My Civic modding thread (2000 Civic Dx Coupe)

[pletby]

Originally Posted by darcane

Air dam looks pretty sturdy. Is that a modular shelving rail that it is mounted to? How'd you attach to the bumper cover?
I assume yours will have to be more stout than most since it will plow snow periodically.

It's mounted to a vinyl siding trim piece called sill trim or undersill. That trim piece is screwed to the bumper in about 6 places. I'm considering removing the air dam later in winter as ruts develop in the back lane. It's pretty easy by then to bottom out the car belly unless you straddle the icy ruts. Being icy you can slide back into them in unguarded moments.

Originally Posted by darcane

Since you already plug it in for the battery warmer and charger, do you plan to add a block/coolant heater?

Sorry, I grew up here and everyone has a block heater here. People parking on the street not plugged in during our cold winters often need a boost. I should have realized that people from all climates would be on ecomodder. We get periods of time in the winter where the day time high can be -30C or -22F and sometimes -40C or -40F. Then comes the windchill... −20.2C or−4.4F is our winter average. Summers rock.

[pletby]

Now driving autobody shop's toyota corolla courtesy car. Hope to get my civic back soon. I can't attach any cool stuff to these cars that are not mine! I will be hooking up the Ultra gauge to this one though.

[MetroMPG]

Might as well play the game. How old is the Corolla? New one with the CVT?

[darcane]

Originally Posted by pletby

Sorry, I grew up here and everyone has a block heater here. People parking on the street not plugged in during our cold winters often need a boost. I should have realized that people from all climates would be on ecomodder. We get periods of time in the winter where the day time high can be -30C or -22F and sometimes -40C or -40F. Then comes the windchill... −20.2C or−4.4F is our winter average. Summers rock.

Even in cold climates, not all cars come with them and you didn't explicitly mention it, so I mistakenly assumed you didn't have one. I've lived an area that would consider Winnipeg both South and warm. -60°F is no fun... and a big part of why I moved south :P

An oil pan heater may not be a bad idea either at those temps, especially since you've switched back to dino squeezin's.

[pletby]

I stand corrected. Wow that's cold.

[pletby]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Might as well play the game. How old is the Corolla? New one with the CVT?

Oh it's a nifty early 2000 Corolla. Most of the controls remind me of my Honda.

[pletby]

Yay! I have My Civic back! All fixed up with a new alignment along with tie rod ends replaced.

I didn't have much time left to work on the car today but did re install my grille covers and wired up the electrical too for plugging in.

[MetroMPG]

Good to hear. Happy with the repairs?

[pletby]

Very happy yes.

[pletby]

I'm very tired from a killer long day at work. So instead of pulling out the tools and working on the car I'm going to post my 'toaster mod' and call it a night. Last night I got the car back and ran out of daylight putting power to the car again and installing the grille covers.

Legal Statement: Don't do this. It's dangerous and will electrocute you, set fire to your car, garage and house. Then and only then will your breakers pop. Don't do dumb stuff you see on the interweb! Ha ha

Now that that's out of the way...

It's called the 'toaster mod' because my lovely Wife pointed out that now she could plug her toaster into the car as she saw me plug a power tool into the car and cut/grind/burn something on the car.

I hated having to plug the car in through a dangly cord flapping in the wind or tucked into the bottom of the bumper so far down I would irritate/injure my tender back. I was also broke at the time so I couldn't justify buying a marinco inlet and genius hadn't come onto the market with their inlet, both wonderful flush mount solutions to providing power to your ride.(Do a google search and you'll find the truck guys love the marinco mod) So I raided my house electrical parts bin and slapped together a receptical with a cord running into the car with a 3 way Y harness to power my car battery charger, block heater and battery blanket.

Since the receptacle box was grey it melted into my grille block rather well. I cut one fin out of my plastic grille and the box fit perfectly. The tabs on the back were a bear to shove through but they anchor the box very securely. I added a few screws to really make it solid. After 1 year the screws have corroded a bit, but inside the box is pristine. No water has gotten in.

I have an extension cord with two male ends. The car end must be plugged in first, then the house end. Removal is the reverse: house end unplugged first and car last. Otherwise you have live power exposed! Danger! I will be converting to the Marinco or Genius inlet shortly and make this safe.

To plug in your toaster, plug in your car and notice there's still a place on the car to plug in your toaster! Homemade bread is best! (I imagine a toaster has a horrible draw and will blow your breakers after it burns down your garage)(Use GFI dammit!)