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June 26th, 2001 - 9:44am
I'm not posting any more idiot emails, so stop sending then to bait me. I may not update this page very often but I'm not going to turn it into a posting board for the reality-challenged. Just allow me to say that thanks for the shit veiled as politeness Matt Shewmake, but you summed it up nicely. 'Just shows what a Cali boy and $15k can do'. Yeah, a Canadian boy with $21k (Factor exchange rates) would buy a faster car from the get-go. (: Or even better do something smart, like put it down on a house.
So I saw The Fast and the Furious last night, there's a movie that seems to get pretty polarized reviews. Its either the worst movie of the year or the greatest adrenaline rush in years. Eh, I'm somewhere in the middle. I was entertained for the 1h47mins, but it certainly wasn't for the plot or acting. The story is basically Point Break written by a highschool student. Right down to the bad surfer-accent of the cop. I was impressed at the accuracy of the car-speak. When they were talking about Turbos and brand-name parts and such they got it right on, but from what I hear they had a lot of fact-checking by real California racers. (Probably the same guys they borrowed the cars from) If anything really bugged me in the movie it was that the 1/4 mile races seemed to last for two minutes each. Kind of takes the adrenaline away IMO but I can see why they did it. 10 second action scenes don't make for much of a movie. (Oh, and the Jetta-S2000 race was funny too)
Anyway, the target audience of TFATF will eat it up, and judging from the number of lowered, clear tail-light, tinted cars in the parking lot, I'm guessing it'll do just fine.
Bought a house, haven't done anything with the car, end of story.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/city/010625/5097403.html, *sigh*
(09/30/2001 - That URL doesn't work anymore, it was a story about dumbass kids from Ottawa immitating The Fast and the Furious after seeing the movie and racking up their cars. Darwinism at work.)
Haven't updated in forever, yadda yadda yadda.
Luser of the month:
To: gord@spoon.org
Sender: BWoodiwiss@newtechhigh.com
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2000 09:17:32 -0800
X-MIMETrack: Serialize by Router on THSServer0/NAPATH(Release 5.0.5 |September 2
2, 2000) at
12/04/2000 09:18:09 AM
hey bro, not to be a dick, but most of the stuff listed...isn't a
"modification". also, why show the mods on a coupe...yeah, that makes
sense. and buddy...there is no Si coupe until 98, honda only made an Si in
hatcback, and only a 93 and 92. then VTEC bcame standard in EX Coupes.
next, get some hyper white bulbs for your lights, they are ugly yellow man.
next, your car goes faster than 118....TRUST ME. next: do some real mods.
you need a clutch, short shifter, intake, header, exhaust manifold, and you
definately need an exhaust system. and a lot more shit. lower the car an
inch or so. get some REAL mods, then make a website. anyone who includes
FLOOR MATS as a mod should be punched in the head. come on man, you make
rice burner drivers look like crap with that page. do some real shit!!!!!
Brian from Cali
To: gord@spoon.org
Sender: BWoodiwiss@newtechhigh.com
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2000 09:18:30 -0800
X-MIMETrack: Serialize by Router on THSServer0/NAPATH(Release 5.0.5 |September 2
2, 2000) at
12/04/2000 09:19:04 AM
hopefully you didn't delete my other mail!!!!!!!! read it, learn from it!
Okay, well, since Brian from Cali's email address bounces, lets have a quick response:
1) Look up the word 'modification' in the dictionary. (You know what they are? Maybe you ate one once?)
2) Check your facts. The 'Si' coupe has existed in Canada since 1992. Its the same as the US EX (Actually minus the ABS, which is optional here. Bleh.) The Canadian version of the US 'Si' was called the SiR.
So what have I learned from your email? That I have even less desire to visit 'Cali' now than when I woke up this morning.
Now I'll give him a little bit of credit, I'm sure in his own mind he's being terribly helpful and steering me to the path of being a righteous cool speed demon. But he obviously didn't read 9/10ths of this page.
<RANT>
Okay, quick rant here, but have any of you freaks noticed just how LITTLE performance you're getting out of your mods? I know so many people who spend THOUSANDS on their Civics, Integras, whatever. They put a full exhaust system, air box, pullys, cranks, dongles, gimmicks and fluids and get a second or two TOPS out of their quater mile, meanwhile they've got a $15k hole in their pocket that could have bought them a NEW GS-R or hell, put a down payment on a HOUSE. I love my Civic (Even if I'm debating ditching it in the next 6 months or so) because its a FUN car right out of the box. It handles well, its fun to throw around corners, its not FAST but it gets out of its own way which is more than can be said for most cars in the sub-compact class. The Miata hasn't sold umpteen million units because its FAST. Its an anemic little car, but by god its FUN to drive right off the lot and that matters to a lot of people. Thats the same thing I feel about my Civic.
Now before someone tries to call me on the money I've put into the car, The $3k or so I've spent on various stereo components over the years provide a very tangible improvement to my driving fun. When I'm feeling my sub putting out whatever CD I just bought thats real. When someone spends $900 on a cat back exhaust that shaved 0.2 seconds off their 0-60, thats not tangible to me. I like my car performing the way it is.
Now if engines grew on trees you're damned right I'd have to drop a B18C or similar into it. But they don't and a little reality is in order.
</RANT>
The pedals are great. They look decent. I'm still not really heen on the red but it doesn't clash like I thought it might. They feel a bit different. The rubber and textured surface of them 'grips' my feet a bit more so there's a little bit of 'stick' but other than that there's not much difference between them and stock. I may pick up a dead-pedal at some point to finish dressing up the pedal area.
Rims. I want rims. I've been looking everywhere for a set of Honda/Acura 5 spoke Alloys like a lot of the new Integra's are being sold with but I never see them for sale. I like the design, they'd be a perfect fit and used they would probably be fairly cheap. Its just a matter of FINDING them. (:
Installed the pedals finally. Not perfect the first time though. As you can see here I put the clutch and the brake on facing outwards from each other, bad idea. It LOOKS right to me because you'd want to be able to move from the gas to the brake fast, but in reality the pedals end up too close together and when I go to hit the brake I have to be careful or I'll hit the gas too. I swapped them around last night but I haven't taken another picture yet. Much better. Takes a little bit of getting used to. I had to take the rubber off the clutch and brake pedals to attach the covers, so their thickness hasn't changed a lot, but the gas pedal didn't have a removable cover so its a lot thicker. I'm sure I'll adjust quick.
As you can see in the above pic too my car needs a serious interior wash. (: I have to dig the factory mats out of storage and fix up the heel hole before I throw them back in. (Grrr)
Anyway, not a lot going on right now...
Still haven't installed the pedals. I've been to Toronto for a week and work has been nuts. I did get to cruise around in a nice car while I was up there though. I tried to not get too attached. I love my car, I don't want to start having doubts about her. (:
It still hasn't warmed up here enough to do anything too series. I want to try and clean up my stereo install this year, but I said that last year. (: My wires are a mess and if I just dressed them up and fastened the sub box down a bit more securely I'm betting I could probably compete in some notice classes around here. But, having said that, I probably won't. (:
WOW! Two updates in two days!
Picked up a set of pedals for the car last night. My friend in Toronto took these off his delSol VTEC just before he traded it in on his S2000. I don't know how well the red is going to work in my car, but I've got another friend here with a Black/Red delSol, I'm sure he'd take them off my hands. (: Have to see. Picture here.
Miss me? Didn't think so. (: I'm not even going to comment on the lack of updates, I just couldn't be bothered. So there. (:
Winter is over! WOOHOO! (Having tempted the Gods it will now snow for four days straight, I'm sure) Windows-down season is upon us!
Lets see, what have I done and what are my bitching-topics?
First up, Honda Floor Mats. Christ, what a ripoff. Sometime after my last update I took them out for the winter and but my generic rubber jobbies back in. There was a big bald patch in the mat under my right-foot heel. I'm NOT impressed. They were only in the car for about 8-9 months and for $80CDN you'd think they would last a BIT longer. I'm going to sew a piece of canvas or something over the spot before I put them back in. Still annoying though.
Lets see... Brakes. Had to re-do the rear brakes yesterday. The original rotors finally gave in with a little help from a seized guide pin in the caliper. Luckily we got that unseized, but the new (9 month old) pads in the rear were toast. Oh well. $200 for new Brembo rotors and pads. One good thing though, while we had the wheel off I nailed down a vibration in my exhaust. Apparently the heat sheild on the exhaust I have is attached on in three places on each side of the muffler and the attachment had broken on one side, 2 seconds with a pair of pliers and voila. No more noise! FINALLY. It was driving me nuts. (:
I've been doing some email back-and-forth with some folks about adding a Civic Coupe front-lip spoiler. I think I'm going to do that sometime this Spring. They're supposedly about $60CDN from Honda directly. I think they give the front end a cleaner look and the bumper is built to take it so no worries about fit and finish. I wish I could find one from a yard or something but I haven't been able to find any Civic parts. (I still need a cargo hatch cover bigtime, apparently they're in high demand though)
I've been checking on the message boards of http://www.honda-acura.net lately. Seems to be a fairly decent board. A fair amount of Canada-centric information which is nice. Also check out The Atlantic Sports Car Club for Eastern Canada sports car information. They do rallies, slaloms, etc. I still have yet to actually catch an event though.
Anyways, just thought I'd remind everyone I'm NOT actually dead. I'd imagine readership has to be down since I haven't updated in 5 months. (:
Wow, two months between updates this time.
Well, she's giving me some trouble lately. I've got some moderately bothersome engine knock going on when the car warms up. I've done almost everything I can think of and I'm starting to get down to the outside chance solutions now. The timing has been double checked. The plugs are less than a year old and gapped properly. The distributor cap and rotor are less than 6 months old. Fuel filter is brand new. I just put a set of 8MM Ignition wires on the car this week with no change. Still some nasty knock. I'm up to using 91 octane in it to keep it down. The manual says I should only need 86 so I see this as wasted money. Next step is the EGR valve according to the Haynes book I have. We'll see. If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to Email me. I'd appreciate it.
I suppose I should stop pandering to these people or I'm just going to get
trolls, but this guy typifies the mail I seem to get most of the time...:
From: HondaSport_SI@webtv.net (Mike Wentz)
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 23:45:04 -0500 (CDT)
To: gord@spoon.org
Subject: hey I am a civic owner too
I have a 94 civic si on enkei 17-7 tbs-11 rims.
With a dc sport header, nology wires,ice-man air intake, and thermal
exhaust.
I have everything that you have like clear lights even in the back.
tinted windows where it is ilegal they are very minor things I also have
shaved antenna and honda logos.
you web site is like today i drove my factory honda with a cd player and
it felt good today. what is that all about are you ever going to put any
money in the fucking car you need to put atleast 2500 into parts just to
make it stand out cause lord knows people laugh at you now for thinking
your honda is bomb when it is so plain and factory ...
you just sound really CHEAP
check out our club
www.northernanimation.com
it is a great web site
I am not being rude just give your honda a make over :)
Later
Mike
So $2500 is the price of 'cool' these days, is it? I'll run for my VISA now.
Guh, an age and a half since the last update. Not a lot to tell. Its been a slow summer car-wise. Haven't picked up/changed much about the car at all.
I went to Toronto last month for the Molson Indy, decent race. Didn't seem to have the same energy as the Vancouver race in September, which is strange since it was a better race on a better track. It was probably just too damned hot. (:
Picked up a Target-Chip Ganassi license plate frame for my car to get rid of the ugly dealer plate I had on there.
About the only major change I made was I added a Shock Tower Bar from my friends '97 delSol VTEC. He upgraded to a Neuspeed 4-point brace so he tossed this my way. Installation was dirt simple. Took me 10 minutes. I'll run through it here for any Civic owners who are curious as to how easy this is.
What you'll need:
Pull the car up in a well lit area and crank the wheel hard over to one side or the other. Doesn't really matter which as the access is pretty easy. Pop the hood and take a look at your shock towers. On the outside top of the tower you should see two black rubber plugs. You can see where they would be by looking at where the bar is fastened town in this picture. If you don't see these plugs you might not have them pre-drilled. In that case you should probably check the installation guide for Shock Tower Bars in the Modifications section of http://civic.vtec.net. He had to drill them and goes through the whole routine.
Anyway, you've got the holes there, pull the covers off and take a look up into your wheel well. Right at the top of the well you should see where they come through. Heres how it looks after installation to give you an idea. (Sorry, its a bit fuzzy)
Take your bolts and put a washer on it and thread it up through the hole. 5/18" fits perfectly. 3/8" is a bit too big. (Yes, two trips to the hardware store for me) Put the exposed bolt through the mounts on the bar and add the second washer then thread the lock nut. The tricky part is keeping the bolt from rotating while you're putting the nut on. I tried a few variations on wrenches and the like but what worked out in the end was using a small (~6" long) ratchet with the apropriately sized head on it. There was enough room to get this in the wheel well and affixed to the end of the bolt and the ratcheting action helped quite a bit by ratcheting the bolt while I applied the nut since you probably won't easily be able to rotate a wrench a full 360°.
Anyways, I put about 50-60 ft-lbs of torque on each. The bar is very solid. I'm wondering if there shouldn't be a piece of material betwen the bar and the frame of the car, some sort of bushing or somesuch. I'll check another friends delSol and see what his looks like from the factory.
Did it make any difference? Yes, definitely. The car feels MUCH more solid going into hard corners now. Its VERY much improved going around long curves at high speeds. Its definitely worth the $1.50 in bolts it cost me to put it on the car. (: Don't know if I'd have the same satisfaction from some of the $150 Neuspeed bars or the like, but then again they're stiffer bars so they probably make more of a difference.
Here are the pictures I took during the installation.
Wow. Over a month between updates. Its spring and I still haven't done much to the car. Been busy at work and enjoying the nice weather. I did replace the distributor cap and rotor last night though. When I did a check over of the car last year just after I bought it I had cleaned up the cap a bit. The deposits were just starting to form up. I figured it was time to pop a new one on. The car seems to accellerate a lot smoother now. I'm going to reset the ECU tonight now that I finally have a fuse diagram for the engine fuse block. (Thanks Lee! I owe you one!)
Took the car on a nice 500km jaunt to the other end of the province and back this weekend. Pretty fun but man is the poor thing filthy. Is it me or am I the only one who HATES cleaning his car? I see folks with their cars who wash them and wax them every weekend. That just drives me nuts. I guess I'm too much of a perfectionist. I can't just run the hose over the car and wipe it down. When I get to cleaning every little speck of tar has got to come off. It usually takes me hours and wipes me out. I've taken to taking my car to brushless car washes but I know thats bad for the paint and I'm probably going to pay for that in the end.
Nasty rattle in the exhaust I've got to have looked at this week too. The thing is less than a month old, it should not be rattling. I'll drop by the shop some day this week and get them to fix that.
I suspect I'll get myself motivated to do some major work soon. I've still got to re-wire my stereo system so the wires are run a bit better/neater and theres a couple of minor things I want to work on. We'll see. (:
Haven't updated much lately. Haven't done a lot car-wise. Paid off the ticket. Haven't taken the tint off yet though. I'm going to get slammed again, I can feel it. I really should get off my rear and do it.
Dismantled the wheel and the rear pads were down to the telltales. Thats what was squeaking. Simple repair really, except the caliper pistons we WEIRD. On most brake systems you can just put a C-Clamp on the piston and push it back in. On this car (in the rear, the fronts weren't like this) you have to TWIST them back into place. Pushing won't move them a bit. Took about 45 minutes to figure this out, however. Once that was figured out the rest went pretty smoothly. There was one hitch on the drivers side though, theres a plate that covers over the cylinder/emergency brake, etc held on by two bolts... Well the bottom bolt sheared right off. Its right behind the shock so theres no way to drill it out without major work. We bolted the plate back on with just the top bolt but it rattled like CRAZY. Before I got a chance to take it off the noise just completely stopped a few days ago. I keep forgetting to check just WHY. I don't even know if the plate is still there. (:
Had my first brake light go out the other day too. Went to replace it last night, pulled up at the local shop and flipped down the tailgate and yanked out the bulb, went in and bought two just to be a smart cookie... Well I pulled the wrong bulb. (: Hey, give me a break, I never see the back of my car when the brakes are on. (: The access panel for that light is way back in the corner of the hatch behind my sub-box though. Should be fun to get out/in.
Have to do a tune up soon. I think I probably need a new air filter and distributor cap. I'll have to check the plugs again. Something feels a bit rough in the idle, but thats probably just me. I have to re-set the ECU after the new exhaust still too. That should make a difference.
Anyway, thats it for now...
Well, I knew I'd pay for my procrastinating eventually. Just got a $165 ticket for my front windows being tinted. I dropped by the office and took the long way home and ran into an RCMP roadblock.
Nobody to blame but myself, I've known since I bought the car the tint was illegal and I never bothered to do anything with it. SUCKS to be Officer Townsend though, she forgot to sign and date the ticket. HAW HAW. Guess who won't be paying this fine?? (:
Well things have been somewhat better since. Its Spring and I've got to do a maintenence day sometime soon. I suspect its time to replace the distributor cap and adjust the timing of the car a bit. Its feeling a little cranky. That might have to do with the new exhaust though. I have to dig up on civic.vtec.net how to do the ECU reset so it can adapt itself to the different properties.
Got an annoying squeak from my rear passenger side brakes. Haven't had a chance to pull off the wheel and find out whats causing it yet though. Its there when I'm driving and goes away when I hit the brakes. Something might be un-seated or something. Doesn't seem to affect breaking at all.
Picked up some OEM Floor mats last week. Very nice looking. Good, thick and plush. They have the 'Civic' logo embroidered on them and are shaped perfectly for the floor of the car. A good buy I think. Now I'll just have to make it a point to keep them clean. (:
Man, what an annoying car day.
Left my headlights/driving lights on at work all day yesterday. Whoops. TOTALLY killed the battery. Wouldn't hold enough of a charge to start the car for 5 seconds. There goes $74 first thing this morning. Went and got the muffler looked at. The pipe broke off directly at the muffler. There goes another $200. My safety was up, had them do that at the same time, theres another $15. AND I've got renew my license by the end of the month, theres another $50. Christ. I love cars. (:
I'm glad I got the safety done though, I was a bit concerned about it. It was a warm day so I had my windows down so he didn't catch the tint, and he didn't say anything at all about my clear corners. Glad to have it out of the way.
Pretty slow couple of weeks. Been busy at work and the weather sucked.
I sent my digital camera in for repair today. Hopefully I'll have it back in two weeks or so so I can get some good pictures of the driving lights and the new CD player up. I've been pretty happy with both, though I think I'm hurting my hearing with the CD player. (:
A couple of minor annoyances with the car this month. Something on the exhaust is starting to go. Don't know if its the muffler or a pipe. Haven't had a chance to stick my head under the car and figure out where it is. The exhaust system on the car is rediculously simple though, hopefully it'll be an easy fix. I've tossed around the idea of getting a performance exhaust but I just can't justify spending $600 vs about $100 to just fix the problem. I'm not going to go nuts on go-fast parts for this car. Its fine as it is. I've got a few other bits of routine maintenence to do on the car this weekend too. I have to tighten up the fan belt and I've got to get the safety check done this month, which means finding a shop that will look the other way regarding the tinted windows. (Front door window tint is illegal here) I think I've got a line on a shop that will overlook it though. I know they're around, I see tinted cars all the time. I hope I can, I don't want to deal with taking it off. Plus I think the car looks a hell of a lot better with. (:
Finally scanned in the article from Sport Compact Car. Take a look.
Its not much, but I'm damned pleased with it.
This just in from the 'My dick is bigger than your dick' department:
From: VTECivc@aol.com
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 11:09:15 EST
To: gord@spoon.org
Subject: Why???
Why do you have a webpage for that car? You've got some stereo stuff, big
deal. It looks like a plain old Civic you'd see on the road. I've got a 94
Si and I know mine isn't the best, but if you want to see it, go to
www.eastcoasthonda.com and then check out the South Carolina chapter. You'll
see it, it's the black one. I'll go ahead and attach a pic, it's not the most
recent, but it'll do. If you want to see the list of mods, go to the
webpage...later...Brad
Yay buddy, you spent untold thousands of dollars on your car and it moves a
bit quicker. I'm happy for you if thats your thing, if I wanted pavement
ripping I'd have bought an old 5.0 for half the price.
Message 1/2 From SantaBoYZ@aol.com Feb 20, 99 05:00:01 pm EST
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 17:00:01 EST
To: gord@spoon.org
Subject: ur car suck
hahahaha
You rule, buddy.
Well I just bought my 3rd Pioneer deck for my car. The boys at Glubes did it again and I'm the first person in the city to get their paws on one of the new Pioneer Premier DEH-P400 decks. I have no use for tapes anymore since I only used them to make mix tapes, so I'm selling off my KEH-P505 and putting this beauty in. Unfortunately most of its neatest features I'll probably never use. Its got a built in parametric 3-band EQ, Subwoofer crossover and a few other gimmicks. Looks like a decent deck. I'd put up some pictures but unfortunately my Digital camera went tits up this weekend. I'm not amused. Its less than 7 months old. Now I've got to hope Olympus has a repair service in my area.
Just made an appointment at Colonial Honda for a valve adjustment. Been putting it off for FAR too long. I've got to stop mistreating the poor thing. (:
WELL, quite a surprise today. I've been emailing back and forth with a fellow Civic owner for the past few days (Hi, Jon) and today he sends me an email telling me how he found my site. Apparently (And since proven when I went and bought two copies) my little 'ol Civic and its website are listed in the 'The Web' column in the March issue of Sport Compact Car!! Thats just SO cool! I never would have known it was there if I hadn't been told by this person. I'd seen the xxx.mcmullenargus.com visitor in my hit logs a few weeks ago but I didn't imagine it would show up in the magazine! Check it out if you've got it, the top of page 28. Great issue to be in too, the cover story is on the new Civic Si. (SiR in Canada) Mmmm.
Just uploaded a picture of the Driving Lights. Its not stylish. I'll have to take some better pictures later. I keep forgetting to take my camera out with me.
Well I called Honda today to get a price on a real Honda Fog Light switch. The one that came with the lights was black where my dash is grey and feels really cheap. It wiggles around when you press it and the lights are amber where the rest of the dash lights are white... Well... $42.25cdn for a Honda switch. I can't say I'm surprised, but I'm definately putting off the purchase until I really have some money burning a hole in my pocket. Thats rediculous.
Overall the lights seem to work pretty well. They light up the road lines pretty good and show upcoming bumps and debris a bit better. It hasn't rained or fogged here yet at night so I still haven't gotten a taste of how they are at doing what they were actually intended to do.
Four months to the DAY I get the lights installed finally. Jesus what a pain. I took the car over to Kustomworks and had the damned things installed. It took about two hours and seemed to be a big pain. Had to get the LED for my alarm moved. Had them put it ontop of the steering column. Not too bad. The lights seem good. A bit more yellow than I was expecting, but thats better for the fog anyways. I'll live. Haven't driven with them at night yet so how they work remains to be seen but they seem to have a good beam spread. I'll throw up some pictures later when I've taken them.
<RANT>
I'd like to take this moment to congratulate Halifax Autosport and Racing Development on their becoming only the THIRD company in recent years that I absolutely REFUSE to do any more business with due to HORRIBLE service. Okay, it took two months and 6 days to get the lights. Supplier problems, shipping, prices, whatever. I don't care. THAT I can forgive. When the lights actually DO come in and it takes me two weeks of REPEATED visits to even find them OPEN, thats a bit annoying. When I finally get into the shop and GET the lights and the OWNER sets up the time for an appointment to have them installed, you'd just kind of expect them to actually BE THERE at that time. HE suggested 12:30 today as a good time. I get there today at 12:29 and find a locked door and no lights on. Screw them. I'm not going to put myself out any more to give them MY money, and I'll suggest to anyone who'll listen that they don't bother either. I made an appointment at a place a bit father away that I've never dealt with before. Hopefully they'll have an ounce of two of proffesionalism in them.
</RANT>
Well the frigging things finally came in, two months and 6 days after I ordered them. Great, eh? No. I've been to the shop FOUR TIMES since they called me and they've been closed EVERY TIME. I'm really annoyed here. Especially since I went the FIRST time when they TOLD me I could pick them up and they were CLOSED. Time to get stompy when (if?) I actually DO get into the shop.
Had to pick up new tires today. A few snowfalls have proven to me that my old ones weren't going to cut it. No traction at all. Ended up replacing them with the same tires. Bridgestone Potenza RE92 II's. Nothing special, but at least I can actually leave the house after a snow now. My wallet didn't appreciate it too much, however.
And the wait continues... I should have ordered from NOPI.
STILL waiting on the lights. 'Next week' indeed. Oh well, they claim they're backordered. I can wait.
You know, I LOVE this car. Every once in a while I'll be tearing around the city and the car just feels GREAT. It handles gorgeously. Has just the right amount of power for city driving. I love revving it up past 4800 and hearing the engine when the VTEC kicks in. Its just overall an excellent urban car. I'm really happy with it.
Still waiting on the driving lights. The shop says they're backordered at the distributor. I'm not surprised. I'm also in no rush. I'll live. (:
Well, I just ordered my driving lights. I've got some cash burning a hole in my pocket so I figured what the hell. I ordered the OBX OEM style lights. $235+tx and they'll be here in a week or so. Hopefully the installtion shouldn't be too bad but the bumper will have to come off. I hope the switch is OEM style, otherwise I'll have to buy one from Honda, I can see that being a few bucks.
Not a lot going on with the car lately. The weather is turning cold and its things are slowing down for the winter. I'll get back into the swing with it in Spring.
It was a REALLY rainy weekend. I was out last night on the highway and hydroplaned on a few NASTY spots. I noticed when I got to the movies that my alarm was flashing, but not chirping. I figured (correctly) that I got some crud in the siren. I unbolted it and flipped it over and poured out the water and gravel and all seems fine now. Bit of a relief.
I unhooked the rear deck speakers a couple weeks ago. I think the whole system sounds better without them. Its not as rear-balanced as it was and I'm sure the wimpy little Pioneer amp is happier having only to push 4ohms instead of the 2 it was trying to push before. Now I just have to find a replacement rear-deck so I can get the speakers out of the car all together. Time to check the junkyards I guess.
Oh, and I added a banner to my page. First banner I've ever added. But it just happens to be relevant. (: Its a 5th Generation Civic Hatchback page. He put up a profile of my car. Its pretty well designed. Worth a visit.
Also my favorite shop got a website up and running finally. Absolutely top notch shop. Definately check them out if you're in the Maritimes and looking for the right folks to talk to and buy from.
Installed the shift knob. The little trim ring at the bottom doesn't want to go on nicely though. The knob goes on at a tilt and I can't get the ring to thread. I fiddled with it for a few minutes and then gave up and wrapped electrical tape around the threads so it doesn't look bad. It looks fine as long as you're not on the floor of the car staring at it.
Heres a picture of the two.
Heres a picture of the original knob.
Heres a picture of the knob installed.
Well, as I write this I'm in Vancouver, British Columbia visiting a friend. I'm already three days overdue for my return. The Air Canada strike really screwed up my plans. I did pick up a toy for the car though. A Momo Shadow shift knob. Me and my friend were roaming around the local speed shops and the owner of 'Toys For Wheels' offered to sell it to me right out of his '92 GS-R. Its in perfect condition and he gave it to me for less than half the retail price. Its a Faux Carbon-Fibre top with a leather bottom. Should go nicely in the car. I'll put up pictures as soon as I get it installed.
Finally wired up the subwoofer. Two weeks later... It sounds good but its going to take a lot of tweaking to get it to sound right again. I don't like that third pair of speakers on the rear deck, the sound is WAY too bright coming from the rear. I might just unhook them and be done with it. Seems like a waste though. The installation is DEFINATELY not pretty. I had to cut a few corners and do some frankenstein wiring because of the lack of a few proper connectors. I should really learn to do this stuff when the stores are open so I can pick them up if I need them. Oh well. It works. I'd put up pictures but... like I said, its more function than fashion.
Well I installed the Pioneer GM-X84 and wired up the EQ last night. Its... uhhh... functional. Definately not fashionable though. Installing the EQ in the glove compartment turned out to be better in theory than practice. I figured I could run the wires neatly but from the looks of it my chances of doing that are rather slim. They're all sort of dangling into the glove compartment and getting in the way. I'll have to play around with making it neater once I get everything wired in.
I was going to wire up the subwoofer amp at the same time but considering I started the job 5 minutes after I got home from work at 6 and was still working at 11 I figured I should leave it for another day.
Some hilight shots: Outside, Inside. What a mess. (:
Just got the Hub and Bearing replaced. $254.xx. Ouch. Oh well. No more moaning noises on the highway. (From the car anyways. (: )
Put the Civic badge on. Christ what a pain in getting the leftover adhesive off. Looks good though. Picture here.
Installed the Equalizer in the glovebox finally. I should have done it weeks ago. It took me a grand total of 10 minutes to do. Its not as convenient as the ashtray mount that I had in the Integra, but its just as out of sight and I don't adjust it that often anyways. Picture here.
Well, my first repair. Bad wheel bearing on the rear passenger side. Haven't gotten it fixed yet because I want to get some pricing comparrisons first, but it looks like its going to cost me about $250. $175 for the part and $55 for the labor, plus taxes. Annoying, but the car has 135k on it... C'est la vie.
LIGHTTER FLUID! Thats the key! A bit of lighter fluid and a peice of gun towel and off the crud came. Easy as that. Looks great. Picture here. I'll do the Civic badge later this week.
I put the 'Si' badge on the car and peeled the old one off. I stopped there though because the adhesive GOOP left over by the original Si sticker will NOT come off. I've tried rubbing alcohol, car polish, car wash fluid, heated, unheated, scraping with a credit card... no luck. I'm going to drop by a body shop this weekend and see if I can find out what they use. Hopefully not a sander since they're probably repainting them anyways.
I just completely re-did the Civic site. Graphics and all and new content. Enjoy. It'll probably be the last major site update. (:
Well, I got a raise so I bought a gift for my car. I picked up a set of badges from a '96+ Civic Si coupe. (For any Americans reading this, the US EX Coupe is called the Si in Canada. If you're looking for an Si badge its Canadian part #75723-S02-C00) I've got to get a hold of a hair dryer to help peel up the old Civic Si decal on the car. I think the badges will look EXTREMELY good. I'll throw up some pictures as soon as I get them on the car.
I haven't done a lot with the car lately. Work and such have been keeping me busy. Got my first oil change last night. I was down to 40 kms left to get it done before I voided my 6 month powertrain warranty. (:
I'm still noticing some engine ping when using 87 octane even after new plugs and cleaning the rotor. I'm thinking valve clearances now. ~$80 at the dealer to have that done. I'll probably do that soon. Who knows when it was done last, if ever.
I've got a quasi-picture gallery set up at my picture site. Specifically here. Take a look. I've got shots of the clear corner lights vs the OEM ones and various other shots.
Well, the lights came. Installation was absolutely dirt simple. One screw, pull, unplug light, reverse. Took under 2 minutes. Makes the front of the car look a lot nicer I think. Really smooths out the lines. The lights came with a set of amber bulbs which I dropped in my glove compartment but I think the white bulbs look a lot nicer. Believe it or not if you're not from around here mine will be the ONLY Honda I've ever seen with clear corners so I don't expect them to be an issue legally. I'll get some photos up when I can. I expect I'll be doing a 'photo shoot' in a week or so I hope.
Still waiting for my shipment from Manchester Honda. I'm getting a bit ticked. It'll be two weeks today that they were shipped.
Well, did some routine maintenance on the car last night and MAN am I ever glad I did. Changed the plugs from the old Splitfires that I found in the cylinders. They were getting pretty worn and nasty looking AND they were gapped about .10-.15 too much. Dropped in some Bosch Platinums. Holy better-feeling car. I thought it felt pretty damn good before, now it feels GREAT. More power over the whole band, better low end power. I also cleaned the crud off the elements on the Distributor cap and rotor button. Probably had an effect too. I'll probably replace the cap before too long.
I also finally got around to putting the new pads on. Well the front drivers side pads that were on the car when I bought it were BACKWARDS. I can't quite figure that one out. (Outside pad on the inside, vice versa) Now that doesn't perplex me so much since the pads WILL fit that way, if it weren't for these little nubs on top of the outside pad to prevent this which were actually FILED DOWN. Someone actually went through EFFORT to put these pads on backwards. I dunno. I just dunno. Anyways the new pads feel great. Nice and grippy. Goes along well with the renewed power in the engine.
Now I've just got to motivate myself into doing the stereo...
Picked up a set of 'VentShade' side window defelctors today. I like the looks of them and I like that I can open my windows in the rain. (Theoretically. We'll see when it rains next.) They went on a little uneven though. Not because of the construction, they just droop inwards to the point where they touch the windows with them closed. I left them for the last few hours with some gloves wedged under them to see if I can coax them to stay outwards. We'll see if they still touch in the morning.
Well, I did a little bit of poking and prodding at the car last night. Had to adjust a headlight that was low on the passenger side, the adjuster screw is about 10" below the hole you have to shove the screw driver in to adjust it. Of course every Phillips-head screwdriver I could find was... 9" long. What a pain. I ended up having to do it with a slot and the way the cog is designed that was NOT fun. And it turns out I adjusted it too high so I have to do it again. (:
I pulled at the carpet a bit. Wiring this car for my stereo isn't going to be as easy as the Integra was. The running boards along the door frames don't unscrew, they snap out. I think I'll try and get the whole thing wired in one shot because I can picture they breaking with repeated removal.
Anyways, I just felt like updating, nothing of any substance.
I wonder if anyone ever reads these pages. Personally I'd think they'd be frigging boring, but the weird thing is I read Richard Kuo's ramblings all the time. Also Tage's Accord/Civic/Integra page has a damn near day-by-day journal of his buildups with his former Accord, Girlfriends Civic and his present Integra GS-R. Kind of interesting...
Anyways, I'll jump right in.
I just bought this car a month ago yesterday. My poor old Integra served me well for the two years I had her but the ass end was rusting out and it was going to need some serious suspension work in the next few months. Things are going well so I figured I'd drop myself a few grand in debt. (:
Observations: The new car is just not as good a highway car as the Integra was. I think this is mostly due to the gearing and the power curve of the Civic. With the Integra I could swing out and pass cars at 120kph and never leave 5th gear. The Civic just doesn't do as well until the RPM's get >4k. But thats okay. I spend 90% of my time in the city and thats where this car shines. The Civic handles MUCH better than the Integra did on its best days. The rear independant suspension makes a HUGE difference. Evey time I hit a bump to the rear wheels on the Integra the rear end went out. No more of that. I love the moon roof. I've always wanted one of the damn things. (: The fact that the insurance company considers it an Economy car when its more fun to drive than my 'Sporty 2-door'-classed Integra is also nice.
If anybody in Nova Scotia is looking for a good used Honda mail me and I'll put you in touch with Steve Bent of Atlantic Auto Find. He deals in late model used Hondas, mostly from upper Canada I believe and seemed to do pretty well with me in buying this car. (He's got the right taste in them, anyways. (: )
I'm in the process of planning the stereo installation now. Its going to take a while to decide where everything is going to go, with the biggest problem being the CD Changer. No room under the seats like the Integra and no easy place to mount it in the trunk. I'll probably have to stick it on the sub box.
I've done a few minor additions to the car since I bought it. Bought some body-colored plugs for the license plate holes in the front (As you can see them in the image above) and I bought an AC button. Yes, an AC BUTTON. In the environmental control cluster there is a little panel where the AC button would be if the car had AC. Well when I was installing my stereo deck I pulled at this panel and voila, there was the switch mechanism and label for AC. Even has the LED (Its actually powered) and everything. All it needed was the switch. So I ordered one from Portland Street Honda for $4. Makes the dash look a bit nicer.
Speaking of that dealer I can't say as if I reccomend them. They seem nice enough but when I ask for a set of brake pads at a Honda dealer and get the completely wrong set I tend to wonder a bit.
I also ordered a set of clear corner lights from Manchester Honda yesterday. I'm just looking for minor visual tweaks. I'm hoping they fit better than I'm expecting them to. I would LOVE to get a set of the Projector beam style headlamp replacements, but I haven't heard good things about their fit and quality. Oh well, they're bloody expensive anyways.
Anyways, enough of this, if anybody reads this crap I'll be amazed. (: I'll probably keep this page updated more than my others since it requires so little creative juices.
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