AJCivic

Indeed, it looks good. Keep us posted. Yeah fair enough mine is base model so don't even have the rear disc brakes or ABS Can't miss what you've never had though!

Love the look of this car, the VTIS lip with the big fogs in that colour just looks superb mate! Mods look great so far as well, is this a base model, 1.4iS or a sport?

Just a bit mate yeah haha! Didn't imagine for one minute all that work would need doing this time around but I'm glad it's sorted and MOT'd, this little MB2 isn't going anywhere just yet I'll be getting her in somewhere to get training arm bushes done before the year is out, I've left that job way too long as well.

Well, what a mad couple of weeks with the car! As I posted about already, it failed the MOT on the lower sills having huge holes, rear arches had holes, the rear nearside inner sill area round the back of the jacking point had a hole, was in a sorry state once I realised how bad it actually was! After taking off the side skirts and removing the interior I also came across the offside outer/side sill having holes right through at the back (where these cars usually rust first) and the passenger seatbelt bolt was well and truly stuck and heavily corroded so in danger of breaking when trying to remove it, meanwhile a nice hole appeared a couple of inches away from it. Got it in with somebody to get welded who has basically cut everything right back and started fresh, had the entire lower sills cut out and replaced both sides(!), a fair amount of the wheel arches replaced and replicated so it now looks original, inner and outer sill areas replaced too. Also patched the hole that appeared near the seatbelt bolt and repaired the area with the bolt itself. He also found part way through that the corner of the passenger footwell behind the ECU needed attention, so a patch has been put in there, I also pointed out a broken tab on the front wing which is where one of the screws for skirts/mud flaps go through, it was previously snapped on the bottom so unusable, so that has been replicated too. Quite a list of work! But I feel so confident now knowing that nothing else is likely to collapse due to rust in hidden areas underneath of the car. Quite literally added years to its life I'm hoping. Had a retest for the MOT today and all was good except a rear brake pipe which decided to start leaking either just before or during the MOT... Got that sorted and replaced though and all passed now! Added a couple of quick photos I took afterwards but I'll try and take some better pictures soon, it literally hasn't stopped raining since I picked the car up from welding on Saturday afternoon, thankfully it was all undercoated there and waxoyl sprayed inside the new sills. I just need to get the side skirts back on and see how well the new holes line up for the plastic poppers underneath.

Thanks guys, was happy to get it in sooner than expected! Hopefully it'll come back with everything all nice and new, sounded like he was going to have a good dig around and replace anything that's looking bad. And hopefully the worst of the rust will be cut out and replaced, so underside of the car will be good for a while. Fingers crossed that goes to plan anyway!

Yeah cheers Dave, might be worth a gamble but might be pointless if I've (hopefully!) Got it sorted when it goes and gets sorted. Actually ended up calling the welder today to ask a couple questions and he said he was ready for the car! Which was a good surprise, so dropped that off this afternoon for a few days of work, also took a look at the seatbelt bolt area and that's going to be getting done too. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly and I could have the car back by Friday! Then just need an MOT arranging

https://alvadi.ee/en/kataloog/varuosa/30806537/12567 Found this link in my thread on the forum, had completely forgotten about it! Do we think those replacement lower sills will fit? Look identical to the earlier Rover 400 sills I saw for sale, don't look exactly like what is on the car now.

Yeah I've seen some of the stuff they do and it's very impressive & exciting. Seem like decent guys who know what they're doing as well, if i was nearby it would be worth a visit! So I'm having real trouble getting the passenger side lower seatbelt bolt out and it's now part way out and I seriously can't move it. Every time I try it's flexing so much I can hear rust creaking and now this nice hole has appeared nearby on what I thought was just surface rust... Feels like I'm just discovering more and more jobs now unfortunately.

I think you're right with this, the MB's still get no love from most people but it's not like there's any 3 door 90's Civics still around for sale, they've more or less disappeared aside from a couple that pop up for every now and then for high prices. Been on with taking out the interior for the last couple of days but I'm not a fan of those lower seatbelt bolts, they go right through the sill(?!) and therefore suffer the same problem, they're rusty as f**k! Not been able to take them out yet to get the carpet up. I can only see them because of the holes on the sills, and while they're still holding strong, the passenger side one has a lot of rust not only on the bolt but surrounding it too, could be something else to speak to the welder about, but he's going to struggle to get access to that. Does anybody know if I'd have to take the plastic trim from the side of the rear doors out? I didn't have to remove that last time when the outer sill was welded, and that's all that's needed this time on one side.

I might do that mate thanks. Found some panels that are made for a rover 400 but I think it's the old shape. Called around a few places today and ended up speaking to the first guy again, he's going to give it a go and make up some new sill pieces. Fingers crossed it all goes well from now on and there's enough decent metal still there to work. Now I've got to go about taking the interior out ready for it, good excuse to hoover in and around seats though.

Yeah unfortunately it's the lower/inner sills that's the problem. Both sides. And that's where I'm struggling to find somebody to take it on. Will welding a patch that long be possible? I really doubt any replacement pieces are available except from cutting a piece from a car with decent sills? The O/S outer sill has rusted through right at the back as you can see in the photo, as well as the rear arches needing patching but they're not huge holes to be honest. Going to try and speak to the welder again tomorrow to ask if he can't patch it, and try a couple of different options if not.

Thanks Dave and fingers crossed, bloody hope I can get it sorted like. Be a shame if not and I'd have to garage it until I can arrange something to be done about it. So here's hoping and if not my mate has a welder I'm free to use apparently haha! Thanks a lot mate! And not at the moment sorry, has been a bit neglected and not used as much recently and now there's these welding repairs needing doing. But fingers crossed she'll be looking good again soon

Unfortunately the second pic is one of the holes from the lower sill, it's like this on both sides as well and quite long, so basically need the sill recreating as opposed to a patch maybe?

Thanks I'll be calling them tomorrow to find out. Fingers crossed or I'm not sure what I'll do with it to be honest. The guy hopefully doing the job was pretty keen to weld in a ready made piece given the size of the pieces needed for the sills. I wouldn't think the wheel arches or inner sill part near the jacking point would be too difficult for him, but it's crept up to about 5 areas I need sorting now. Is it worth it? I want to keep the Civic but don't know if anybody will be willing or able to take on this amount of work with it to be honest!

Thanks Dave and yeah I'll be sure to get everything else checked over. From what I've seen throughout owning the car it's more or less pretty sound for rusting apart from the lower levels, sills and arches, jacking points etc. Usually places that don't look so bad. The control arms front and back are rusted but they've always been on the list to replace. I will definitely have to be sure there isn't much else lurking though otherwise it'll render this pointless and be in the same position in a year. Waiting on a call back from the welder so fingers crossed otherwise I wasn't sure if the MB would live much longer to be honest!

Been a long time since I've done anything significant on the MB2 worth posting about! I ended up buying my first house last year and so quickly found another new way to spend time keeping busy, then obviously Covid hit this year and wrote that off! The car now gets used a bit less and also spends most of its time in the garage. As I posted in a different area the Civic is in need of a fair bit of welding this time round to pass the MOT, pretty gutting to see the sills in such a state, 18 months ago I had a patch welded to pass the MOT and the rest of the sills seemed to be okay. This time is a different story though and they're going to need a fair bit of work as well as the rear arches. There's no wonder so many of these are getting scrapped now! However after making decisions the past few days and some discussions I've decided that I'll be trying to get it repaired and keeping it on the road! So fingers crossed it's possible to get it sorted!

Thanks Dave, I've been looking but no luck so far, I'll be sure to tell the guy who's welding it though. Took the plastic trims off the sills again today and it's an absolute state under there, the main parts of the sill on both sides halfway down now have huge holes up to about a foot long. Don't think this will be a cheap job!

Another MOT fail due to bad rust and holes appearing underneath the car. I was wondering if replacement sill pieces are available for these Civics and the Rover/MG's too? I'm sure I've seen them for sale in the past. The guy who is hopefully doing the welding was wondering about that rather than patching everything. I had the jacking point & sill at one side repaired last year and the rest of the sills didn't look all that bad. But this year (plus 6 months due to Covid) that same area has a big hole on the inner sill side, they've got areas at both sides halfway down where they're literally starting to crumble, big chunks were so weak they've been able to be pulled off, as well as that both rear arches have got holes in. Not going well for the MB which I'd love to save but don't want to pay out for welding every year.

£70+ I would say. They’re the hardest bit of the lip kit to get. Don’t think anybody has reproduced them like those fiberglass front lips that were made (I ended up with one of those but not too bothered as I’ll likely never put it on!) It’s really annoying though yeah, have to get it sprayed and buy bolts/screws for fitting it and the plastic pegs are usually snapped/been removed so it droops down at the back in the middle unless you use lots of good quality double sided tape! Not to mention mud flaps don’t go on anymore!

This happens in mine as well, been getting quite bad, always creaks and moves quite a bit round corners etc. Was going to try have a look soon. Thanks for the info!

Ah bad news! I had the exact same thing happen in May, those sills are so well hidden they hide all kinds of issues and complete pain when they aren’t discovered until MOT time! At the end of the day they’re not too hard to get repaired and if you think it’s worth the money then a few hundred pounds to keep a reliable car on the road isn’t bad. You’d spend double on an equally reliable car in my opinion and whatever issues that might have. Mine set me back £130 to have the nearside jacking point patched and repaired and also the upper/side sill where the holes for the plastic protectors go was rotten as well, then had both sills scrubbed and undersealed. Best of luck!

Yep contact some breakers on eBay and Facebook. I got a cheap cheap set last year but they were badly scraped and cut up and almost unusable, got lucky though a couple months later and got a brand new set in the box with instructions and fittings for £10

Sooo, does anybody have any idea how to loosen the exhaust manifold heat shield bolts? They’re really stuck and just feel like they’re going to snap more sockets or get rounded off, impossible!

I think they all fit. Got to remember it is only a 2mm difference between the MB6 and MG 180 bars, will feel the difference but you’ll save money and feel the difference just with new droplinks and bushes I’m only saying be wary because I recently bought an MG rear ARB, not even the 20mm one, just the 18mm, and it is rusted to s**t, can’t even remove brackets or droplinks, every bolt coated with thick rust, so I’m having to put in loads of effort trying to get it cleaned up and close to just giving up tbh! What I’m saying is be careful because they’re quite expensive now.