I’ve owned my current Honda Civic just shy of 2 years and I love it. It’s not a brand new car but it’s got lots of character and plenty of potential. I’ve done lots of work on it for the last 2 years and would do it again if I had to.  It’s easy to work on, parts are decently priced and you can’t beat Honda quality. It’s a 17 year old car and I know there are better models available now but for what I need it’s perfect.  I have owned previous models of Honda Civics and have always loved the design and quality of each one.

My first Honda Civic was a 1982 4 door hatchback that had to be fixed before I drove it. The engine was in pieces when I bought it so I had to get a friend mechanic to help me put it back together and I learned a lot during this process. I drove this Civic for a number of years and I believe I put about 30,000km on it. It was a fun ride and cheap on gas which was great while driving around. The engine was a 1.3 Liter 8 Valve Honda Motor that put out about 55hp which was plenty back then.

My 2nd Honda Civic was a 1986 2 Door Hatchback that was light blue and had a 1.3 Liter 8 Valve 60hp Honda Motor. It was a nice improvement from the 1982 as it was easier to start and a little more roomy. When I bought it, it was already 12 years old so it needed a little TLC but I was OK with that as I loved working on it. About a year after owning it the transmission input shaft bearing gave out and not knowing how to fix this I was in the midst of junking the car. But luckily with some advice from a friend I bought another Honda Civic, took out the transmission and used this to fix mine.  Doing this with the guidance of my dad I managed to put the transmission back on the my car and got it working. It was such relief to get my baby back on the road. I spent about a week and and a half doing the transmission swap but during the process I got lots of hands on experience that would help me in the future.

My 3rd car was not a Honda Civic but rather a 1987 Acura Integra which was actually very similar to my 1986 Honda Civic but with a lot more options. The frame design on the Acura Integra was actually very similar to my 1986 Civic and the engine was made by Honda.  After 1 month of driving it the rust ate the clutch shift fork so again I had to pull the transmission off. I put a new clutch into it and this time I had air tools so I was a lot quicker doing the job. This car was from back east so it had lots of rust on the under body but I fixed this and drove the car for the next few years.

After my Acura Integra I had a few Mazda’s but never had the same feeling about them as I did with my previous Honda Civic’s and the Acura Integra. So finally on March 27, 2007 I bought my 1993 Honda Civic and have loved it ever since.

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If you ever wondered what’s inside a VTEC Solenoid assembly then here you go. I cleaned mine out from my D16Z6 engine and snapped a few pictures for reference.  As you can see in my pictures below my pressure switch has a broken plug socket so I will have to replace that before I mount it back on my engine. The pressure switch gives the go ahead to the ECU when the oil pressure is high enough to engage VTEC. Once the ECU sends the signal to the VTEC Solenoid it opens a valve and feeds oil to the VTEC Assembly, this engages a higher torque cam lobe and gives you more power.

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Today I had some extra time after work so I went ahead and setup my parts washer and filled it with 2 gallons of solvent. I started washing the exhaust valves first one by one and made sure all the components were accounted for including the valve, valve seat, spring, retainer and keepers. I used a small plastic container for each valve set to make sure everything was properly organized. If you look on the picture below you will see how I organized the parts after cleaning them with solvent. Once I got all the exhaust valve parts clean, I turned off the parts washer and dried everything off. After drying off one valve set at a time I put the parts in their own ziplock bags for storage. I repeated the process for the intake valves and also cleaned the VTEC solenoid.

I used 16 small zip lock bags and named them exhaust 1, exhaust 2, exhaust 3, all the way up to 8 and then the same for intake. With this method I will keep all the parts organized and easier for assembly later on.

Parts washer with 2 gallons of solvent.

Washing a valve spring in my parts washer.

Organized valve train parts in their own buckets.

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I finally got around to getting some work done on my D16 block today. I sprayed degreaser on it again and pressure washed the left over shavings from doing the cylinder wall notching last December. I also got around to using my new tap and die set and did some thread chasing on the smaller threads. I didn’t touch the top head stud threads and the bottom main cap threads because I didn’t want to mess those up just in case I made a mistake. I’ve been lacking on doing any updates on this build as I haven’t really done anything since mid December ‘08 but I’m hoping to get it  going forward again very soon. My next step is to drop off the block, crankshaft, main bearing cap, Vitara pistons, connecting rods and bearings at the machine shop to get everything all matched up and machined, and  hopefully assembled before end of February.

Tapping threads on my D16 Block

D16 block with cylinders showing slight surface rust.

Image of my crankshaft and my main bearing cap.

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Lets face it building or rebuilding an engine is not cheap, lots of time, money and sweat have gone into your precious engine so why treat it like crap. Always do a proper break in by NOT USING synthetic oil, change the oil and filter after first 25kms and make sure you have proper cooling. But hey don’t listen to me and kiss your new engine good bye, it’s up to you!. Here is another great link on what to do and what not to do on an engine break in. Click Here for link.

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I bought the 2009 Ultimate Buyers Guide last night and man this thing is a must for any car tuner enthusiast. It’s got everything from from body kits to clutches, steering wheels and turbo chargers. If your looking at buying any after market parts for your Honda Civic this summer then you better pickup a copy as there are lots of products listed that will fit your Civic. If you want a custom racing seat then turn to page 118 and BAAM! you got the picture, pricing, website and phone number of the manufacture so you can get your self setup. The magazine has a parts reference guide starting on page 10 that lets you know whats available for your car whether it being a Honda Civic, BMW or Toyota. So go to your local store and pickup a copy and save yourself the headache and the cash this summer.

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Ursula Mayes Wallpaper courtesy of SuperStreetOnline.com

Pick your screen resolution 800×600 – 1024×768 – 1280×1024

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I was driving home tonight after work and the rain started to fall. I turned on my wipers and all I got was smudge after smudge after smudge, my visibility was bad. Why was it bad you ask? Because my wipers are dirty and my windshield needs a wash. This is especially bad when you are driving in the dark and you get the glare of oncoming traffic on your windshield. My solution for this is to clean your wipers with isoprophenol alcohol and the windshield with Windex. This will help the situation for now and when you get a chance purchase some new wipers if their a few years old.

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