Ren: My '92 Civic

[Sven7]

Hey all, thought I'd throw in an update on this jalopy and all that is.

After my beater bike blew up, I bought a Specialized Globe Work 1 Step Through in January and have been riding it daily ever since. The car has been sitting idle in the parking lot for months, but the truck gets some weekend use with mountain biking and whatnot.

I am going on a road trip in a couple weeks though, which means I need to get the Civic back into shape. Drove it to work today (GASP) to drop it off at my mechanic/fab guy's house this evening. One major point of worry is that the heat shield under the gas tank had been ripped off this winter. After having the $30 header wrap I put on it rip and fall off, I've decided to say screw it.

I'm getting the exhaust turned into a straight-pipe side dump, unless there is an easier way to keep the heat off the flammable liquid in my car. Will talk to my guy and see what he thinks. Also getting it lowered back down on the Ebay springs (hoping to score some used coilovers for cheap at some point). Then an alignment and I'll do some coroplast wheel covers.

I scored a VX pass. mirror delete a few weeks ago, so that is installed. I pulled out the front and rear carpets, the passenger seat, the lower console, stereo head unit and all the speakers. The weight savings add up and my cargo space increases. The hole in the floorboard was repaired over the winter, but I also gained a leak in the windshield seal. Time to replace the windshield.

Not sure if I mentioned, but the steering column shakes on left hand turns. I'm thinking axle but it could just be an alignment issue. I bought an EMPI axle just in case, since my current one's warranty ran out a month ago.

What else... I have Hella 500 driving lights now, hooked up to the high beams and with an on/off switch just in case. The Magnum Opus Rally isn't really an option for me this year but the lights should help driving in the country though... until LSPR 2014 comes along .

As for the velomobile, my friend and I worked on the design and settled on a 305/406 articulated frame (drivetrain mounted on fork) FWD unfaired lowracer. I/we built the wheels, with an SA XRD8-W front hub (8 spd, drum brake) and a Shimano disc brake rear hub, both to 36-hole steel rims (sourced from Calhoun Cycle) and Maxxis Hookworm tires. Going with a 65-tooth Schwinn exercise bike chainring on a short one-piece crank running to a 20-t cog. Should be geared for 25 mph, easily. Maybe 30 on sprints? Next step is to start cutting up the donor (old Huffy) bike for the fork/headset and start laying out the frame full scale. Maybe I'll start a thread here, but more likely will just add it to the recumbents.com project list.

Cheers, everybody. More updates later.



(Taking out recycling with my new "car")

[Fat Charlie]

Good to see you're still doing your thing. You do good work.

[California98Civic]

Ren rides again! You stripped-out all the inside trim, more than me, but kept the plastic parts along the sides of where the rear passengers used to sit? Any reason?

[Pepperoni]

Take a look at this:Ultimate Power | Energy Saving Technologies - Products
Here in Portugal is the latest trend. And it seems to work pretty good!

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by Pepperoni

Take a look at this:Ultimate Power | Energy Saving Technologies - Products
Here in Portugal is the latest trend. And it seems to work pretty good!

I hear the distant sound of trumpets, calling the unicorn hunters. The dogs smell a unicorn. It can't be far off...

[backpacker3]

Hmm I must be a bit off my game then cause I was smelling spam. Unless..... Could it be that the magical mystery meat could be from No it couldn't be.....

[tvbd56]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

I hear the distant sound of trumpets, calling the unicorn hunters. The dogs smell a unicorn. It can't be far off...

There's an eco-driving section! "Here is this product where you get 10%-30% better fuel economy, but you have to drive economically like our website says"
wow lol

[Sven7]

At first I thought spam too, but apparently just a bit confused.

The car is still getting work done. We decided to just go for the full poly bushing kit from Summit (will add a couple more days and a couple hundred dollars). I mean, I've already done half the stuff anyway, right? Also a couple ball joints are bad, and the alt belt. So, all that stuff's getting replaced. Wish I had the car home to putz on some quick aeromods...

Maybe I will make some wheel covers in my spare time, if I'm not busy with one of my hundred other projects.

[Sven7]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

Ren rides again! You stripped-out all the inside trim, more than me, but kept the plastic parts along the sides of where the rear passengers used to sit? Any reason?

Mostly laziness. I had water on the floor I needed to dab up and pulling the carpet was the easiest way. Also, if you see the car from a distance it appears to have a full interior, since most of the mods are below the beltline. I do intend to do a few more mods, such as taking out the rear seat belts and retractors, but that's more in depth. That would require my mood and the weather to line up on a free day...

[Sven7]

Got the car back yesterday morning. The bushing kit + springs are amazing. I have new control arm bushings, shifter bushings, everything. The steering vibration is gone due to some new ball joints and a repair for the one stripped K member bolt. We sourced a replacement heat shield so I still have a full exhaust.

So I took it home, leveled the suspension, made a couple wheel covers (still have to make a spiral stencil for the 15's ) and replaced the blown headlight bulb. Need to get an alignment then I can throw the ground-scraping air dam back on. The exhaust is scraping over speed bumps already.

There are a few more things on my list but aside from the alignment, the big stuff's done. I'm happy to have a working car again!

Also, toying with the idea of VTEC... thoughts?