1990 Honda Civic GL from UK and Ireland - Comments

The clutch has just been replaced, cost £150 roughly to fix.

The right arm on the drivers seat has worn to produce a hole.

Brake pads recently been replaced.

This is a great car, well actually great is an understatement, this car is superb!! I could go on for ages about this car. It's really comfortable, and it has kind of bucket seats which are standard and it really is relaxing, It's a smooth ride, don't feel many bumps, very nice.

The performance is very impressive. I take my car quite often down to this back road I know, and I do my 0-60 and I've had really good times.

The worst time I got 0-60 was 9.2 seconds, but that was because I wheel spun too much, hehe, but then when I didn't wheel spin too much, I got 8.7

0-60.

Recently, I got a Quad exhaust system, which is four 3inch pipes out the back, to fit this you have to remove the middle backbox! can be seen at:

(http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/walk/xvq55/jcc/memberscars/honda/nickscivic.html)

Anyway, as you can imagine, no backbox, which means it's mighty loud, and has produced more Brake Horse Power to over 100bhp from 90bhp, and the 0-60 of average about 8.3seconds, and if your really quick with the take off, you can get about 8 seconds out of it. I have also added an extension to my air filter which gets more air into the engine quicker, this has also boosted my bhp. When it comes to top speed, it says 106mph in the book, but I got 118mph and I reckon I could get 120mph. I've reved my car upto 8000rpm fine! no probs and it burns rubber, trust me.

This Honda civic GL, would give a Golf GTi a good run for its money a suzuki Swift Gti and a peugeot 205 1.6 Gti. I've left XR2's, VTR's, XR3's, SR, SRi, GTE Nova's etc, see what I'm saying, this car is WICKED!!! IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT ONE, BYE IT NOW!.

The Honda civic 1.4 16v Dual carb, twin cam, is very fast, quick of the mark, and will make you feel really happy, when you leave people at the lights!!!

I got a 205 gti and it will whip you mate, ha ha ha, honda civic!!!don't make me laugh.

I've got a 91 1.4 16v Civic SOHC (check it next tome you adjust the valve clearances - only one cam shaft in there) and its by far the slowest car I have ever owned. My old 1.6 Sunny was far quicker. The Honda is a very nice, refined car to drive though and it does handle very tidily -

much better than most "sporty" cars that I have driven, but it is severely lacking in power - motorways are a pain. Brakes are a bit weedy too. XR or GTI beater? Dream on!

Yeah I'll second that comment. I loved my old 1.4 GL and it was a great first car, but it's not a "GTi beater" nor does it try to be. It's pretty quick, might even call it a slightly-warm hatch, but I think you slightly overestimate its performance.

I don't know what you are all doing wrong, but my un-modded 1.4 GL F reg hits 120+ no problem (i got scared of the cops and slowed down after that!) plus it pulls like a demon, really does beat GTis et al. and I mean that wholeheartedly. Great mileage too, and incredibly reliable never broken down. Guess you just got to take care of it, keep it serviced and they will perform when you need them too. Suppose if its been thrashed all its life then its going to be a bit slower than it was designed, but seriously quick car.

I have owned an early gl model civic, and I must say myself, this is one car which I would catagorise within the the small nippy car region, but I would not say it has the guts to compete with real group of sports car, e. g gti, vtr.

Yeah, the Civic GL is a great car and fairly quick too. I own one of these as well as a Corolla GTi, but the Corolla will easily out perform it. Never tried it against a Civic 1.6 VTEC though...

You have to remember I have modded my Honda civic, so those who say Gt-i's etc would beat me, you are right if my civic was standard, but I've done a lot of work on it, and I mean a lot of work on it, half the engine has been uprated. I never meant to cause an argument over this! sorry. But I have got my 0-62mph tested at a timing ground near where I live and I got 7.2seconds and hp of 142. Trust me, you can make a 1.4 16v Dual carbs civic go that more quickly, if your willing to spend a couple of hundred on it. Sorry to sound like I was bragging, but you know, I love my car, like you lot love yours, we all have different opinions and that's great! Have fun whatever your all doing!

I know what you are saying about the 1.4 dual carb motor. Some draggers in malaysia are pushing those motors up to 185 HP naturally aspirated. I recently dropped a ZC SOHC dual carb motor (1600 16 valve) from an integra into my 4th gen 4 door civic. It is a lot more powerful than my previous 1500 16 valve single carb engine.

I'd like to know what you did to your 1.4 to get it so powerful. Could you give me a couple pointers...?

I own a Civic GL (dual carb, 1.4, 90hp) from 1990, not modded or anything. And all I can say that this car is really awesome for his age. The engine is fantastic.

He's even faster for the first 500 meters at the lights then my dad's Accord (2.0i from the year 2000).

Also is he faster then some other cars where you wouldn't expect it.

Once I was faster then a tuned Alfa 156 with 130 hp. (He came from 110 or 115 hp)

Last year, I reached 186 km/h (116 mph) without any problem.

I'm really proud of having this car :-)

Greetings from Phille (Belgium)

I used to own a Civic 1.4GL I know it was a nippy little car, i'd class it as a warm hatch at the most. I put a full exhaust system and an air filter on it too and it made no difference to the performance just a nice noise. Curious as to weather you re-jetted the carbs because that's the only way you'll make any power with your air filter. What other mods have you made to get over 100bhp/litre, 140+hp out of that engine is not possible without spending big money on lots of bottom end and head work as well as big carbs, wild cams etc etc. BTW I now drive a 1990 Civic 1.6i and that'll do 0-60 in 7.9 and tops 130mph (Proper Hot hatch)

I will give you some hints on modding those carbs, purely coz you drive a honda.

First, get two motorcycle cone filters, the ones for performance bikes. Then, remove your stock airbox completely, and block off all attached piping. DO NOT block off the breather hose that goes from your valve cover to your stock airbox, get a breather filter for this one. Remove mesh guaze covers and spacers over carb throats. Take the two cone filters and push their rubber ends THROUGH the spacers. Bolt the spacers with filters attached, back onto carb throats, without the mesh covers. File them in the dustbin... you might have to bend two little copper pipes next to throats slightly inward to accommodate the cone filters. Don't worry, they are purely for athmospherics. If you are not sure about the size filter, take a spacer, drive to your bike hop-up shop and compare sizes before buying. If you can, get filters with the rubber ends slightly larger than the hole in your spacer, to ensure a snug fit. You might have to use super-glue to make them stick... do not worry about a CAI. Carbs respond much better when they are sucking in air from 360 degrees, as opposed to from one direction only, such as a CAI. The gains from two cone-filters on the throats is much bigger than what you would gain from a CAI. Cold air is great for FI, but free breathing is GREAT for carbs...

Next, you do the Keihin CV Carb mod: You will see two silver lids on your carbs, where it says KEIHIN. Carefully remove these lids by unscrewing the screws that hold them in place. Careful not to drop any screws or dirt into the carbs once you've taken the lids off. Underneath you will see two long springs. Take out the first spring, measure it, and then cut off 3-4 coils of the spring. Now, stretch it to the original length... repeat the process with the second spring. Make sure they are the same length as before they were cut. Next, look at the open carbs again. You will see two little plastic stoppers on top of the two pipes that the springs fit over. Mine were black, so yours might be too. Remove and file them.

Now, take the springs and put them back where they came out of, with the uncut ends facing DOWN. Carefully replace the carb lids.

What you've done: The springs control the rate at which the diaphragm piston valve rises when you push the accelerator. After the mod the valve rises much quicker, due to lessened spring density. This vastly improves throttle response. The plastic stoppers prevent the diaphragm valves from raising above a certain point, to keep fuel consumption low. The higher the diaphragm raises, the bigger the needles open, the more fuel you get into your engine. The increased air from the cone filters and the fuel from the quicker lifting and higher lifting diaphragm means a cool 10-15HP increase (if you have a decently built engine already, otherwise, expect less)...

If you want to go even more, you can machine one (1) millimetre out of the carb throats (you will need bigger butterfly's), and source larger jets from Honda bikes or Harley Davidson bikes. They use the same carbs... But this is going extreme. Harleyheads get an extra 20HP from machining and rejetting their carbs. But then they are not very streetable, and your fuel consumption goes for a dive...

But then again, performance means more air-fuel is needed.

My Honda Civic Gl 1990 has been uprated and modded, but I find it is very unreliable due to it having old fashioned carbs. I have uprated the spark plugs exhaust air filter, and purchased a special item to improve air flow, but all accounted to an extra 8 bhp when I took to a rolling road. Plus I fitted a straight through exhaust which required a cat!!!oh no, this restricted on average around 10 bhp!!! meaning an overall bhp of around 88! though one thing that has improved is the torque, but that's it. Honest opinion is don't spend too much on a small engine like a 1.4 cos it aint worth it.

I have a 1.4gl there pretty quick off the lights in 1st and 2nd very responsive, but 3rd just does'nt pull it does'nt seem to have the torque. but well impressive for a 1.4.I did the clock in it, but there was no more. the car now after six months of flat out and regular services is on its way out, rotten, lost all power, but was a brilliant car. I now have a 1.6 I 16 well better performance loads more torque if anyone ever gets one put a chip on it, brilliant mod, mine now keeps up with my friends crx vetec, id say its quicker in first and second just the powers always there, about the same when your at the top end.

I have a 1.4 gl civic can any one tell me how much insurance is on one as I'm just in the process of finishing it as I have just finished re building it.

Its Insurance GROUP 10.