A Sentimental Honda Civic Restoration

[Wibble]

This nothing short of incredible, keep going, you’re nearly there. Amazing work!

[Roverjoe]

Blimey the last update was a while back,

Ive been busy these past couple of weeks, just doing odd bits. not really had much time or motivation at the moment as ive been revising for my Class D License but the good news is ive managed to get the boot floor all sorted, epoxy'd, seam sealed, stonechipped and painted! very very happy! 

Also got the brakes fitted to one side, it looks so good now, im in need of some new banjo bolts and washers however so they are on my list of things to get this week.

also ive had to get some new brake pipe clamps as the old ones just crumbled when removing them. £20!! for two brake pipe clamps tempted to just get a 3D printer for bits like that next time lmao. 

 

Here is a really good Comparison, A Before and After!

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

It looks great, you did a fantastic job on this.

[mk2_craig]

Loving this thread! Well done with the brilliant work so far and good luck for the category D test, when are you sitting it? 

[junkyarddog]

Excellent work!

That took a lot of effort.

👍

[Roverjoe]

Another update!

 

The Fuel tank is all in, after a battle of trying to get the filler neck into the pipe. What a nightmare that was. Also installed the Nearside Trailing arm. still need to get the other bits on but we should be back on all fours soon!

[Soundwave]

This is surely going to be the world's finest example of this shape Civic once it's done!

[Andyrew]

I'm blown away by the amount of work going into this project. 

It looks amazing, 

[N Dentressangle]

Even without knowing where you started, it looks amazing. Given how the car was makes it even more of an achievement.

[Roverjoe]

Cheers for the kind comments guys, im going to be doing a lot of before and after photos later on so i will put some examples up on here soon! 

currently waiting on some Rear Anti Roll bar bushes, some new Calliper Carrier bolts and a few other bits here and there and then itll be ready to be dropped on all fours again!

A bit of work was done today, not much as them bits are holding me back

[Roverjoe]

Another Update!

 

So the Rear Suspension, is all 100% fully on!

I had a bit of a nightmare fitting the Rear Anti Rollbar. Rather than using the original i used an MG Rover one as they are a better. plus more readily available in regards to parts for it like bushes etc so i converted it.

Although there were little differences that i noticed. The Rear ARB Brackets that mount to the car are slightly different to one another the Rover one, the mounts are further apart by a few mm which was annoying as i had to source some new brackets as i didnt want to ruin my Honda ones. 

 

The Rover one is the Top, The Honda is the Bottom, see the difference, its very minimal but very annoying!

 

With FOTU around the corner, i really wanted to get the car ready for then. I had a look at the front suspension. it doesn't look that bad to be honest. Even the bolts for the Brake Hose and ABS Sensor came off without using heat or WD40 which was very nice to see.

So i have decided that im going to risk putting it through an MOT earlier to get it ready for FOTU. im going to just do the bits that need doing for now. Such as the Brakes, that being the Hoses, Pipes, and Pads. The discs although rusty arent badly pitted and will probably clean up after a little drive. This isn't to say im not going to do the front arches. I will defo be doing the same to the front as i did the back. I have a few parts ready to go on in the shed, such as the lower arms etc.

Its nice to see that the CV Boots, and other rubbers are in fair condition to say the car has been sat. They have not split so i will see how it goes at the MOT. 

I Just finished doing one front side regarding the brakes i fitted a new hose and pipe. I just need to do the Passenger side now.

 

So what needs doing for the MOT then???

Heres a list of things that need doing:

Front Brake Pads

Passenger side Brake hose and New Pipe.

Bleeding the Brakes

4 New Tyres

New Battery

Refitting Front Seat Belts

Refitting Sill Covers, Arch Liners etc.

Fasten down body panels, Bumpers, Doors, Wings Etc

Refit Exhaust Silencer

New Numberplates

 

- Hopefully thats everything im sure ill find other bits too as i go along lol

 

 

[Roverjoe]

Hi Guys more big news!

Ive taken advantage of the Bank Holiday Weekend and got stuck into the Civic. Ive managed to do absolutely all sorts of jobs to get her closer towards that MOT certificate! I started on Saturday with Doing a few small jobs as the weather wasn't the best, this meant a lot of work was carried out fitting the headlining and other trim back into the car so its all in one place, Do note that i still have to retrim it, its just so that its out of the way and creates more room in the shed again. I have also fitted the New Numberplates, with the correct old Typeface. Now there may be some of you thinking why it says York Toyota. The reason i chose that was because this is where my Grandad originally bought the car from so i wanted to keep some of the History and character with it but to also add that retro feel with the older font. Personally im not a fan of drilling them so i stuck them on! I then also refitted the Scuttle panel and wipers. I bought a brand new set of wipers as i dont think the old ones would have passed an MOT lmao, Another small job ticked off the list and it was a nice and easy one at that.

Today i finished off cleaning up the front callipers and fitted the new pads. I stated previously i probably wouldn't have time to redo the whole front arches at this stage due to me wanting to take it to FOTU so i did all the important bits that would need doing. the Rubbers are all in one piece still so im hoping itll pass on them. I then got to work bleeding the brakes, made sure there was no leaks and thankfully there was none. The pedal is now nice and hard and responsive. Alongside that i fitted the handbrake cables and adjusted them. The handbrakes are crap on these civics, so i reckon a bit more fettling is needed as i can still roll ever so slightly. After that was done, i decided to see if there was any tyre places open that stocked my size tyres. thankfully they did and we took all the wheels off and got them sent down to get the old tyres swapped for some correct sized ones as the ones i had before were just to roll the car around but they were too big as they rubbed on the side of the wheel arch. 

Once that was sorted, i hooked up the fuel tank hoses to the pipes, and connected the pump back up. and decided to put some fuel in it as i was tempted to start it up. 

I borrowed a couple of batteries and used some jump leads to try and get her started up and after a few tries she was away!

Tomorrow i will hopefully be getting a new battery so that i can do a proper start up without having to use easy start and some jump leads.

Here is a video of the Civic Ticking over at temperature. She sounds sweet as a nut! 

 

 

[Wibble]

Incredible work, as always, you should be so proud of yourself, we certainly are!

[Roverjoe]

Hi Guys another update!

The Civic has been Painted on the Drivers side. 

Theres been a lot of work going into this regards to filling etc. It was quite a time consuming task getting it right and even then its not 100%.

I Probably will get it done properly by professionals in the future however for now its just to get the car an MOT and back on the road.

for starters the area was epoxy primed, as this will be a good base for the filler. You are able to fill over epoxy primer which is nice as i never liked the idea of putting filler over bare metal as it likes to absorb moisture.

 

Im not fantastic at filler work so i could only do my best at this stage, here is the process of me filling and sanding down. 

I was quite surprised with how well it came out.

Especially around this section where i had to weld.

 

 

Here is the sill all filled. 

Now i dont have a garage so i had no other choice than to spray outside. I tried to make sure that it was still, no wind. no direct sunlight and low humidity.

 

Certainly not the best paintjob, but for outside it aint too bad. I blended the new with the old at the top of the C Pillar where it will be least noticeable. With it being silver it is a hard colour to match especially when its 27 year old paint too.

Heres the Quarter all painted, next job is to get it all aligned now regards to the doors.

 

 

I gave the paint a good wet sand, went up to 2000 grit and used some G3 on a Polishing machine and the shine has come up wonderful. 

 

I was impressed with the door jamb area as this was all non existent at one point!

to say it was my first proper attempt at painting the side of a car, i dont think ive done too bad.

[Roverjoe]

Well today we got the windscreen replaced, Something i was not planning on doing until later on however i cocked up big time earlier on in the week trying to remove the orange clips down the side of A Pillar. I slipped and hit the screen and cracked it. This would mean the car would fail its MOT as it was in line of vision. Something that i didnt need, however was a blessing in disguise as its now sorted and looks miles better now the cloudy delamination is gone at the bottom! 

Another good thing was that i was now able to not worry about rust underneath the windscreen as it is a common issue on these cars. I had a look when they removed the glass and thankfully all was perfect!

[vtec-e]

Just been authorised but long time reader of this thread. You are doing a superb job on it. I had a '97 Civic until the introduction of ULEZ a few years ago, which meant it was not economically viable to repair for the next MOT. These cars will run and run, I hope to see yours on the road soon.    

[2flags]

This is looking great! Well done. Good luck with your class D licence. I suspect it's a little different to when I took mine 45 years ago! [When did I get that old???]

[beko1987]

That's amazing work!

[Roverjoe]

Cheers guy!

I have some really really good news! the Honda Finally has an MOT after 15 Years!!!!

Ive been busy the past 2 weeks getting her all ready, making sure everything is in good order. The MOT guy was very impressed with the work ive done underneath and said its crazy and that hes never seen a car this age so clean. 

Even better was that it Passed with NO advisories! im absolutely over the moon!

[JMotor]

Well done sir! 

Happy to see your hard work has paid off and you can start enjoying using the car. 

[Roverjoe]

Thank you JMotor!

[Wibble]

Not in the least bit surprised. Always amazing work, congratulations for getting it road legal again.

[stuboy]

bloody good work

[High Jetter]

Stunning, well done.

[vtec-e]

Excellent news, well done!

[junkyarddog]

Well done!!

Made up for you!👍

[delux]

MOT tester must have thought he had gone back in time!

Look at the underside on the last pic, up on the ramp then compare it to what you can see under the Corsa to the left. 

 

[Roverjoe]

Cheers for the kind comments guys, Now its got an MOT i can drive it and enjoy it, i will still be doing the odd thing here and there, in fact i still need to do the Water pump and belts which will then be peace at mind once done. 

So the thread will still be getting updated, However this means i will now be starting on with the next project. The Triumph Vitesse that ive got!

Ill post some updates on the Vitesse on this page then ill probably make a new topic. 
Shes sadly not looking very good underneath the shiny paintwork, i discovered yesterday that shes been poorly restored and im quite upset about it. 

An Example of what i mean below, That is the Treadplate...

[vtec-e]

My starship mileage and well beyond, Civic had a belt change every 100K/7 years approximately, but I did inspect the belt carefully (as did my friend/mechanic for a second opinion). It was on it 4th belt when it retired, but I would definitely recommend your plan to do belts, waterpump etc now. Also worth replacing the gearbox oil too if haven't done so already. 

One simple mod I made was a led that lit on the dashboard when the Vtec mechanism kicked in (sad I know ). Even my 1.5 produced a bit of a kick when the extra valves were in use, so it must be noticeable on yours. If you are interested I'll find out which wire out of the Ecu drives it.

Looking forward to the Vitesse updates.