The Red Rocket(ish) Civic VTI MB6
Discussion
Hello fellow PH'ers, I have been a bit of a lurker over the years and feel the time has come to contribute a little more,
I won't bore you with too much about my car history but it consisted of:
Classic Mini which I crashed into a barn.
Classic Mini, had around 16 MOT failures + ALOT of rust.
205 GTI 1.6 amazing car, should never had sold.
200sx S14a which I had to sell due to starting a family (Lump in my throat as it drove away)
BMW E46 Touring, had quite a few problems and a bit of a wrongun overall.
Honda Civic Aerodeck 1.6 Vtec, very reliable family motor but written off (not at fault, no barns involved this time).
Only the last two were standard, the rest had a series of modifications, especially the 205 + 200sx.
So after loving the Honda reliability with a small hint of v-tec power (125bhp to be precise) I decided to stick with Honda but I still needed a boot and four doors.
So my old man kindly drove me from Kent to West London to look at a car with no service history and 130,000 miles, this was after viewing a very honest ebay sale. This car had been in the same family for many years, they own a small garage so all the work has been done in the family (apparently) with no receipts to prove ANY work. The owner does have his own MG Track car which is a little reassuring.
So I took a risk and after going over the car and feeling happy it was honest I paid £800 for this:
Pros: 170bhp (when new) engine which feels very strong
Hardly any rust
Very clean interior
Awesome brakes and handling in comparison to the Aerodeck
Cons: 4 odd tyres
Scuffs to front bumper
Engine bay is nasty!
Rear bumper with quite alot of damage
Boot carpet has a large cement stain
Alloys badly corroded
No PH sticker!
Some laquer peel on mirrors and door handles
2 small weird marks on roof, which someone has tried to repair (badly)
Rev counter doesn't work
Clutch very low and hard!
Quite a list, but I am treating this as a little project to slowly make improvements on as I go.
Just wanted to say thank you to PH and it's community, it has provided me with some good laughs and there are some truly inspiring projects on here, TrackCIT's 106 rallye being my all time favourite (no updates for a while though I think)
A few more pics:
Thanks, Mike
I won't bore you with too much about my car history but it consisted of:
Classic Mini which I crashed into a barn.
Classic Mini, had around 16 MOT failures + ALOT of rust.
205 GTI 1.6 amazing car, should never had sold.
200sx S14a which I had to sell due to starting a family (Lump in my throat as it drove away)
BMW E46 Touring, had quite a few problems and a bit of a wrongun overall.
Honda Civic Aerodeck 1.6 Vtec, very reliable family motor but written off (not at fault, no barns involved this time).
Only the last two were standard, the rest had a series of modifications, especially the 205 + 200sx.
So after loving the Honda reliability with a small hint of v-tec power (125bhp to be precise) I decided to stick with Honda but I still needed a boot and four doors.
So my old man kindly drove me from Kent to West London to look at a car with no service history and 130,000 miles, this was after viewing a very honest ebay sale. This car had been in the same family for many years, they own a small garage so all the work has been done in the family (apparently) with no receipts to prove ANY work. The owner does have his own MG Track car which is a little reassuring.
So I took a risk and after going over the car and feeling happy it was honest I paid £800 for this:
Pros: 170bhp (when new) engine which feels very strong
Hardly any rust
Very clean interior
Awesome brakes and handling in comparison to the Aerodeck
Cons: 4 odd tyres
Scuffs to front bumper
Engine bay is nasty!
Rear bumper with quite alot of damage
Boot carpet has a large cement stain
Alloys badly corroded
No PH sticker!
Some laquer peel on mirrors and door handles
2 small weird marks on roof, which someone has tried to repair (badly)
Rev counter doesn't work
Clutch very low and hard!
Quite a list, but I am treating this as a little project to slowly make improvements on as I go.
Just wanted to say thank you to PH and it's community, it has provided me with some good laughs and there are some truly inspiring projects on here, TrackCIT's 106 rallye being my all time favourite (no updates for a while though I think)
A few more pics:
Thanks, Mike
Thanks for the good comments everyone, yesterday I ended up attacking the boot carpet with the hoover which now looks like this:
Not perfect but much better than before!
Car is also booked in for the rev counter to be fixed and an overall diagnosis to see if there is anything urgent needs fixing (probably suspension bushes + clutch)
Going out in it this morning to feed the ducks! ha ha
Not perfect but much better than before!
Car is also booked in for the rev counter to be fixed and an overall diagnosis to see if there is anything urgent needs fixing (probably suspension bushes + clutch)
Going out in it this morning to feed the ducks! ha ha
Alloy wheel refurb!
I was going to spend money having the wheels dipped and painted so they look like new, but with a new baby and the fact it would cost a 1/4 of what the car cost I can't really justify it.
So down to the local motor factors for some rattle can action and spent £47, I have learnt some vital lessons painting the first wheel so will hopefully improve on the next three.
I started with the worst wheel, giving it a good scrub with APC and a brush to remove brake dust and do some degreasing:
As you can see the corrosion is pretty bad, so I went to work with the dremel and sandpaper finishing off with some 360 grit wet and dry
I was definitely a little too agressive overall, lesson learnt.
Masked up (remembering the valve):
Primer on:
I then went over that with 360 wet and dry again.
Wheel cleaned again, then 2 x coats of Honda Blade silver and 2 x coats of clear lacquer
Overall very happy, the wheel has marks where I was a little too crazy with the Dremel in the heavy corrosion spots and there is a small area of overspray as well, but considering I did this over 5 days in the evenings when the kids are in bed I am more than happy.
I still have the next 3 to do but they are not in such a poor state as the above, please ignore the nasty tyres as they are on the to do list and the house (on going project)
I was going to spend money having the wheels dipped and painted so they look like new, but with a new baby and the fact it would cost a 1/4 of what the car cost I can't really justify it.
So down to the local motor factors for some rattle can action and spent £47, I have learnt some vital lessons painting the first wheel so will hopefully improve on the next three.
I started with the worst wheel, giving it a good scrub with APC and a brush to remove brake dust and do some degreasing:
As you can see the corrosion is pretty bad, so I went to work with the dremel and sandpaper finishing off with some 360 grit wet and dry
I was definitely a little too agressive overall, lesson learnt.
Masked up (remembering the valve):
Primer on:
I then went over that with 360 wet and dry again.
Wheel cleaned again, then 2 x coats of Honda Blade silver and 2 x coats of clear lacquer
Overall very happy, the wheel has marks where I was a little too crazy with the Dremel in the heavy corrosion spots and there is a small area of overspray as well, but considering I did this over 5 days in the evenings when the kids are in bed I am more than happy.
I still have the next 3 to do but they are not in such a poor state as the above, please ignore the nasty tyres as they are on the to do list and the house (on going project)
Great fun these.We had one for a while.
Quick version of events..
My wife says to me her Sisters husbands Dad wants to sell "A blue civic" (they know I enjoy a snotter or three)
I ask how much and get told £100.I suggest it must be beyond help for £100 and I will leave it.
A short time passes and my wifes Sisters husband tells his Dad and us that it's worth way more than £100.
I then ask for some more details..
R reg 1.8 vtec Civic - 70ish k miles - lots of history - had £400 spent on it recently - gone a bit 'green' after being sat under a tree in their garden due to work van use - Price to us if still interested is £500.
I went to look, purchased it, cleaned it, made it look like a new car, ragged it around for just over a year and flogged it for £1200.
I know for a fact I would have never given them £100 for it as I felt bad enough paying £500, but they were perfectly happy with that.Seriously though, £100...why would anyone want less than scrap value for such a brilliant car?
Quick version of events..
My wife says to me her Sisters husbands Dad wants to sell "A blue civic" (they know I enjoy a snotter or three)
I ask how much and get told £100.I suggest it must be beyond help for £100 and I will leave it.
A short time passes and my wifes Sisters husband tells his Dad and us that it's worth way more than £100.
I then ask for some more details..
R reg 1.8 vtec Civic - 70ish k miles - lots of history - had £400 spent on it recently - gone a bit 'green' after being sat under a tree in their garden due to work van use - Price to us if still interested is £500.
I went to look, purchased it, cleaned it, made it look like a new car, ragged it around for just over a year and flogged it for £1200.
I know for a fact I would have never given them £100 for it as I felt bad enough paying £500, but they were perfectly happy with that.Seriously though, £100...why would anyone want less than scrap value for such a brilliant car?
Digby said:
Great fun these.We had one for a while.
Quick version of events..
My wife says to me her Sisters husbands Dad wants to sell "A blue civic" (they know I enjoy a snotter or three)
I ask how much and get told £100.I suggest it must be beyond help for £100 and I will leave it.
A short time passes and my wifes Sisters husband tells his Dad and us that it's worth way more than £100.
I then ask for some more details..
R reg 1.8 vtec Civic - 70ish k miles - lots of history - had £400 spent on it recently - gone a bit 'green' after being sat under a tree in their garden due to work van use - Price to us if still interested is £500.
I went to look, purchased it, cleaned it, made it look like a new car, ragged it around for just over a year and flogged it for £1200.
I know for a fact I would have never given them £100 for it as I felt bad enough paying £500, but they were perfectly happy with that.Seriously though, £100...why would anyone want less than scrap value for such a brilliant car?
I did something similar. Bought a civic eg coupe with 250k on the clock and a lot of rust for £100. Drove it about for a couple of months then scrapped it for £170 after the steering rack and brakes bushes etc all failed. The engine, clutch and gearbox were all still spot on. Good old honda engineering. Quick version of events..
My wife says to me her Sisters husbands Dad wants to sell "A blue civic" (they know I enjoy a snotter or three)
I ask how much and get told £100.I suggest it must be beyond help for £100 and I will leave it.
A short time passes and my wifes Sisters husband tells his Dad and us that it's worth way more than £100.
I then ask for some more details..
R reg 1.8 vtec Civic - 70ish k miles - lots of history - had £400 spent on it recently - gone a bit 'green' after being sat under a tree in their garden due to work van use - Price to us if still interested is £500.
I went to look, purchased it, cleaned it, made it look like a new car, ragged it around for just over a year and flogged it for £1200.
I know for a fact I would have never given them £100 for it as I felt bad enough paying £500, but they were perfectly happy with that.Seriously though, £100...why would anyone want less than scrap value for such a brilliant car?
Digby said:
Great fun these.We had one for a while.
Quick version of events..
My wife says to me her Sisters husbands Dad wants to sell "A blue civic" (they know I enjoy a snotter or three)
I ask how much and get told £100.I suggest it must be beyond help for £100 and I will leave it.
A short time passes and my wifes Sisters husband tells his Dad and us that it's worth way more than £100.
I then ask for some more details..
R reg 1.8 vtec Civic - 70ish k miles - lots of history - had £400 spent on it recently - gone a bit 'green' after being sat under a tree in their garden due to work van use - Price to us if still interested is £500.
I went to look, purchased it, cleaned it, made it look like a new car, ragged it around for just over a year and flogged it for £1200.
I know for a fact I would have never given them £100 for it as I felt bad enough paying £500, but they were perfectly happy with that.Seriously though, £100...why would anyone want less than scrap value for such a brilliant car?
You had a bargain! any pics?Quick version of events..
My wife says to me her Sisters husbands Dad wants to sell "A blue civic" (they know I enjoy a snotter or three)
I ask how much and get told £100.I suggest it must be beyond help for £100 and I will leave it.
A short time passes and my wifes Sisters husband tells his Dad and us that it's worth way more than £100.
I then ask for some more details..
R reg 1.8 vtec Civic - 70ish k miles - lots of history - had £400 spent on it recently - gone a bit 'green' after being sat under a tree in their garden due to work van use - Price to us if still interested is £500.
I went to look, purchased it, cleaned it, made it look like a new car, ragged it around for just over a year and flogged it for £1200.
I know for a fact I would have never given them £100 for it as I felt bad enough paying £500, but they were perfectly happy with that.Seriously though, £100...why would anyone want less than scrap value for such a brilliant car?
The civic has developed a rattle now, the engine is still perfect so it may be a heatshield/exhaust problem. It is only noisy when it has warmed up and at a certain rpm. Investigation continues..
Well its Mot time, currently waiting for a phone call to see if its passed,
Since the last update:
Ph sticker!
Cat back stainless exhaust system
AEM induction kit
All four tyres replaced with tracking done
Alpine head unit with ipod attachment
Oil and filter usings Fuchs oil
New pollen filter
Both rear brake calipers and pads replaced with full fluid change
New front window seals as the air was whistling through at speed
New aerial as my neighbours tree fell on the roof which snapped the aerial and scratched the roof.
The car has been very reliable and is now at 135,000 miles, it goes in for paint on Monday for a new rear bumper which needs painting and the spoiler is also being painted. The bumper was already damaged from the previous owner but I scratched it further after reversing into my own wall after a 16 hour night shift!
I will put a new pic up after the new bumper on Monday
Since the last update:
Ph sticker!
Cat back stainless exhaust system
AEM induction kit
All four tyres replaced with tracking done
Alpine head unit with ipod attachment
Oil and filter usings Fuchs oil
New pollen filter
Both rear brake calipers and pads replaced with full fluid change
New front window seals as the air was whistling through at speed
New aerial as my neighbours tree fell on the roof which snapped the aerial and scratched the roof.
The car has been very reliable and is now at 135,000 miles, it goes in for paint on Monday for a new rear bumper which needs painting and the spoiler is also being painted. The bumper was already damaged from the previous owner but I scratched it further after reversing into my own wall after a 16 hour night shift!
I will put a new pic up after the new bumper on Monday
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