New Here, Hello To All, And A Few Questions!

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Hey everyone! I've been lurking around and love what you are doing to restore and maintain your Civics! I own a 1992 Civic EX. Was a gift from an uncle who took great care of it. It still has its original metallic red paint, and is totally clean. I've had it for about 3 years, and I am still in love with it! If I can, I will give it a wash and post pics of it later on. Looks like a brand new car!

I have a few questions, though. One thing that has always bugged me are the cup holders. There are only 2 in the front, and they are only large enough for a can of coke. Also, there are none in the back. Have any of you been able to change this? Is there a way to actually add cup holders on the back of the console? I've considered a cup holder expander that is inserted into the smaller holder, but I realized that it wouldn't work because the existing holder is directly under the ashtray area and there is no vertical room in that spot. So, my only option looks like I'd either have to ignore the current holder, or find out if anyone has been able to remove and replace it. I've actually thought about screwing one into the back of the console, but I'm terrified of doing any damage! Until now, I have been shoving my water bottles between the seat and emergency brake. But when it's a coffee thermos, I have no choice but to juggle all of my things while trying not to spill it while I hold it.

Another question. I am car-illiterate, so you guys are going to laugh at me.... That black strip of plastic on the exterior that runs horizontally on each side of the car? Looks like decoration? What are those called? I want to replace mine because their color isn't holding up too well. The black is slowly fading to grey. Should they be replaced? Or is there something I could do to restore them? If I have to buy new ones, how much would they cost?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[shopresponse]

Thanks for joining CivicLand.com. I hope you enjoy your stay here.

Are you speaking of the door and side moldings? Those can be bought new at your local Honda dealer and the prices should be around $125 new for the 6 piece set. They are simple to put on as they pretty much clip on. It is very common for these to fade grey. You could even take the set to a body shop and they can paint them and color match them to your car. This has been done numerous times and looks really good. (the 99-00 Civic Si came like this new)

As for the cup holder, I can't think of anything to hold your bigger drinks.

Again welcome!

[EJ1 Freak]

Welcome to the site!

First of all I totally understand what you're saying about the cupholders....they were the one thing that always bugged me! I now have a prelude center console and I love it...so that's an option for you! I can post some pics if you want!

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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(EJ1 Freak @ Aug 5 2006, 10:43 PM) [snapback]103422[/snapback]</div>

Welcome to the site!

First of all I totally understand what you're saying about the cupholders....they were the one thing that always bugged me! I now have a prelude center console and I love it...so that's an option for you! I can post some pics if you want!
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Please post them, I am curious to see how it fit. Any modifications needed?

[Specter]

welcome to my world... 240sx's don't have cupholders, so i've mastered the "one hand on the big gulp one hand shifting who the hell is steering" technique.

but welcome to the site, the only thing i can say is try the prelude denter console, i don't know what year would be close to fitting though. on another note, those black strips you were talking about are called side moldings. you could replace them [pain in the ass] which is permanint solution. or for a temp fix just polish them with tire shine. i know that sounds wierd, but the material that they are made of is quite similer and it does work for a little while. depending on what model civic you have i think that www.passwordjdm.com is selling replacements.

hope that helps and once again welcome to the site

-Peter

[sm02]

Wow, good ideas! A prelude console? Please post pics!!! That sounds neat. One of my best friends drives an old prelude. Maybe I should go measure the console to see how it would work out!

You know, about the side things, I almost said they were like the chair rail moldings in a house, except on the exterior of my car. It's funny that they actually ARE moldings!! I've tried putting some armorall (spell check that one), but not the shine. Should I spray it on a rag and wipe it on? I just don't want to get any on the paint.

I obsess over saving the paint on the car. I just moved to this house about a year ago, and so far we haven't had time to put up a covered parking area. So, I'm out there 10 times a day covering and uncovering and recovering the Honda (not our other car, screw the other, newer car). The Civic is getting old, and I know that day will come when it just can't take the sun anymore and I'll have to get it repainted. That's gonna be a sad day for me! So far, the paint is still perfect. Any ideas on how to keep it that way for a long time? I mean, besides washing, waxing, and covering like a mad person! (I've actually covered it at work, and people have come up to me, laughing, just to tell me that they were curious as to what "prized possession" was under the cover. Thinking it was a Mercedez, then looking to see it was a 92 Civic??!! They cried laughing. Buttholes. I want to see what their stupid cars will look like in 14 or 15 years from now!)

This was my first ride, and I have to take care of her (yes, it's a female. She retains fluids when I wash her.)

Well, let me go lurking around some more. I love seeing pics, so post them if you want!

[EJ1 Freak]

Haha I just had to quote you in me sig...it had my cracking up! :P

As for pics of the console here you go...the lighting kinda sucks so bare with me! lol







If you need anymore pics just let me know and I'll take some more! I think I have some pics with the seats out but I'll have to look for them!

[sm02]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/71141082@N00/

Ok, up there is a link to my pics. I hope it works! There's an interior shot showing a good view of the cup holder situation (of course, you guys already knew about that! lol). The rest are just for fun. I just got finished washing it at my mom's house and figured that would be a good time to take some photos. I hope you can just paste the link in your browser to get them to come up. Otherwise, I'm not sure how else to post them.

As you can see, I'm really not into adding anything to the body, and it is an automatic. But then again, I don't race the car.....I just baby it In the future, very soon, I want to have the windows tinted, again. The 1st 2 times I had it done, the guys did a half-ass job of it, and now it is peeling again!!! I paid a lot too, shame on them. Next time, I want them tinted SUPER dark, so that no one can see me when I'm head-banging and singing like a maniac. I want to add those headlights that are so bright that they shoot a beam for like a damn mile because the ones I have are original (yeah, 14-15 yr old headlights, don't ask). So, that needs changing. I am VERY interested in customizing the interior of the car. I like the exterior just fine, but I would definitely like to see my options as to carpeting, seat re-covering, dash sets, trim kits, etc. But if and when I do it, I don't want to go cheapy-looking. Just, you know, a little somethin to make it feel like a new car all over again. It's clean inside now, so that will probably wait until some staining or stinking starts to happen (which it won't, but I like to give my car the benefit of the doubt that it MIGHT get fonky inside one day so I can play with it! Has anyone ever changed the interior surfaces of their cars without making it look too custom-ish? If so, I love to see pics! I don't ever want it to look too custom, I just want to restore it to it's previous "freshness" little by little, until evetually, it is a whole new car, except it would be the same old car. Oh yeah, please excuse the wheel cover. It's old and needs to be removed. I like the extra "fatness" it adds to the feel of the wheel, because it is such a skinny wheel!

Hey, another Civic problem question. Electrical problems. The first weird thing happened about 2 years ago. My dash lights went off, and only came back on when it felt like it. That game went on for about a year, and then one day, the engine started playing an on and off again game while I was driving down the road! So I brought it in and the Honda mechanic played with it for 2 weeks! They couldn't figure out what went wrong, so they changed the computer. Well, the engine no longer flickered it's power on and off, but the dash lights were still out. They told me I'd have to order a new dash switch. I haven't gotten around to that yet. So, I have just been reaching up and turning on the interior overhead light to see my speed at night. Soooooooooo, about a month ago, I'm doing my little thing, when suddenly I go to get in my car one night, and when I open the door, the interior light didn't come on. So I'm thinking, "hmm, this ought to be an interesting ride home!" I couldn't manually turn the thing on, and the stupid dash lights were out, of course. Here I am, riding in total darkness, praying that the fricking HEADLIGHTS don't start wigging out on me too! That would be the next big electric issue. I used my cellphone's light to set my cruise just to make sure I wasn't going 40 miles over the limit (can't afford a ticket at this very moment, and no cop would believe me about my insane light situation). Ok, so I survived the ride, and every other night ride after that. Then, a ummm, week ago, it was raining. I was in my driveway. I turned the wipers on intermittent (spell check), and instead of giving me one little wipe, and then stopping, they went haywire! The wipers were on super-high speed and I couldn't get them to stop!!! I turned the switch off, and they were still going at it! I had to turn the car off. I restarted and it was fine for the rest of that day. The next day, it was sunny outside. The wipers had been off since the day before, and all was well. Well, sort of. I started my car, with the wipers obviously set to OFF, and they did it!! Like lunatics, my windshield wipers were scratching away at my dry glass and all I could do was turn the car off. Ok, so that was the last of that. I've driven a lot since then, and the wipers worked normally. Weird? Also, sometimes my overhead interior light works, sometimes it doesn't.

So, everything in my car works intermittently. The computer has been changed and is brand new. Could all of my other problems be the dash switch? I just brought her to the Honda place 3 days ago, and they are telling me that the only problem they have seen since were the dashlights not coming on! The wipers and the interior light have been behaving normally!!! Of course, the car makes me out to me a liar! Just like the engine-death. It ran every time the mechanic drove it! He drove it every day for a long time before finally he got what he wanted and the engine flickered on, off, on, off, on, off........

There used to be an after-market keyless entry system in it, installed in a weird way by someone in the early 1990's. They took that out for me, and their main old-Honda-problem-man "rewired" the whole car "correctly", since apparently it was done in an "on crack" manner the first time. So, the keyless entry is gone, and there isn't anything else except for my sound system in the car. I am hoping that this all has to do with the dash switch and not the after-market stuff. Because there is a HUGE bundle of wires under the steering wheel that looks intimidating!!!! Plus, the stereo stays, end of story!! I'd rather have a genious come and rewire it again than have to sacrific all the amenities I have in life!!! The sound system doesn't affect the headlights or anything else. I think it's in there right.

Anyone ever had issues like these? If so, did you fix it yourself? I don't know anyone good at 92 Honda wiring, so I have no choice but to be robbed by the dealership! If anyone can give me any advice, shoot! Oh yeah, and I am not trading in my car. I want it fixed! Hey, if the dealership gives it back to me, broken, and tells me that the devil is in my car (which is what they said the 1st time they've dealt with it's wiring), could anyone point me in the direction of how to find someone who can fix electric stuff???

Ok you guys, I love you and hope that you managed to see the pics!

PS. EJ, I'm glad I made your day

[prpower21]

hi there
i also have a 92 civic 4dr and the cup holder thing is bad
i hate it when i turn and my drink ends up upside down on the other side and i cant really hold it cuz i have to shift but after a few times of cleaning up the mess i just went with out any carpet made it easier to clean...lol oh and now i just big a big guld or bottle drinks and just buckle them in on my pasanger seat..lol but you asked about back seat cup holder japan makes this in their stock 92-95 sedans im not sure if you have a four door
but www.passwordjdm.com sell the back seats with cup holders
and they also sell a covertion kit to make the consel like the one in the 99 civic also seen them on ebay
and for the side molding i used back to black on mines and they shined for a long time even without doing it agian
i hope i helped a little if not i still welcome you to the site

[sm02]

I can buy a conversion kit for the sedan console? Mine is 4-door and automatic. Do you think it would be hard for me to find something for mine? I think my console is a little different from your standard versions. Check my link in my post 2 posts up from this one. If it works, you should see a sideview of my front interior. I should take a full shot of the console when I get my car back.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!