Update:

Parts:
- Megan Short Throw & Poly Shifter Bushings have arrived. Will be installing those tomorrow. Can't wait to kill the incredible amounts of slop.

- Picking up a set of 16" Drag DR20's from a friend. Pretty sure they are reps of the Work Equip wheel but I get what I can afford. It is what it is.

Other updates:
I will be taking out the main relay and checking the solder points on it, see if it's something I want to risk fixing or if I should just buy a new one. They aren't that expensive so I may just go that route.

Not much else is happening right now. Just poking around the car, learning and figuring things out.

 

Did you figure out the electrical stuff going on with it?

 

Not yet. I just downloaded a diagram to test the main relay this afternoon, although I have a feeling it's not going to be that. I checked the solders on the circuit board and I can't see any cracking, it looks pretty good. I want to lean toward the ignition coil being bad but who knows at this point.

 

Update:

Poly bushings have been installed but not the short throw, the "bitch pin" just wouldn't come out. I picked up a yonaka cat-back, so maybe when I do get around to putting that on, with the exhaust out of the way, perhaps I will try and install the short throw keeping the linkage on the car but I'll have more room to work.

I also picked up a different trunk from a friend since my old one was a little mangled.

Also acquired some 16x7 Drag DR20 wheels from a friend. The car is finally off stands and back on the ground

Next steps are the electrical portions. The car came with HID's but I wanted to remove them and put oem sockets back in, although now I am thinking of just doing a DIY Projector retro fit and buying new HID ballasts and bulbs.. I am undecided at this time.

Need to test the main relay still, and source out the intermittent dying while driving and it doesn't want to idle once it warms up.

Some pictures...

Bought a whale D.

Wheel fitment isn't too bad, that wheel gap will annoy me eventually.

I do have a question though..
The boot/bellow on the driver side power steering rack is split and leaking grease. I have no idea how long it has been open for. When i drove the car home, it didn't feel like their was an issue with the rack. What would my best option be? Replace just the bellow and hope nothing has been damaged OR replace the whole rack?

 

the a/c compressor bolts are the perfect size for getting the bitch pin

 

I could not get that pin out, no matter what. I tried using an AC compressor bolt, it wouldn't budge so I am assuming it's seized in there. I left it alone and I am just going to try again down the road to put the shifter in, maybe I can borrow a friends hoist at some point.

Fixed the intermittent stalling issues, it was the ignition switch. Once installed, it's been running perfectly fine. Happy it was a cheap and easy fix. I didn't feel like forking out $150+ on a dizzy.

The fuel gauge doesn't work - I downloaded the PDF Helms manual so I'll be doing the diagnostics on that soon.

Finally put new rotors and pads on the front, They were warped pretty bad. It's nice to be able to stop properly and not hear that.. shimming sound constantly.

I have developed a driver side lean, so I am assuming the shocks are done and it's just sag. Some people locally have told me to buy Raceland's but I can't accept they are quality for how cheap they are.

What brand of coilovers would you recommend that offer fairly stiff spring rates or at least have options?

 

What brand of coilovers would you recommend that offer fairly stiff spring rates or at least have options?

I put BCs on the Integra and have been really pleased with them.
They've done 27,000 miles and still work well and adjust easily.

 

Recent Stuff for the Civic..

So I recently bought the 1320 UEL Header for the car, my friend looked it over to make sure the welds are good and cleaned up/touched up any spots that were questionable. Also purchased a high flow cat and a Yonaka cat back to go with it. 2.25" so hopefully that doesn't hurt the stock power, or lack of for that matter too much. Just need gaskets and o2 sensors and that'll be fun to install no doubt. I'll be attempting the bitch pin again when I do this since the exhaust will be out of the way and easier.

Aside from that the car is running pretty good. I have developed a slight misfire at idle, intermittent though, it's not that bad and doesn't effect actual driving performance so I am not that concerned about it, but I will be looking into it anyways at some point.. Been told it could be a dirty sensor or TB, but I have checked the TB when I put on the intake and it was very clean. No engine light.

Aside from that, no complaints. Car is a lot of fun to drive and so cheap on gas.

 

I have developed a slight misfire at idle, intermittent though, it's not that bad and doesn't effect actual driving performance so I am not that concerned about it,

If you havent already it'd be worth cleaning the corrosion off the points in the dizzy. Doesnt cost anything and can cause the intermittent miss you're talking about.

 

i cant get my bitch pin out either had to drop engine and trans cause of other issues but set there for an hour trying different things to get it out nut budging so thinking of just drilling it out lol seems like build is going nicely! Ill start my build thread here soon. Have a ek hatch with engine issues atm. Will keep following this!!

 

I happened to notice your sig at the bottom of your post, it says Amanda... Not sure if that is your name as this is a long shot but you didn't happen to grow up in the Emery area of North York GTA did you? If not, hello anyways haha!

As for the bitch pin, check this out:

Xenocron Tuningyno Designs Tyrannosaur Tightener (B&D-Series)

I bought one of these because I'm using two different engine/transmission combos in my EG, and I HATE that pin when laying on the ground... on a lift you can usually get enough hammer action on it to get it to move, but with this item you can literally unbolt it and pull out a pin and the linkage comes off the transmission. I still can't believe I spent 120 dollars on this because it is honestly so simple, probably cost $15 to make! But like the rest of the world, when there is a problem and only one place has the solution, milk the f*** out of it lol.

 

I happened to notice your sig at the bottom of your post, it says Amanda... Not sure if that is your name as this is a long shot but you didn't happen to grow up in the Emery area of North York GTA did you? If not, hello anyways haha!

I bought one of these because I'm using two different engine/transmission combos in my EG, and I HATE that pin when laying on the ground... on a lift you can usually get enough hammer action on it to get it to move, but with this item you can literally unbolt it and pull out a pin and the linkage comes off the transmission. I still can't believe I spent 120 dollars on this because it is honestly so simple, probably cost $15 to make! But like the rest of the world, when there is a problem and only one place has the solution, milk the f*** out of it lol.

Nope, different Amanda. I grew up in York Region but Hello!

I read the info on that link you sent and it's a pretty neat design. Had no idea anything like that existed but then again, I have been out of the Honda game for quite a while so I have no idea what is out there anymore. Definitely bookmarked and perhaps I'll go back to that in the near future

 

Also about the rack and pinion boot, here is a part number you can use at NAPA or a PartsSource for them to cross reference with (part is built/distributed by MOOG chassis parts, but the part number is actually a NAPA internally used one for their product code NCP, Napa Chassis Parts. NAPA re-brands EVERYTHING if parts suppliers allow them to).

P/N given to a NAPA for lookup:

Left Side Boot: NCP 2691613
Right Side Boot: NCP 2691583


P/N given to a PartsSource for cross-reference:

Left Side Boot: 2691583
Right Side Boot: 2691613

 

Excellent. Thank you for this information!

 

Ahh yess.. That is something I have not done and will look into. Thanks.

 

Xenocron probably got rich off this lil beauty.price is def on the greedy side , that being said itl be on my next build .did a search and no one else has come up with anything else.after the swearing and irritation iv spent on that bitch pin im surprised there arent 5 different companies making a fix

 

You are right. I'm not exactly sure who/what company makes this (I've never heard of Dyno Designs before), but if it was Xenocron they would have their name all up on it if they did lol. When you get it in hand, you'll say exactly what I said "I paid $120 for this s***??!!" Sure the bushings are made from very high quality plastic (Delrin), but the piece of CNC'd aluminum is a very straight forward design and easily replicated. You could literally build one yourself with a block of aluminum billet, some drill bits and a chop saw. No, I will not give out the measurements/dimensions lol. I like supporting creative individuals that make random one-off solutions to things. They took it one step further though and either rock tumbled or media blasted the part to smooth/polish it up.

As you said I'm really surprised that someone hasn't knocked this off yet. Most cheap Chinese companies will duplicate anything this simple if they can make it out of aluminum and anodize it 999,999 different colors and have the ebay title say "race, jdm, turbo, bov, rb26, red, neo chrome" all in that order lol.

BUT, like you also found, this is the only thing I have found that is like this and it works really damn good. It won't be worth it to folks who don't remove their engines/transmissions frequently, but a track car requires more frequent maintenance and I wanted the flexibility to switch between engines/transmissions in my car and not have to absolutely HATE undoing one point of connection.

This guy did an install showing how well this part works, it really is no joke as to how well and simple this thing really is

 

wow ive never seen that Tyrannosaur Tightener before it looks awesome.

though i dont have to much trouble with the bitch pin that often. air hammer helps a lot.

https://www.harborfreight.com/medium-barrel-air-impact-hammer-61244.html

then get the flat hammer for it. actually they make attachments specific to drift pin would make it even easier.

 

Not much to say on this update.. Been playing red dead redemption II as much as possible

Updates:
- Buying some TLC parts from Teknotik in the next week or two (Timing belt, etc.) since the previous owner has no idea when it was done, so I want to get on that asap. Especially since I have a new noise which sounds like a bearing is definitely on it's way out the door.

- When I got my winter tires put on/installed, The guys at the shop said my passenger front wheel bearing is absolutely clapped. So, I bought a bearing and will be having fun with that soon. I was told it's a royal pain in the ass, so I may just take it to a shop and get them to remove and press in the new bearing, the rest I can do myself.

- Last week I was getting ready to drive home from work and the transmission would not go in gear, so I checked my clutch fluid and it was completely empty but I haven't seen any puddles, no leaks around any hoses, slave or clutch master look perfectly fine, no sweating, nothing.. so I am going to keep my eye on it.

- Oxygen sensors are ordered, all I need is to get the flanges welded on the cat and I can install my header and cat back. Looking forward to that

Took some fall photos... nothing exciting.

That's it for now.

 

Update:

- Bought a timing belt/waterpump kit with new belts, etc. elsewhere on the motor.
- Fixed the wheel bearing, $60 done at a shop to take the old one out and press in the new. Put everything back together myself.

- Have a new noise since the bearing fix, I think a lower ball joint is about done. I may have damaged it putting it all back together. Oops.

- Clutch fluid hasn't leaked at all since I topped it up last, which is nice BUT I am still having some intermittent issues with 1st and 2nd. I've been having to double clutch to get it in gear, especially when it's cold. Once it warms up, it's intermittently a problem. That just started yesterday after the car sat for 4 days, it's not that cold outside, it's been much colder already this season so I am not sure wtf. I am going to look into it though. The clutch pedal seems like it "kicks back/slaps back" once I have taken my foot off of it completely, if that makes sense?

- Replaced the fuse for my dome light.. I was surprised what was affected when that wasn't working. Intermittent wiper function started working? Is that odd or normal? lol. OBD Port works again, turns out I have a Engine Coolant Temp. code so going to look into that as well, check electrical, etc.

Everything has to happen to me in the cold. Why can't shit like this happen in the warm weather... I don't have a garage to use, it's occupied with a 81 Chevy Cab resto project.. Wah wah wahhhh right? hahaha.

Aside from that, cars been great

Hope everyone has a great Christmas!

 

have you tried bleeding the clutch, maybe has some trapped air..

cars coming together nice.

 

I guess I should try and keep this a bit more updated Life gets hellish relish sometimes.

So I purchased a new clutch master and swapped it out, fixed the problem I was having which was great. I had the same symptoms with my old car and so I was pretty confident I knew what the problem was, I checked underneath the clutch pedal and it was indeed leaking. Shifts so much nicer now too. Glad to have that done

My exhaust is pretty much on it's way out. That will be next to get fixed. I purchased a 1320 UEL Header for it. A friend of mine gave me a yonaka muffler and the piece that connects after the mid pipe so I figured I may as well just buy the rest of the exhaust and have a full cat back.

The only issue I am having is finding the proper oxygen sensors for it. I have upstream and downstream, 4 wire sensors. I was looking on rockauto for the replacements based on the motor (1.5) but it only shows the upstream.. and no downstream. So, I am still doing some research on this but a friend of mine said I can just use the o2 sensors made for my model year, as long as they are 4 wire, the harness should be original to the car and the connections should work? I don't really want to buy universal stuff and have to get it wired in.

Picking up a Mishimoto aluminum 1/2 rad and will get all new rad hoses, thermostat, make it all fresh.

Things are coming together for this little car. I was "meh" about it before but since driving it more often, I am starting to really like the car, especially in the snow.. I don't know why people hate on Honda's so much. Despite it's little issues here and there, it's been fantastic. Extremely reliable, great on gas, fun as hell to drive and cheap to maintain/mod... What else could people really want? I am a simple lady.

Will be looking into coilovers in the next month or so, not too sure who I am going with yet.

Thanks again to everyone for your advice and help.

 

Had the 1320 UEL Header and Yonaka Cat back installed on Monday morning. I absolutely love the sound. It's such a nice sound and quiet unless I harp on it. The old exhaust was rattling pretty badly and had exhaust leaks out the wazoo.

Was able to take a really good look at the underbody of the car while it was on the hoist. It's in very good shape, I am very happy to see. The brake lines I will pay attention too, they have been redone at some point but cheaped out and so they have some surface rust but that's okay for now.

Tie rods are in pretty bad shape but I have replacements already, just need some warmer weather and a less flooded driveway and I'll get those changed.

Decided on 205/50/16 Yokohama S-Drives and I still think I am going with Yonaka Coilovers. My friend suggested Racelands but they're pretty inexpensive and that kind of worries me a little bit. $400 for a brand I've heard mixed reviews about or $700ish for a brand I ran on my previous car for 7yrs with no issues. Sounds like an easy choice but this is just a daily, my old car I ran on the track so I was pickier about suspension.

Any suggestions? I like having the height adjusting capabilites. Air ride would be nice, but not in the budget.

My friend who recorded me leaving, He drives a 2011 Subaru Legacy and he was so baffled by the sound. I'll upload a vid once I figure out how.

My next step with this car is doing some more everyday TLC and figuring out why I have two dipsticks.. what's up with that?

 

Manual Honda's don't have dipsticks... correct?

So for some reason this is bothering me but from any googling that I have done, I am starting to think I have a z6 bottom end, and a d15b top end and this is why I have two dipsticks? Or am I way off? Can someone educate me on this..?

 

always thought the y series engines had the side mounted dipsticks and the others had them in the center.
upon reading, the d16z6 has them in the block heading to the oil pan, the y7s had them on the right going into the oil pan.


but the more I read, the more my head hurts
https://www.d-series.org/forums/engine-building/254626-d16y7-block-d15b2-oil-pump-pan.html

 

thats funny as hell ,whoever played with your bottom last installed a y oil pump ..and then dips both his sticks in there ,,

there is a stamp on the block whats it say...?

 

Stamp says D15B.

 

Update:

- Finally got around to replacing the inner and outer tie rods (They were worse than I thought), Upper control arms w/ ball joints and lower ball joints. I desperately need an alignment, but I am happy that is done with. It all came apart pretty easily except for one of the outer tie rods was seized but I managed to squeeze my wee female fingers in there to pull the inner & outer as one piece. I read that the way most people do it is to pull the entire steering rack out? That seemed like un-necessary labor.

- Replaced my fuel & temp gauge with oem Honda ones, it's nice to know how much fuel I actually have instead of guessing all the time.

- Installed a white LED ebay kit for my gauge cluster, it looks really nice. Much better than what was in there from factory.

- Went super cheesy and installed a crown royal shift boot. I like it

Next step is ordering another CV axle for the passenger side, front sway links and maybe the control arms, just get the entire front end done. Rear drums need some attention, I know the bushings in the trailing arms are pooched. Not sure if I am going to replace with OEM bushings or go with something aftermarket at this point...

That's about it for now...

I think I am going to buy another engine and learn about these motors a bit more (staying with a D Series engine of course). I would really like to have boost, but it would need to be reliable enough to remain my year round daily but even if that route isn't an option, Being able to tear into a D Motor will be a great learning experience.

 

I finally got the lower ball joint on the drivers side done, holy seized batman. The axle nut wouldn't come off, I thought I tried everything but my friend had this massive impact gun and it worked, figured that would be hardest part... nope. CV axle wouldn't come out of the hub, we spent a good 10 minutes or so with heat, rubber mallets, etc. Hoping I didn't damage the wheel bearing, I don't think I did but I will have to see over time I guess. Either way, it's done and I feel much better about it.. especially seeing how bad it was.

Installed the short throw finally, took some practice.. so used to over exaggerating to get it into gear because of how loose it was, I think i've got it figured out now. Only stalled it twice LOL.

Grabbed some cosmetic accessories from Sickspeed, just to clean up the engine bay a little bit. Nothing fancy.

Here is a before and after.. Top photo is when I bought it, so May 2018 and now.

Coming along.

I have two weeks vacation coming up, so I will attacking the bit of quarter panel rust that the car has, overhauling the rear drums.

My side moldings and the factory side skirts are black, faded though. I am unsure if I want to colour match them or just give them a refresher.

What would you guys do?

 

Okay so here comes a big update

- Did body work like I mentioned I was going to do and of course found some nasty surprises. It has been fixed for the time being but I fully expect it to come back sooner than later and I am looking into cutting out the crap and welding in patch panels, it'll be the only way for a long term solution I think.

The passenger side wasn't toon bad, just had a few little spots so it wasn't too hard to fix.

Found this nice little surprise in the trunk...

Nothing professional but hope the fix holds and the bed liner I sprayed helps.

Yikes. The amount of bondo I sanded off was unbelievable. The sheet metal underneath that was left was dented pretty badly so I am not sure what happened with this car in it's past life.. Unreported accident I am guessing. Either way, I tried to fix it the best I could without adding the same amount of bondo that I took off. I decided to go the fiberglass route. This side will definitely be getting a patch panel asap.

Not great but not as bad as it was

..and how it looked after i painted it.. with mismatched paint because that's usually the way things go. Not that concerned to be honest. It still needs more body work so as long as everything is covered up, I'm happy.

The bumper turned out the best

Other news..
Had the thermostat take a dump on me, was my first tow home with this car but it was fixed next day. Did all the rad hoses at the same time, might as well. Changed the valve cover gasket last weekend, can't believe how fast I was able to get it done. Not used to not having to take half a motor apart just to change something.

I did one last shoot with it before i swapped over to the winter wheels..

Still rather enjoy this car... Definitely going to lower it next year though, can't handle this stock suspension any longer.

That's about it for now.

 

Well, Morty made it through yet another Canadian winter aka Salt season. I do have a little bit of bubbling where I did the repairs last summer, but I expected that to happen. It's not too bad though. Still plan on cutting it all out and replacing with patch panels when possible.

May seems to be the month where I go crazy with maintenance and repairs, I have a ton of parts that I will be installing over the next few weeks. Due to COVID-19, I am off work so I am taking this down time to fix absolutely everything major on the Civic. Best way to make use of a crappy situation imo.

• New front wheel bearings (Drivers side lasted maybe a year since last repair, although did it myself so I probably messed up somewhere. Getting a shop to press out and press in the new ones this time)
• New CV Axles
• Replace rear drum brakes (Terrible, terrible noises)
• Replacing the suspension finally with some Yonaka Coilovers
• Blox Rear Camber Kit
• CTR Front Lip wrapped in VViVid Gloss Red
• Blox Res. Covers
• Removing the old tint (What a pain in the ass this has turned out to be, which I never started and just let a shop do it)

but I have a pre cut tint kit that I wanted to install myself, and watched a bunch of videos online about how to go removing original tint. They made it look easier than it is.. This tint is extremely stubborn and just keeps coming off one thin layer at a time.

Things I have already done:

• Upgraded the sound system with Cerwin Vega door speakers, tweeters and rear deck speakers. Found a ported dual 12" box in the garage, cleaned it up and broke out my other Kaption SPL1200 to put into the car. Bought a Rockville db45 3200w amp to power everything and glad I did. Has a nice punch to it.
• Installed BH Projector headlights with 6K HIDs. I am so happy to have HIDs and projectors again. Missed them,

My exhaust sound still turns heads but I am starting to notice it is becoming a bit raspy, which I can't stand.. so I think I am going to ditch the 2.5" piping and run a 2.25" pipe instead, and pop on a Venom 250 Muffler with a rather large resonator, hopefully quiet it down a bit and kill that rasp.

I bought another car that is going to be my summer/turbo toy. I am keeping my civic, it is just going to be my epic little D series daily. It has been a great car and I love how cheap it is to modify and maintain.

I shall update with photos when I have Morty all fixed up, lowered and in summer mode.

Hope everyone is staying safe from COVID-19.