The car is cleaner both inside and out. Is it perfect? No–still some dog hairs around, but no bad smells! I bought a set of Craftsman brand toolboxes yesterday and was surprised to find that they fit in the Civic hatchback without issue. I heaved them in there and drove back while the rear suspension did all the heavy lifting. I spent all day yesterday rearranging and organizing my tools. My old toolbox became my random screw, nut, and bolt pile, which was previously some old cardboard boxes and shopping bags.

Over the course of the week I replaced all of my windshield wipers which were a little rusty and worn out, my low beam headlight bulbs (as one was out), and my fog light bulbs (as again, one was out). Fortunately it was not the fuses since replacing the bulbs fixed my problems. I did spend some extra time troubleshooting though because I did not realize if the high beams were on that the fog lights would be switched off. I tell you what, with the next headlight or taillight bulb that fails, I will definitely think about replacing the entire housings with LED replacements.

I also took some time to document how to take my bumper off since this was the second time I had to do it. The forums seemed to recommend taking it off to access the fog lights to replace the bulb. My quick notes indicate:

  • A small plastic panel on the driver’s side ahead of the airbox needs to come off (with push pins)
  • 4 10mm bolts are on the top of the bumper attaching to the frame
  • 2 10mm bolts behind the plastic wheel well need to come off (peel away the plastic to access) on passenger and driver side
  • 2 10mm bolts attach underneath the car on each side (passenger and driver)
  • 6 10mm bolts attach the lower pieces of the bumper to the frame
  • After some persuasion the bumper should simply fall off at this point

I still need to attack the failed door actuators but with spousal approval I ordered audio equipment which I should receive throughout the week. This means I can kill two birds with one stone once the door panels come off. I took Monday off and hopefully I can get everything installed to my liking. I also need to wash the car and apply touch up paint and polish. My arms and legs are sore just thinking about it. I also spoke to my buddy about the clutch kit and flywheel–we’re looking at some point in April so hopefully things pan out. The current clutch and flywheel appear to be in decent shape in the meantime. There is slight slipping but not enough to really complain about.