Advice on buying an EK GLi

[Alvis]

lol, well good luck in tryna convince the owner to let you "floor it"....be sensible, the window problem is found in all Ek, and with regards to rev limiter, geez its not like the streets are the track again, be sensible, theres a good reason as to the short gear ratio...

what's up with the window problems in the EKs? Never heard anything on this - I'm assuming electric obviously... me and my Dad have a 96 and a 98 EK and never any problems...???

and yes agree, IMO you should be able to 'wring it out' with owner's permission at least once - maybe not redline, but a decent whack in the arse for sure

[EK1 Civic]

You can do alternative tests but its not gonna decide whether its the right car for you. Initially i thought the d16y4 was slow with 120hp brand new. Didn't realise 120hp was alot, my mums hyundai auto getz has 90ish or 100 out of factory and its not that quick. But that 20hp difference is alot. It had enough power for me, was gonna buy a supra or a 300zx with almost double the power. Couldn't beleive the d16y4 had enough to get me to buy it. You gotta get behind the wheel and test it, no point buying a car thats not right for you.

[EK1 Civic]

what's up with the window problems in the EKs? Never heard anything on this - I'm assuming electric obviously... me and my Dad have a 96 and a 98 EK and never any problems...???

Was something to do with the motor, cant really remember it all. Did my research somewhere in feb when looking for civics and other cars =/

[mugen_ctr]

i agree that u should be able to test the limits, but at the end of the day, no one seller would ever let you, unless u put done a substantial deposit on the car itself...

Civics are no were as good as 300zx or supra non-turbo (exception of Type-r), sure there two different cars and mayb more wank factor if u get either sports car, but it seem u made the right decision man, lol, either go get a turbo supra/300zx or go home, non-turbos arnt worth the money imho

Window problems were more to do with the motor and railing system, poor design, supposedly honda fixed the problem, but buying the new designed window motors cost an arm and leg from honda em selfs
Me personally, iev had the window fall off the rail once before, took awhile to figure where it went wrong, but was a simple fix, jus realigned it back.

[Alvis]

Oh right, I'd never heard of that - but if it happens at least I know why lol

And I wouldn't buy a 300ZX IMO they are absolute pain in the back side to work on - ask any mechanic. And they'll charge you an arm and a leg as well. Better of with a Supra which modded properly I think still look like a hot car despite their age. Finding one that hasn't been abused... a totally different story.

[mugen_ctr]

300zx turbo, yes, pain in the arse to work on, lol... theres no engine space, once u blow the turbo, its all engine out job, so dont even think about boosting them with stock turbos, but they are torquey motors...non-turbos are fine for what they are, a clean one is hard to come by, but easy to maintain like every other car

Supra on the other hand, toughest motor to ever come out, with toughest gearbox, win win situation.... sure parts are expensive, but the amount of power u can make b4 anything breaks is astonishing! 350kw an stock bottom end
Non-turbo supras iev encountered are pretty dam good, engine is very solid, and gear box, love interior, but to heavy for what it is, again same thing as 300zx, hard to find a clean one, and one without re-winded odometer since there all jdm grey imports

[EK1 Civic]

Mate fked his supra up LOL, he high pressured hose cleaned his engine bay and i guess forgot to examine where the wires were before hosing off the dust LOL. Missfires n shit now LMAO. I checked where my civics main wires and places to avoid when hosing haha.

[dougie_504]

IMO just don't high-pressure your bay. I'm afraid of stuffing shit up. If you care about it then get up close and personal with a rag and some product...

[EK1 Civic]

I just hosed my ek1, the wires are mainly at back left corner and just behind the engine and then look down below. Plus the distributor is covered. I reckon just examining your engine bay before hosing is pretty safe. I wouldn't start the car till the water is dry and cars been sitting there for a few hours with hood open in case droplets touch the wiring etc.

[Doriya]

I've been continually looking around, and people want ridiculous prices for their ek's.

I'm quite keen on the 99' ek's, as they look alot better.

The ones i've been looking at have scratch marks here and there, and don't seem too well maintained.

I can't seem to find one for a reasonable price though. I'm not fussed about performance, I'm happy with it however it comes.

I basically want a 98 or 99 EK, GLI, hatchback, with < 200000km, for 5.5k or less...

Is that obtainable?

[mugen_ctr]

You be hard press to find a 2000 model for that price, there usual price is just around 6-7k cause of there age, id say settle for the 96-98 model, theres no real difference, besides the face lift

[EK1 Civic]

How scratched.... if there deep it might need respray, my ek came wit a few light scratches at the front bar from rocks etc, i polished them out in like 2mins? Basically you pay for what you get. If u pay 5k for something valued at 6-7k, your probably gonna run into problems. Unless owner really needs money quick aka to pay loans or something. When i searched for eks, i found em from 4k-8k, all with different kms, rims, kits etc. Kms don't mean much if the car was used on the highway, the car would be in better nick then a car used for suburban travel. In saying so finding a civic for 5.5k is obtainable but dont expect the condition of the car to be good. If you want a nice civic save about 6-6.5. I bargained down an 8k civic to 6.5. Just say you gotta pay rego, insurance, the cars close to 100,000 bla bla kms, will need timing belt change and make up bs like transmission etc LOL... The people who u talk to dont even know much. Then they say something like we looking for 7k, give em your number, wait 2hrs and they call you back accepting your offer.