My other project car: Daily driver Honda civic (pics!)

[vanilla gorilla]

OK, so as some of you know a few months ago I bought a civic as a reliable DD.
Heres some background on the situation:
At the beginning of the year I bought a 1995 Honda Civic EX with 213k miles on it off of my sister's friend for 1,500 cash. She bought the car when it was brand new back in 95 when she was 16. She was tired of it. I bought it with every intention of selling it for profit. So I got it and de-riced it and sold it for $2800 a few weeks later and spent the profit on the turbo build for the eclipse.
But I liked the car so much that I bought a lower mileage 95 coupe dx from my home boys dad (hes got like 10 hondas) a few months ago for a DD. Had 140k on it. Been wrecked before, ugly as sin, something to drive.
So I got it and like 3 weeks later it starts overheating due to the headgasket seaping. So much for reliablilty.... . So me and some of my mechanics tore it down and put on a new fel-pro HG, resurfaced the head, Dayco T-belt (lol), waterpump, intake mani gasket, valve cover gasket, and put on a megan racing UDP while we had it apart. So now the cars running good, and is way peppier than it used to be. Time to address the looks.
When I got it the paint was pure do-do. It was hardly red anymore...it was part red and part pink. Since the car was previously wrecked we put on the white front bumper, white hood, white passenger side fender, white rear bumper from our white DX parts car.
Anyways I painted the car myself! First full car I've ever painted.

We worked all day blocking/buffing the car and will be done tomorrow. So I will post up pics upon completion.

Here is the current mod list and a few pics of the car when I first got ( I'm debating on whether or not to post up the tease pics of my progress,lol)

1995 Honda Civic coupe DX
Mods:
Ebay intake
Megan UDP
Rice pipe
DIY paint job
Painted moldings/handles
little bit of bodywork
Eibach sportline springs (donated from the wrecked 94 civic coupe SI, RIP)
EX/SI wing
EX/SI rear specker deck (donated from wrecked SI)
Cheap door speakers
Old ass boo-boo head unit
Ebay chrome halo headlights
14" EX wheels/caps
Soon: 15" Rota slipstreams with dunlop tires (donated from 90 civic hatch project)
Got more mods but can't think of them right now!

Enjoy pics(sorry about quality...used the old poo-poo bo bo camera):

Front at night:


Ass end shot, in the shop


Workin on it




One of my mechanics wiring the boo-boo head unit, being his retarted self

[SilvrEclipse]

Looks pretty good. Cant tell how good the paint looks in these pics but at least its one color. Doesn't have to be perfect.

[vanilla gorilla]

Thats the before pics of when I first got it. You can tell how the clear is coming off, especially on the roof. The car is now a totally different color which I wont reveal yet, but in the next few days when I finish blocking/buffing, I will post up pics of the finished product...you won't be able to tell its the same car. Won't be red anymore!

[vanilla gorilla]

Teaser pic:
Current state of the car:

[ned032002]

ooooo shes lookin perdy!! Nice color choice as well, more pics is deff. necessary for a successful thread.

[SilvrEclipse]

Doesn't look to bad. Weren't you going to turbo it?

[vanilla gorilla]

Yeah I love the color! And more pics are coming soon cause I'm gonna try and finish it today.

No this isnt the civic thats gonna get boosted. The 1990 civic hatch is though.

[defiancy]

Originally Posted by vanilla gorilla

Yeah I love the color! And more pics are coming soon cause I'm gonna try and finish it today.

No this isnt the civic thats gonna get boosted. The 1990 civic hatch is though.

Ahh same car my friend drives with his LS-Vtec

Overall the civic is looking nice. You could always do a motor swap if you wanted something a bit peppier. They can be pretty cheap too depending on how and where you get the motor (and what motor it is). I'm sure you could probably atleast put a 1.8 LS motor in there. That'll be cheap as crap and it'll be a lot more peppy.

[vanilla gorilla]

As far as my civic coupe goes, it won't be getting anymore mods, leaving the engine as stock as possible. Its a d15.

As far as the hatch goes, we've already pulled the d15 and swapped in a d16z6 vtec from the wrecked 94 si. The hatch will get turboed, probably t25 with supporting mods on factory internals.

But anyways here are some pics of yesterdays progress on my coupe:

This is my home boy Ray about to polish the roof after I just blocked it.








This is me blocking the wing, lookin all dirty and nasty



Dexters lazy ass.



Dexter pretending like he's painting

[SilvrEclipse]

Handpolishing FTL

I know yall didn't hand polish the whole damn thing?

[kittay]

Awesome color! Do you have a wiper/ rain tray to cover up the red?
Also, be careful, it's not good to wax a car w/ fresh paint.

[SilvrEclipse]

ok I see the buffer now. How did the paint turn out polishing it with an orbital buffer?

Kittay - They aren't waxing the car, they are polishing the paint to remove the scratches from sanding

[vanilla gorilla]

Yeah I got the stock plastic wiper cowl but it was off in the pics because I painted it black with some trim paint.

The paint looks pretty good so far. I have yet to block and buff the entire car. I blocked the entire roof and trunk and some areas where there was heavy spots. After that we buffed with some cutting compound then with polishing compound. Worked real good. The paint blings nicely.

I'm going to go outside and take some pics while I'm thinking about it.

10 minutes later:

Ok heres some pics as it sits now. Ignore the red bumper, its temporary. I'm in the process of painting the bumper off the white car green to go on this car. Also I forgot that this car has eibach sportline springs on it donated from the wrecked red 94 si.

[gthompson97]

Looks nice, what'd you paint it with? Dupont, PPG? I'm assuming it wasn't rattle can because of the pics, and it looks like you know what you're doing, but it's not as shiny as it should be if you used the "right" stuff (not taking down your work, something just doesn't look right to me). Just be sure that you do not, I repeat, do not put sealable wax on that car for at least a couple months. If you have to wax it, use breathable stuff, otherwise the paint will not cure properly and will age like a mofo.

EDIT: I guess it's cloudy out in the pics, so that could be why.

[Thor06]

Damn dude, you paint good! Any chance you want to come to MN and paint my car?

Did you guys do any body work? Any previous experience painting? Was it hard? I would love to have a fresh coat on my baby, but I dont want a shit job from Maaco, but I sure cant cough up several grand for a nice paint job either. Regardless, its going to be a couple years before I can do one or have one done.