Ren: My '92 Civic

[slownugly]

Make sure all or most parts are stock on the Vx.( egr box, egr parts and intake, exhaust manifold and converter, 5 wire 02, engine code on the block) with 300k it is probably stock. I just bought a d15z1 with over 300k and the outside was oil covered and dirty. I opened the oil cap and the head was clean as a whistle.

[arcosine]

its a VX!

[Smurf]

I'd say if you're not too deep in (financially) on Ren, go check out the VX. You may be surprised what some people trade.

My S10 was cheap, because the previous owner needed bail money I offered $1000 on payments and my 1987 Isuzu beater, and he took it. He ended up settling early for $600 overall because he wanted to party before he went to jail. I have yet to see an S10 in this region with less rust on the rear cab corners and top of rear wheel wells.

Hell, if nothing else, you get a free paintjob

[Sven7]

Dad and I worked on the car tonight. Got the old bushing out and new bushing in the drivers side. There is still a sliver of bolt in the front side of the damper fork so I've got to drill that sucker out and throw it together. Then I'll probably either get my friend to do the rest or limp it to Auto Edge.

[Sven7]

A couple friends (brothers) came over today to help out my incompetent butt! We didn't really get much done but picked up some parts to complete a cutoff switch for the main relay, which would make the entire car inoperable whenever I choose.

One is helping with mechanical stuff and the other will wire up my Hella 500's and cutoff switches/kill switch after I get the hardware installed. I'm going to mount the driving light toggle switch on a blank panel next to the instrument panel dimmer.

They had to take off early so my dad came out and helped. Yeah, I really don't want to work on this anymore! I acted as a gopher and we got the rest of the old bolt out, bolted up the top of the drivers rear strut, then threw the $11 carriage bolt through the bottom. My dad worked his magic on the rusty outer bushing but there is still part of that bolt left to pull out.

Dad went in for dinner and I stayed out to make some coroplast wheel covers. They look like 13.5" white buttons. Also set up the grille to take some expanding foam tomorrow. It'll take eight hours to set up as I keep the barn toasty warm- then I'll pull it out and start sanding, drill some holes for the radiator and A/C, bondo, sand and paint. "Project pretty Civic grille block"?

Tomorrow will be a work day with my friend(s) to get those bolts done (though I need to get some replacement outer bolts from the dealer).

Enough with useless updates. It makes me feel like I'm making progress.

[Sven7]

Also, supposedly whoever did the CAI on this car didn't know what they're doing because a CAI needs to be insulated from engine bay heat. So, it's probably a WAI right now. Thoughts?

[Sporty Modder]

Originally Posted by Sven7

Also, supposedly whoever did the CAI on this car didn't know what they're doing because a CAI needs to be insulated from engine bay heat. So, it's probably a WAI right now. Thoughts?

That was my first thought when I saw a pick of your engine bay. Def wai, the cai I have seen go down in front of the tire so they can injest water from the road and blow up the motor.

[Ecky]

I pulled up the Wiki article on "Short ram air intake".

The short ram air intake is a form of aftermarket air intake for automobiles with internal combustion engines.

It replaces the OEM air intake with a short metal pipe and a conical air filter inside the engine bay. A significant increase in intake air volume will only occur in an engine where the factory intake piping was restrictive.

There is still some open debate on this issue, but some believe that a problem with short ram air intakes is that the air entering the intake is at a higher temperature due to the proximity of the engine, which may reduce some power. This may be partially offset by an increase in the volume of air entering the engine. To counter intake heat problems, many short ram intakes include some form of heat shield. Moving the intake inlet port further away from the engine block will also help to alleviate the problem and some users use a cold air intake where the inlet air is at or close to ambient temperature. However, others claim that Short Ram Intakes (SRIs) or similar Warm Air Intakes (WAIs) offer benefits over Cold Air Intakes (CAIs) which include better MPG due to a more complete burning of fuel.

You could still improve it by moving the intake closer to your exhaust manifold. Oddly enough, I don't think I've ever seen a Civic stock air box so I'm not sure if it pulls air from the fender well or not, so it would be at best a guess as to whether the SRI helps.

[Sven7]

Thanks guys. The stock box pulls from behind the bumper inlet. In this photo the piping goes right through the stock hole.



I don't have the stock box because the PO says it was stolen. Whatevs... I have a WAI for free.

Picked up inner tie rod ends (going to have the alignment guy do those) and one of the "crayon" rear control arm outer bolts. The other is on its way. Gotta check what alternator I need- 3 or 4 prong.

Also, last night we got some stuff done. Strut bushing is aaaalmost in on the pass side. Crayon bolt still needs to come out. I'm going to assemble the drivers side today. I installed the driving light on/off switch and it looks almost stock. Still trying to figure out the best way to mount the Hella 500's.

I want them to be close together like this


in case I want to add a couple more in the future. You know, for rally cred


So, are EG bumpers a pita to take on/off? I don't want to pull it off and realize I broke half the clips or can't get it back on. Though, it'll be hard to mount anything without taking it off.

Later gators.

[some_other_dave]

Originally Posted by Ecky

... I don't think I've ever seen a Civic stock air box so I'm not sure if it pulls air from the fender well or not...

In the late-80s vintage Civic (at least 88-91!) there was a resonator that hung down in front of the front wheel, but the intake was fed by a long snorkel pipe that went about halfway across the top of the radiator. It got air roughly from the middle of the car, just above the radiator.

Not sure about later years.

-soD