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Not really an answer to your question about dealer plates, but the brochure for the aerodeck and the hatch back has plates with "civic" on (fire the aerodeck one you need to download it as the pics on the post are duplicates from the hatchback post. I guess it would have just been marketed as a civic?

today was the day i removed the trailing arm, its been 2 days worth of work trying to get it to come off as so many bolts were properly seized on and i could not reach them with the arm on the car. It meant having to cut the ABS cable, the Handbrake Cable and also the Brake line. Not too worried as all those are getting replaced anyway. The majority of the bolts came out without snapping apart from one which was the LCA bolt to Trailing arm leaving me with a situation where i had to cut the arm. Yet again not a problem as im putting new ones on. Once the arm was off then i was able to remove the tricky bolts. I gave the arm a clean up to be pleasantly surprised at how little corrosion there was on the arm, the hub and spindle are a different matter though so i will get them cleaned up. I managed to remove the remains of the Lower control arm that were stuck in the trailing arm. it has left a bit of thread behind in the trailing arm so i will aim to try and weld a nut onto that and try and free it off that way!

So over the winter months i have been refurbishing numerous parts off the car. Stuff like the Fuel Tank, Straps, Filler neck etc. This is the filler neck off my car, its pretty rusty, however thankfully no holes, I cleaned it up best i could and treated any rust, then etch primed it. once that were done, i then painted it satin black. Next up was the Rear Lower Control arms, These are a Spare set so thankfully i can do them whilst not having to have the car in bits. These can be really expensive brand new nearing like £300 for one arm. Here is the Arm being painted, all the Rust was removed, it was then Primed and painted Black, once set the Mating surfaces for the bolts were then cleaned up to look original. Finally The Fuel tank. At first i was thinking of buying a new one but it turned out that the one i had was not that bad in the end. when i took it off the car it looked very corroded but after cleaning it, it came up well. I also noticed the fuel pump was also covered in that same underseal used on the underside of the car its a bit of a blessing and a curse as its protected the fuel pump really well, however it was an utter pain in the backside to clean up. Still even had the Original Bosch sticker on it underneath lmao For the fuel tank i wanted to remove all the rust and then stonechip it to protect it from further road exposure. So i went out and got some generic Hammerite stone chip to do the job. I was pretty chuffed with how it came out, a nice smooth finish, which was what i was after. I did put it on thick in some areas mainly around the edges and the lip of the tank to prevent any rust from creeping in. I finally after many hours got the pump stripped down and cleaned up. surprisingly it came up really well not as much rust as i thought there would be either. I didn't get many photos of the process between this and fitting it all back as it was getting dark and i just wanted to get the thing done. I painted the top of the fuel pump with some brush on hammerite black as it was the only thing i had lying around at the time, the finish could have been better but to be honest its gonna be under the car and covered up so its not exactly in view and it will just protect it from rusting out. But there we go, all refurbished with new clamps and nuts, all cleaned up and painted. Im pretty pleased with the outcome of this. Just need to get round to doing the Straps next and fitting the pads back on I managed to get the straps done today also. They were pretty rusty at the ends however, they weren't horrendous. So i removed all the rust/paint/underseal and got them back to bare metal to be etch primed. Once that had set i then put the Satin Black paint on. I managed to find some Rover parts to use at the mounting end as the old ones had seen better days. i found some brand new mounting bolts for £10 which wasn't bad at all. Unfortunately a lot of the Honda stuff isn't available and when you think it is, its usually listed wrong and is actually for the EK / EG Civics. Not a bad thing as you don't have to pay for the Honda Tax Here are some Before and After photos, i think these will finish off the Fuel Tank Assembly quite nicely. It saves me buying new fuel straps too as they aren't cheap either.

Blimey its been a while since i posted on here, I apologies for the lack of updates the car is still getting restored and such so dont worry i haven't scrapped it lol. Picking up from where we left off with the sills, i have managed to get that passenger side all completely welded now, I tried to make it look as original as possible by creating some panels to match that of the original. Here Was a piece that i had to make so that the Rear sill section could sit on top like it was done at factory, as you can see where the sills interlock with each other theres a part that goes under and a bit that goes over and it is then spotwelded together. I also remade the Rear Sill Reinforcer panel I didnt bother drilling a hole in it, its made from 1.5mm steel so it should be strong enough, for added strength i also bent the edges round like that of the original. Heres a bit of a Test Fitment not Quite there yet, a bit more bending! For the sake of doing the job properly i also drilled out the jacking point and made a new one from 1.5mm steel using the old one as a template! as you can see its a rust trap! Heres the new Jacking point, Drilled the holes out in the centre to match that of the orignal. Still yet to put the lip on it at the bottom where the jack sits on. Not the best welds, however they had plenty of penetration a bit more practise i think for when i do the other side, Heres a test fitment for the top bit as you can see from the other side i replicated that join where the two lower sills meet. Heres the Jacking point all welded on. I also got the Inner arch welded up, Shocking welding as the Metal quality of the original panels are crap it seems. thats what grinders are for i guess ;) I supported the sill with a block of wood to get the panels lined up, if your arches are intact youll probably notice there a small panel that joins the two together which i need to make sure is all in line as then itll be fixed in place once welded. Heres an example of the factory panel. Heres what i managed to achieve with limited metal forming tools. the panel was very complex to make as it features double curves and multiple bends. i had to make it out of two pieces then grinded it flush. The panel i welded in sits in a bit more than i had wanted it to, but thats not a major concern. a bit of seam sealer will cover up any imperfections. Now thats all done its time for the upper sill, I managed to get it all lined up and i zinc epoxy primed the inside of the panel Not the prettiest welding as i was filling 10mm holes with 1mm steel. hopefully ill get the hang of producing cleaner welds. but the main thing is that its all lined up correctly and im happy with the stiches i did either side. I got the grinder and grinded the welds flat and surprisingly the butt weld that i did was pretty much spot on. Here it is all in primer. The arch side was bit more of a nightmare as i was chasing pin holes, i reckon either some lead or filler will sort that out. with all the welding done for now, i got the sills waxed with Bilt Hamber Dynax S50 and completely flooded it I fit the door and sill cover back on and was pleasantly surprised to see how well the panel gaps are!