whose parents obviously had some extra cash laying around, got a frickin 99 Si.

I think my dad is actually going to get the $25 Carfax unlimited report thing since we are going to check every car. So I ight go back and look at some again.

* Well I was just informed that the 97 is sold. My mechanic told my dad though that there is a 96 dropped to the ground with a B16A2 in it and uugggghhhh a body kit that we might could get for $3500. That would give us about $1000 to fix some kinks in it. My mechanic said that he wants us to pull the Coil Overs that he had put in the 95 out and use them in the 96 so it can ride a decent height. I think we are going to just buy new ones since my brother doesn't quite know how and he has other stuff to do to the 95 first.

Edited September 22, 2006 by Honda_Boy

[Honda_Boy]

Well.........................I was just informed, that the 96 is

.

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...

....

.....

..............

A HATCHBACK

[IEatHardDrives]

I have a '98 honda civic LX for $800 but ummmm a cat got locked in the car and died the car smells BAD very BAD VERY VERY BAD.

[IEatHardDrives]

The car has 78,000 miles I guess you could spend the money and get a new interior.

[Honda_Boy]

We're negotiating the purchase of the Hatch tommorrow. I can't wait. The only thing I'm gonna miss is power windows. I'm gonna miss cruise control too but I can easily buy and install an after market kit. I never used my power locks much. I mean the dang thing was a 2 door. It was nice havin the sunroof but it got to the point where I quit opening it. If I wanted power windows badly enough I could jack some doors off a 2 door EX. I've got all the audio equipment I need. I'll need to get a new AEM short ram intake for it cause it has some cheap Cold Air in it and the car is way too low for it and even when we put new Eibach springs in it to raise it, which we're gonna do. It's WAY too low. I'm guessin the Integra wheels are going on it sine they took the rims off (which I don't want anyway) and I'm gonna have to start looking for a factory bumper and side skirts to replace the body kit that's on it, either that or find a Mugen Aero Kit. A body kit with a purpose. I can't wait for this car. We're gettin this beast for somewhere from $3500 to $4000. SUpposedly there is $6000 in parts wrapped up in it but the guy's dad just bought him a sweet 4Runner and they are just tryin to get rid of it. It runs great and my dad said it sounds awesome. It must if he likes it. Man this is gonna be nice. I get a 2 year jump on my plans.

Edited September 23, 2006 by Honda_Boy

[Honda_Boy]

Well we're getting the 96 hatch for $3500. The car doesn't have a body kit. It has aftermarket sideskirts and a lip attached to the factory bumper. The lip is broken, one side skirt isn't even on, and the other is just hanging on by a thread. We've ordered new H&R OE Sport Springs to lift it to a decent height and an AEM Short Ram intake to replace the the Cold Air that's in it. My mechanic has 2 different headers I can choose from. A ceramic sport header he had on his old B16A2 (same motor my new Civic has) or a factory B16A2 header. The header that's on it I think is the original D16Y7 header from the original motor and though it's holding up fine, the motor really needs the B16 headers. It still has the D16 Radiator in it too. It's holding up OK too, but again it needs something out of either a 99-00 Si or a Del Sol VTEC.

I should be back on the road somewhere around Wednesday or Thursday. I'll really have to get used to this car before driving it to school or in town. It's even lighter than my 95 and it has a motor with over 40 more horsepower. Plus it has no power stearing but if it's like my brother's old Fiero, it ought not be a problem. Man I can't wait to drive this thing. I also can't wait to get some body problems fixed.

Ah well. It may not look the greatest but it'll blow any ricer off the road in this town. I think the official color of this car is Yellow Green Pearl Metallic. It'll be silver, black, or Horizen Gray Metallic (my 95's color) in about 2 years.

Well I can't wait to get my new car on the road, it ought to be sweet. Danny's little EG Coupe DX will look even more like a pile compared to this thing.

[Bubba Bob]

Congrats on the new car

I can't wait to see those picture you are going to take, hint hint

[JDoors]

... not THIS color I hope:

[fubz]

pffft... thats not toteled. I rolled this thing into an irrigation ditch and survived w/o a scratch

>_<

But anyways... sorry for your loss, i know how much those things suck. Def a buzz kill.

[Honda_Boy]

aww you just rolled over. I went the extra mile and hit another car. This car has been run off the road 3 times and wrecked but I finished it off with the help of a jeep cherokee.

Does yours still run? My front end got smashed and the motor can't run right now. My brother is working hard on getting the motor out and fixing some damage to get it running again. He wants to build it and put it in a CRX or something like that. I may just have to sell it to get some money to work on my new car. It needs a new hatch or for the one it's got to get fixed.

My mom and dad should be picking the Hatchback up tommorrow while I'm at work. I can't wait till after work tommorrow. The people that had it should have much of the original parts for the car so I can put the original mirrors on and get rid of those goofy Carbon Fiber ones and I can replace the JDM tail lights with the factory ones. Really I want to keep the JDM ones but one is damaged from a car backing into it and taking off, same thing that damaged the hatch.

I hope my springs and intake get here soon. I don't want to be riding on them steelies to long. The tires are about wore out on them. I need the springs so the tires on my Integra wheels won't rub. I need that AEM Short Ram intake to replace that crappy cold air. It'll suck in water on rainy days. I need some cash to buy those headers off my mechanic.

Man this new car has so much potential. I can really work with this one. My 95 I really couldn't work with. Too much needed to be done and too much money was needed. The 96 however, needs less mechanical work and the body work probably ain't as bad except for the hatch. The B-Series engine swap is already done. Some tweaking and a few after market parts (and maybe some Civic Type R parts too) and this thing will scream. It'll do it's screaming legally though. I'll find a track to time trial on. Maybe a legal drag strip to have some fun but I honestly prefer road course racing over drag.

[50cent1228]

wow what a nice civic that was...good r ok though...wow if i had that civic...

[Honda_Boy]

Well I just got my hatch today............................Man that sucker is WICKED. Beat up and a lot of interior porblems but with this car I don't care. The exterior is kinda messed up. I got the bumper back on. It's zip tied, kinda like the right corner light on my 95. The right front turn signal is out so the rear one blinks ridiculously fast. I have a grille off a red civic cause the previous owner cut the actual grille part out and all that's left is just the green frame. Lucky me. there's a junk yard with 2 wrecked hatches. just the front ends are hurt while the hatches are fine. one is silver and one is red. I'll get the silver one. I wish I could get the hood but it's ruined like my 95's. Nothing really wrong with the one I have it's just it'd be nice to have a matching hood and hatch. I need to get the windshield washers off of one of them. I'll basically pick out what I need. I need the lock from one cause my driver side lock is broken. If I lock it I have to get in the passenger side. There is a lot of work to do but I have a while to work on it. Exterior and the horn are my main priorities next to the Springs and Intake. I need to get the integra wheels on but to be honest, we can't. For some reason it has lock lugs on the steelies. No tire change kit in the back and no lug key. We are getting the tire change kit out of the 95 but I think I'm going to get a cross tire iron. I still need the jack though. THe tires on the steelies are worn out.

All these negatives but there is one HUGE positive. The B16. A $3100 swap. This thing is FAST. Holy crap, it is scary fast. I took it out on a main road (45MPH) to let it stretch it's legs a little, (the 60MPH bypass tommorrow) I started off, and this thing gets going incredibly quick too, second gear, as I was getting ready to shift to third I looked down at my speed......................55!!!! I had no idea how fast I was going and I was only in second gear. There is a hill on the way home from work doing 40MPH I had to down shift to 4th to climb in my 95. I kept it in 5th and no signs of struggle in the 96. This B16 combined with a wicked light car = insanely fast car.

Unfortunately the tachometer (drag tachometer, I'm finding a cluster with a built in tach), alarm, and radio were all on the same wire or something and the alarm was messed up so it needed to be disconnected. Well now no tach or radio.

Man I can't wait till tommorrow. I'll take some pics and start a new thread tommorrow. Then I'll take more as I do the project. I wanted a project car and I got one. I also wanted a B-series motor and I got one. I wanted a hatch back and guess what, I got one.

Man this car is FAST.

Edited September 28, 2006 by Honda_Boy

[fubz]

Honda Boy, the one i rolled cant run anymore, the picture doesnt even show you how bad it really is, basicully theres negative head room now, and the motor is done for, along with everything else.

So now I have myself a toyota corolla!

Now that thing is fast! =P

lets race dude

[Honda_Boy]

Well my car is really movin along quick. Again when I get pictures I'll open a new thread and post em. We've already got the Integra wheels on. Those old wheels were a pain to get off. about 7 lugs were stuck. Lets just say a can of WD40, a vise grip, and a rubber mallet were involved. We tried to fix the turn signals and the side markers but O' Reily's didn't have side markers and we didn't do something right with the turn signals. We'll get back on it tommorrow morning. After we fix the headlights and corner lights tommorrow, we're going to the junkyard and grabbing a new hatch, mirrors, some interior pieces, side skirts, and a few other things. We're also gonna try to get the drag tach working and the radio too. My brother and I are really going to have fun with this thing both working on it and driving it.