The rear hatch struts were completely blown and the trunk would close on its own. We replaced the struts with some cheap Chinese struts we got online. It’s a minor fix, but one that will make damper adjustments and interior work much safer. $20 is a small price to pay to prevent a concussion.When we brought the Civic home we noticed it was almost out of gas. We stopped at a gas station and watched about a gallon of gas pour out the bottom of the car. Peeking underneath it looked to be a broken fuel filler. Once on stands we were able to confirm the problem. Seems a rodent decided this would be a tasty snack and got the worst possible chaser to wash it down. This is a major safety issue to address.New filler neck couplers are no longer available and used couplers run at least $100. We found some 1 ⅜” universal filler neck online. Two feet of it was $26. We only needed about 10” but buying extra gave us plenty of room for screw ups. Removing the old coupler required removing the fill neck from the body which is most easily accessed climbing in and out of the trunk. Those new trunk struts paid for themselves doing this job.I actually got the “measure twice cut once” thing correct and had a perfect length the first try. We replaced the old rusty clamps with some used clamps I swiped at the local pick and pull. The new filler doesn’t have the nice kink to line things up correctly but there is enough flex in the system to make it work.Cosmetics are low on the list of racecar prep, but I could not STAND the ugly duct tape all over the Civic’s lights. The lenses are glass and require tape for road racing safety. I peeled all the nasty tape off and was pleasantly surprised to find the headlights still worked. I would like the Civic to have working lights. This will never be a street car but I think having working head and tail lights will be important for safety on a wet track day. Working hazards will also be helpful if we experience trouble on track. For now we have working brake and headlights, along with taillights that work when they want to. We’ll eventually clean the lenses and use some clear vinyl wrap to make them safe but usable. We will also figure out why the rest of the lights are being temperamental.You will notice in the previous image that the turn signals came out. Neither were screwed in and were only held in by the tape. On the driver’s side I pulled a chunk of discarded rubber the size of a grapefruit from the cavity behind the turn signal. Free weight savings!
Glad you’re enjoying! There will be a lot more actual racecar content coming soon. I’ve driven the car, I love it, and now it’s time to give it the TLC it really deserves. I’ve got a big pile of parts that are starting to go in and you’ll be reading about that early next year. Thanks for reading.
2 comments
Really enjoy this content! Looking forward to see how the car progresses.
Glad you’re enjoying! There will be a lot more actual racecar content coming soon. I’ve driven the car, I love it, and now it’s time to give it the TLC it really deserves. I’ve got a big pile of parts that are starting to go in and you’ll be reading about that early next year. Thanks for reading.