March Entry: 1996 Honda Civic

thedarksyde · 03-12-05, 01:39

This 1996 black civic was originall mine. I had it until about 6 months ago, when I gave it to my girlfriend. I bought a new car and now it was hers. It has a lot of problems, gross old headlights, a busted windsheild, dents, something leaking in the trunk, worn old paint, dents, and all that. The car ran great, and was never an issue so she was glad to have it.

First the headlights HAD to be changed, so I bought new ones and those were installed, this was a hige jump in the look already.

I started reading Autopia for my Audi, and then a storm hit. LIghting, hail, everything, she came home and said...I drove through a tree. A whole tree had fallen and she drown through the crown on the tree, scratches ALL over the car. Made it look worse than it ever did, so I decided it was time for a complete make over. The headlights started it, and then scratches made it a full project.

Before any body work could be done, there was an issue. The trunk. It leaked, was rusting, and made pools of water in the bottom, it made the inside fog up and smell so bad. And she wanted a sub, can't have a sub if there is a lake in the trunk.

Trunk Before, with water in the bottom.

Steps:
1. Sand trunk to get all of rust out, all rust had to be destroyed.
2. Drill holes in bottom for water to escape (Attempts at sealing the leaks were unsucessful.
3. Primer bottom so no more rust occurs.

Trunk after:

The engine had never been cleaned, so I went to it with some Simple Green and Engine Degreaser...It looked way better, but not the best work, I feel.

Before:

After:

thedarksyde · 03-12-05, 01:42

Now to the main event, the body was BAD. I was amazed at what the tree did. Here are the before pics...

Here are the scratches, and swirls some of these are after a car wash.

thedarksyde · 03-12-05, 01:44

Reflections

Broken Windsheild and faded windsheild wipers

thedarksyde · 03-12-05, 01:46

Steps for body...
1. Wash, using meiguars gold class, two bucket method.
2. Cly using clay magic.
3. 2x layers of 3M PI-III RC. This was my first use of a PC, as I bought it for this task, and it was quite a hard job. After the RC, I was amazed at how bad and how good it looked, it was getting better, but it also was micro mared, and I was worried.
4. 3M PI-III MG. Now it was starting to take shape and I was amazed at how good it was looking, but we were not done yet.
5. Plexus on all plastic parts. The MG was sticking to them really bad, this took a bit of work.
6. 2 Layers of AIO. Amazing, I wanted to quit right there and take pics and show everyone but I knew I had to do more...
7. SG. The final step, put on by hand, and wiped off by hand, tons of work went into this, but it was sooo worth it.
8. Take off windsheild wiper bladers sand, and paint, used metal black flat.
9. Replace windsheild. After all the work we could not have been roling with that busted sheild, so it got changed as well. It is thrown in here, becuase it was part of the change, I did not replace the windsheild. (This was done prior to the polishing of the car)

So without further ado...

The Roof!

Roof Reflection

Trunk Reflection

Windsheild

Hello

I am amazed at how great it looks, and I am proud to have done it. The front end is a mess and I know that. The paint is chipping all over the place, it really is bad. You can see it in some of the pics, if we spend more, I will be replacing the hood and front bumper, and getting the whole car painted (she wants candy apple purple) I don't know if I want to spend that much. We shall see.

Things I learned:
I learned I can do this stuff myself, which is amazing to me, I am not a tool user, or a do-it yourselfer, but I did it all, and this site is the reason I can do it all. Everything I learned here, from Microfiber, to what products to use, to what AIO was, how to use a PC, and the amazing pics of other peoples cars, to learn it can be done. Thanks for everything!

NEXT:
The interior, which is really not that bad, but it could use a shampoo, I do not have the equipement or supplies for this yet.

thedarksyde · 03-12-05, 01:54

Mods could you change the title to include March Entry, I am unable to do so myself. Thanks.

ZaneO · 03-12-05, 02:33

You did a great job! That's an awesome transformation. A good deal of value has been added back to the car now.

Looks like a little of that infamous SG hazing in the after pictures...

hirosh · 03-12-05, 02:54

wow. awesome transformation.

Axe · 03-12-05, 03:12

Massive improvement, gets my vote

AkronSi · 03-15-05, 06:29

Wow. Great transformation. What kind of headlights are those? They sure are an improvement over the old ones.

thedarksyde · 03-15-05, 10:40

They were purchased on ebay...(I can't remember the name)

They were not the highest quality, and everything I read up on them said you have to seal them when you get them, becuase the seam is kinda weak and moisture could get in.

We sealed them and they are awesome and we have had a lot of rain latley. They are angel eye, HID lights, and work WAY better than the old civic OEM lights. No problems so far...

vdog0531 · 03-27-05, 09:58

looks like you got some hazing and holograms still occuring. still a great improvement!

Vernon

PrinzII · 03-29-05, 09:48

dark: Nice turnaround on that Civic. Good luck.