Beschreibung
MOT – September 2024
Mileage – 10, 900 miles
Description:
It pains me to do this, as I know its one of them cars you are never going to come across again, and I told myself I wouldn’t be selling it, but here I am.
I know its just a humble 1. 4 GL, but aside from really nice examples of VT’s & SIR’s for example, I am not sure there will be many cleaner 4th Gen civics out there. I bought this originally with the plan of doing a K20 swap as it was an auto, but soon realised I perhaps bit off more than I can chew and fell for the charm of the standard car. So instead of doing the engine swap, I set out to do a manual swap properly and give the car a new lease of life after being strangled by the rubbish auto box for many many years! I drove the car for about a year as an auto whilst collecting the parts for the manual swap. I bought the car originally from KGF classic cars, who had acquired it from a little old lady who owned it its entire life, see below link for how the car looked when I bought it a few years ago, and the other cars they sell:
https - details above co uk vehicles 23605
I have driven the car once a week for about the last year to prolong its mileage without having it sit still for too long. It gets cleaned regularly, and looked after like a baby, I am a Honda nerd through and through and anyone that has dealt with me could probably vouch for that.
Since owning the car I have added the following parts:
Nardi Personal Wheel.
Mugen CF48 Wheels in 14’s, look to have been recoated at some point in their life, I would rate them 8. 5/ 10. I had a set of 3D printed centre caps made as the originals are so hard to find. Wheels are wrapped in Advan Neova AD08R’s will only a few hundred miles on them.
Yellowspeed Dynamic Pro Sport Coilovers (coated in ACF50 and wrapped in blankets).
‘Si’ Style Front Lip.
Made to measure floor mats in similar colour to interior.
Skunk2 20th Anniversary Gear Knob.
25XT style door decals.
And then the parts required to do the manual swap:
Gearbox sourced from a low mileage 1. 3, has shorter ratio’s than the 1. 4 manual, similar to US Si ratio’s.
Competition Clutch – OEM Style.
Competition Clutch Lightened Flywheel – 5. 15kgs.
Skunk2 Dual Bend Short Shifter Kit.
New OEM equivalent front & side engine mounts.
New OEM equivalent rear trans mount.
ARP clutch bolts.
ARP flywheel bolts.
Honda MTF trans fluid.
Honda OEM driveshaft seals.
Energy Shifter Bushings.
New OEM equivalent clutch cable.
Leather shift boot.
Manual Pedal Box, including OMP pedals.
Reverse Light Wired In Correctly, everything works as it should.
The car needs for nothing for driving, its drives exactly how you would hope a 10k mile civic would drive, perfect. If I were to have kept it, I liked the idea of bike carbs, exhaust system and bigger cam, I think that would have made for a cool little car with around the 120hp mark perhaps. Aesthetically, perhaps just an SIR style rear lip and exhaust tip to finish it off.
The car was last serviced in August of last year with new oil, filter and plugs. It has done literally a couple of hundred miles since then as you can see from the MOT history. The little old lady that owned it prior has kept a hugely extensive service history as you can see from the photos, including paying for Honda warrantee up until only a few years ago, mad! It starts first time, every time on the manual choke, no matter what the weather, and idles perfectly off the choke once up to temp, the MOT guy always comments on how clean it is on emission tests.
Please do remember though, the car is 32 years old, and does have the odd little mark here and there that have been touched up, the odd pin dent and the odd scrape on the plastic trim/ mirrors, and a small tear on the drivers seat on the side, but I really do think you will be taken by its condition when you see it in person, I know I was! It looks to have been undersealed at some point in its life, and that along with dry storage most of its life has definitely help preserve the car. When doing the suspension and gearbox swap, barely and bolts gave us an issue, and any Honda owner will know what a pain rusty corroded suspension bolts can be! All interior electrics, windows, sunroof, original stereo all work perfect, could perhaps do with some upgraded speakers though. After the recent MOT and being underneath, I reckon the exhaust backbox may need replacing over the next couple of years, most likely to do with sitting there for periods of time and condensation in the exhaust.
Hoping it will go to a fellow Honda nerd like myself, and follow on from what I have done and preserve and enhance it, it turns head and starts conversations where ever it goes, and its not trying to be a 1. 6i or SIR for example, its just cool for what it is. I have got myself a camper van for the family in time for summer, and the civic won’t really have a purpose anymore, and I don’t want it to sit there un-used fo
