2002 Honda Civic Coupe LX 5spd Build Thread

[Christian]

Hey all,

I’m parting ways with my beloved Accord, and have decided that my winter beater civic will become my new daily driver. So far, I’m still in the process of selling the Accord, but this will be my progress thread for the civic.

The car was purchased last fall from a family friend for 3k CAD (2.2k USD) and it’s only got 151k km (93.8k mi) on it. The suspension was fully replaced by Honda, and the timing belt was done about 50k km ago.

This car will be seeing a lot of stop and go city driving, so don’t hold me to the same standards as mpg_numbers_guy, TaylorL or Vman455

Thanks for reading,
Christian

[Christian]

First item on the list was to replace my air filter, unbeknownst to me it was practically brand new, nice. I'll be saving my FRAM air filter and using it in the future instead.



Next item on the list is installing my new-to-me Scangauge II that I purchased from a guy on Kijiji in Montreal.. once it arrives.

After that, I'll be lubricating this squeaky slave cylinder, and of course inflating my tires 5 or so psi above recommended

[Ecky]

Subscribed! I'm always up for a Civic build.

[Christian]

Thanks Ecky,
I've gone through your JDM MX-5 thread, I must say, that's a very cool car. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable on Miata's, but I didn't have a clue that the MX-5 in Japan came with a 1.5L Skyactiv motor vs our 2.0L motor in North America.

Pretty cool, especially considering the smallest motor you could find in the NA was an even bigger 1.6L!

[Tmugz88]

How would I subscribe I'm pondering going with an automatic and selling my 2014 spark . A Honda has been something I've been considering and would enjoy following this build .

[Joggernot]

Originally Posted by Tmugz88

How would I subscribe I'm pondering going with an automatic and selling my 2014 spark . A Honda has been something I've been considering and would enjoy following this build .

Go to Thread Tools. There you can subscribe.

[Christian]

Well, it’s been a month, so it’s time to post my 2nd update. Since my last post, I have sold my accord and insured my civic and have been daily driving it for the last 9 days. It’s boring, and slow, but CHEAP!

I recently acquired a Scangauge II from a guy out in Montreal and had it shipped to me, total price was $133 ($99.64USD). Unfortunately, the OBDII port on my car is finicky, and when I go over little bumps it can occasionally lose power, which drives me mental. So for now, no scangauge.

As of just two hours ago I bought a new set of lightweight wheels and tires off of Facebook Marketplace for $250 ($187.29USD). They are 4x100 R81 Imola (Mini Cooper) wheels, which may sound boring, but they’re 11.9lbs each. The rubber that was included on the wheels is 175/65/R15 Goodyear Assurance All Seasons, and although they aren’t low rolling resistance, they're in great shape, and they’ll do the job in the crappy Vancouver rain.

Probably won’t have too much to say in the coming months, I’ll add my fuel-ups as I go. Don’t expect much right now for gas mileage, most of my driving is in the city, and I’ve got my heavy winter tires and steelies on in preparation for the snow.

[Christian]

Well, the snow is here. I've updated my fuel log and recently had pretty crappy gas mileage. My most recent fuel up was 21.87mpg(US) or 10.74l/100km. This is partially due to me being caught in a 5-hour traffic standstill in the snow.

I'm due to fill up soon and I'm sure my fuel economy will be better, but for now, my average is 23.9mpg(US) or 9.8l/100km.

Attached is a pic of my car this morning. Won't have too much to say in the coming months. I will definitely be posting an update with pics once the weather improves and I can put my new wheels on the car, hopefully, that is when my fuel logs start improving.

[EcoCivic]

Nice find! These 7th gen Civics can get surprisingly good MPG. I have an 05 sedan with the 1.7 VTEC and base D17A1 5 speed and I regularly get 45-47 MPG on my daily commute with a best tank of 49.2 MPG. That's with some mods (mostly performance mods actually), but nothing extreme.

I also have a K24A2 swapped sleeper 04 sedan, but at the moment it's currently getting only about 40-42 MPG because it's not nearly finished yet.

If I may make a few suggestions for simple and cheap ways to improve your MPG, you may want to get a block heater, block the upper grill for the winter, adjust the valve lash, and change the spark plugs and upstream o2 sensor if they are original. You'll likely see some decent gains with that stuff.

You can also convert the power steering to the electric system from the Civic Hybrid or EP3 Si or just delete the power steering to free up a few HP, get a little more MPG, and free up a lot of space under the hood. Converting to EPS was fairly easy and cheap for me, but I don't find these cars that hard to steer without power steering either.

[Xist]

Funny, I need to modify--fix--my 2002 Civic coupe.

It has a quarter million miles and a blown head gasket.

I need to finally get my Accord back on the road, figure out my ATF leak, and then figure out the 2002 Civic.

However, life, uh, finds a way.

What year was your Accord?