Introduction
Last summer I bought a Honda Civic from 1982. 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 a bit of the fun and freedom offered by having your own car (as opposed to having to plan in advance and rent one). My last car was a VW Polo Mk4 which was practical but I never really felt any kind of emotional connection with, so when I crashed it I didn’t really think twice about selling it (although it wasn’t really that bad, still very much salvageable). This time I decided that since it wasn’t going to be my daily driver anyway, I might as well pick something interesting. Eventually I found this 1982 Honda Civic and it was kind of love at first sight (true love) and so I bought it (in Belgium) and got it to Estonia (which was not a fun experience due to the inherent nature of Belgian bureaucracy being tuned to exterminate all will to live, but that’s a story for another day). Also I’ve decided that I’d like to do everything related to maintaining/modifying this car myself, when looking to for a car I was specifically looking for something older since 1) it wouldn’t have all the modern “features” which I’ve come to hate (I drive new cars regularly using Bolt Drive) like the speed warning beeps, or the feeling when the steering wheel starts “guiding” me and/or breaking automatically (the car should either drive itself or let me do it) and 2) the mechanical systems should be simple enough so that I can finally build an intuitive understanding of how ICE engines work (I’ve always only understood the high-level, not the “nuts and bolts” so to say).
Anyway, in this post I will just keep track of all the todo’s, both related to maintenance (higher priority) and modifications (lower priority, just for keeping track of ideas mostly).
Maintenance
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Change engine oil
- Replace oil filter
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Change transmission oil
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Replace fuel filter
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Replace rubber belt
- Extra: Replace rubber hoses
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Clean out two-way valve and put back the original tank cap
-
Deep clean of hard to reach places like door frame
- Apply new grease to all hinges
-
Repair front window wiper motor
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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
- Improve audio system
- Improve noise isolation?
- New Cyberpunk-inspired tail lights
- Replace clock area (there’s no clock there, just a plastic cap) with small screen (Similar to CanFace CF3)