Mel's 2000 Civic Si

[FDSpirit]

Well, I guess I should make a thread for my car finally. As most of you know, this is my first stick shift car. Got it last year with about 115k on the odo. Funny story about this whole thing.
My friend got an 04 WRX wagon which happened to be a standard. She was fairly new to driving and I wanted to get a new car, so I saw this as an opportunity. Had a lesson which was okay, but I wanted more. My friend said he'd give me lessons, even though he didn't have a manual car at the time . I hit up the internets and found this car:

Everything just seemed "right" about the car....until I popped the hood. The entire bay was rusty. I mean everything. It looked very neglected. I was a little disappointed that the Carfax was empty from 2005 and on . The guy didn't know, so I felt uneasy about it. I felt like a sad panda by now. My friend said just give it time and I'll get something good.
So,I was out in my job's parking lot working on the Corolla for something. Don't even remember. Finished up, drove over to my girlfriend's house. Saw a black Civic just sitting in a grass patch(more about that later) with a for sale sign on it. I pulled up next to it and saw the Si badge. I immediately called my friend after I sent him a photo of the car. I saw the number written on the windshield and decided to call. The number looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I called it and it was the same exact guy who sold me my Corolla! He always places his cars in high traffic flow areas, which is a smart idea. We got a test drive and I immediately fell in love with the car(well, not really. That's illegal). The car has daily driver scrapes, dings, and a nasty little gash(which I'm taking care of right now). Other than that, the car was in great shape. Then I found this site and the peeps here have helped me tremendously with just about everything I've asked. I'd like to say you guys rock. One of the very few websites with a good community with very very very few jerks on it.
So, I've got only a few photos right now, but I can take some more.
Engine bay needs some TLC this summer:

A few body shots:


(no fart can! )

My aluminum shift knob. Great weight, but horrible with the weather here:

Back to the mandingo shifter:


I'll try and snap some more interior photos tomorrow. As for reliability, I haven't really run into anything major. Most of the issues are from just worn out things. Tie rod ends went. Had to change the brake pads and rotors. POS battery the PO had was god awful. Got a Duralast gold and no more cold weather starting issues. I changed the transmission fluid over to Redline MTL. Effing amazing. If they make it for your car, I'd at least give it a try. I got a leather shift boot from redlinegoods.com. Easy install and adds some type of class to the interior. Installed an AUX setup for my MP3 player. Recently change the antifreeze(breaker bar FTW). Did a tune-up, but ran into an issue. 2 of the 3 screws holding the distributor in place literally snapped. I applied next to no force taking them out. Cap still works like it should with one, but I've gotta get those 2 screws out. Also had the timing belt and water pump taken care of.

[potownrob]

nice car
welcome to the SS btw

[eggwich delfiero]

Your car is sweet dude. Needs a fartcan is all.
Dang, overshadowed by 4th of July weekend I guess; how many times have I alone asked you for pics of your car, then you finally post em, along with a good backstory, and you get ONE comment?

SS, I am disappoint.

Potownrob,I am proud.

WUZ GOOD

[FDSpirit]

. It's cool. I had just never had any photos or motivation to post and photos. Then everyone else started making threads for their cars, so I finally decided to. I think I've found what exhaust I wanna get though:

It isn't obnoxiously loud and doesn't look too far off from stock.

[noob5,000,000]

Wait, it's not blue?





Looks hawt.

[94Corolla5Speed]

Me likey. I've always liked the EK Civics. My buddy in HS had (still has I believe) a silver EX manual. I drove it, and other than the lack of headroom, it was sweet. Very communicative. Si seems like it would be even more awesome.

[DKaz]

Nice find. Patience always pays when finding a car...

[FDSpirit]

Thankz goize . Yeah. I think my patience helped me in the long run. I had pretty much given up looking for a new car when I found it strangely enough. And yeah. The car is really responsive. The steering is really great. I really do enjoy driving it. I can see why a lot of people like the Honda of yesteryear.

[FDSpirit]

Took this a few days ago(I should invest in an actual camera):

[potownrob]

. It's cool. I had just never had any photos or motivation to post and photos. Then everyone else started making threads for their cars, so I finally decided to. I think I've found what exhaust I wanna get though:

It isn't obnoxiously loud and doesn't look too far off from stock.

if you can still find the RS*R ExMag that was a nice exhaust on my 94 Civic EX with Pacesetter cat, 4-2-1 DC header and AEM shortram intake. Of course, when I got the Maxima, it took me a while to be able to hear the engine

[DKaz]

Mmm 8,000 RPM.

[FDSpirit]

Hmmmm. Guess I can post what I wanna get done here:
Another tune-up maybe in a year or so which includes:
New fuel filter
Plugs
Wires
Fix the broken screws in the distributor cap. Replace cap and rotor as well
Paint the valve cover. Debating whether to just repaint it black or perhaps red? Both look really nice

Clean up the engine bay. Yes. I still haven't gotten around to it
Detail the car. Gonna try and get this done before November.

It's gonna be a tough call for a few of these things since I'll be starting school and I'm gonna be in nerd mode then.

[gburn]

Hi Mel. Nice pictures. I like your instruments--black/white, industrial and German look. I also like the set-up in my 2008 Si, with the digital speedometer on top of the large tach--easy to take in both at a glance. I thought it was strange at first.
About the AEM air intake in the picture--does it add noticeably to performance? Any difficulty in installing? As a Honda certified used car mine is still under a warranty. I wonder if that would be voided if I put one in.
George

[potownrob]

hey gburn, i'm not sure how they work in the si or newer civics, but the aem shortram i had in my 94 ex didn't do too much by itself other than help throttle response. i did get a ticket the night i put in my shortram after getting too excited by the throttle response and racing another civic (first and last time, in that car at least). it was when i put in the exhaust and expecially after the header that i noticed the power increase. what's funny is i took out the shortram intake before selling the car (but left the aftermarket exhaust and header) and honestly didn't notice the difference . if your stock intake tubing is bigger than that on the older civics (which was tiny tubing), then you may benefit from a k&n or similar drop-in filter and this shouldn't void the warranty as far as i know. a cold air intake will obviously work better (for racing applications at least) than a shortram, keep in mind .

[FDSpirit]

Compared to what I had before(the huge CAI), there is a minor bump in day to day driving rev range, which is up to 3k. It doesn't sound any different though until about 3.5k. I didn't notice this until yesterday when I kept it in 2nd going up a hill. I've opened the hood on one of the newer Si's and there is like no room for work . Your best bet would be to check some of the DIY sites for your gen of Civics. I frequent civicforums.com for a lot of DiY stuff. Semi decent crowd. Much better than the crowd on Hondatech.com .