Home with VX, Some Q's and comments

[GasSavers_James]

I just picked up a 94 VX from southern N.H. yesterday. When I went to look at it everything was great. It only had 112K and no rust. It was nearly all stock, including original rims, eng and tranny. It had a 5 wire o2. Only 2 problems 1st- it was lowered...2nd- when I drove it, it missed and ran a little bit roughly in lean burn mode. I had never driven a VX before, so I had no reference, but I knew a honda should run smoothly. It idled perfectly. When you stepped on the gas it paused for a sec, shifted into power mode and accelerated powerfully and smoothly. So I figured it was OK, and that I would tinker around later and figure out what was wrong. On the way home I did worry about it a little bit, thinking it could be something major and expensive, and i was kicking myself for not bargaining it down some more. It would lose speed in lean burn mode, and then you had to really step on it to get it into performance mode. I was guessing it was an ignition problem:either the plugs or the wires, cap or rotor. maybe the o2 sensor. Today I checked the plugs and yes it had bosch plugs installed. So tomorrow I will try and find the right plugs for it and then maybe it will run correctly in lean burn mode. I also ordered a DMM to check the status of the lean burn.

The lowered suspension makes the car handle nicely and sharply. However, up here in N. vermont, we have lots of frost heaves, which were painful on the way home. Also i live on a dirt road, so i need to put it back to stock.

Question: Has anyone removed the springs on a civic hatch before? I should be able to figure it out with a service manual, but i have not ordered one yet.

Another question: How can you tell if the car has the original hi temp thermostat?

Another q: What specs should the spark plug wires have? I know the ones on this car were recently replaced...but do they have the proper resistance?

Some observations: the gearing is nice and tall...1st is not too tall, it is easy to get going. 3rd is quite tall and keeps engine speeds really low in town. Fourth and fifth are fairly similar and both quite tall. The car has much more torque than i would have guessed. It makes my 2.0 camry feel like a slouch, even at 2,500 rpm. The handling is quite good...i forgot how much better the older hondas handle than toyotas. the brakes are also really good. I really like not having power steering. It is really roomy inside. I don't think we will miss the extra 700lbs we were carrying around driving the Camry.

If any VX owners have any advice, let me know.