Post YOUR Hatchback here
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By LowNslow
#358456 Picked up a 95 eg off craigslist. It's seen better days but the engine is still strong at 220k, no leaks or burning oil. Body is mostly straight but I suspect there is some rust hidden under the rattle can paint.

Goals:
respray entire car gloss white
wire tuck engine bay
rebuild the D15 in it and daily it that way
I am a big fan of stanced cars so I'm gonna build one of my own.
wide wheels tucked under rolled fenders with a tasteful/practical amount of negative camber.
re upholster interior in leather
custom sub set up
convert to rear disc brakes


end of day 1 pulling body panels off and sanding/ dent pulling. as I suspected, there are some rust areas up near the rear wheels, and a couple bondo repairs in the quarterpanels. Tomorrow I'll begin pulling the cancer out of it and repairing the panels.

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front bumper had too much damage to be worth repairing, ordered a new one online. Ill take the lip off the old one and clean it up before transferring it

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Also put in an order for some adjustable control arms, coil overs, 15 in wheels, and various other odds and ends.

The car looks like its been in a couple fender benders and the hood doesnt latch properly anymore. The frame is slightly twisted in the area around the latch. If I had access to a welder I'd just fabricate something to replace the area. But for now I'll just straighten what I can and switch to locking hood pins.

Just need to save up to put rubber on the 15's now.
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By TrailerTrash
#358462 welcome to the forum dude!

post lots of pics :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
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By LowNslow
#358472 Day 3 sundown

started the day doing some body filler touch ups, straightening panels, ect.
After that I washed, dried, and taped off all windows and laid down a dark grey primer coat, I like the new look already. Its all 1 color at least now
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Also took the time to roll all my fenders in preperation for the new wheels.
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Still have a little bit of final straightening to do but I'm waiting on the front bumper to arrive so I can attach it to the fenders before bending anything further. I want all the seams and body lines in place.
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UPS was on point today, my new wheels showed up 4 days early along with a new set of anodized red lug nuts.
15x9 +15 AVID 1 brand
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test fit time
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good thing I rolled the fenders, a little camber and tire stretch combo and it'll tuck in nicely
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Cant do much else to it until the suspension gets here, so ill probably switch focus to the engine bay and start the wire tuck. till tomorrow :thumb:
By 95DXHatch
#358473 Nice progress man, those wheels look minty fresh! :thumb:
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By LowNslow
#358486 Hit a snag while trying to remove the old suspension parts.
Even after hours of soaking in WD-40 the lower shock bolt snapped immediatly
rounded off another right next to it. and to top it off, the bushing sleeve for the camber arm is frozen to the bolt so I cant remove the arm to install the adjustable one. And I can only assume the other side will be the same way. Tempted to just pull the entire rear out and replace it. Otherwise im going to have to cut the bolts out, drill and tap whats left.
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Tried locking pliers, and heat with a torch but no go. sad day
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By teal_dx
#358511 Those suspension pics remind me of every honda I've owned, living here in Ohio. Winters are not kind to these cars. I've had a lot of suspension bolts break when the bolts are rusted inside of the bushing sleeve. Nice work so far!
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By TrailerTrash
#358517
teal_dx wrote:Those suspension pics remind me of every honda I've owned!


Amen brother.

it can be quite the challenge but it usually pays off in the end. keep at it and dont give up :thumb:
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By LowNslow
#358522 Took a day off enjoy the Oregon trails and forget about all my scraped and busted knuckles :woot:
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Annnd we're back..
I spent a couple hours working on bolts with a hand hacksaw and managed to remove 1 of the rear LCA's, before my buddy saved the day and brought me a sawzall. Due to the low clearance under the car, It was easier for me to just remove the entire trailing arm and cut the pieces apart 1 by 1

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If I had the funds at this point, it would make more sense for me to do the rear disc swap now with everything dismantled. But I'll just have to be patient.
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left rear has been re assembled. This is an ebay kit I picked up that has worked well for a few of my cars in the past. Along with some coil over conversion sleeves. On a bit of a budget so this works for now. I dont plan to rally the thing anyway.

Replaced my rear shocks with a pair of Monroes.
Using temporary bolts to hold everything together until I cant get to a Honda service desk and get a new set of factory hardware.
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Will throw some new drums and pads on it with a new spring kit this week before putting the wheels on. Once its ready for rubber I'll prob trailer it to the alignment shop. I've measured and set the new parts to as close to factory as possible but better safe than sorry.

Locking hood pins also showed up in the mail, so I'll be fitting the hood for those soon and deleting the old hood latch area.
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By LowNslow
#358542 Finally reassembled everything and got a chance to adjust the ride height a little. Wont know its exact height till tomorrow when I have 2 tires mounted for a test fit. Gonna give 205/50/R15 a try. I wanted 60 series but the guy at Big O Tires was so sure they wouldn't fit that I decided not to argue with him till he sees just what I'm doing to this thing.
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sitting about 5in off the ground on bricks right now, the aren't very tall to begin with so stretched over a 9 in wheel will make it just under 4in tall.
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the coil sleeves are set to their lowest point so this is as low as it gets till I get a hold of some real coils. Should look fine if I find just the right size tires to fill the gap. Tomorrow I'll know for sure.

Probably going to invest in some adjustable toe arms for the rear. I'm not sure if the stock ones are going to work for this amount of camber.
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By LowNslow
#358547 Well after sitting around at the tire shop for 3 hours while they attempted to seat the beads on the tires. the 205's actually turned out beefier than I was expecting. The car will have a more aggressive stance than I had anticipated due mostly to the fact that my coil over sleeves only go so low. But the more I look at it, the more I like the rally stance. Won't have to camber nearly as much as I had thought so thats a plus, will save me some tire life as well
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more updates once I get the last 2 tires and have it aligned.
After that its a decent paint job and on to the interior restore.

:thumb:
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By LowNslow
#358580 Well just a minor update for today,

cleaned up a few more body panels before throwing down a layer of red paint.
In the future it will get a real paint job, but for now Colonial Red rattle can will do. Gonna give it another layer in the morning and wet sand it before giving it a clear coat. not bad for 25$

Tomorrow my last 2 tires will be delivered and mounted. Then I can get around to aligning it. I cant wait to have it mobile again!

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