Issues

Being an 1989 Honda Civic means Zoom Zoom is aged (I'd say old but having been built a few years after I graduated from High School calling her old would make me ancient and I'm not ready for that; vanity. Meh). With age comes wear and I'd call these problems but there are solutions and work arounds and I don't mind a quirky car so much. She's got squeaks where there shouldn't be and, well, here's the list:

Alternator - the belt slips and squeals at random. Kinda annoying.
Hood release - the hood has been opened so much that the plastic hood opener lever under the hood failed, had a big flex in the middle where it shouldn't flex, and the hood wouldn't open without the aid of pliers.
Rear hatch - the rams that hold it up have lost their air or their fluid. Either way the rear hatch doesn't stay up by itself and has whacked me in the head. A bunch.

Older cars don't have the same amenities newer ones do either. For instance, in modern cars there's an annoying bell that will let you know you left your headlights on or there are even automatic headlights that shut off for you. Not so with Zoom Zoom and this is how I found out that the hood release had a problem.

One day, shortly after purchasing Zoom Zoom, I went to lunch, had a lovely little drive and came back to work. When quitting time rolled around poor little Zoom Zoom wouldn't start. Some asshole had left the headlights on when they got back from lunch. No problem. I'll just throw the jumper cables on from one of the work trucks. Except the hood release lever would nearly double over when pulled and didn't actually pull on the cable. I was in the middle of rehearsals for Babes in Toyland and, for a few weeks, went back to driving the F150 until I had time to work on and work out in my head how to fix it. When I got around to spending some time under the dash I had to use a pair of vice grips to pull on the cable and because I didn't have a tight enough grip (yeah, I'm clumsy) I stripped a few of the strands. So I got the hood open, jumped the battery, Zoom Zoom started up just fine and when I went to close the hood no go. The hood release cable hadn't spring back after pulling on it with the pliers. There had to be a better way.

I did a little research online and a replacement cable would be $45. $45 for a stupid cable? Forget that. A few weeks and a few thoughts later I decided that hood pins would be the way to go. I would get that race car feel out of little Zoom Zoom and hood pins would set me back less than $20. Sure anybody could pop the pins and steal anything they wanted out from under the hood but how likely is that on a 1989 Honda Civic in Anchorage, Alaska?

So Project: Hood Pin was underway. I made my $17.99 purchase at O'Riley Auto Parts, charged up the batteries on the cordless drill and got to work. So I drill some holes in the front framing structure under the hood and what do I do right off the bat? I drop one of the nuts into the bowels of the engine compartment never to be seen again. @#$&@%#&^! I did manage to get one post installed, set down the hood and drilled a hole in the hood where it looked like the post would come out the top. I'm a good guesser. The post came out through the hood right where it needed to go. So, for a few days, until I had a chance to get down to my friendly neighborhood O'Reiley's, I ran around town with my hood only half pinned down. I did manage to get the second post installed, the second hole was drilled and project hood pin was completed.

Now for the other issues...

Zoom Zoom the Little Red Honda

After 9+ years and about 110,000 miles on my Ford F-150 I decided that enough waste was enough. I did some research and was able to fine a reasonably priced 1989 Honda Civic. We met with the owner, took her around the block for a test drive, negotiated a price and came back the next evening with cash. The last thing the guy said to me was "my girls call her Zoom Zoom." Seeing no need to change a good car name Zoom Zoom she stays.

Being a geek/dork/nerd and with the goal of increasing my fuel efficiency I did some math. My F-150 would get about 250 miles per 25 gallon tank at a cost of about $90 per tank (I run Super because, well, it's super, burns cleaner and breaks about even on extra mileage versus $$$ per gallon). I looked up hypermiling on the internet and found www.ecomodder.com. Rummaging through their message boards I came across the Aero Civic and subsequently www.metrompg.com and my dream of streamlining Zoom Zoom began.

So this, this blog, is a chronicle of Zoom Zoom the Little Red Honda, her modifications and mine.