1999 Honda CIVIC Coupe Project

Author: Kai Her - July 31st, 2024

About two years ago, I told myself that as my S2000 build sauntered to a pleasant formidable finale, the next vehicle I would see myself working on after would be an Acura NSX (NA2 preferably). The commitment to that was real. Aimee (my wife) would remind me to set money aside on a regular basis so that I’ll eventually own an NSX by a designated time. With a baby on the way now, I haven’t been able to increase those funds as much as I would like to. So I guess it’s safe to say it’s at a hiatus.

Then earlier this year, the thought and excitement of digging back to my roots in building a Civic kind of just grabbed me and twisted my automotive goals entirely. So I sat down with Aimee and said that I’ll just slowly ride the river with this idea in my head. I’ll play it safe. Whether it be finding a good deal on an NSX or sourcing through Facebook Market Place for a Civic shell, so be it. Who am I kidding though, you can probably guess that the probability of finding a good deal on a Civic (shell) is obviously higher than finding a remarkable deal on an NSX.

Eventually, I found a shell about an hour away from Merced. What I mainly looked for was a clean title shell, quarter panels almost dent free, no rust, and a 99-00 chassis body. Everything checked out!

After picking up the shell, I was in elevated exhilaration knowing where and how I would build the Civic. My first car was a milano red Honda Civic Si (Em1) back when I was a senior in high school. My next car after that was an EPB EM1. If I didn’t get t-boned, I think I would still currently own that EBP Civic to this day. However, life throws you a curve ball sometimes and you turn lemons to lemonades. That was how my automotive journey with the S2000 embarked. Knowing I can finally relive my vision of building my dream Civic will be an interesting quest to commence in my automotive expedition with NnovatioN.

My goal is to continually update my build to this blog. So, think of it as a build thread. You know, like how users used to update people about their build online through Honda-Tech or any other forums where they built a community. Lastly, at the end of each post, I’ll calculate the costs and remind myself about how much I’ve spent on the project (excluding gas).

I am thrilled so let’s see how long it will take to see this project come to fruition. Thank you for tagging along with me!

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably have seen that the shell was in pretty bad shape. The fenders had holes in them. And as for the bumper, I trashed it because it was in an incredibly bad condition, I didn’t want to deal with the headache of trying to repair it. This left the shell sitting with no fenders nor front bumper. So I paid $1200 for the shell.

All I have done since I got it was rinse it down with my pressure washer and then smoke screened the interior and the under carriage several times because the shell was infested with spiders. After a good week of keeping up with thoroughly cleaning a corner of the shell at a time and ridding the shell of as much debris as I could possibly get off, the shell didn’t feel so dirty anymore.

The first official part I purchased for the shell was an OEM rear bumper. The original rear bumper that came with the shell had an enlarged muffler cutout to accommodate an aftermarket exhaust. I just didn’t enjoy seeing the bumper looking like the way it did, so I took off the bumper and trashed it. I found this OEM rear bumper from a seller up north about 1 hour and 30 minutes away from me for $100 dollars.

Don’t mind the box on top of the trunk. There’s a dent on it so I’m just going to trash it once I find another one in better condition.

For the most part, the shell overall wasn’t so bad. However, the driver side door did come with this nasty gash. Some bodywork could be utilized to repair it or perhaps a PDR could fix it. Instead, I made the decision that perhaps I’ll just get a new used door.

I made a visit to the junkyard and I found another driver side door. At the yard, I took out the window, the window regulator, the side moldings, side mirror, door handle, and power harness to maximize my budget on the door. The whole door assembly came out to $80 at Pick-n-Pull.

The next replacement was the trunk, also secured through the junk yard. This one in particular was dent free and had no pre-drilled holes for an OEM spoiler. I took out the taillights and even ripped off the latch, just to conserve my spending. It wouldn’t have made sense to pay for parts I don’t need.

As luck would have it, Kong and I were fortunate enough to find a Civic at the junk yard with fenders. The fenders could use some loving, but it was in great shape.

The bumper was in worse condition than the fenders. On the bright side, since it was on the same car we pulled the fenders from, Kong and I were able to see that the bumper was still straight (not warped) and the bumper tabs still lined up to the fender tabs quite well. Plus, the bumper was an OEM bumper, so I wouldn’t have to worry about fitment later whenever I do decide what front spoiler I would get. The total for parts altogether came out to $301.94 (fenders, bumper and trunk).

The driver-side side skirt was scuffed when I purchased the shell. Recently, I found a part out and quickly grabbed the side skirt from the seller for $20.

Here, I mocked up the bumper onto the shell. Although the bumper looked hideous with the scuffs and peeling clear coat, it still fitted like a charm. The bumper tabs still met up with the fenders quite well.

Thereafter, I mounted the fenders onto the car.

Still needs some panel adjustments and realignment, but for the most part, I’m quite satisfied with it. The shell is more than 20 years old. What can you expect right?

That’s where I left off with the build today. My hope is to find some time later this week to continue working on the car. The next step is to strip out the interior and begin cleaning up all the gunk inside along with it.

Total: $1,621.94


Author: Kai Her - August 8th, 2024

I began work again this week so as much as I don’t want to yet, now won’t get the opportunity to work on the Civic as much as I wanted. Before the new school year gets too busy, I’ll dedicate any time I have to work on the Civic. Here is an updated blog episode of what I recently worked on!

I decided to swap out the old trunk to the one I picked up from Pick-N-Pull. It was an easy swap as it took me about a 15 minutes to remove all the bolts, taillights, latch, and the harness. Don’t worry, I also took off they key hole since the key that came with the car still matched the trunk and two doors.

Here a photo of the dent. Maybe gently tapping the dent out from the inside of the trunk and some bondo would have done the trick. The old trunk looked flawless either than this gash, but I thought to myself that I would probably switch it anyway.

Here are some shots of the trunk I picked up. Nothing special about it than it being dent free. A good sand, primer, and repaint will bring it back to life. Overall, it was a good purchase, in my opinion.

Well there you guys have it! The trunk is installed! I left the taillights off because I will soon be sanding down the whole car soon anyway. With it being an OEM trunk as well, it snugged in nicely. I’m satisfied on how the Civic is currently sitting. Next job to tackle is to take a permanent marker and circle down any dents I could find on the quarter panels and doors, then source for a good PDR guy to come hit out those dents for me!

Well, that is it for this short episode, guys! Thanks for reading and I will see you on the next one…shortly.

Total: $1,621.94


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