98 Civic rebuild... Yes, 98 Civic...

[Cyanide Jello]

So, I trashed my 98 Civic a while back and I'm lookin for some parts that are not stock... I need your help... I've trolled and trolled and am not comin up w/ what I'm lookin for...

This is the sex which used to be my hatch...

And it turned into this...

Now for what I'm planning...

I wanna go from this...

To this...

I like the first photoshop more b/c its cleaner but won't allow for the use of a signal lamp like I want... The second one will... What I'm lookin for is some unversal headlight buckets... I'm not lookin for anything nice or chromed b/c the bucket w/ probably be welded in and have additions made onto it... I'm also lookin for some GLASS headlights... Help?

I'm also plotting a slanted chop...

Original...

'shop

This one shows the change...

Suggestions on this would be nice as well...

PS. I know this is not what you guys are used to seeing but I'm a fan for the nontraditional, nonconventional builds... *puts flame suit on*

 

[Wrinkles]

what happened????? oh, maby Im on the wrong forum.

 

[Sam_Fear]

Anybody ever chop those? My $.02: Keep the rear window full since it looks like a bear to cut without breakage. Personally I don't like tilted back windshields so I'd either cut the top off the windshield or sink it into the firewall.

Probably have to cut the top off the windshield and widen the roof to match or your going to have big problems getting the side windows to fit. Even then, keeping the rear full, will make it necessary to cut the side windows. Might be just as well to cut the rear too - then you wouldn't need to touch the door glass.

Unless you tilt the front or back, you'll need to lengthen the roof.

That looks like a tough chop if you want side glass.

Love the idea with the lights! Can't you just go junk yard some parts for those?

 

[Cyanide Jello]

what happened????? oh, maby Im on the wrong forum.

Racing... I got swerved at then put the front end into the guard rail somewhere around 90mph...

Anybody ever chop those? My $.02: Keep the rear window full since it looks like a bear to cut without breakage. Personally I don't like tilted back windshields so I'd either cut the top off the windshield or sink it into the firewall.

Probably have to cut the top off the windshield and widen the roof to match or your going to have big problems getting the side windows to fit. Even then, keeping the rear full, will make it necessary to cut the side windows. Might be just as well to cut the rear too - then you wouldn't need to touch the door glass.

Unless you tilt the front or back, you'll need to lengthen the roof.

That looks like a tough chop if you want side glass.

Love the idea with the lights! Can't you just go junk yard some parts for those?

Theres a guy local that did a chop on the same car... But I can't find the original owner that performed the chop and can't seem to track down the current owner to look at the car... Every time I see the car, its going the opposite direction of what I am...

As far as the back glass goes, its a very compound curved glass. I didn't plan on chopping it, hence the slanted chop. I love the way it looks... I think it'd look mean from the front.... I wanted to do somethin not so aggressive yet have a noticeable difference..

The front however, I was considering pushing it down into the firewall...

The rear sides and doors I could just do plexi... Had contemplated on making the rear windows into wing windows like on my 89 ED3... The only thing holding the door glass in is 2 10mm bolts so that wouldn't be hard to fix at all... And there are no real tracks...

And yes I was going to lengthen the roof instead of cut the pillars all to crap... The only thing I'm worried about w/ that is is the "drip rails/channels" that run down the top of the car... I'm worried I wouldn't be able to make it look right... Or I could just shave the channel all together... ^_^

For the headlights, I was hoping to find just a universal round bucket for headlights... Its just such a pain to fab somethin like that up... As far as lookin in a junkyard goes, I may be able to hack somethin out of a VW but I doubt most of the junkers around here would let me do somethin like that, I'd prob have to pull the whole core support... Other than what I just mentioned, anything older than that has been sent to the crusher... I'm lucky if I find anything for my 89 ED3 in the local yards...

 

[Neverdone]

definitely like the idea. I say go for it.

 

[rainman]

If you're gonna chop it you better have a VERY good glass guy!!! Would look good though.

 

[Cyanide Jello]

If you're gonna chop it you better have a VERY good glass guy!!! Would look good though.

Thats why I was goin to do a slant chop... So I didn't have to mess w/ the rear hatch at all... I should only have to make relief cuts in the rear pillar and cut the B pillar and A pillar... Of course those cuts would be different since the roof would be slanted... I'd also have to lengthen the roof...

 

[PhilJohnson]

PS. I know this is not what you guys are used to seeing but I'm a fan for the nontraditional, nonconventional builds... *puts flame suit on*

I know I left my flamethrower somewhere around here

 

[anvil]

I wuold look into off road sites to find your head lights or even speedway might have some or motorcycle junk yard.

 

[Cyanide Jello]

I know I left my flamethrower somewhere around here

I was waitin on it... ^_^

I was anticipating more on comments like "you should just run it off a cliff" or "just send it to the crusher." On VaDriven I would've been run off the site for not being "JDM", ya know, the flashy stuff, buyin stock Japanese parts... blah blah

I wuold look into off road sites to find your head lights or even speedway might have some or motorcycle junk yard.

Well, the problem w/ lookin at motorcycle lights is that the majority of those have some type of housing... I'm lookin for more of a bucket, somethin I can weld into the car... The smaller lights towards the middle shouldn't be a problem to find... I could just use fog lights for those... I've already sourced a set of glass amber turn signals and another set of glass fog lights... The fog lights that were previously on the car, that were salvaged from the accident, found a new home on my ED3...

 

[Sam_Fear]

Will plexi won't work for the side windows without a frame and with that curve? I wouldn't think so. If you only chop the front, the top of the door glass will need to be cut to fit. If you chop front and back, you could leave the door glass alone. That would mean leaning the back glass or sinking it in to the lower frame also.

 

[Cyanide Jello]

Will plexi won't work for the side windows without a frame and with that curve? I wouldn't think so. If you only chop the front, the top of the door glass will need to be cut to fit. If you chop front and back, you could leave the door glass alone. That would mean leaning the back glass or sinking it in to the lower frame also.

Ya know, I actually went out and looked at the car earlier to see how I could sink the back glass down into the hatch... Its doable... So we may be lookin at a full chop...

The chop idea is just an idea at this point... I really need to focus on gettin everything back to rolling status again... Right now the car is settin on blocks b/c I robbed almost everything for my ED3... I have a spare set of Eibach coils and some Monroe struts I can use and still have my tubular upper control arms... As far as the front end goes, everything is riding on getting a hood so I can get measurments for clearances to get the desired look I want...

I also still need to get everything for the motor... Forged pistons/rods, arp headstuds, complete gasket kit... And since I've already got everything apart I might as well replace the water pump and oil pump... Still need to get an OBD1 dizzy and new wiring harness, a few adapter harnesses and the correct ECU...

 

[Shea Laking]

Dude, I like your style...

While a late model Honda Civic is certainly a million miles away from what is generally considered and accepted as "hot rod material" the simple fact is, they're relatively cheap to buy and have great aftermarket support.

Most of the "tuner" kids around here just use purely bolt on crap...there's some pretty horrible looking glued-on fibreglass garbage running around my locale. Nice to see a guy whose not afraid to cut into some actual metal and restyle it.[

Sinking the whole top might be the best way to go. Go with a subtle amount, say 1 1/2"-2" from actual vertical height and you shouldn't have "TOO" much trouble putting Humpty Dumpty back together again, even with working door windows! Reducing the height of those curved quarter windows might be more of a challenge...do they swing out, or are they solid mount?[S

Anyway, enough of my run-on mouth. Keep us posted with what you come up with, for interest's sake if nothing else.

Regards,
Shea

 

[Shea Laking]

Oh, P.S.... I just realised....

Do you have a Tractor Supply Store (TSC) near you? Replacement tractor headlights might solve your dillema at the front.[

Regards,
Shea

 

[Cyanide Jello]

Dude, I like your style...

While a late model Honda Civic is certainly a million miles away from what is generally considered and accepted as "hot rod material" the simple fact is, they're relatively cheap to buy and have great aftermarket support.

Most of the "tuner" kids around here just use purely bolt on crap...there's some pretty horrible looking glued-on fibreglass garbage running around my locale. Nice to see a guy whose not afraid to cut into some actual metal and restyle it.[

Sinking the whole top might be the best way to go. Go with a subtle amount, say 1 1/2"-2" from actual vertical height and you shouldn't have "TOO" much trouble putting Humpty Dumpty back together again, even with working door windows! Reducing the height of those curved quarter windows might be more of a challenge...do they swing out, or are they solid mount?[S

Anyway, enough of my run-on mouth. Keep us posted with what you come up with, for interest's sake if nothing else.

Regards,
Shea

I come from a mini truckin background... I'm not afraid to tear somethin up in the process of the long road to achieve "dopeness"...

Appreciate the positive comments... Gives me more initiative...

A subtle chop may be the ticket to what I want... I'd like it to be radical but its gonna be too much of a headache in the long run...

The quarter glass isn't as bad as you'd think. I'm considering making them into wing windows like whats on my ED3... I think that'd add a neat flare to the car that I don't think anyone has done yet...

Oh, P.S.... I just realised....

Do you have a Tractor Supply Store (TSC) near you? Replacement tractor headlights might solve your dillema at the front.[

Regards,
Shea

Why yes I do... I go there for heim joints and other misc. stuff when I'm doin suspension work...

I may go there for buckets but not for headlights... I want my headlights to be decently bright... I do a lot of back road driving... I'm also plannin on goin w/ a yellow driving light for the smaller lights and deff. goin w/ some bright fog lights... My friends keep pushin me to go w/ some big KC/Hella fogs and make brackets that stick out passed the front bumper... I'd like to go w/ all glass for the vintage effect... Not to mention, glass headlights don't fade like composites... I hate composites...

Edit: I know some of you are ready for this build to start progressing so hopefully after Xmas I'll have my hood and be able to get some actual measurements for the headlights and see what size I'll be able to use... I'll be posting pics as soon as parts become available...

 

[hillbillychopper]

Headlight

Try a set of headlight french buckets
I think you can get them from Speedway

 

[70_boosted]

try ebay, i know some think its the devil, but my entire truck is being built off that site less the tank from speedway. i would try like 4" offroad driving lights and a set of small fog lights and just fab some brackets that look good. that would give that nice 4 light set for retarded cheap. i may have tons of civic parts layin around from my 92. what you after perhaps?

also if your askin comments on something other than lights i apparently pay too much attention to pics and not text. like the ed3 also.

 

[Cyanide Jello]

Try a set of headlight french buckets
I think you can get them from Speedway

I know its been mentioned but I've completely forgot about Speedway... /facepalm

try ebay, i know some think its the devil, but my entire truck is being built off that site less the tank from speedway. i would try like 4" offroad driving lights and a set of small fog lights and just fab some brackets that look good. that would give that nice 4 light set for retarded cheap. i may have tons of civic parts layin around from my 92. what you after perhaps?

also if your askin comments on something other than lights i apparently pay too much attention to pics and not text. like the ed3 also.

A lot of my stuff is off of ebay. I'm just picky on what I get... Some things its kinda hard to screw up or they have to meet a certain standard in order to be sold...

As far as your EG goes, I need the dizzy and possibly the p28 ecu if it was an Si...


This would really fit the ticket but its just not in my budget..

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Headlight-Frenching-Kit,9149.html

 

[skullworks]

i dig the chopped top idea. i would go to a junk yard and find some early oval porshe headlights maybe, if you can find em. then somehow french those into the front end. i totally support the tuner cars. this is where rat rodding and hot rodding got their start from. and those motors make gobs of power when done right. thumbs up from skull works man.[cl

 

[70_boosted]

i may have a spare dizzy laying around, but the p28 is long gone. if your good with fabbing you can make your own frenching kit with ease...good luck tho