Nostalgia by
Tang3nt, on Flickr - Photo by
Wong Photography Over the last few weeks, Cagare and myself have been thinking of a way to cheapen our racing experience, and to have a vehicle that we cared little enough about that we were will to thrash the absolute itshay out of it. To that end, we set a budget and mulled our options as to what would be a competitive, and cost effective vehicle to start with.
While at a hockey game a few weeks ago, LilDrunkeSmurf mentioned that forum overlord steveb0t was looking to rid himself of a car that might fit the bill. We looked into the competitiveness, cost effectiveness, and upgradeability, and decided that it would certainly be worth checking out. The car in question came in at the lower end of our budget, meaning that it would leave enough room for maintenance, upgrades, R-comps, and other sundries.
After weighing the merits and detriments of this particular car, we handed steveb0t our money (most of it, we still owe him the other half and a case of beer) and became the proud, and somewhat giddy, owners of a 1990 Honda Civic Si!
The car is a little dusty from all the rally-X but otherwise clean and straight. A couple dings here and there, but overall remarkably good condition for a 25 year old car. A little bit of rust in front of the rear wheels, however for a car with over 230,000 km on the odo, it was looking good. The car also came with an extra Si motor and short ratio transmission, a set of 15x7 Rotas, various other bibs and bobs, and even a piece of wood to prop open the rear hatch since the struts have long since given up the ghost. The car is light, has a short ratio 'box, no power steering, and the seats are even in good shape and fairly well bolstered! Oddly, it's got a power sun roof but roll-up windows. The lack of a cup holder will also mean that it's gonna suck balls on those early morning drives out to the races, but it should prove to be fun, above all else.
Of course, a car this old that's seen this much
abuse tough love comes with a list of items that will have to be addressed before next season. Ball joints and bushings will need to be replaced, all fluids will have to be flushed and filled, brakes are a bit rough, and the engine burns and leaks a small bit of oil (the one under the hood anyways). However with a car so far under our budget, and with lots of time before the next season of auto-X we should have no problems correcting all the ills.
Our plan is to run in H-Street or H-Street-R next season, and move it up to STF the season after that. We've got plenty of time to get everything straightened out, fixed up, upgraded, and hopefully vacuumed out before she'll turn a wheel in anger.
Stay tuned for more updates.