89 Civic Problems
 

There are a couple things wrong with my civic that i can't find the solution for anywhere.

first when i close the hood, it latches on but doesnt close fully. I tried cleaning the spring a bit but nothing came from that..

the second problem is that the ebrake cable wont adjust for me.
http://i51.tinypic.com/34shs02.jpg It seems the cable for the driver side is a bit shorter and the tension isnt being evenly distributed. i tried tightening but nothing happened, its still the same

my final problem is for the underbody, there is a little rust under the driver and passenger side, so once i get rid of that rust can i just fiberglass it sealed or do i actually need to weld metal. finally the pinch weld is sunken in basically. do i need this to pass safety or can i just leave the way it is

if you can answer anything it would help me a lot :D thanks!

Regarding the hood, make sure the stoppers arent in the way of the hood. Talking about the little round black rubber stoppers in the corners, if its not, then you may need a new one. You could take out the latch, soak in penetrating fluid, clean it real nice and give it a spray with silicone lube or something.

The ebrake issue, well your driver side is probably the good side. The passanger side cable seems like it is just stretched. Ebrake cables do that over time. See if the rear passanger wheel spins freely and ebrake isnt holding it, because it could also be damaged and not returning fully, which would be the sleeve/housing of the cable you would want to blame. Inspect both sides, see how ebrake cables move at the calipers when somebody pulls the ebrake. Some common sense will solve your problem.

The floor issue, well welding would be ideal, fibre glass may not hold for long. Now granted as a temp fix on my old beater i just threw bondo ontop and it stayed there and prevented any water going up on the carpet. For safety, bondo wont work. I remember helping my buddy fibre glass a hole in his floor on his jetta, and it passed safety no problem. We sprayed it with underbody spray [and the rest of the floor] so it could have been because it wasnt too visible or maybe its good enough, im not too sure about safety regulations. Oh and pinch welds...His were pushed in also, and it passed safety.

As much as I respect the 89 Si, and would het to see one go to scrap, it sounds like your car is about ready for the yards. That or your needing to spend a lot of money on body work. The cables for the E-brake are either stretched, or one is seized. Likely the same goes for the hood latch cable. These issues alone are no big deal but if the pinch welds are also crushed in, how strong is the under body of this car?

I can't say for sure cause I'm not under your car on a hoist looking at it but you may wanna put the car up and really ask yourself if this car is worth it? I'd look for a clean shell and transfer the good stuff from yours over if the motor/trans/suspension are any good but otherwise it may be time to start saving up for a different car or looking into turning this one into a track car and cage it.

If the car is still worth fixing up then do it right the first time and use metal. take it right down to bare metal and weld onto clean steel get all the rust you can. Honestly unless your willing to spend the dough on media blasting the car on spits and cutting out everything and welding in new material everywhere, it's just gonna come back fast enough that you'll wish you didn't waste the money on doing it wrong. If it's just a beater and you don't really care, cut and weld and spray bomb but it'll still come back in a year or two.

1989 - The car is 10 years passed its lifespan. LoL
Just be happy it's still on the road.

Alright thanks a lot guys, i think its worth it since its my first car and it's good practice anyways. I'll post a build up soon after i get alll this work done. D.t.p major props for the help with ebrake