Honda Civic Mk2 "CyberCivic" (1982)

[maksim.drachov]

Introduction

Last summer I bought a 1982 Honda Civic:

My reasoning was simple: I didn’t particularly need a car (at least not day-to-day) given the decent public transport options available in Tallinn. However, during the summer I was missing the freedom of having one.

My last car was a VW Polo Mk4, which, while practical, I never really felt any kind of emotional connection with. I attribute this to the fact that it was recent enough (from 2008) to be mostly plasticy and therefore soulless. I guess that’s why when I crashed it, I didn’t really think twice about selling it (although it was still very much salvageable).

This time around I decided that since it wasn’t going to be my daily driver anyway, I might as well have a little fun. Eventually I found this Honda and it was love at first sight to be honest. I bought it in Belgium and had to move it to Estonia, which I feel proves the “love at first sight” part, because in hindsight this was extremely stupid: I would have to drive 2000 km in a car I had never driven before, if it broke down on the road, not something that can’t be expected from a car this vintage, there was very little I would have been able to do. In addition to that, it turned out that getting temporary plates for the car was a bureaucratic nightmare (it’s Belgium, I should have known better tbh), but after much suffering (story for another day) I did manage to get the car to Estonia. To its credit: it drove itself all the way.

Anyway, in this thread I will be maintaining something of a log book of all the things I do with the car in terms of maintenance and modifications. My goal is to learn as much as possible about how maintain an ICE car, part of the reason I decided to go with such an old one is that they’re very simple, so great for a n00b like me. Down the road I’d also like to make some modifications (nothing that’s not reversible) in order to make it look a bit more “cyberpunk”, I will be drawing inspiration from this car in Cyberpunk 2077:

More picture here and here.

Maintenance

• Change engine oil
  • Replace oil filter
• Change transmission oil
• Replace fuel filter
• Replace rubber belt
  • Extra: Replace rubber hoses
• Clean out two-way valve on fuel tank and put back the original tank cap (right now it suffers from the same issue as this Jay Leno’s garage episode)
• Deep clean of hard to reach places like door frame
  • Apply new grease to all hinges
• Repair front window wiper motor (sometimes it gets stuck in the middle?)
• Assemble a finishing/polishing machine and use whenever possible to clean old parts (todo: look up if possible to apply anti-rust layer after polishing?)
• Remove rust spots from front bumper

Modifications

• Use YubiKey Bio for all locks (ignition, door, and storage)
• Set up CanFace CF3 to automatically start audio recording for the first 60 seconds after ignition for predictive maintance/data analysis.
• Improve audio system
  • Improve noise isolation?
• Replace clock area (there’s no clock there, just a plastic cap) with small screen (Similar to CanFace CF3)
• New Cyberpunk-inspired tail lights

(generated using Gemini)

[maksim.drachov]

Day 1: Engine oil change

Date	2026-03-21
Km Driven	(insert number)

For the first day I decided to take a stab at the basics: engine oil change.

I ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazog:

• Hydraulic jack

• Jack stands

• Oil change canister

• Disposable gloves

• Oil “Classic 10W-40”

• Oil filter

Notes

My first step was going to be to assemble the hydraulic lift. After unpacking it (had to borrow scissors from a neighbour-garagist) and (starting to) assemble it, I realized I didn’t have the necessary tools: circlip pliers and socket set (with large sockets, the ones I got from the office weren’t going to cut it). Alright, I’ll just use the portable jack then. Let’s change sum oil…

The instructions for doing the oil change were relatively simple:

1. Warm up engine
2. Take off oil refill cap
3. Unbolt drain plug
4. Let oil drain out
5. Unscrew oil filter
6. Screw in new oil filter
7. Bolt in drain plug
8. Refill fresh oil

(Off the top of my head, manual is in the garage)

I lifted the car using the portable jack, it doesn’t lift high enough to be able to put in the jack stands, but we like to live on the edge, don’t we folks? It was enough for me to be able to reach the drain bolt. I put on my nitrile gloves, pulled the oil change canister underneath the car and started trying to unscrew it. It didn’t budge. Now I’m applying quite a bit of force: still nothing. By this time I was starting to get a little worried about my whole “living on the edge” schtik, you see: the car was standing on a single point of failure: the portable jack, but in combination with the sideways force I was applying to the engine to unscrew the drain plug, I was getting increasingly worried about what if it slipped. It’s good enough for changing a tire, but I didn’t want to seipuku myself by dropping a car on my head.

A couple months back I had watched a Youtube video on how to do an oil change, there the guy used these plastic on-ramps, so I decided to go looking for a pair in the local car parts store.

After getting back with my new car ramps, it was time for a second attempt at the drain bolt, this time with the edge being at a more comfortable distance. After struggling for another 10 minutes or so, I managed to unscrew it, and the oil started gushing out.

Next step was unscrewing the oil filter which came off relatively easily. Unfortunately, I realized that I had ordered the wrong type of oil filter since the new ones were much smaller, I had specifically consulted with ChatGPT on this point. Lesson: car mechanics is probably going to hold out a lot longer than software engineer as a career. EDIT: use this website.

I went back to the car parts store again, this time to look for the oil filter I needed, however they didn’t have it in stock and I could place an order. I was briefly considering buying the tools necessary for assembling the hydraulic jack (one less thing to worry about next time I thought), but after checking the prices it turned out to be twice as expensive as ordering them on amazon.de. I decided there was point in rushing: I would just order the right parts and continue next week.

I was done with the “fun” part and the remaining time was spent on bringing the oil to the toxic waste deposit and cleaning the mess I had made. For my first day it went as well as it could be expected I suppose. I still need to get my toolset up to a respectable level so I don’t get held up by trivialities like not having an assembled lift.