Thread: 99 Honda Civic - Black Box 1

I spent about 7 hours on Friday working on the car (I work slow so it's not really that much time). I did get a bunch of things done. Here is a quick rundown of everything I did:

• LED lights under driver seat and under dash (at the feet) resoldered and now working properly again
• Power supply to new AC outlet (cig lighter plug) now working and grounded properly; no more engine noise
• New Touchscreen Mount created (this took the bulk of the time); solid and secure
• Head Unit moved further into the dash to make room for the new mount
• Wiring rearranged for the PC and Monitor power cords
• Mess cleaned up and everything cleaned

The touchscreen mount was my main goal for the day but the other things were definitely items that needed to be repaired due to the poor original mounting/construction. My screen now is not going to move no matter the weather. I created a mount using a broken double din radio mount and just strapped it in using some bendable metal strap (not sure of the technical name for that). It is securely held and will look much nicer this way. There are still a few holes around the screen but I will be able to work on making some black cover pieces that will hide the openings nicely. The only bad thing that came out of this was a splotch of glue got onto my screen! It is a very small spec and only shows up when there is a glare on it, but it is right in the center. I will have to research a safe way to remove it, but for now I will just have to deal with it.

Everything is pretty much set up how I want it now so I am pretty happy. In addition to the hardware things, I also updated the software a bit. The new version of Driveline boots up a bit faster and appears to have less errors. I got a new GPS navigator as well! iGo8 works pretty flawlessly for the navigation like the previous software, but with more added on. The ability to punch in addresses and a great collection of POI work great. And one more additional thing is the 3D buidlings. This is really cool and is quite nifty!

Now my next goal is to use the Arduino and program something up. I am really thinking about doing some sort of keyless access with it but I would like to do something that requires spending no money. I am not sure yet so I will get back on that later. Anyways, pictures as usual will come up later.

Okay so last monday was a BAD car day for me. First, one of my back tires took on a nail on the way to work and subsequently went flat by midday. So instead of going to the gym, I had to put on the donut spare and schedule an appointment for two new tires right after work at the local STS. The fun part of that tire change was the spare tire bolt was rusted on and of course my sub had to be removed to even access the tire compartment (im considering re-fabricating my trunk to prevent that in the future). After getting the tires changed for a cheap pair of Runway brand tires, I headed up to the city for my class that evening. Upon exiting one highway and going through the toll booth of another, my transmission decided to die. Having only 1st gear on a 65MPH road filled with trucks was a bit of a nightmare. I managed to limp to the first rest area (it was less than a mile thankfully). After parking there, the rest of my tranny fluid spilled to the ground and therefore the car was halted. That made for an exciting adventure of getting towed and getting a ride home from some family. So a few days later, a mechanic friend found a lightly used tranny for $500 and so now the civic is back on the road! Generally a dead tranny either equals an expensive fix or junking the car, but since I got such a good deal, the show will go on!!

Naturally, I have been facing economic difficulties due to the exhaust, cam seal/timing belt/water pump, tires, and transmission replacements that have all occured during the last two months. So I haven't been able to do too much with the carputer. I have been working on making Driveline work more fluidly and making some music playlists, but not much outside of that. If it doesn't rain too much today and tomorrow (~60% chance unfortunately) then I will be able to get some other projects underway. I want to make my trunk a lot neater and really try to make it look professional and also be more space-friendly so I can store luggage easier.

A good if not tragic update. Commiserations!

It did remind me of a "rule" I once had - and probably still do but have forgotten else am unsure of modern relevance - and that was that the Honda was one of those cars worth keeping until things start to fail. IE - sparts were reliable but expensive, and when one or a few finally fail, it's the tip of the iceberg. The SAAB was another in that category. And I think any English car...

I know a few that battled "cut losses now" versus "only a bit to go (aka but I've invested so much already!)".


However for clever people like us, it's a hobby and any attempts to impede are simply dealt with and fall into budget (aka money as available).
Some call it a challenge, we call it fun. And learning. After all, it is a hobby.
If the above doesn't work for you, take 10 deep breaths, bash head against wall, and repeat until things feel good.


Thanks for the update.

lol I like that way of looking at things; 'It's in the budget and part of the hobby'. I definitely don't mind spending some money to keep the car up and running. I would like to keep it as my daily driver for a couple more years just yet. And honestly the time away from driving it last week just made me appreciate the sound system and carputer even more so upon coming back to it. Now that everything is behaving and the car honestly couldn't be healthier, I will save up some money from work to invest in some other projects that I want to work on with the car. I will keep developing and cleaning in the mean time. It doesnt take much money to make things neat, it just takes time. Now that I think about it also, if i replace enough parts, the car will essentially be new again (not quite but with proper maintenance and lack of abuse from former owners, I could easily pull another 40-50 thousand miles outta it. Thanks for the words of inspiration Old Spark!

I have the same car, just in better condition and a SI

here is my car pc screen

Yeah my car was beat to hell from the previous owners. I have no idea what they did, but it definitely was not very nice. That's why I only paid $900 for the car and have made sure to fix everything myself and keep the maintenence up to date. Honestly including what I paid and the cost of all repairs over the past 3.5 years and 40K miles, I still have not paid more than the blue book value of a civic. So that has made me happy.

I like your screen, install its definitely a bit neater. How did you assemble that screen mount? It looks like everything is flush so it must have taken some fabrication. Care to explain it in detail?

Also, I just noticed I never uploaded pictures of the new way i have my screen mounted. I forgot to do that so I will get those up today if possible!

Lots of time and patience to do lol, every person who has looked at it asks where at honda i got the part and even honda techs think its OEM. I used some 3m flexible parts filler and molded it to fit and kept sanding and applying till i got each curve just perfect.

I've seen some impressive screen installs on this forum but dude, yours is definitely one of the best. I commend your work!

Hey,
I am still working on this car actually. It has been slow going due to lots of time spent at work/school as well as tending time to the girlfriend! Most of my time has been spent playing around with Driveline. I have added a Kodak Zx3 with a custom mount to my car and I have a picture to upload tomorrow. Had some car trouble and ended up needing a tune up and two tires. Not too bad, but that put me out of the car for the day. The mechanic had told me everything seems to be in shape. I am no longer leaking oil, transmission is newish (as of a few months ago), and ive got 4 pretty damn new tires. I am highly considering looking at another car soon, but the money is really not looking good for that. For now, I will be able to keep going strong with the civic! I will try to get a link to a video made with the Zx3. Anyways, just making sure to post I am still going at it!