sataniksyndrome

Hello everyone, I'm actually not so new here, but I am new in a way, since I did register here in october 2005, but I haven't visited this site since maybe december 2005, an the reason for that being is car depression, you know when you get the new car and you crash it, then fix it, then someone else crashes into you 5 weeks after the previous accident and 4 weeks after it was repaired? Well that was me, I initially planned to learn and and work on this car as a project, but after the 2 consecutive accidents I completely lost faith in owning a perfectly preserved car and lost my ego to even proceed with the project, kind-of like losing your best friend. Well a few years later, I still have this car. I ran into a buddy of mine from back in high school at my job a few months back and it turns out he's a professional auto mechanic and has also owned 2 hondas (95 del sol completely tuned up by himslef, and his current 1st gen crv). After he learned that I had an '05 civic 5 speed, he nearly killed me for wanting to get rid of it, well not really, but he thought it was stupid and that the car is no where near being dead. He then offered to help me restore the car to where it should be up to date with maintenance (tune ups and such). Well I gotta say, I am an idiot for wanting to get rid of it, because it has 102K miles on it still with the original clutch, and the engine runs like the day i got the car new, the only thing I'm doing is replacing the control arms tomorrow, bushing on them are warn. But so far the timing belt has been replaced along with the water pump, a clutch master and slave cylinders replaced, threw in a K&N for the stock intake (the engine feels like it revitalized), new vent filters (vents smell great and a/c hasn't felt colder, should've seen the 4 year old filters, freaking gross). The next step is in probably about 20-30K miles and will be a big job, I'll change and upgrade the clutch along with an aluminum flywheel, moog ball joints, K&N cold air intake system, don't know what type of exhuast system yet, but i'll get some feedback from my buddy once the time comes, he knows a lot about honda tuning and worked on numerous honda models of different platforms, then add Tokicos, maybe some other suspension work and that should conclude the next step. Then after that I plan on completing the traces of the initial accident that left my headlights, front bumer, hood, grill and fenders unfulshed becaus the front frame bracket was never replaced but rather straightened, so I'll be looking into replacing the front engine frame along with watever else is still bent out of shape or not fully fixed, well the radiator went so that got replaced, but the fan frames are slightly chipped in a few places, so that'll be replaced as well, my headlights are some cheap replicas that i got back in 05 as a temp replacement but that's going to cahnge as well, probably a new front bumper since i bottomed out in many driveways and dips sending the bumper scraping at high pressure. Well lastly the paint job probaby, and some add ons but that's last and not so important.
So now that I gave my car some thought and decided to put it back into shape, I'm back in the forums form a 4 year abscense.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

just stick with it man. i too got in a big accident and they almost totaled the car out (8.5k in damages to the rear) but im really glad they didnt cause now 4 yrs later its still running like new and it looks awesome. even got some extra body work on the rear and shaved the emblems and trunk keyhole off. accidents happen all the time and sometimes several times for everyone and thats why we should have insurance. they pay for everything.

cubanmike26

iTrader: (9)

Hmm..it's funny..I haven't been here in a long time also. It seems most members when I used to come here have moved on, except for GEARBOX I was a proud member of this forum since 2004. After moding a new 04 LX which I used to love, I got rid of it and got an 07 Si..which I later lost due to unexpected circumstances but it's all good. Life's all about learning from our mistakes; whatever comes after will be always better than before, whether we may see it that way or not..I'm thinking now I may buy a used EM2 for a project myself and come back for a while, we'll see... Sorry to hear about your car, wish you GL with your new project.

MidnightCivic

iTrader: (11)

i remember you..

Also my car is running close to 120k and running strong. I was frustuated after it bogged down on me in the highway and wanted to get rid of it. Just replaced the tdc sensor and runs great. I have never had any major issues i love my civic =)

sataniksyndrome

Ok so far so good, Dorman control arms are good, even the shifting and braking is a ton better and smoother. If the bushings in these last for more than 101,800 miles, then they are worth the $69 vs the honda factory $140. Supposedly Dorman improves the faults of the originals, so we'll see how they are. Anyhow, looks like It'll be the catback system and not sure if the front frame engine bracket is replaceable. My friend says it's welded on, could that be? I remember seeing the frame parts sold as separate units from one of the online genuine honda sources...think it was from www.collegehillshonda.com under the "parts" section.