"The Mothership" - 1998 Civic - Maintenance Log

[ctag]

OK, creative writing exercises aside, the Civic's been doing OK.

Once the weather warmed up a bit, the TPS issues went away again. So I'm back to procrastinating there

The windshield wipers have been acting up again. They'll just stall out in the middle of a swipe instead of going back to the stowed position. I fixed this last time by repairing the little switches in the motor. Opened it back up again this week to check on things, and the repair is holding. Looks like one of the contacts just needed to be cleaned.







I decided to give this plumbing grease a try on the worm gear...



Tested it out by putting paper towels under the wipers. They halted again on the first pass, but after that seemed to work properly... We'll see!

 

[nd4sped]

Really enjoy these updates because as I read Im like, "ya ok do this..." scroll down and BOOM there you are doing it LOL

 

[Brak]

Why not just replace the motor assembly? aftermarket/rebuilt units are less than $100 on rock auto.
worth the cost in time alone.

I need to do this myself. I'm stuck with only one speed, and they don't auto return, so you have to time the shut off perfectly.

 

[XpL0d3r]

Why not just replace the motor assembly? aftermarket/rebuilt units are less than $100 on rock auto.
worth the cost in time alone.

I need to do this myself. I'm stuck with only one speed, and they don't auto return, so you have to time the shut off perfectly.

Mine have a mind of their own. Sometimes they work normal, sometimes they smack the A pillar, sometimes the windshield cowl, and sometimes both.

 

[ctag]

:-/ The email alert for replies didn't go through. I appreciate you all responding

Why not just replace the motor assembly? aftermarket/rebuilt units are less than $100 on rock auto.
worth the cost in time alone.

I need to do this myself. I'm stuck with only one speed, and they don't auto return, so you have to time the shut off perfectly.

Just for the heck of it. I really should have a real replacement sitting around for the day I can't repair it though!

A week ago I left the windows down at work and it stormed pretty bad. Interior of the cabin got drenched, and then it's continued to rain every day since then so there hasn't been a good chance to dry things out completely. Today the car got to smelling pretty bad, so I went ahead and pulled the seats out and used an upholstery cleaner on everything, going back over with a shop vac to try and get it as dry as possible.





While things were apart, I decided to do some TLC. I started with some tears in the drive seat:







It looks pretty rough, but I don't really care as long as it helps prevent further tearing.

Ever since I put in the beaded seat cover to help with back sweat in the summer, I've been sitting too tall in the cabin, and have to tilt my head or slouch to drive. Both of those are bad, so I took the lower seat pan off and cut about a quarter inch of foam from the bucket. Then I hit the pan with a hammer enough to un-dent the spots I had dented in when first installing the mini-subwoofer.

I forgot to take pictures of this part.

Back in the car:


And while I was at it, the steering wheel cover was looking pretty rough, so it got replaced.

 

[nd4sped]

You know the patches on the seats adds some real character LOL. I like it!

 

[ctag]

Well the cola-can exhaust patch held up admirably for a while, but I can hear that it's not sealing anymore.

I'm feeling antsy. It's time for the exhaust system to get replaced.

My understanding is that for a full setup, I'm going to have to replace the headers + downpipe, the catalytic converter (stock one is probably shot at this point), and the catback + muffler. I think I found a catback that I want: the A'pexi WS3. It looks well made and quiet enough for my taste.



But then I'm lost on the headers and cat. Back when I had a del sol I just bought an eBay header set and hit it with a hammer until it fit the engine. I want something nicer for the Mothership, but I'm having a hard time finding anything.

 

[Brak]

just my $0.02, but pretty much any header & system will be fine.
stock D16 won't see much benefit from a fancy exhaust system, but the muffler is a different story.

I havet a cheap ebay "stainless' header with downpipe (seems to be getting hard to find), cost less than $100, and fit was perfect.
A cheap catback system, will get you everything else, but I'd throw away the included fart can, and invest in a "good" muffler that sounds the way you want...
You could always run the included muffler until you find the "right" one.

I tried to go with a OEM equivelent from Walker, but they sent me the "sound FX" version, which is still pretty farty, but not as bad.

 

[Brak]

In regards to the cat, If you choose to run without it, you'll also need to get a "test pipe".
honestly i'd keep the cat, for no other reason than prevent error codes from popping up.

 

[ctag]

Thanks for the advice @Brak

Yeah, after looking back through pictures I have of the old Del Sol's eBay headers, I think that would be just fine for my Civic, but like you said they're not as easy to find anymore.

I'm not looking for performance out of any of this, I just want something that's well made and will last for a while.

 

[Brak]

I'm not looking for performance out of any of this, I just want something that's well made and will last for a while.

Exactly. Tubes are Tubes. all that matters is it's bent to fit correctly.
For $116, that DNA Motorsports catback system (linked above), will give you what you need to fix the patched section..
reuse the current muffler, or add another $100 for a oem style muffler, and you're saving $800+ compared to that Apexi system...

I bet you could probably find the Apexi muffler on its own, for a reasonable price.

 

[nd4sped]

I dont have any D Series parts so cant help on this one. If it was B swapped, I have a DC sports header that would work for you.

 

[ctag]

Exactly. Tubes are Tubes. all that matters is it's bent to fit correctly.
For $116, that DNA Motorsports catback system (linked above), will give you what you need to fix the patched section..
reuse the current muffler, or add another $100 for a oem style muffler, and you're saving $800+ compared to that Apexi system...

I bet you could probably find the Apexi muffler on its own, for a reasonable price.

I missed the grey link color. Thank you for finding that! But I already bought the Apexi and all. I've been daydreaming about doing this work on the civic since about 2012, so I'm not too torn up about spending more than necessary here.

My Nissan truck though... That's one I'd like to find a cheap ebay exhaust for!

 

[Brak]

I meant to include this earlier...
I have found this to be super helpful over the years.

AP Exhaust part numbers.

 

[nd4sped]

By far the best fix/modification. The character this adds is really another level. Just goes to show this guy was 100% born in the 20th century.

 

[ctag]

 

[nd4sped]

Not enough trunk space....../removes passenger seat.

 

[refreshingblueberry]

Haha yeah, the seats are definitely "lived in" - that's part of its charm though, right?

 

[Brak]

Not enough trunk space....../removes passenger seat.

Back when i was still gigging, I regularly removed the passenger seat, in order to fit my bass amp.

 

[ctag]

The stuff arrived. New header is a beautiful piece of kit.



BUT... I'm kicking myself now. I should have held off on those orders long enough to take Brak's advice. Of course it doesn't fit the OEM cat I bought. Header is 2.5inch, and cat is 60.5mm/2.3inch.

I'm not going to run a test pipe, so now I need to either find a shop that will adapt it together, or replace one or the other.