Uh-oh! Complete n00b alert!

[ZygZag]

Allow myself to introduce... myself... I'm... meh, just call me Jimbo. I'm very new to the whole car thing and came here to learn a thing or two. I always liked Civics, so I've been here a few times before I found my 1997 HX - A.K.A Christine. I love the car to death and I wanna learn how to take care of her by myself, because I don't really trust other people molesting her. xD So I prolly gonna ask a bunch of newbish questions.

I don't think HX is a very promising model to tune (it's an auto and of course CVT), so I most likely just keep it stock and just attempt to get her to a mint condition. And I probably won't ever have enough money and skill to make it manual.

The car only has one cancerous rust spot (pic) that I'm aware of. Any help of fixing it would be appreciated!
Also, passenger side CV joint is about to go belly up. How difficult for a complete n00b would it be to replace it? And do I have to replace just the joint or the whole half-shaft? What kind transmission fluid should put in? OEM Honda stuff or is there something better?

Anyways, sorry for dumb question and hello and thank you!

Any suggestions of what I should do with her are welcome!

Here are a few pix of her.

Cancer:

Oh and I want to put in an alarm because my gf lives in a not so friendly neighborhood. I'm afraid I might just not find my Civic one day Any alarm on a tight budget suggestions?

I hear a bunch of dudes talking outside right now and I'm getting paranoid already. They usually hangout outside her house and piss on every corner. I wouldn't be surprised if they peed on my car. The part that scares is that they see I use a key to lock my car and know there's nothing stopping them.

Anyways, I'm going to look outside the window to see if my car is intact or even there.

So, yeah. Hi everyone!

 

[young_]

Sounds like an alarm would be a good investment. Look up fuel pump killswitch, you can mount it in a hard to find location and toggle it off when you park the car so it can't be driven until that switch is toggled back on. Anyways looks like you have a solid foundation! Good luck and welcome to the site!


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[emerican]

welcome to the site
agree with above and maybe not park in there whenever possible.

 

[ZygZag]

I don't have many parking options. It's either parking lot behind her building (where I park) or the street, but I gotta feeling it would disappear on the street even faster. A lot more thugs nosing around.

Everyone in the parking lot had their tires slashed recently, luckily I wasnt't there and they left my gfs Jeep alone for some reason.

 

[itsmycookie]

an alarm will do some good but you should think about maybe a hidden kill switch as well.

definitely get some wheel locks if you don't have them the Hx rims are actually somewhat popular and someone might want to steal those.

 

[ZygZag]

Yeah, I'll do that. And I see why, I effing love those rims! Kinda wish they were bit bigger though.

 

[mymmeryloss]

Welcome to CC!

Not a bad looking car. If it were me i would just replace both half shafts at once. And its not too difficult to do by yourself.


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[MolassesMyCivic]

Also, if that's all the rust you have, it just requires some elbow grease. You'll need an electric sander, or a sanding wheel on a drill, and matching paint (which is likely the more expensive part). Just take the fender off by it's six or seven bolts and go to town sanding the rust away. If the indent becomes deep enough to be visible, use some body filler to smooth it out, then repaint and reinstall!

btw: The front fender on these hondas are flimsy to an extreme. Don't put much pressure where it will leave dents.

 

[MolassesMyCivic]

Also, I forgot. You could try to find a fender at a yard in better condish.