Sure don't make them like they used to....

My '02 Civic was about due for it's second timing belt and there were some indications that the head gasket might have been going.

So 220,000 miles and this car has never once left me stranded and have only been under the hood one other time to do the timing belt five years ago.

Can you believe this thing has, not one but TWO airboxes AND a snorkel. Thank God there's no flippin flapper though.



I'll have to eliminate that shit and find some K&N aftermarket jobbie to scab on there.

As if that's not enough, the damn intake manifold is made of PLASTIC. The thing is HUGE and after the air travels through the throttle body, it goes into another expansion chamber at the bottom of this cheap ass manifold.



The plastic manifold attaches to an aluminum plate where the injectors are mounted.



There must be like 5 free HP waiting to be freed from this thing with the help of shadetree engineering.

I used to make my beer money in high school off Ford Escort head gaskets. I've seen engines for years and I'm sure these Honda engineers are determined to make a cheap product while holding me back. Maybe I could cut this Civic some slack considering it made it twice as far as those old Escorts, gets the same mileage as my VFR while weighing 4x as much the bike. Nah, I'm sure I know better.