Hello fellow civic drivers,
I am trying to improve my old 1986 Civic, and I have 2 questions:
-is it possible, manually, without taking everything apart, to change the orientation of the front lights? They look down way too much. On the other hand, does a bulb function on a binary mode, i-e lights or is broken? I mean is it possible that they my bulbs are also tired, and do not light as bright as if they were new?
-my horn is bearly audible, it sound ridiculous, it is more efficient to scream out the window right now... is it easy to change, or amplify, or whatever? I don't know where it is located. Anyone knows where to find it in the engine?

Thank you very much for any helpful information,
take it easy
Nicolas

 

iv never really changed out a horn before, but im thinkin its not too too hard. damn import horns..anyway...are u talking about the light fixturs or just the angle

 

yea, ive been wanting to install a suburban horn in mine

 

I'm not familiar with the older civics, but the horn should be right under the bumper in front of the radiator. It's round. You can go to like Auto Zone or AAP to buy horns. They've got all sorts of different types and sounds, so I'm sure you'll find one to tickle your fancy.

 

Yep same here for my 94 ex. Can't see crap ahead of me at night on dark roads.

 

basically I just want to make the lights look straight instead of looking down my front wheels. Just change the angle then. I don't know which part of the light is to be moved. Not the bulb, but some reflectors of some sort...
Thanks for your help.

 

Any one heard of headlight aiming?
Basically, place car on a level surface (they say with half-tank of gas, and with not much in the car):
1.) park the car 25 feet from a wall (or some markable surface) where it is at least as wide and as tall as the car headlights.
2.) measure the distance from the middle of one headlight to the other. mark that on the wall (make a line from the middle of the headlight you used as your base, take that to the wall...)
3.) measure the distance from the ground to the middle of the headlight. take 2 inches off that measurment. do this for both.
4.) now, you should have markings on the wall of where the middle of the headlights would be if aimed straight-ahead with a loss of 2 inches over 25 feet on the vertical. (two differant markings)
5.) turn the headlights on the HIGH beams.
6.) Adjust the headlights as needed until the headlights shine on their approriate marking. (You will see the screws to do this on the headlight assembly. When adjusting the headlights, you should be able to see like the middle of the beam there, thats what should match up with your markings.)
7.) If you notice a discoloration of the headlight covers (they are glazed over, hazed, yellow, or basically not clear) use polishing compond (yes, the kind you use to make your car shiny) and just go over the outside of the cover several times (put polish on there, work it into the surface, clean if off, repeat) until you can see no (or almost no) discoloration. (Its much better than rushing out and paying lots of money for new lenses)

Another thing, unless you are really running high-consumption bulbs (or ran something off the bulb circut) there should be no differance in how bright it is versus new bulbs (or the same type) (Think: regular lightbubls just burn out, you have no good warning of this, same here with auto bulbs)

 

I wasn't sure if the '86 Civics had the headlight adjusters on them, so I didn't mention it. And you're gona want to use plastic polish when you polish your headlights.

 

Oh... all I know is I used "Turtle Wax White Polishing Compound and Scratch Remover" (directions say... "Cleans all painted metal, chrome and porcelain surfaces.") on our domestics, with great results.

 

I used Mother's Plastic Polish and it worked great. I'm sure there's not much difference.