So unfortunately Wheelsmithy your Vevo reference is entirely lost on me... But thanks?!
Anyhow, progress again! Went to the local U-pull yard this weekend with my Dad and scored an OEM grille and the rest of the remaining door trim I needed, along with some misc. hardware, clips, nuts & bolts. Here's the grille in it's rightful place
I also got the updated heater controls my car apparently has so it was a pretty great day at the yard. In further learning/exploring of the car I've certainly learned a lot more about the subtle differences between a 1997 Civic and a 1999 Civic. Mechanically they're very very similar, but a lot of aesthetics are changed just slightly; a detail I had never noticed before owning one. So that has been a fun learning experience.
As it stands presently my car has a 1999 front clip (hood/fenders/lights/bumper) and the body itself is 1997. For some reason the heater controls and entire HVAC box have been swapped to the later 1999 style, but the radio harness appears to still be 1997. Playing with somebody else's Honda is an adventure.
Furthermore, This car has led 3 lives at minimum: The way it rolled off the showroom floor, the presumably more tuner way it was before I got it, and the slightly more OEM way it is now in my possession. I've found a few hints at it's modified past by way of holes in the body for some kind of body kit & wing, as well as these clever little LED bulbs I will be swapping out for OEM; I discovered this this weekend when I put a battery in the car and now have lights and sounds!!
I think one of these was burnt out, but the other one was in the turn signal position and emitted a blue light behind the amber turn signal lens. Not for me. A set of parts store stockers will be installed tonight.
And here's a picture with the garage closed up and the lights on, because, well this is the first time I've seen the car with lights on!
So, we are now closer than ever to it doing full on car things, which has me very excited.
Playing around Sunday afternoon after putting the battery in showed me a few things, the first being that it didn't crank. That was frustrating but I let it go and focused on the positives. Windows worked, although they were slow. Sunroof works but slow. Fuel pump cycles with key on. Cute Honda key-in-ignition buzzer works (phew!). Lights all seem to work although some bulbs are bad. Back up lights work. License plate lights work. Windshield wipers work. Horn relays click though there is no horn in the car. Inside trunk courtesy light works!
Back to the no-crank issue. Some googling told me the clutch switch can go bad on these cars; I jumpered the plug and same issue. Finally I stumbled upon an article talking about improving grounds. Always check your grounds! I was missing a ground strap from the chassis to the transmission, so I added that one. And I also had just painted the whole engine bay so the grounds I did have weren't making good contact through all the paint. So I added the transmission ground, cleaned up the paint on the others, and presto, she cranks!
CHECK GROUNDS!
As I'm sitting here typing this up at work I'm also thinking to myself, perhaps the slow window operation was another symptom of the bad ground situation. I'll have to check that at home tonight.
Time to spend more money!! :)