Just dropping in to give the standard salutations. Just picked up a '93 Civic EX with way too many miles and no knowledge of the Honda breed. Everybody raves about the huge Civic aftermarket support, which is great, but it's also a bit overwhelming when there's so much to weed through. I've rebuilt a Jeep Wrangler that rolled over and learned a valuable lesson: research everything vigilantly like an engineer, so you can work patiently like a mechanic. That being said, I'll keep driving my bone-stock coupe every day until the 200k/mi + engine is just about ready for the grave. Then I'll use some accumulated knowledge, with some accumulated funds, and pop a low mile engine and 5 sp. in.

My plan:
Buy little comfort pieces here and there to keep my hands busy while saving the big dollars for the (relatively) big engine. I just ordered a head unit to replace the 100% original (and 100% useless) cassette player. Gotta start somewhere, right? I'll do a little more research on sound dampening before I upgrade speakers. In an older Wrangler, the subject never comes up. Just bedline the entire inside and call it a day. That won't do in this case, and I plan to keep all the water out. So, the door panels and rear deck need to be dampened when I get new speakers just so I can do it right the first time. Then it's carpet swap (with dampener in the floor), JDM center console with armrest, and a dampened trunk. With funds and the time to do all this, I'm looking at a three month deadline to start out. I'll work on the rest later.

That's my journey so far. I owned a Sentra a long time ago and they were more simple to work with due to limited options. They weren't fun work on, though. I mean, internal timing chain with plastic guides? Seriously?

Thanks for reading, if you did.

TL;DR: I'm new to the Civic community, but have automotive experience. I also have short-term goals and long-term goals for the new-to-me '93 Civic EX I just bought.

 

welcome! I look forward to your build thread, sounds like you've got some plans figured out.

 

Thanks. Unfortunately, there's the quote, "... the best laid plans of mice and men." I'm hoping I've got this covered a little better than a mouse. lol

I just started reading through your build thread and I'm getting the sense that just about every Civic owner has the same problem with motor swaps. First, you've got to figure out what you've got. That seems to be quite a headache. Then, you've got to figure out what you can get, and that already seems like some kind of anarchy system where there are no rules, so just throw in whatever. Finally, you have to have friends (and friends of friends) just to get half the stuff needed without going broke. This is going to be fun. lol

 

yeah, that sounds about right.