1996 civic hx restoration build

[96Midori]

Yeah I'd never be able to sell it, mainly for the exact reason you mentioned. I rarely see Midori hatches, let alone clean unmolested Civics.
Your hx is very clean man, I'd hold on to it for a while!

[Chrysler kid]

I feel you, a vehicle is only worth selling to me if it can easily be replaced which to me this car is not. I'd like to think that the 90's import "sports cars" will one day achieve collectors status as they are uncommon to find now and getting rarer. Still waiting for the crx market to bounce up

I wet vac'd the upholstery yesterday. When I would plop down in the drivers seat it use to put out a dust cloud of old farts and skin cells, now I can cleanly see the Wierd squiggly line japanese patterns and the bluish color of my seats. I'll have to snap a pic tomorrow.

300k miles of dirt was nasty, took 2 seperate fills of the wet vac and 2 loads of oxy clean

[Xist]

I doubt that my seats are much better, but they do not look bad. However, my friend's 1990 Civic is stained. I have a carpet cleaner, but it does not work properly, it only shoots hot water into the carpet, which makes it look better, but ruins the pad. However, the pad is already ruined, so I am okay with that, but I did not want to simply shoot hot water into my friend's seats.

It seems silly, I spent an average of $2,900 on my first three cars, and it never made sense to have comprehensive insurance. I spent $2,700 on Chorizo, but it took so long to find a good HX that I do not want to need to do that again, so I have comprehensive insurance on her.

Except, what good does that go? $1,701 in damage and I receive a check for $2,268, which is the Blue Book value for my car.

Maybe.

I am just being sentimental.

[Chrysler kid]

Mine pushes out water as well but the water wasn't absorbed by the foam. The interior was completely dry after an hour, I sat on a towel to help absorb the moisture while I did the passengers side but they were already dry so there was no residual moisture or dirt

Didn't make sense for full coverage for me, if the car gets any damage the cost to fix with OEM parts (which my insurance requires) would heavily exceed the cost of the vehicle. The back bumper support being bent and a crack in the bumper caused the car to be totaled out the first time so I'm sure a declared value would be less than $800. If ever need be I wouldn't hesitate to pull the drive train out and put it into a fifth gen coupe or hatch

Plus there are many JDM motor importers who have front clips from civic type r with radiator support hood headlights fenders and bumper for $650

[Chrysler kid]

Took a few pictures of the interior. It cleaned up nicely but was not in bad condition to begin with.

One of my favorite features is the shift light indicator. Before I got this 96 hx I was not aware of this feature. My 1998 hx did not have it and from my readings I thought it was only available on vx models, however it appears the Eco shift light for the sixth gen was only on 96-97 models. It's hard to see but it is a green arrow on the bottom left of the gauge cluster.

The vacuum gauge is actually mounted to the under side of the gauge cluster bezel, so if I ever need to remove it there will be no visible holes

A few of the modifications I forgot to note:
The dimmer switch was faulty, and not repairable. It caused the dash lights not to function. By tapping the power to ground the lights fully illuminate. The dimmer switch was only available on US spec civics. I hollowed the dimmer switch and made it into my fog light switch. (a new oem switch is $80 from Honda, and of questionable status from any junk yard.

I purchased and installed led bulbs for the gauge cluster

I moved the radio to the lower location behind the cup holder to eventually place a triple gauge pod in the slot above the ac controls



Ah the build data, it says dark gray but it has to be the lightest dark gray and bluest gray combo around

[Chrysler kid]

Weeeeee!

Cleanest $1500 car ever

I took some random pictures of stampings while I was cleaning the under side of the car. It was extremely dirty, had to power wash the driveway afterwards.

I cleaned the entire under side of the car using a brush and heavy duty driveway cleaner. I used a brush with the concrete cleaner and loosened everything up, and hit everything with a power washer to destroy the dirt. I also cleaned the barrels of the wheels and rotated the tires







No idea what the A stands for, it is one the gas tank and rear shocks and B is on the front shocks





Bling bling!








Heavy day of sweating !






Not that I ever questioned honda s reliability but it is very surprising to see that this car is still on the factory suspension. It was also odd that the control arms on the front and back, upper and lower, the brake drums, and a few other suspension pieces were all painted black. This was not done by the previous owner otherwise I would expect the front calipers to be painted as well

[96Midori]

I like you're style. This makes me motivated to do the same to my Civic this weekend.

[Daox]

I don't think any car I've ever owned has been that clean.

[Chrysler kid]

Originally Posted by Daox

I don't think any car I've ever owned has been that clean.

Thanks for the compliments, originally I bought a power ball and polish but after doing the first wheel I noticed the back wheel was off the ground so I said why not. I read the thread on your metro after I posted my pictures and was feeling guilty because we definitely have it easy in the south, the underside of my car literally looks new with all those factory stampings

I noticed trying to remove the front wheels that the tires will spin even while in gear. I also noticed that the car will roll down the hill slowly while in gear without the ebrake on. My camaro never does that, is that a sign of a weak clutch?

[xavi]

congratulations for your civic, it's very nice...
I had already 3 civics!!! all black!!

that dash picture looks so familiar to me...
but I bought the dash frame with 1 whole each side...
On left I put the vaccum gauge from TIM, on the right I put the battery voltage...

voila the picture of the 1.5 vtec-e D15Z6 lean burn civic dash:


and here the civic vti ek4 b16a2 I had later, with the frame: