Another track car project? Yes!

Project car #2 is a go!

For all kinds of reasons, the 2000 Civic project is not moving forward very quickly. It seems to me there is little to no chance the car will be ready for the beginning of the season. It was dropped off at Choo's spot on December 8th and nothing has happened since. Neither Choo or I have been treating it like an urgent project. This means that the first half of the 2025 track season, basically May and June, would be a write-off... again. It often happens that I get to the beginning of the season with no usable track car. As I get older, and we take longer summer family trips, this bugs me more and more. I always thought it would be cool to have a Honda Fit to use as a backup track and street car, but they were not that cheap to buy, and then it would need suspension to become a fun track car. It was not worth the money it would cost and Alex would certainly not have been on board. A Fit would have fit nicely into Gridlife's Sundae Cup class in the U.S.A. as well.  

Project car #1

I tried to figure out what could be a fun, cheap project. I have managed to accumulate some parts over the years and I figured I could use some of them to build a really cheap car. The black Civic I bought last summer came with coilovers, wheels and 4-wheel disc brakes. I also thought to contact my friend Marc, who dismantled my crashed Civic EP3 in 2017, to see if he could find the coilovers from the crashed car. At the time, he had told me that one of the corners was blown in the crash, and I figured it was time to see how much a rebuild would cost. I presented the idea of another track car to Alex and made a list of advantages:

•       Participation in the 2025 season by Vince, since the car could be ready so quickly

•       This car would have a back seat, so the whole family would fit in it, which means Vince could finally participate in the inexpensive track events near Deschaillons

•       The full interior would also allow any family members who wanted to attend to go come along for other events as well

•       The new car would use the same wheels and tires Vince already has

•       The new car would eventually allow Vince to participate in certain events in the USA specifically designed for cars with about 100 hp

•       The new car would also allow Vince and accompanying family members to finally enter the Grassroots Motorsports 2000$ Challenge in Florida, at some point

•       Less important but still something: this car would use very little gas compared to our other cars, on the road or on the track

•       It may cost less to finish the other Civic if there is no time constraint

Somehow, Alex was convinced by this! Maybe because I made a Powerpoint presentation? Anyway, I told her I could find a car for 2000$ or less and began to search the classifieds for either a 1996-2000 Civic, likely the base model with 106 hp, or a 2001-2005 Civic, which was maybe more realistic because they are so cheap, given that the 7th generation Civic was the one no one really liked. In 2001, Honda got rid of the double wishbone front suspension and the styling was not that big of a hit. Still, I liked the idea of making a 2004-2005 Honda Michelin challenge replica out of a Coupe. One of my racing friends, JS Labelle, has been tracking a 7th gen Civic sedan for years, and he's not that slow, even with only 115 hp. 

I wasn't really finding any 1996-2000 Civics in my price range that were not total rust buckets, but there were several manual 7th gen cars in my price range. I contactes JS and asked if he was interested in helping me with the project. He was immediately enthusiastic and even offered me to leave any new car there while he worked on it in his spare time. 

I began looking at cars last week. The first one I found was close by. It was a 2005 coupe and it drove really nicely, even with 260 000 km on the odometer. It didn't have cruise control, which I really wanted. The main problem, though, was the rust in the rear quarters, at the bottom of the doors, and a big dent near the trunk. I was encouraged by the fact that even a 1500$ car like this was pleasant to drive, but I wrote it off, because of the condition of the body. Besides, I had an appointment to see a much lower mileage car the next day. 

The first contender

The next day, I drove to St-Jean-sur-Richelieu to see the low-mileage coupe that supposedly had no rust. The car was a dud. It had badly repainted rear quarters and the rocker panels were in bad shape. Also, it was cold and snowing and the car would't start. 

The second car I saw. Note the spray painted quarter and rust hole in the rocker panel.

I was wondering if I would find a car for 2000$ that wasn't a total rust bucket. Were all these cars rusted? I headed to Costco for lunch, and a super clean coupe drove right in front of me! Clearly, there were some clean cars out there...

Super clean coupe at Costco, no "for sale" sign!

I headed home, disappointed, with other prospects of coupes for sale in the ads I'd found. I even drove by the car from the day before, thinking "was the body really so bad?"... It was. I decided to go see a sedan that was really close to my house. I don't love the sedan shape, but JS's car is a sedan, and it looks really good. It helps that his day job is auto detailing.

JS's car (all black), and his buddy's

I went to see a manual sedan that looked terrible in pictures. It was burgundy, the clear-coat was peeling like crazy, and it had a beige interior. In person, it was just as ugly. It was basically rust-free on the surface, but when I reached under to the rockers, with a bit of pressure from my fingers, I could hear crunching sounds. It was 1500$ and the seller seemed motivated, but I just could not get excited about the way the car looked. I have no problem arriving at a track day with a bargain basement car, but I would at least like the look to be somewhat pleasing, and this car wasn't. I called JS, and he said "I have a black interior here and we could wrap the car for about 1000$". I kept this in mind, but didn't bother making an offer. 

I headed back to the classifieds and returned to a weird ad that I had saved. It was a Coupe in a rare yellow colour and it was parked at a Maxi grocery store. The owner said "car is parked, I have no more parking spot, come and pick it up, 800$". It also said not to send a message, just to call, but Facebook had somehow hidden the phone number. I couldn't imagine the car was still there after all the snow we had had. The front bumper was all broken in the photos, which was a strike against as well. I messaged the seller to see if it was still there, and he said it was. I decided to go see it in the parking lot without bothering the seller. That part of Laval was much further than I thought. When I finally arrived at the Maxi, I walked up to the car and got completely soaked trying to dig it out of the snow to take a look at it. 

It had some rust on one rear quarter and a hole at the back of each rocker panel. Still, the body looked mostly intact. I continued brushing snow off the car. When I saw the pattern on the seats, I headed to the back to remove some snow from the bumper and my suspicions were confirmed: this was an Si model. 

Then Si badge had been hidden by snow.

The Si has Vtec and 127 hp instead of 115. It's heavier, mainly due to the options, like the sunroof. The car was a bit rough, but it was 800$ and, honestly, I could see myself showing up at the track in this metallic yellow coupe with its little wing without being at all embarassed. I called the seller and made an appointment for the next morning to try the car. I was beginning to get kind of excited. 

The next morning, I headed back to Laval to meet the seller. He was a young immigrant and seemed really honest and hardworking. He had bought a newer Civic (I think it's the one in the photo above) so he could be an Uber driver, and also worked full-time at the Maxi. I had wondered how someone could leave a car in a Maxi parking lot for days, but I figured as an employee, you can ask for this kind of favour. 

We boosted the car because the battery was completely dead. I removed some snow from in front of the car, soaking my feet once again, and drove it around. There had an exhaust leak and some other small issues, but the car could be driven. I took in on the street, but couldn't test much with all the snow on the road and in the parking lot. The clutch and transmission felt OK, the ride was horrible. I figured there was a problem with a shock or an axle or something, but it didn't deter me, since I was planning to install coilovers and an axle was not an expensive item. I jacked the car up to check out the floor and there were no holes. I could see the exhaust fumes coming out of the mid pipe in a couple of locations, given the cold weather. I decided not to try to negotiate the very fair price and we made a deal at 800$. 

Broken bumper, some rust, but over all not too bad.

I had arranged for my Mom to help my pick up the car if I bought it, so I went all the way back to Montreal to get her. We got back to the Maxi and I made my mom give me a ride in the Subaru to check that she still remembered how to properly drive a manual car... She did! The plan was to drive further north to JS's house and leave the car there. Of course, we hit a major traffic jam and there was a small but important issue with the car: the windshield washer spray didn't work. We got off the highway, at at McDonald's, and when I investigated why the windshield washer would not spray, I found a ruptured hose and when trying to re-attach it, I only made it worse. After a while, the traffic cleared up and we left the car at JS's house in Ste-Sophie, parked nose to nose with his backup Civic so he could boost my car when he needed to test drive it. 

Safely parked at JS's house

Since I dropped off the car, I went to pick up the coilovers, and Marc denied ever telling me one of the shocks was blown, which I thought was funne. When I got home, I looked on YouTube to see how to test a shock and, sure enough, it was fine! There were a couple of small bends in the top plate where the camber adjustment bolts slide, but I brought it to Pat Boyer and he straightened them out in 5 minutes. 

My old Dynamic coilovers will find a new use

Top plate before Pat straightened the adjustment grooves

JS has test driven the car and suspects a broken shock. He confirmed that the floor of the car is in good shape. I have a list of small repairs we have to make, but I think there is every chance the car can be usable on track as soon as the snow melts... I hope I'm right! Stay tuned...