I bought a '99 Civic LX yesterday. I'll pick it up on Wednesday. While the body/paint is not great, the mechanicals look excellent. At least there's no rust (that I saw) on this vehicle.
It started life as an automatic but the guy I bought it from (ASE mechanic) converted it to a 5 spd manual (EX tranny) when the auto failed at 118k miles. It now has 151k on it.
Here's a partial list of what's been done:
Timing belt and water pump at 134,500
Valve cover gasket at 134,500
Coolant and radiator at 145k
Clutch kit and flywheel at 118k
Transmission fluid at 118k
Idle air control valve at 124k
Fuel system cleaning at 124k
A/c compressor bearing replaced and AC recharged at 145k
New struts: front at 148k and rear at 138k
Alignment
New 70000 mile Firestone tires
Catalytic converter at 130k
Both oxygen sensors: Front at 100k, rear at 130k
Spark plugs, distributor cap, and rotor button at 145k
Distributor/o-ring at 148k
Keyless entry
Yellow fog lights
Starter
Exhaust system (Flowmaster, but it's not loud or I'd pass!)
Air filter at 145k
Rear motor mount at 130k
Driver side motor mount at 115k
The only thing I know it needs is a new AC belt.
I believe he had to put a 5spd starter in it too as the starter on the auto version is different and won't work on a 5 spd. The tires are P195/60R15 instead of the factory P185/65R14. Maybe that will offset (a little) the final drive which is listed as 4.06 for the 5 spd and 4.36 for the auto. He didn't change the final drive when he did the tranny swap, so I expect it will turn higher rpms for a given speed compared to a stock 5 spd Civic.
Overall, it appears the mechanical are in great shape. He used synthetic oil and changed it every 3k miles (overkill in my book) for the 7 years he's owned it.
The title is clean. He says it doesn't burn any oil (no visible sign of smoke). The paint is.. homegrown.. and is more of a matte finish. The body panels aren't all lined up nice and pretty like I'd prefer, so I suspect a wreck at some point, but he says when he sanded it down, there was no bondo anywhere. It drives straight, so for a beater, I thought it was hard to pass up with the strong mechanicals.
I looked at a 1 owner '99 a couple of days earlier with 131k on the clock. The original paint (silver blue?) had faded so badly it didn't even match the bumpers. Maintenance was not as evident, even though it had the factory 5 spd. I think it had a TB service, but the details were sketchy. It drove and ran very nice. Except there was an unusual scratchy/warbling noise in reverse when the clutch pedal was depressed. The noise slowed as vehicle speed slowed. That was a head scratcher so I passed on that one.
Also, I thought all Hondas used blue coolant. The ones I've looked at all have green coolant in them. The mechanic told me that's what most all independent shops use. I guess it's ok as long as it doesn't have silicates in it.
I'm hoping this won't be a money pit and will give me some good, reliable 3rd car transportation. The mpgs won't hurt either! And the kids get to learn how to drive a straight drive, which I believe is an important skill to have, even though manuals seems to be less and less evident on new cars these days.
It started life as an automatic but the guy I bought it from (ASE mechanic) converted it to a 5 spd manual (EX tranny) when the auto failed at 118k miles. It now has 151k on it.
Here's a partial list of what's been done:
Timing belt and water pump at 134,500
Valve cover gasket at 134,500
Coolant and radiator at 145k
Clutch kit and flywheel at 118k
Transmission fluid at 118k
Idle air control valve at 124k
Fuel system cleaning at 124k
A/c compressor bearing replaced and AC recharged at 145k
New struts: front at 148k and rear at 138k
Alignment
New 70000 mile Firestone tires
Catalytic converter at 130k
Both oxygen sensors: Front at 100k, rear at 130k
Spark plugs, distributor cap, and rotor button at 145k
Distributor/o-ring at 148k
Keyless entry
Yellow fog lights
Starter
Exhaust system (Flowmaster, but it's not loud or I'd pass!)
Air filter at 145k
Rear motor mount at 130k
Driver side motor mount at 115k
The only thing I know it needs is a new AC belt.
I believe he had to put a 5spd starter in it too as the starter on the auto version is different and won't work on a 5 spd. The tires are P195/60R15 instead of the factory P185/65R14. Maybe that will offset (a little) the final drive which is listed as 4.06 for the 5 spd and 4.36 for the auto. He didn't change the final drive when he did the tranny swap, so I expect it will turn higher rpms for a given speed compared to a stock 5 spd Civic.
Overall, it appears the mechanical are in great shape. He used synthetic oil and changed it every 3k miles (overkill in my book) for the 7 years he's owned it.
The title is clean. He says it doesn't burn any oil (no visible sign of smoke). The paint is.. homegrown.. and is more of a matte finish. The body panels aren't all lined up nice and pretty like I'd prefer, so I suspect a wreck at some point, but he says when he sanded it down, there was no bondo anywhere. It drives straight, so for a beater, I thought it was hard to pass up with the strong mechanicals.
I looked at a 1 owner '99 a couple of days earlier with 131k on the clock. The original paint (silver blue?) had faded so badly it didn't even match the bumpers. Maintenance was not as evident, even though it had the factory 5 spd. I think it had a TB service, but the details were sketchy. It drove and ran very nice. Except there was an unusual scratchy/warbling noise in reverse when the clutch pedal was depressed. The noise slowed as vehicle speed slowed. That was a head scratcher so I passed on that one.
Also, I thought all Hondas used blue coolant. The ones I've looked at all have green coolant in them. The mechanic told me that's what most all independent shops use. I guess it's ok as long as it doesn't have silicates in it.
I'm hoping this won't be a money pit and will give me some good, reliable 3rd car transportation. The mpgs won't hurt either! And the kids get to learn how to drive a straight drive, which I believe is an important skill to have, even though manuals seems to be less and less evident on new cars these days.
