Looks like my recently purchased (2 months ago) Civic (just a 1.6 SOHC EK1 D16Y4, the US equivalent is probably EJ6 D16Y7) has already had stuff done to it! GRrrr

Not knowing a whole lot about cars, I got it checked by my dad and also the motoring association in Australia (NRMA), to make sure it wasn't a bomb, but here's the scoop.

So far, I've had the car to Honda service (for the 130 thousand km service) and also a coupla muffler places because of some noises I was getting. The upshot from all these ppl is:

All places say it looks like the car used to have a turbo in it.
They're reasons are:
1. The oil sump has some kind of ( non-standard I gather) return at the front. My mate, and the shops all say the only reason they can think it would be there is for a turbo of some sort.

2. The exhaust system was solid front to back. This was causing the noise I got fixed at the exhaust places, because when i pushed the engine, it opened the seals at the cat slightly and sounded terrible. I've been told solid exhausts are also common for suped up cars.

3. I'm pretty sure the air inlet resonator has been removed. Last night I was reading into cheap/easy performance tweaks and thought this sounded like a good idea. There is NO piping under my air box, you can see straight down to the front of the car/ground and the front bumper on the passenger side feels pretty hollow. Haven't confirmed this, but I'd bet the resonator is gone.

4. The guy (2nd owner) sold it to me with a spare exhaust. He said he took of the original one cos it was too loud. Upon inspecting the spare, I could see that the inlet pipe was actually larger than the inlet hole (DODGY....) Obviously would create eddies and turbulence in the exhaust system.. Not good. This makes me think they were doing mods, but that they were slightly STUPID.

5. It already had a buggered/broken aftermarket security system installed (this is not proof of any sort, just adds to my suspicions).

6. When I got my sound system installed, the guy told me it used to have an amp in there, but it was removed. Again, not proof at all, but wouldn't surprise me after the other things I've learnt about the car.

If it was turbo'ed and some fool took it all out again, they did a DAMN good job of hiding the fact. A professional car inspector didn't pick it up, and neither (initially) did my friend who has swapped a twin turbo Soarer/Chaser engine into a Toyota Cressida (did all the work himself!) After a few looks, he's starting to notice non-stock pipes and wrong colour cables and small stuff.

*Sigh* I don't mind that it's had a coupla things done to it, but I'm a bit worried about two things:
A. Has the car been given a hard life before me (that's MY job thankyou very much!)
B. What else has this to55er done dodgy and left there, like the bodgy muffler inlet.

(Unrelated) Doesn't help that I have bad luck, and that Honda Service didn't tighten my oil sump plug properly, so I was leaking for a few weeks! aaaargh

Anyway, I'm going to take it to a mechanic and make sure they haven't done anything else dodgy. I don't want to find out I've been running rich or innocently screwing up my engine because of someone else's half assed "mods."

It's still a fun car to drive, and so far as I know, it's not gonna blow up. It DOES sound nice ) ....After I had to replace the cat converter 2 hours before heading down the coast, 300AU bucks, thanks for coming! (

While I'm making this thread, I guess I might as well ask:
What other dodgy/cheap mods should I check for to see what else has been screwed up? Or any other suggestions you guys can make to me? (PS I realise it's a low power car, but I used to drive an unmentionable which weighed 1.4tons and had an engine similar size to this hatch!)

</end bitching>