HX had some weird wiring, especially the 96 cars. Double check for confirmation via a tech manual that is freely available. If you cannot find one, step back form the car for a moment. Research ability is just as important as the actual work! Plus you end up finding a lot of good information in the tech manual, such as resistance versus temp or pressure readings, fuel gauge readings, stuff you can apply to other features and efforts.
AC system is a wild bag of worms to open up. Could be a charge, could be a sensor/switch out of whack. Could be one single wire not connected or a mild short somewhere. Easiest check is to power the compressor with a jumper wire, if nothing happens you have a symptom you can actually trace.
Ebay distributors, in my experience, are utter trash. When they work to run the engine, the car just does not feel right. Almost always, finding an OEM distributor and putting in a genuine Denso (read: not fake denso) or hitachi ignition control module, and making sure the wiring inside is intact, makes the car run like a top.
Valve lash gets out of whack, and doing it both makes the car run better, and allows you to inspect for valvetrain wear and tear. These cars are old bastards, and need to be inspected and treated like a watch.
$1800 australian sounds like a lot of money to me, but I am not familiar with average civic prices in your area.
The d16y5 engine is for fuel efficiency, and should not be treated or expected to give good performance. it runs best when treated as such. That means no header, no cold air intake, and do not remove the EGR system from working proeprly. The ecu running this engine actually uses the EGR in its algorythm for operation, and missfires and odd performance WILL cause head aches.
Run spark plugs designed for the car. Honda gives out teh 4digit code for the OEM plugs on OEM hodna parts websites, use that to track the correct plug down.
About the only real mod I enjoy doing, and gets actual benefit, is running an external ignition coil. Removes some heat saturation from the distributor, but it needs the correct coil. You cannot use a random MSD or ACCEL coil. I used the stock coil spec'd for a 84 honda accord here in teh states, and it matches very close to the stock internal coil, with jsut a bit of extra juice.
