97 civic CX long issues and thoughts

[War_Wagon]

Good choice on the Civic for a daily driver, I went the same route, but I stashed my Mustang at my parents house. Maybe in 20 years I'll drive it again lol. As for your idle problem, look up the Idle Air Control Valve. I am a bit rusty on this stuff, but I am pretty sure it's what regulates your idle speed when there is no load on the engine. So the load of the climate control system would cause the computer to bump up your idle, but when it was off it would rely on the IAC valve. If the valve was kaput then it will stall. Again don't quote me on this stuff but that would be my guess as where to start looking.

[ghostwalker]

Wow, man. That post is an education. Thanks.-california98

No thank you for the first time in 25+ years of tinkering with cars I have a shop manual. Muhahaha-GW

[hondaguy72]

Originally Posted by ghostwalker

thank you jedi i'll be ordering the kit soon

The other part in the "shifter slop" equation is the stock universal joint. Here's a write up on how to eliminate that problem. Warning- Good fabrication skills required!
The Kakabox Build - Red Pepper Racing

[ChazInMT]

Ghostwalker Dude, yer my hero regarding the composite info.

[ghostwalker]

ChazInMT Ghostwalker Dude, yer my hero regarding the composite info.

glad you enjoyed. It's not all doom and gloom with them. When you create something unique in the world you get one hell of a sense of accomplishment. Also they let you create parts that would be difficult, require expense machines, or a superior skill with lesser tools in metal to make them look/function well. When the piece is done any frustration you went though is generally worth it.

thurston's book is on general splash mold making not fiberglas specifically but it uses materials you can find at hobby lobby and is a good tool to learn it.

the chavant videos are fiberglas/clay modeling pro stuff. The way automakers did ,and sometimes still do, make models and prototype molds before they bought giant CNC milling machines and millable clay. They include making a mini dragster body form scratch.

The other part in the "shifter slop" equation is the stock universal joint. Here's a write up on how to eliminate that problem. Warning- Good fabrication skills required!-hondaguy72

you weren't kidding about the fabrication. shame he's not offering them for sale. It would be worth $75 to me not to have to do all that. Lol especially since I'm not much of a welder.

As for your idle problem, look up the Idle Air Control Valve. I am a bit rusty on this stuff, but I am pretty sure it's what regulates your idle speed when there is no load on the engine-war wagon

Ya I think I'll just buy one and replace it. Hopeful I won't break a bunch of heat checked plastic lines like i did when i did one on a plymouth van.

cheers!-GW

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by ghostwalker

making a fiberglas part by creating a mold from an original part is called splashing. ... There's a couple of decent books of making fiberglas car parts (I have one by John A. Willis), if you google chavants modeling clay they have some videos on fiberglas molding (you can substitute wood, bondo, plaster for clay you just have to use rougher tools like sanders. Probably the best book I've ever seen on mold making is thurston james's "the prop builders molding and casting handbook." .... I've seen some pretty rough looking wheel arch covers on this site (sorry guys) that would probably look nice if they were done in glas. Making nice curves ,I believe, is much easier in it then in most other materials.

These books and videos I'll have to look up. Over the next few warm months, I hope to use my break time when not working to learn enough to make rear wheel skirts and an expanding foam/fiberglass grille block--both of which I hope will be near-factory in appearance. One quickie question out of impatient curiosity: the wheel covers would need a diff method because there s no part to mold from. Do I make a mold or shape it by hand and sand it? I guess the second one, eh? If you don't have time to answer, that's cool, you've given us a lot to look up and figure-out already. Thanks again.

[ghostwalker]

These books and videos I'll have to look up. Over the next few warm months, I hope to use my break time when not working to learn enough to make rear wheel skirts and an expanding foam/fiberglass grille block--both of which I hope will be near-factory in appearance. One quickie question out of impatient curiosity: the wheel covers would need a diff method because there s no part to mold from. Do I make a mold or shape it by hand and sand it? I guess the second one, eh? If you don't have time to answer, that's cool, you've given us a lot to look up and figure-out already. Thanks again.-California98Civic

It's no problem giving you guys info. Kind of a "give a man a fish teach a man to fish" thing . Also the aid gets returned on this site.

here's thurston's book and for $20 bucks you can beat it. I've never bought from this site so no guarantees, the internet is full of scumbags.
Prop Builders Molding and Casting - Book

probably have to copy and paste

and here's chavant their catalog is PDF so I can't give you a direct link. Chavants is legit.
Chavant, Inc. Home Page

As far as your wheel arch covers. First you create the part you want then you pull a mold from it. This is the best way i can think of off the top of my head. Model on the vehicle. put it on jack stands and pull the wheel. Attach a piece of sturdy plywood to the inside of the fender.

Model it. For the back one i'm assuming straight across the fender lip. for the front you'll have to figure how much clearance you need to turn the wheels. When you get that distance mount dowels in the plywood at the correct distance and model up to it. I would probably cut plywood pieces and attach them to the original board until I was a bit under the finished distance then coat with layers of good bondo (autobody supply not part store/walmart). Shape it with power and hand sanding until I got what I wanted.

Then I would pull the main board off the car and model the flange with a sleight taperout to avoid lockin. I would need the flange to screw it into the fender lip. Then I would seal everything (including modeling board) with primer (rattle can works okay), let it dry and wet sand it smooth with fine grit paper. Clean it well, let it dry and wax it (well polished out). Then I would make a fiberglas mold from it ( 1 layer of 5oz cloth backed 3 of random mat possible some wood glassed in if I'm really worried about the mold flexing).
polyester resin/random mat is fine for mold making because you don't care about strength to weight ratio on a mold. Also it's cheap.
Then wait for your mold to setup and pulled it off. Polish with wax, PVA it and your ready to lay up a part. I would try 3 layers of cross-layed 5 oz with epoxy resin for my first part and test it to see if it would have the rigidity I needed.

I oversimplified the modeling part because you need 2 parts that are mirror images of each other. For the rear that not a big deal for the front it is. Chavants explains mirroring in their videos. I'm not gonna try to explain how it's done. I gave you the basic process. Do the back ones first walk before you try to run lol. Also I would model the parts a bit long in both directions, mold the part and trim to fit. I prefer the wood/bondo method to clay but that's a personal choice. cheers-GW

[jedi_sol]

Originally Posted by ghostwalker

As far as your wheel arch covers. First you create the part you want then you pull a mold from it. This is the best way i can think of off the top of my head. Model on the vehicle. put it on jack stands and pull the wheel. Attach a piece of sturdy plywood to the inside of the fender.

Model it. For the back one i'm assuming straight across the fender lip. for the front you'll have to figure how much clearance you need to turn the wheels. When you get that distance mount dowels in the plywood at the correct distance and model up to it. I would probably cut plywood pieces and attach them to the original board until I was a bit under the finished distance then coat with layers of good bondo (autobody supply not part store/walmart). Shape it with power and hand sanding until I got what I wanted.

Then I would pull the main board off the car and model the flange with a sleight taperout to avoid lockin. I would need the flange to screw it into the fender lip. Then I would seal everything (including modeling board) with primer (rattle can works okay), let it dry and wet sand it smooth with fine grit paper. Clean it well, let it dry and wax it (well polished out). Then I would make a fiberglas mold from it ( 1 layer of 5oz cloth backed 3 of random mat possible some wood glassed in if I'm really worried about the mold flexing).
polyester resin/random mat is fine for mold making because you don't care about strength to weight ratio on a mold. Also it's cheap.
Then wait for your mold to setup and pulled it off. Polish with wax, PVA it and your ready to lay up a part. I would try 3 layers of cross-layed 5 oz with epoxy resin for my first part and test it to see if it would have the rigidity I needed.

I oversimplified the modeling part because you need 2 parts that are mirror images of each other. For the rear that not a big deal for the front it is. Chavants explains mirroring in their videos. I'm not gonna try to explain how it's done. I gave you the basic process. Do the back ones first walk before you try to run lol. Also I would model the parts a bit long in both directions, mold the part and trim to fit. I prefer the wood/bondo method to clay but that's a personal choice. cheers-GW

I respect your immense knowledge in fiberglassing. But isnt "building a mold" method better suited for if you wanted to make multiple copies of a piece? Building a "one off" piece would be easier and less time consuming.

Building wheelskirts are fairly straightforward. Check out my thread of making fiberglass wheel skirts.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...as-9876-8.html

Essentially its:
1) make the skirt with cardboard/coroplast/whatever you want.
2) brush resin/hardener onto the skirt.
3) apply fiberglass mat or woven
4) repeat steps 2 and 3 to make 3-4 layers of fiberglass.
5) let harden.
6) trim, sand, (bondo, then sand optional if you want a smooth finish).
7) Paint

[ghostwalker]

I respect your immense knowledge in fiberglassing. But isnt "building a mold" method better suited for if you wanted to make multiple copies of a piece? Building a "one off" piece would be easier and less time consuming.-jedi

I think that was the first question I ever asked when I signed on as a model maker. I don't remember the exact explanation but that was how I was trained to do it by the engineers who taught me whether it was 1 piece or 100. The pieces I built had to be (literally) show quality.

Nothing in my previous posts was intended to be an insult to how things are fabricated on the site. I love all the stuff you guys do with coroplast and other materials on this site. It's very low buck and easy to work with using simple tools. My methods cost more. My original rant was I felt some companies were ripping of kids due to their lack of knowledge regarding composites. Also I thought a superior product could be built for a lower price.

California98 brought up splashing and since I have a decent amount of experience with it I decided to give a heads up on what's involved to people who were interested in it and include some resources so people could learn more if they wanted.

The original discussion was on making fiberglas replacement parts to copy original body panels. He then brought up wheel arch covers and asked how I would do them (not the key word "I" ) and I described it. My method was based on function (including finished weight) and even more so on appearance. If I part a part on my car want people who see it to go "wow I didn't know honda built one like that" or "did you get that from Cervini's?" I want it to look OEM. The knowledge of how to do that is what I was trying to convey. Also the the knowledge in the resources would give ideas for making other cool and unique things (I made an alien head shiftball for the mustang along time ago ).
As for making multiple parts what happen if a grocery cart takes out you front arch? If you did a one-off you start from scratch. Also got any friends with a similar vehicle? I did a one-off piece grafted to an original factory part to a friend's monte carlo within a month 3 people who saw it wanted one. Had I molded it I could have made some extra cash with minimum effort as it was I turned them down.
In the end if your happy with what you created for your car (or other things) that's all that matters. Cheers! -GW

[California98Civic]

Great, useful discussion guys. A little debate brings out more of the thinking behind the recommendations. Thanks.