rustycivic

What's up guys my name is Caleb, I'm 18, and I just bought my first car 4 months ago, a 2000 Civic EX coupe. Our last 5 cars have been Honda's, and I bought my Civic because I love the reliability of Honda. My brother has a 96 Accord coupe that got me into modding my Honda.

Here are some pics the day I got the car.







About 1 month before I bought the car, It had an engine overhaul, that replaced all the the vital items, along with a new valve cover, intake manifold, and airbox. It was clean enough to eat off of.




In the past couple of months, I really haven't done much, just driving the car around enjoying it until I can save money for some mods.

First off was doing a clay bar and wax job on the car. Just did it by hand to try and clear up the paint a bit. Results were better than expected for just doing it manually.




Secondly, got a headlight restoration kit to clear up my headlights until I decide what I want to replace them with. Left is untouched, right is the finished product.




Lastly, since I lost 2 of the Walmart special hubcaps that were on the car (darn shame huh?), I rattle canned the steelies since they were ugly and starting to rust.

ewwww




sanded, ready to be primered



primed




finished product, not too bad for my first time rattle canning anything.






As far as the future goes, I'm planning on just doing some basic mods, since this will be my daily driver throughout college, and possibly med school. Plans are as follows:

- coilovers
- wheels (15x7 or 16x7 in the high 30s or low 40s offsets) nothing crazy.
- Si front and rear lip
- Si grill
- blackhoused headlights (possibly)
- intake
-exhaust



Thanks for looking guys!

CoMPuLSiVE

The steelies turned out real good man. I'm impressed. Definitely gives the car a better look and it's easy on the wallet too. Good job!

rjones7755

Yeah the steelies look brand new, i would also take off the pin stripe and tint it but the mods you listed are great too. Welcome to the forum!

krudmuphin

iTrader: (1)

Lookin' good! That's a very clean Civic, great condition!
Welcome to the forum, I'm excited to see any future mods you may have planned!

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

great so far, those civics are the best looking year.

Speed9117

iTrader: (1)

Super clean looking Civic. I've been trying to help a friend find a Civic and it seems like most of them are trashed. Great find!

Looks like a great starting point to put together a lightly modded DD. I need to get on some of the basic upkeep projects like headlights and claybar myself haha.

rustycivic

Thank you! I'm not much of a tint guy, so I'll be keeping the fishbowl look. The pinstripe is whatever lol, its starting to come off, but I'll just let it be.

Thanks, and I agree!

I was searching my local craigslist, and pretty much all of the stuff on there is trashed (especially SoCal). Ended up getting the car from the same used car dealer that my brother got his Accord from, but the extra money was worth it. The car has a few flaws visually, but mechanically its pristine, which is what is needed for a reliable DD.

B15Fred

Good to see you have coilovers as your 1st priority!

rustycivic

What's up guys.....long time no update. Basically, the car is in the exact same shape as before.......except for the fact that it is now paid off!!!!!!!! Super stoked to not have to make any more payments on this thing.

Now that the car is paid, I've been talking to my older brother, trying to get an idea of what I want to do with my car. He's got a 96 Accord Coupe that he drives, and knows a good amount about Honda's. He is really my inspiration to keep the car clean and simple, and follow his philosophy of Do it once, do it right.

Since this is my daily driver, the plan is to get coilovers, wheels, and a few other aesthetic pieces. Coilovers are most likely going to be Function&Form Type 1s, since they are a great bang for the buck setup, and perfectly suited for my driving needs. I'm also looking at some 16x7 +40 Rota Grids to roll on. I want to keep it conservative, since again this is my daily. Appearance wise, I'll probably get a replica Type R grill, or an Si one if I can find one at a decent price. Also, I'd love to get a Si front and rear lips, but that may be a while before I could justify spending the cash on that. I'm also thinking about an AEM intake, maybe an exhaust, and also some blackhoused headlights.

That's pretty much it, I would post pictures, but its exactly the same as above. Anyways, so long for now, and I'll hopefully be back with updates shortly!

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

Sounds real good.
Civic kept up real well, I love people who keep it stock looking as possible.

What color grids?

rustycivic

Thanks.


I'm looking at white for the Grids. I want something that will clash with the black paint, but without looking to "trendy".....like neon colors. I know they'll be a pain to keep clean, but its worth it lol.

Tragedy

iTrader: (10)

Glad to see this thread from the dead.

Clean car and engine bay. Looking forward to the new wheels.

dnice78

Nice EJ, now post some pics!

landlord62

Hi!Nice to be here.I am alex and new here.It will be nice to share and discuss all new relevant things here.
Thanks to all.

rustycivic

I guess I'll snap some pics this week.....since I bought my first official mod.

Nothing really special to look at though, until I get headlights, grill, coilovers, and wheels.

Tragedy

iTrader: (10)

The lights you have now are good, so kinda wondering what's next. Hope it is not that ring stuff.

dnice78

I got some depo's on mine, I thought they looked good.

rustycivic

Just arrived in the mail......



Bought it for a whopping $50. It was so cheap because the tube had "a few light scratches" according to the seller. I only found one, I'm guessing it was defective from the factory. Everything was still wrapped in the factory packaging. Pretty good deal, considering the Dryflow filters themselves cost $40. Wasted no time on the install.





That's it for now, will update when I get more parts.


I really do like the OEM lights, but 2 weeks after I restore them, they are back to being hazed over. The UV coating is pretty much entirely gone. I'm tired of constantly having to restore them.

And what is "that ring stuff"? lol, I'm kind of lost.

My brother has had multiple sets of headlights on his Accord, and the Depos are by far the best non-OEM headlights. He's had his set for 2 years now, and they are still in near-mint condition. They have a good light pattern too. Those are the ones with the "smoked" housing right, that are CTR replicas?

dnice78

Yup, that would be them, and what Tragedy was referring to are Halo lights. Nice intake too, that's a steal! Welcome to the AEM club Now all you need to do is remove the lower intake box and your set!

rustycivic

Ah, yes.....halo lights. There is no way ever I would be caught with those lol.

And the lower intake box is getting removed tomorrow. I didn't have time to mess with it today because of work. Thanks for the kind words!

2.5T_/<ouki

I was thinking the exact same thing.

OP, Looks great. I'm new here also. Can't wait to get started on mine !

rustycivic

And a little update......

OEM CD player took a crap on me and ate a CD. Tried to fix it, but nothing worked. Being that it was kind of worn, I figured it was time for a new head unit. Not a crazy audiophile, so a basic Pioneer was good enough for me.






I also ordered a few cosmetic parts.....will post pics when I install them next week.

rustycivic

Picked up some new headlights........my old ones started to haze over, so I figured it was time to replace them. I was really looking for some Depo CTR replica headlights, but they are out of stock everywhere. SO I got the next best thing.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Before you mod it any further. Take care of the front bumper Looks great though.

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

And take off that pin stripe =/

rustycivic

Well, the plan is to first get all of the appearance parts I want. The car has other damaged spots as well, so I'd want to do everything at once. In the future, I may repaint the whole car, but I want to have all my parts already, so I can paint them in one shot. And the car is my DD, so it gets beat on....already gotten dents and such from stupid drivers at school. For the time being, I'm fine with how it is.

rustycivic

picked up a new grill. Fitment ain't that great, but for $5 I'm not complaining. Good enough until I snag an Si or CTR grill. Color matched it to the car.




Me with my brother's '96 Accord......I guess we got a black with white thing going.




And finally, we got a new addition to the family.......my dad's '88 Civic finally bit the dust. After 280k on the odometer (original motor and auto tranny too), she didn't pass smog, and was gonna be $1500 to fix. My dad pretty much decided the car wasn't worth keeping, so we are getting rid of it. She was replaced by a 2000 Civic LX. Overall, the car is in good condition, a few cosmetic blemishes, but very solid mechanically. Came with an AEM cold air intake too lol. It will remain pretty much stock though, since it's my dad's daily driver.

rustycivic

Update time......



Picked up pretty much a whole front end......hood, fenders, grill, headlights, bumper, fog lights, and Si lip. I needed the headlights for the new gold EJ6, and of course I wanted the Si lip. The guy would only sell everything together, but the price was right, so I pulled the trigger.





The tentative goal so far is to paint the Si lip black, and install it on the car. My brother is going to try his hand with body work on the new front bumper w/ fogs. I might get another front lip for this one as well, still not decided yet. Its pretty rough, but definitely salvageable. I'll keep you guys posted with pics and updates as my brother gets to work.

Tragedy

iTrader: (10)

That'll do donkey that'll do. Body work is ,.......

But good front

rustycivic

Little update for ya'll. The tires on my steelies were starting to wear down (as well as dry rot). I figured, that instead of buying new tires for the steelies, that I might as well get some new wheels, and get tires for those. I found a guy who was putting his car back to stock and ended up trading my stockies and a bit of cash for some 16x7 +40 Rota Slipstreams. Overall, the rims were in good condition, a few knicks, and some curb rash, but nothing too bad. First order of business was getting rid of the mix-and-match tires on the car (two 205/50s, one 205/45, and one 195/50.....idk wtf he was thinking). I replaced them with 205/45/16 Nitto NeoGens. What an improvement, they are quiet, comfortable, and grip nicely.



I'm not a huge fan of black on black, so I decided to Plasti-dip the wheels white.



With my brother's Accord (sorry, crappy pic)







I should have my Si lip repaired in the next week or two, can't wait to get that mounted. Currently looking for an Si or CTR grill, and Si rear lip as well. That would pretty much complete my exterior. And I finally decided on what suspension I will be running......Koni/GCs with 550 front and 450 rear spring rates. Hopefully I'll get these in a month or two. That's all for now!