Hendo's DD project- The EH

Hendo

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So the rust monster that is my ED is clearly going to require some big bucks to straighten out the body, or I'm going to have to learn how to weld. In any event, it's going to get a swap and boost, although it runs fine right now except for some oil consumption. To make a long story short: It's a long-term project.

I wanted something that looked decent NOW, and that would be a little more comfortable for driving while I'm working (I'm a real estate appraiser and I do 24-30k miles a year). I wanted less rust, a more compliant suspension and to have a/c, as it's not too professional to show up at people's houses for inspections dripping with sweat. Michigan summers can be hot and humid and not having a/c was getting old. So I set up Craigsnotification on my phone and I'd been watching for a 90-00 hatch that wasn't too expensive. I think I'm a hatchaholic lol. Anyway.

Enter the EH.

The listing was for a 92 hatch with a D16Y7 swap out of a 97 that couldn't be driven down the street because it would overheat, and the girl selling it said it needed a radiator and probably a head gasket. The asking price was $750 and I ended up getting it for $600 after she didn't bite on my $500 offer. Nice girl, she clearly didn't want to let it go, but it needs quite a bit of love to bring it all the way back to great. I had it towed to my house Thursday afternoon. Enough words, let's get into the pics.

They're brother and sister, 91 & 92 Tahitian Green Pearl Clearcoat hatches that both have 205k miles on them (weird, right?):





Just the EH:





The interior is 8.5/10, the gal I bought it from took good care of it:





So this morning I decided I wanted to drive it by the end of the day, even though it hadn't been started in over a month. A couple of trips to two different parts stores and I picked up a radiator, upper and lower radiator hoses, a thermostat, some hose clamps, a bottle of fuel system cleaner and manuals for both 92-95 and 96-00 models. Spent $160 total. I was hoping like hell it wasn't a dead water pump or a blocked heater core, so I basically decided to replace all the easy stuff lol.

Up she went:



A peek up her skirt, oy, what a dirty girl XD:



Put the hose in the radiator and water pretty much sprayed out of several holes from behind the fan, as well as leaking like crazy out of the bottom. Felt pretty good about my purchases at the parts store. Then I took out the old radiator and, well, pretty much danced around my driveway:



Yeah, it got hot. I was pretty sure that I had nailed the issue. I don't think radiators work very well when they're missing a third of their cooling fins. :roll: Note the giant hole melted in the overflow tank (which was wrapped in duct tape). Like I said: It got hot lol. The girl had bought another overflow tank from a junkyard but never installed it and left it for me in the trunk. It took some full-power yanks to get the old one pulled up and out of the slot, and I ran to the store for a bottle brush to get the ancient gunk out of the junkyard replacement part.

After I pulled the old radiator and overflow tank, out came the hoses and thermostat, then did a little stage one wipedown. Put in the thermostat, dropped in the radiator, replaced the overflow tank, hooked up the new hoses and voila:



Looks slightly better, no? (Yeah yeah yeah, I didn't have the lower hose in when I took the pic, trust me, it's in there now ;)) I put the splash guard back on the bottom and hooked up some jumper cables. Ran muh Jeep for about 5 minutes and cranked the Civic... no go. Rotated but no fire. Damn. So I thought maybe because it had sat for a month I should take it off the jackstands, let it sit level and try again. Success. :D Sat in the driveway with a s***-eating grin on my face, letting it idle and watching the temp gauge. Looked good after ten minutes so I ran her on the freeway for twenty miles:



All systems nominal, Captain. :D It pulls to the right and shimmies a little above 75mph, but I think two new front tires (the ones on there are nearly to the wear bars but the rears look good) and an alignment will do it right. It's got some issues too, but it's just annoying stuff, nothing major. The door handles are sticky and need to be replaced. The door locks don't work from the inside. The hood latch sticks and needs to be replaced. The side view mirror is all peeled from where "someone threw a powdered donut at it" (lol, I love owner stories). The cigarette lighter outlet doesn't work and the ashtray appears to be so packed with butts it won't open lmao. There's a little bit of rust along the edges in all the usual (Michigan) places, as well as a small hole about the width of a fat pencil, four or five inches long above one rear wheel well. Most of it is just superficial stuff, surface rust or along edges. Stuff that doesn't require welding. Win. Next thing up now that it's running is an interior cleaning, removal of the dealer sticker on the back and the parking stickers on the windshield. Gotta charge the a/c too, make sure that's up to par, and like I said, two new tires and an alignment.

Then, body work and fun upgrades. EX/Si gauge cluster, intake & exhaust, nice soft drop sport springs and dampers along the lines of a stock ride but with less body roll (suggestions anyone?). Perhaps rims, or it may just get the 14" steelies off of the ED when I get 15s for that one. We'll see who ends up with what rims though lol. At the most extreme, I may use that Z6 head I got for the ED mini-me project before I ended up buying that complete Z6 motor. Then, I will proceed to drive the f***ing s*** out of it. I'm excited. :D :D :D

I've gotta watch out, my wife eyef***ed the s*** out of it while I rolled it out of the driveway for the first time, and when I came back she demanded a ride and while we drove kept talking about how much she liked it XD

I love it, what do ya'll think???
 

Robin...

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Not bad man, glad to hear the heating problem is fixed...
 

Osiris19

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NIce. I love that color, and it looks so good on that hatch. Good pickup for $600.
 


Hendo

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NIce. I love that color, and it looks so good on that hatch. Good pickup for $600.
Yeah I'm a fan of the color too. =)

Two new front tires and an alignment and it rolls straight and smooth on the freeway now. Since I'm so busy at work right now, I've got some disposable to work with. Have to scrape the stickers off tonight or tomorrow, then start making some decisions based on the size of tomorrows paycheck. =)
 

civhatch92

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Wow I'm super jealous of that pick up.. you made out like a bandit on that deal! I wish mine were in that good of shape, good luck with your build.
 

dj_hallucn8

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Awesome pick up for the price, looks pretty clean from here, I feel you on the ac, it's hot in FL too, just cleaned out the air box in the dash because it wasn't blowing cold enough, the coils inside were really dirty & there was leaves & pine needles in there, now it blows better & colder, glwb!
 

MistahJuice

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Definitely a nice pair of rides you got there, and a damn good deal lol. What suspension you thinking about going with?
 

Hendo

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Wow I'm super jealous of that pick up.. you made out like a bandit on that deal! I wish mine were in that good of shape, good luck with your build.
I totally did and it's getting more apparent as I drive the thing. First order of business is replacing the drivers door handle and the lock cylinders. Can't deal with frozen, shitty locks in the winter here lol
 

Hendo

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Definitely a nice pair of rides you got there, and a damn good deal lol. What suspension you thinking about going with?
I'm thinking some lowering springs and probably some Koni dampers. That with a front strut bar should give me something pretty close to a stock ride with less body roll. I'm kind of enjoying the softer ride but the way it leans in corners kills the fun too much for my taste. I don't want to slam it so I don't really need something adjustable. I just want the wheels to sit centered in the wells like they're supposed to lol
 

Decipher

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These are my favorites threads to read on this website. You found yourself a nice little gem their, friend. And if there's one thing I love more than a clean exterior, it's a nice clean factory interior. Good luck with the build, you're off to a nice start.
 

Hendo

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FML:



Well, a catback is a good first upgrade, I suppose. Getting those rusty wads of junk that used to be bolts out of there is going to be.. problematic I'm sure. Couple of days of soaking em with WD40. Nothing like disintegrating metal to create an excuse to tell the wife for buying parts XD
 

zachkelly

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thats rough the exhaust broke, but so cool that you got a nearly identical car a model year newer! awesome man!! :thumbup:
 

Osiris19

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Oh damn haha. I see what you mean blew clean through dude. My exhaust looks nothing like that, at least I think. I'll take it off and clean it up and see about how I'm gonna do this.
 

Hendo

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Blew out exhaust or not (wrapped it with exhaust tape and slapped a clamp over it, leaky but tolerable for now), I got 360 miles on 8.7 gallons of gas. That's still 40+ mpg. Hasn't eaten oil or coolant. I'm loving this car. Bad head gasket, signs point to no. XD
 

Hendo

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Got something fun in the mail and the box wasn't open 5 minutes before I started taking it apart XD



$39 shipped fo real. Need to swap the speedos but it's too dark to mess with the bezel. Don't want to break it like everybody seems to. With my luck I'll drop something important down into the dashboard and never see it again. Tomorrow. If I can just get home from work before it gets dark, dammit. I've done 45 hours and it's Thursday, and I've gotta start at 8am tomorrow and won't be home until at least 4. And I'm going to have to work ALLLL day Sunday. If this keeps up for just another couple of weeks, can catch up on what I owe and throw some serious cash at both rides. GC coils and Konis and lips for the EH, engine parts for the ED. Like rods and pistons. Hasn't shown any sign of slowing.
 

Hendo

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Got home from work at 4, got right to it. Should've gone to the office and worked all night, but hey. Priorities.

Before:



After:



Yeah, fitment sucks, but that's what $20 gets you XD Anybody got any links for real amber corners, or better quality ones? Everything on eGay looks the same to me. Had enough time to get busy with some rattlecans and since it was nice and warm, went ahead and did some touching up.

Before:



After:



I'll put em on tomorrow, wanna let em cure a bit before I go handling em.

Before:



After:



The mirror still looks like crap, didn't really notice there were so many gouges in it. Not having a passenger mirror is making me INSANE, so I've gotta look to buy a pair. Still, looks better for now I suppose.

Before:



After:



Before:



After:



Didn't take a before, but who cares? Nobody like a DX cluster lol:



Wasn't too bad. The bezel is a whore, just have to pull on it slowly. Didn't break it, everything works, happy to have a tach. Couple more fun things:



Reprazent:



Hood latch, door handle, lock cylinders and one trim piece I'm missing shipped from Majestic this afternoon. My door locks only work with the key from the outside, and the locks are gritty and hard to use. Can't wait to put the new new in there. Comments?
 

Hendo

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The tach doesn't seem to be working right. Drove to Detroit and back today, it started out turning about 2700 rpms at 70mph, but when i came back it was only showing 2100 rpms. Floored it and hit the rev limiter at 4500 rpm, should've been more like 6800 I think. Don't know wtf is going on with that, could the cluster be bad? Or is it because it's a Y7 motor? I don't get why it would've worked at first tho...

But the gas pump didn't lie. 320 miles round trip, could only put 6.4 gallons back in. That comes to 50 mpg exactly. That's nuts.
 


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