1996 civic hx restoration build
 

Hello thought I created an account here in 2012 however I believe I never posted and it was deleted.

Anywhoo I have always been a car guy starting working on a DSM when I was in high school progressing into muscle cars and then into family cars

I've had my built camaro for about 10 years but its a bit much for the hot Texas summers, I was still averaging 18mpg all city driving and 26 highway on factory tires and wheels (considerably less with my regular drag radials)

I have a family vehicle which is a 2011 fusion but it was a bit boring. I have always loved fixing up cars and wanted a cheap 5 speed civic to play with and daily drive. I happened upon a 1998 civic hx about 3 years ago and fell in love with the gas mileage game. I sold the vehicle after a relative basically gave me double what I paid for the car

Anyways I recently was able to acquire another civic hx. Again not looking for one but they just happen to fall into my lap. My newest is my 1996 civic hx with 294k miles. The interior and exterior were very well kept, however the previous owner had to have the transmission replaced at 250k miles with a JDM d15b LSD transmission. Its quite the change from my last hx and makes the car very peppy even below my shift point at 2500 rpm.

My commute is all city driving. With my Michelin tires at 35psi my first tank was 34.3 mpg which is spot on against my old hx which had its tall gearing.

I look forward to being an active member and plan to add a vacuum gauge, and tap the secondary voltage reference wire from the post cat o2 sensor to monitor when the car goes into lean burn. I figure a cheap voltmeter gauge can show me 0 Volts when in lean burn

No mpguino but I do have an obd2 datalogger handy for long drives

Congrats on the find!

Here was my first hx


http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps747a1531.jpg

I really didn't plan to sell it so I went all out with new parts and headlights etc. It was a great car


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With the black car I'm going to be building on a budget. Wife was against this build because I basically had to jump on the deal without telling her

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So I immediately texted the owned to see what sort of dented primered abomination he was selling. I was shocked to see this pic.
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So being that the owner was less than 5 miles away from my home I purchased the car after confirming the ac worked and the engine was in good shape. The car feels extremely strong compared to my old hx, its possible the silver car had weak compression as I would never get over 36 mpg mixed driving and felt like a dog

Owner gave me a folder of receipts which in unfortunately included a receipt for a low mileage s40 d15b transmission from JDM direct imports motors. However with my commute being only city driving I have found the shorter gearing to help acceleration while still keeping the car under 2300 rpm

I would like a stock intake, the car currently has an aftermarket intake on it

Here it is, sketchy guy I bought it from was strange. I knew he wasn't telling me something but I knew it had a salvage title from light hail damage on the hood and roof. The check engine light was on but the car ran fine besides having 293k miles which were documented with receipts for timing belt and water pump and a JDM d15 trans from that place in Richardson.

Anyways first task was to re align the bumpers. The back was covered in duct tape to hide a crack.
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/x...psthudj5co.jpg

Not bad you say. Well after taking bumper off I found this

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Soo there's not much I can do about that however everything on the trunk and bumper still line up. Using picture frame wire I was able to mend the cracked bumper. Came out very well except for a spot that is missing
http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps2yyzowo3.jpg



This time I opted to re do the factory lights instead of buying new ones on amazon. They came out very well done and I was shocked at how far the lenses came back with a polish

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And this is how she sits now cleaned up. I want window visors, front lip and fog lights

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/x...psxtkkv7mg.jpg

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/x...pshof53fod.jpg


I love hx's but this one is pretty special with how immaculate the interior is and how straight and mechanically sound for 293 k miles.

The JDM d15b trans makes the car peppy but I do miss the long gear set my last hx had. The hx trans has a super tall gearing and it use to be a game to shift before VTEC at 2200

Close but no cigar. Might just need to see if I can find a Crv like mentioned, and grab that interior cabin filter tray too

I would really like to be able to have keyless entry which I need a stock head unit for and they are hard to find these days. Maybe I should check goodwill

So the condensor fan wasn't kicking on so went ahead and ordered a replacement on amazon. I also spent the afternoon cleaning out the egr valve and assembly. Car runs much better now just need to up the tire pressure to 5 psi over max and I'll be back to getting 38mpg mostly city driving.

Did I mention 294k miles? Garage kept by the previous owner at his work and then parked in the garage at home. Still has black rubber window trim that hasn't flaked off to chrome. Has hail damage on the hood and roof and of course the salvage title but I really take pride in saving this car from the gutter. Clean cars are so hard to find these days

My knock off front lip should be here tomorrow, yay. I tried to tint the back window myself however it just ended up too wrinkled around the rear defroster tabs and I wasn't able to get a clean cut while working it from the inside

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So yesterday driving home at lunch I had the urge to check the plugs. Cylinder 3 when I removed the plug wire poofed dust and carbon in the air. The plug was not even hand tight and when pulling the rest of the plugs the NGk zr4f plugs had a gap of over .07 when spec is .044 I had gotten 34.3 all city with the ac on with these plugs so I am excited to see what I will get on the new plugs.

I went with auto lite xp iridiums 5244. I know I know they aren't the same heat range however they are not spec listed for the other civic models and are tied only to the hx so I'm hoping they are a hotter plug

I have not been able to get rid of the engine light for the egr valve, even after 2 cans of brake fluid down the intake manifold tube and an extremely clean egr passage on the intake. The valve may be completely shot and I'll need to spend $160 on a new valve

I also switched the car over to synthetic oil and used a k&n oil filter. The old oil while within the mileage range according to the dash sticker was coffee bean black. I didn't feel comfortable seafoming the engine as more than likely the oil filter was already filled with gunk, so next oil change I will be seafoming the engine with that k&n filter to collect the garbage that gets loosened up

Changing the oil I could only put 3 quarts in the car and the dip stick reads over full. The pan must be filled with sludge, but the valves and head seem clean when I inspected them

Different users on here with HXes have reported their car taking different amounts of oil. I have only changed the oil once, but my pan was stripped, so I replaced it. I still have not done a how-to thread, but I will try to do that today.

Are you familiar with Fumoto Valve | Qwik Valve™?

$32 seems steep for 30 seconds of work.

I've seen a few discussions about different oil levels, I know Honda made revisions pretty much yearly to their obd2 system for the hx, but mechanical changes seem ineffecient.


I have long arms and I'm able to remove the oil filter from the top and avoid any mess. I also ran 1 quart through the engine with the oil plug removed to help drain out any remaining oil. My oil drain pan surface is painted white with a led light shining on it to observe any oil inconsistencies and it was interesting to see the old oil come out mixed in the new. Carmel coffee would be the best visual comparison lol


Picture semi related

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/x...psrbvmk1h6.jpg

People on here do not seem to spend money to save time very often. Usually, it is the other way around, but this is also cleaner. As long as you change your own oil you should be fine, but the aluminum HX and EX and magnesium Insight pans are notoriously easy to strip.

The steel pans are rated for forty foot-pounds and the aluminum ones are specified for thirty-six. I used a torque wrench and was surprised how tight 36 ft-lbs was, it was definitely harder than I tightened my plug when I realized that it was stripped.

Yet, my lazy non-car friends insist that I stripped it, instead of the youngest kid at the discount quick lube over-zealous to use an impact wrench, and they get upset when I do my own repairs instead of paying a mechanic.

I did not try reaching the oil filter from the top, if I can do that, I do not need to put my car on jacks!

Hardest part is just lining up the new filter but the opening for your arm to get under the manifold is lined up where it needs to be. I'm 6 foot 4 and changed it from the top while the car was jacked up in the air. I didn't think about the possibility of changing the oil without jacking up the car, that would save a lot time

Welcome to the site. That is quite the clean car for the miles on it! Nice find.