The process of learning often involves failure

So on my third attempt to get a sway bar on the Si I finally got it done.

Attempt 1: Visited a yard, found a 95 civic Ex sedan, needed to find an extra jack due to the mud jacked it up and found some super rusty RCAs.  Noped out of that.  I didn't want to spend 4 hours in the mud to get some RCAs that then needed to be refurbished.

Attempt 2: I ordered a skunk 2 rear LCA and then the hardware I'd need to mount the rear sway.  But after I got all the parts I realized two things - I missed a bushing (the one in the end of the bar), and the rear subframe had holes but no threads for the rest of the hardware to be attached to.

Attempt 3: Got the rest of the parts from Majestic Honda and went to down on getting the sway in.

After getting the rear sway in I decided to get the new muffler in to see if it fit up.  This is an EDM muffler BNIB from a 1995 VTi civic which had the B16A2.  You can see that the muffler pipe (c pipe?) is a little larger.

Unfortunately the flange fitting is turned slightly compared to the USDM muffler so I need to cut and re-weld the B pipe to match.  But it clears the sway and fits in the chassis great. 

I also got in some new hardware for the valve cover!

I'm not sure if I'm sold on the red cover yet.  It looks red sometimes and a little bit of a pink hue in other light.  I ordered an OEM valve cover expecting it to have a wrinkle paint job but it came bare, I guess all the spares come that way. Boo.

You can see Ive taken off the header cover and I'm getting that blasted and painted.  Should be nice to put it back on nice and black. 

I'm still looking for an OEM stereo that works, some rear speaker replacements (maybe JDM) and some odds and ends but as I add or update more stuff I'll update the blog.

In With The Old

First off, in one of the most timely YouTube posts ever Honda Collection Hall just put up a minty 1993 Civic SiR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP3JxoGD6B8

If you haven't checked out their channel before and are a Honda fanatic like me you'll love this place.

As one does when replacing all the old/worn parts on your car.  I'll have a full breakdown of parts and updates once all my stuff from Honda America/Honda Japan come in and are installed.  After that I'll have a detail session and then a full reveal of the car.

And as expected working on a 25 year old car there was one bold rusted solid that the air couldn't break free.  See that LCA and spring/strut on the far left of the pic?  Frozen.  Surgery will be needed to get it out.

Rare pupper holding down the fort.

Also:

Out With The Old

After a long trip back from Augusta, GA I got in at 9am this morning and ran a bunch of errands and then set to work on what I thought was going to be an afternoon claybar session.  What I ended up doing was a very thorough cleaning of the car from tip to tail.

First though, new tires!

There is nothing quite like the smell of fresh rubber.  I wrapped the OEM steelies in 195/60/14 Falken Azenis.  Not to many soft options in the 14" tire, but these will do well.  Cleaned up the hubs a little and mounted everything.  It's slowly becoming like the 5th gens of my youth.

Next up a wash, then roof molding removal, then side molding removal.  I hadn't planned on doing all those but there was mold on the side moldings which wasnt coming out and I wanted to see what was under all of them.

The top moldings come out easy, just open the hatch and give them a good slide backwards.

Some solid build up of gunk underneath, but no corrosion, looks good.  Onto the side moldings. 

Rough...again a serious build up of dirt and grime.

So the afternoon/evening turned into a solid cleaning of all the cracks and crevices untouched all these years.  It was also interesting to see the faded upper part of the door, and the less faded part under the molding.  That 1" the molding jutted out provided some shade.

All clean and ready for phase 2.  Claybar, cutting, polishing.

Too Much Time In The Sun

I saw this car for the first time when I went to look at a 91 wagon owned by a guy who ran into a friend of mine in a parking lot admiring his WRX wagon.  My friend passed me his number and I went to take a look.

A 2 owner, never driven in winter, 62k EG Si isn't something you stumble across often across the US in this day and age, much less one you find in Wisconsin.  Initially I talked with Johnathan about helping to sell the wagon and the Si but eventually a friend of mine said he was interested in buying the wagon.  Jonathan and I talked about putting the wagon up for 4k which seemed a good price given the market today.  The wagon is a 1991 RT4WD with 97k miles, never driven in winter. What!?  This guy basically has a best-of early 90's museum at his house.

Jonathan thought 3k was a little low for the wagon, but I asked if he would sell the wagon and the si for 3k each if we picked them both up.  He agreed and after a few missed connections I ended up going to pick up the Si first.  After seeing the Si move out of his driveway Jonathan decided not to sell the wagon.  I guess seeing one piece of 90s nostalgia leave was too much for one man to handle.  I know it would be for me too.

I don't know how long the car sat, but it was at least a year or two.  Lots of sun fade, and clear coat damage to the roof, and also noticeable on tops of the body panels. All the molding is cracked and the tires look pretty dry rotted as well.

The interior was in good shape but needed a good detail so I set to work on that first.  Seats and center console got removed and I got a good vacuum done on the whole car.  Cleaned up all the dust and crumbs and the interior looked really great. The radio has some broken plastics on the fade/bal dials, not sure how to address that yet.  Probably steal some from a yard when possible.

The battery is dead, charger didn't work, and the battery tray is rusted like crazy.  New battery and battery tray are ordered along with new window and roof molding strips and some screws for the rear mud flaps.

Once I get the wheels swapped to the 14" steelies with oem hubcaps, and get the car fully detailed I'll have photos up and a little more detail about the future of the car and how each area of the car is at 62k.

Link to photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/AMxa5Sy125JXNHkf9