At the end of their quest, most used-car shoppers emerge a bit bamboozled, slightly scathed, and definitely poorer. I wish I could say we did better. Holding well-worn Honda keys high, we return as victorious, but tired, hunters from the urban used-car jungle.
Last month we broke down the stats on the Honda EG series. All this legwork went to good use as we searched for our own EG for Project Civic. It took us five weeks of constant searching, but we finally found the right car.
We decided early we wanted air conditioning, and the A/C would stay on the car regardless of how crazily built the project gets. This will always be a street car, and street cars in L.A. have A/C. This requirement narrowed our search considerably, limiting us to either a DX or Si. Not wanting all the extra weight of a sunroof, however, eliminated the Si from the list, leaving us with a DX.
Color was also a problem. We didn't want a white car because it does not photograph well; we didn't want red because a modified Civic does not need any help getting noticed by police. Didn't want teal either, because well, it's teal. That left us looking for black, light blue, midnight blue, a rare Aztec green pearl (we still have not seen one) or preferably, charcoal metallic (phantom gray pearl). Though we know other combinations exist, we couldn't find a black car that was not an Si, a charcoal car that was not $6,000 or beat to snot, a midnight blue car that was not an automatic, or any green car.
After five weeks of frustration, we came across a 1993 Captiva blue pearl DX owned by a Malaysian exchange student, with 175K miles on the clock and an asking price of $3,700. Though not exactly what we were looking for, it was there, it ran, the A/C blew cold, and the kid was willing to haggle.
According to Edmunds.com, the car is only worth $2,246 adjusted for mileage. (I'd like to see Edmund's buy a Civic in Southern California for its quoted prices.) You pay quite a popularity tax buying Hondas around here, and we were forced to pay far more than the car would have gone for in another state. For once, readers outside Cali get the better deal.
After 175,000 miles, the suspension is shot, the brakes likewise, and the tired interior smells like unwashed feet. But damned if we didn't get a ringer engine. In baseline testing, the little D15B7 pulled the car to a 16.7 in the quarter mile, which seems strange; the car ran 17s stock. A dyno pull affirmed our suspicions: Our engine, with supposedly 102 crank horsepower, laid 95 hp to the wheels. All we can figure is massive carbon deposits on the pistons upped the compression.
Cosmetically, the windshield is cracked, the window trim needs to be repainted, and various scratches and door dings adorn the car. Functionally, the rear glass hatch struts broke out of their housings, and the locks work with great difficulty. We will address the cosmetic issues in a cost-effective manner because the body is pretty typical of what enthusiasts have to deal with when buying project cars. Honda-junkie Tommy Liang tagged along to peruse the many crap piles we considered buying, and was quick to note that none of the body panel attachment bolts had been turned, meaning the car has never been hit.
Somewhere along the line, however, the car was riced out with headlamps that cast blue light and a trick Ralliart sticker that resides on the rearview mirror. The driver's seat looks like a hungry rat gnawed on the bolsters, and there are enough mystery stains on the floor carpet to keep a forensics team busy for years. The stock Honda radio remains, replete with blown right speaker and a left speaker that flatulates more than it produces useable sound.
With its trick carbon-coated, high-compression pistons, the car actually squirts quite well, happily liquifying any one oversize bicycle tire in first gear. The warped, teeny front discs make the car shudder like it saw Margaret Thatcher naked, which prompts us to use the parking brake early and often. My first experience flogging the car came when trying to chase a bunch of tuner WRXs through the twisties up a mountain pass just hours after buying the car. How impressive that Honda engineers placed a double-wishbone suspension in a cheap shitbox; even with ass tires, the car rotated when asked and provided an impressive ride.
Quickly securing itself a place as the Chevy 350 of the Honda world, the B16A is an obvious choice of motivation for the car and is our first planned powerplant for Project EG. Of the project plans, darned if we don't plan on testing all the stuff you'd expect on the car, and a whole lot of stuff you wouldn't.
It will also serve as a testbed for B-series engine product shootouts on our in-house dyno, helping us choose the most effective products for our project and yours. Discovering the best bang-for-the-buck remains the paramount goal of the project, as well as testing products that are perhaps beyond the scope of some enthusiasts. We plan on building a front driver that will kick ass in every facet of performance, maintain a high degree of street driveability, and do all this with parts and services accessible by everyone in the country.
As for specific goals, a 13-sec timeslip normally aspirated would be nice, as would 1 g on its daily-driven tires and a 2:06 lap on Buttonwillow Raceway's #13 configuration (near the current SCCA ITA record set by a CRX). All in a car with A/C, a kick-ass stereo, and a mellow demeanor. Sound like a tall order? You bet, and we can't wait to get started.