hi all!


this is my 2nd Honda, and my 15th car. I had an 84 civic 4dr for a little while. it needed more work than i cared to do. but this little guy is in great shape. i took a chance buying it for a whopping $600. the P.O. said it started to overheat on him twice, and he didn't want to deal with the cause. he thought it may have blown a HG. the cause turned out to be a clogged overflow hose, from a disintegrated rad. cap. i cleaned and replaced, and haven't had an overheat problem yet. pressure tested the system and found no leaks. score!

it does need an exh. manifold. the stock one is cracked up bad. it's the style with a cat built right into it. i may try some hi temp ceramic exhaust manifold cement until i can replace the whole part correctly.

i just scored a pair of 99-00 style tail lights for $45. fleabay was selling singles for that price shipped. another lucky break. hopefully replacing the one that was cracked will eliminate a leak that was filling up the spare tire well with water. i just put them in about an hour ago, so i'll test it with a hose later.

first thing i did was tint the windows to 20%. all cars should have tinted windows straight from the factory. here's a pic the day i got it done.


i really like the look of the white Hart racing wheels. actually, they remind me of an older Audi i've been a fan of for decades, the Audi Sport Quattro.

here's a pic of one:


i looked around for some wheels to replace the stock steelies it came with. but i'm forcing myself to not start dumping cash into this car. i have to leave it as just a commuter ride, because i bought it specifically to have basic transp. while my truck is getting restored. i already have one money pit, i cannot have two going at once. it's only an automatic, so i don't really have a desire to performance tune it. but sitting in traffic just got a lot easier for me.

so i found a cheap alternative to getting wheels. i bought some wheel covers from amazon for a measly $25 shipped, and painted them white. but i took it a step further. i painted them so they'd contribute to the look i was going for. i painted the outer lip of the rim white, and the inner 'phone dial' gloss black rather than flat. the white gives the wheel a little more depth, and the gloss black is darker than flat, except where it shines. it all works together to make a high contrast illusion that i've got white wheels.



the wheel covers came with little pop-off chrome lug nuts. it made it a lot easier to paint them, and they look a little more realistic. realistic enough, apparently, that the tuner kid i met to buy the tail lights yesterday, asked me where i got my 5-lug conversion kit. haha! they're hubcaps, sucker! so, i guess my paint work achieved the result i wanted.


some people have said that the wheels looked better with just the new paint,and without the covers. it looks a little racier, or ricier, (hah) but i wanted to give the car a slightly classier look, since it's just a CX. i think the wheel covers do just that.

only other thing i really need besides the exh. manifold, is an a/c compressor. i have got to get the a/c going soon, as they don't call it "HOTLANTA" for nothing. this car has very little airflow with the windows open. i wish it had vent wing windows like my 4Runner. i don't know why cars don't come with them anymore.

i also tried one of those "headlight restoration kits". the cheapest one i found was a "turtle wax" brand. it was $10, and came with everything needed. i spent less than an hour sitting on a bucket in the parking lot. the kit worked better than i expected. they really look new again! so i recommend it to anyone who's considering it.

anyway, that's my noob report. if anyone is in the ATL area and knows of some friendly meet n' greets, give me a shout.

(especially if you have a good stock manifold or compressor you can install for me and want to earn some extra $$)

peace out!
Tj

 

Welcome to the forum & nice little hatch nice work on the hub cappys.

 

reminds me of my hatch, only in much much much better shape. Good buy for sure! oh yeah, welcome to the forums!

 

thanx guys!

it does have curb appeal, but it's a "20 footer" for sure. the owner before previous had it painted, and didn't stick to the color code. it's supposed to be Roma Red (R97-4) but the door jambs are definitely not as dark a red as the exterior. the respray seems more "cherry" i guess is the best way i can describe it.

which is ok with me. i don't like red, but if it has to be red, i prefer the hue it has over what it was originally. but it will be hard to find some touch-up paint that matches, and it's got nicks all over. ugh.

my truck is red too. i don't like red, but i do the best i can with it. here's a pic of my PITA, currently out-of-service while i have a hole in the intake manifold repaired.

 

thats a damn fine truck! are those beadlocks? nice! I always wanted one of those after I found out the top comes off... I used to have a lifted 85 bronco on 33's. I think I only ever took the top off twice, but it was a blast.

I could go anywhere with the lift and short wheel base. People could barely get in it, yet, I could sit in the driver's seat and reach back and touch the rear tires! haha

 

those beadlocks are actually just push-on TRIM RINGS. they're totally fake. but, painted well, they give a pretty good look to it. kinda like the wheel covers on my civic.

over the years, i've gotten to be pretty creative with making 50 bucks look like 500.

the paint doesn't look nearly as good in person. i cranked up the color saturation on that picture. i wish it was that easy with the real thing. i plan on using clear urethane based bedlining to respray the entire body in and out. i may just match the red, but i'm considering a color change to GM Sunburst Orange.

thanx for the compliments tho, have a good weekend!
Tj

 

hahaha, yeah, red paint seems to fade quickly. The paint on my civic is faded like you wouldn't believe. I'm looking forward to my color change this spring. Spray paint FTW.

bedliner would be good for your trail rig though, thats for sure.