need some advice, my VX destroyed!

[woohoo!]

So I got into an accident with my 95 VX (some lady turned in left in front of me while i was going through an intersection) and now its totaled. I'm buying a 95 civic coupe EX from a friend for cheap. the engine/tranny/harness/ecu is still salvageable from the VX. should I swap it into the coupe? is it worth it? the coupe is about 450 pounds heavier. what does everyone think? thanks!

[civic94]

where was it hit? you can go to certifit to buy the body parts for really cheap if its front end damage. if its rear end, forget about it


450 pounds heavier.. just imagine your vx with 3 other normal weighted people (3x150 = 450) and theres your answer.

[woohoo!]

oh the car is done for...front end impact, the frame is partially compressed...ill post pictures soon

[bobski]

Well, the EX has a simple 4-wire O2 and won't have any EGR hardware on the firewall, so it won't be a simple bolt-in affair... You'll have to run a few wires from the ECU. Also, the engine harnesses may have different shock tower connectors, so you might have to re-pin at least one side of that harness connection to accommodate additional EGR and O2 sensor wires.
Assuming it's in running order, I would at least give the stock EX a try before doing a swap. I've hit over 45 mpg with the same engine in my CRX, cruising at 70-75 mph on the highway. While the aerodynamics will obviously be different, it doesn't mean you can't get decent numbers if you try.

[BEEF]

couldn't you sell the components of your VX on here? there seems to be a great demeand for it. you may lose your VX but at least you will have some green in your pocket. the EX should still yield you pretty good as far as mileage (not as good as the VX). that way you will have some cash just in case a good deal was to come up

[opelgt73]

I think the swap would be worth it. If you have other means for transportation while you are doing the swap.

In my opinion the hardest part of a swap is having all the correct parts. I have been contemplating swapping the VX engine into my CRX but it is quite a chore to piece together all off the necessary components. Having a complete donor car makes that a heck of a lot easier. Given that they are both from the same year it should be nearly plug and play.

You should be able to shave a few hundred pounds out of the DX to get it closer to the VX's weight.

[nowhhs]

I agree with opelgt73, I think it would be worth it for all the reasons he cited. But even if you don't do the swap, you should at least look into swapping the transmission out of the EX for a CX/VX trans. That's probably responsible for most of the difference in gas mileage, 4.25 vs 3.25 final drive ratio.

[Danronian]

Do the swap. As long as you have the knowledge to do the swap yourself, it's worth it. If you have to pay someone to do the work, it'll take a long time for it to pay off, but will be worth it eventually.

My friend just finished swapping a VX motor/trans/harness into a del sol, PM him (loserkidwac) for more info on how to get it done right.

Good luck with it and glad to hear your OK!

The 450 extra pounds won't be a huge deal. Just ditch the a/c and add the manual steering rack to shed about 100lbs worth of stuff off it.

[aalb1]

I'd love to know what you get for your VX from the insurance company since the VX's value should be rising.

[woohoo!]

Originally Posted by aalb1

I'd love to know what you get for your VX from the insurance company since the VX's value should be rising.

i'd love to know too, but i'm still dealing with insurance right now and neither side wants to take the blame. also the police report said it was my fault? because apparently when you have a green light and someone turns left in front of you while youre going through its your fault...funny huh?

it turns out the civic ex i thought i was going to get for a good deal was an automatic and i dont have enough time (with school and all) to change everything thats needed for a transmission swap so i'm looking for a new base to work with.

thanks everyone for your input!

[aalb1]

Originally Posted by woohoo!

i'd love to know too, but i'm still dealing with insurance right now and neither side wants to take the blame. also the police report said it was my fault? because apparently when you have a green light and someone turns left in front of you while youre going through its your fault...funny huh?

Same thing happened to me... a van was heading in the opposite direction that I was heading in. I was going straight through the intersection (slight downhill grade) and she was turning left (her left, my right) (slight uphill grade for her). Naturally I braked and attempted to steer out of her way while not completely veering into oncoming traffic. So my passanger side front collided with her rear wheel axle. As soon as we found out both of us were OK and her children weren't in the car, she was very apologetic to me.

The cop said that based on the point of impact (passanger side front of my car, rear side of her van) I was at fault being that her car was more through the intersection than I was. After hearing the explanation I got a little mouthy with the cop and said , "So you mean to tell me if I didn't step on the brake at all and continued on through the intersection at full speed and t-boned the van closer to front fender the blame most likely wouldn't be on me?" The cop sternly suggested for me to be more happy that no was injured and less concerned about who the blame was put on.

I confirmed with my friend who investigates car accidents as he said "9 times out of 10 based the basic training that Patrol Officers are brought through, they will rule the accident in the same way." WTF?!?!?!

I feel your pain... well honestly not all of it. I was driving an 87 Accord... not a coveted VX

[Erik]

Man- that stinks!

Last year I had a fender bender with my 87 Civic that was not my fault- I swerved and braked hard to avoid a car pulling out from a side street on my right. It pulled out just as I was passing by and so by swerving into the left lane while braking hard, I just took off the car's front bumper. If I wouldn't have swerved, I would have T boned the car and probably hurt the driver- even though I was just going 30 mph when they pulled out.

Thankfully, I do not have antilock brakes so I left a skid mark that swerved into the left lane so there was proof of where my vehicle was.

The other driver (a 16 year old) claimed I was speeding so fast that they didn't have time to pull out all the way before I hit. It was a sunny day with unlimited visibility on the flat road- no other cars around. Thankfully the cops knew they were lying.

It bent my front fender a little bit so they totaled my car and gave me about $500, I bought the car back for $50, straightened the fender and now have a "rebuilt" title.

[Loserkidwac]

Wow sounds like exactly what happened to me...I say get what you can from the insurance, make sure you tell them anything you changed on the car or upgraded in my case they gave me some more money since none of it was really "performance"...I ended up getting $2600 for my car (well $2800-$200 to buy it back) It was also a 95 VX Believe me yo won't get as much as you think even with gas prices going up, Insurance companies suck...

Anyways, if you have you VX for donor parts you'll be in good shape...You can cut some weight out of the Coupe by swapping over some one the parts from the VX, check out my build thread (linked in my Sig) and see what i did...took the insurance money and replaced a lot of parts on my del sol and swapped in the VX motor and trans...The Del Sol is ratted at 2300lbs and honestly I don't notice much difference between it and my previous hatch...good luck!

[theholycow]

BTDT. Driving a dumptruck, I lumbered slowly through a T-shaped intersection along the top of the T. I was halfway across when a speeding minivan came out of the vertical T-leg, apparently hell-bent on shaping his front-end like the inside-out version of the rear half of the dumptruck side. I swerved left to give him a little more room and he just barely cleared -- but then I couldn't clear the stopped car in the oncoming lane. The corner of my bumper just barely tapped an older Saturn, and I felt bad for the poor lady who was at a dead stop and saw a dumptruck swerve at her...

Of course, the other damaged party was obviously not at fault. The minivan driver was effectively deemed a witness, and the cop gave me a verbal reaming because I was the youngest person on the scene (despite me being 100% polite and cooperative).

[Nden]

I say SWAP over the VX stuff: motor & IM, ecu, wire harness, you can mount that control box on the firewall just use the VX harness it will plug up to the shock tower by your battery. a lil less hp but u'll save in gas $$. ur choice. otherwise MYSELF and im sure others want dibs on your parts =) !!

[suspendedhatch]

Buy the car back from the insurance. If you can't store it, ask us what parts you need to salvage from it. If you don't use them then you'll have no trouble finding people here that will buy them from you. Everything down to the aluminum engine mount/alternator mount, the rear diffuser, the EGR controller, the ECU, the intake pipe, the cluster, and of course the engine and tranny.

[woohoo!]

thanks guys, im glad to see another person went though the same crap i did. I totally felt like she ran the light, but whatever I need to put that behind me and move on to bigger+better things.

I'm currently looking for a base to drop the vtec-e into. Loserkidwac, i saw your swap and I've been searching for a del sol for awhile, but now I'll take anything from a 88-91 civic/crx to a 92-95 civic/del sol. if anyone in the Sacramento or bay area has one for sale (for cheap!) let me know!

thanks everyone for your support and motivation!

[Loserkidwac]

Good Luck, I opted for something 92+ simply cause after the accident it made me appreciate having the air bag...figured it happened once it could happen again and since its a DD didn't want to take the risk, just some food for though, plus 92-95 is already OBD1 so less wiring will need to be messed with...let me know if you have any questions about the swap good luck!

[101mpg]

Challenge the police report, plain and simple. Last I checked no one turning has the right-of-way, PERIOD. Call up the guy's captain. Call in a different police investigator. Throw a hissy fit. If you are turning and oncoming traffic is not, you do NOT have the right-of-way. Read your state vehicle code. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE.

Police reports CAN be amended. Contact an attorney about it if the Captain doesn't get it fixed properly. Just because he's law enforcement does NOT mean he cannot be sued for filing something improperly. She turns - she is at fault, PERIOD.

Sue to get her issued a ticket for failure to yield right-of-way if necessary. Talk with your insurance company and have THEM do the dirty work if you can. And make SURE to go to the hospital to check for injuries before any more time passes. Like have them give you an MRI, X-Rays, etc. Never know when a hidden neck injury will pop up.