Hey all! I have some questions and would like y'alls advice here...
The car: an '89 civic hatch, 4spd, 200+k miles.
The story: This car has been well taken care of, oil/etc changed regularly, 2nd owner of car, know the first owner. Car has had a pretty good life, body and interior is in decent shape. No performance modds. I'm working on this car for a friend now and then because, well, thats what i do. so if i'm not sure on something about the car its b/c its not my own
The dilema: The drivers side axle (i'm guessing CV joint) was replaced within the last year, and now the pass side is going. Also now the clutch is almost gone, its started slipping. It also needs a new muffler but thats no big deal. Basically is it worth getting the clutch and CV joint done on this car? We are working very low budget here, and i've never done a clutch before so i didn't really want to try on someone else's car that i'm not familiar with first. but the shops goign to charge like $350 just for labor, w/o the cost of the clutch. and who knows how long everything else is going to last, the car has been around for a few years!
Would it be a better idea to be looking for another car? how much longer do you think the engine/trany on this will last? it shifts a lil hard, and i just changed the trany fluid in it. Is it posibly just the bushings (?) on the linkage? or is the trany going to go soon too?
also, how difficult is it to change the clutch on one of these? any "special" tools? i have most everything, but if its goign to take a bunch of special tools and a lot of time (like more than one full day) not so sure i'd want to do it myself.

i personaly like the car, the 5th gen hatchbacks are my fav civics and it gets decent gass milege and what not. the owner is going into freshman year of college, and i'm a sophmore in college... so neither of us have much extra cash and need to make the best investments...

if you think the car is worth keeping and that it will last for another 50-100k miles w/ the stock engine/trany then i guess i will have some more questions!!

thanks,
-N8

 

I'd post this in a different place on this forum, maybe under tech or something im fairly new too so I wouldn't know the best place, but thats where i'd put it....or maybe the "do it yourself" section.......sorry I couldn't have been of more help!