I have a cobalt currently, not fixed up. But I'm looking for a project car and love honda civics very much. I came across a craigslist post about an hour away for a 93 civic dx coupe with d15b7 automatic.

Its obvious it needs work but I'm wondering if it needs too much work for the price. He has it listed as 1100 obo.

Here's the problems:
Needs rad support.
Driver side headlight needs rewired.
some interior work.
brake switch needs to be replaced to release the tranny from park or I can leave in neutral with ebrake.(how much and hard to fix?)
No ac.
no Ps(does this model even come with it, possible to pull ex Ps and install .. rough cost to install) or recommend. Getting used to it?

Pros:
fleabay coilovers
18 good tires, but rims are somewhat bad. Nice looking just damaged.
Hid on passenger headlight
clean title.

Should I invest or does it sound like a bad idea?
And wth is rad support?

Thanks for your time.

 

Oh and he says it runs good but does have dark exhaust smoke.
The engine looks clean in the pics .. has cai in pics but cannnot tell how well of one or manufacture.

Seller says hes having money issues and needs it gone

 

The radiator support is the frame piece across the front of the car that the hood latches to when it is closed. It also of course supports the top of the radiator and the headlights. So, "Needs rad support"-- apparently it has been crashed in the front-- are the air bags still intact? You need them to be legal in many places. If the shift lever doesn't release from park that usually means the brake lights don't work-- often results from crash damage shorting out the horn wires, which are on the same fuse.

The DX did not come with power steering, but they are not hard to drive without it. Parts from an LX etc. can be swapped on if you really wanted to. The A/C system is also a bolt-on retrofit, but if you are going to add a turbo there will not be space for it.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.
yeah rad support costs about 95 bucks but is it expensive to have welded on?
Also ill get back to you about air bags and brake lights, dash pics show no sign of airbags deploying but could of been replaced.

Good deal so fae or no? More opinions as well please.

 

Owner says airbags are intact and brake lights work.
also am not worried about ac all that much. But could be nice if fixable until time comes for turbo

 

Ask him for some pictures of the front. Obviously there is crash damage (pretty shady not to disclose it other than "needs rad support" and "headlight messed up"). If you're going to build this car out for higher performance you will be swapping to a better engine and transmission, but you want a clean "shell" car to start with.

 

Here's some pics from the post, will ask for some more later, about to head to work

 

I would walk away from that unless you plan on re-doing everything.

How are ebay coilovers, 18" wheels (damaged as well), and mis-matched headlights good things?

New rad support means it was hit I would imagine. No other reason to replace it.

 

theres a reason there isnt any good pictures of the front of the car...

 

From what I can see, the hood doesn't line up, the left front corner light ($60) is missing, and the fender is dented. There are no pictures of the right front, I suspect it is a lot worse. Those "rubber band" wheels and tires are just stupid, they give a harsh ride and are easily damaged. Why is it parked so close to that white car? Are they stuck together? The picture under the hood shows an empty space (save for some ghetto yellow wire) where the A/C condenser would be; like he said there is no A/C system at all installed. Definitely pass on this deal.