well i cannot let well enough alone. a guy backed into me the other day and i had to do some body work to the 83 S. it is red and that would not be my first pick for a car color but since the S is rare i wanted to leave it alone. now i need paint anyways so i figure i should make MY car how I would want it. so here are my new plans...

shave the side moldings. they are not in good shape, plus its missing a piece.

shave the roof rails. they too are an eyesore. i tried back-to-black, wax and other stuff to try to make em look good, i failed.

tuck the bumpers. i figured i can mess with the bumper supports and bring in the front and back bumpers 2 to 3 inches.

custom fabricate a bigger front lip.

shave the back window wiper.

now the most important part... color.

right now i am leaning towards gunmetal grey with red accents. the new civic si has this same color combination. its kinda like how if the S was made today, what colors would be available.

if anyone has any other ideas ir if you have done any of these things, gimme some hints. please.

here is what im thinking...

A Civic S, in my opinion, should be kept a Civic S. I'd grab an average 2nd gen Civic to make a "whatever-I-want" car. I can see the shaving of roof rails and side pieces and the bumper tuck (I did that to mine), but I wouldn't consider removing the rear wiper and painting it some odd, non-Civic S color.

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Odd? It's gray. The most boring, bellybutton car colour ever. I think he'll be fine.

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-Cam
1988 Mazda RX7
1980 Toyota Celica
a bunch of cool other cars I'm not allowed to list

i was also thinking doing white with keeping the side moldings. i will have to find some way to paint them back to black though.

But not a Civic S color.

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well at least i can start on the bodywork and the shaving. i will sit on the paint color for now. red isnt my favorite color and black isnt a good idea here in phoenix arizona so we will see...

I would (& have ) remove the (often shrunken short) roof moldings & the plastic clips the end pieces screw into so you can see any potential rust problems developing as they may there. But filling their recesses poses problems due to body movement unless welded, with filler/fiberglass prone to cracking & letting in water.

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www.cardomain.com/id/79cord
'79 Accord, '89 CR-X SiR, '81 Prelude, '74 Z360 H/T, '71 Z360, '64 S600, '75 Lancia Beta.

i have removed the plastic/rubber roof rails and there is zero rust there. as well as no rust anywhere else on the car. gotta love arizona!

here is a pic of my roof... i look forward to not having to deal with rust...