Hello,

I'm am buying a Honda Civic Hatchback for my son as his first car. We have mainly been looking at 1992-1996 models, and I was wondering if anyone out htere had some good tips to look for before purchasing. One of the things I have been noticing is that a lot of the vehicles we are looking at do not have power steering or A/C. IS this someting that commonly goes on during these years? Is it an easy fix? I have also notices a good amount of the vehiclesI am looking at have had the front ends switched out to a new year for example a 92 front end to a 1999-2000 front end. Any information would be greatly appreciated...Thanks.

 

the reason a lot of the hatchbacks are without powersteering and whatnot is because they are the HX or DX models. These were the stripped out models, that were more for "economy" I.E. cheap. they got better gas mileage then their coupe/sedan brothers, but they didn't have as many options. The reason for the 99-00 front end swap is because it is a "relatively" easy swap, and all you really need is the front fenders, bumper, and hood (supposed to swap out the core supports too...but....ehh....)

Swapping in A/C would be a bit of a bear in my book. You would need all the lines, a condensor, evaporator, plus the compressor and the bracketing for it. Unless you have a donor car that already has all of that on there, I would just keep my eyes out for a hatch with A/C.

Realistically, no powersteering isn't going to be a problem with that particular car. it is a very small car, and I know of many people that are running with no powersteering (my friend has an 92 with no power steering) That would be another pain to try and swap in, there are certain pulleys for certain years, and it can get a bit sticky getting everything to line up and work correctly.

Hopefully, this all helps, and if you have any more questions, or if I am wrong on any of it, someone else will pipe in and point you in the right direction.

 

The 1992-1995 models are all basically the same car. They were redesigned for 1996. Air conditioning was a bolt on option at the dealer, it is easy to refit at any time if you have all the parts. You really don't need power steering.

 

its gonna be difficult to put a 99-00 front end on an 92-95 civic however on a 96-98 civic its commonly done