Am I making the right decision in getting a Civic?

[suspendedhatch]

Get an HX.

Does anyone know if the alternator in a 2001 or 02 civic constantly runs? Can it be disabled or can its belt be isolated from the engine while the alternator is not in use? I don't want the alternator to constantly be adding to the engine's mechanical workload if the battery is charged.

Honda alternators are pulse-width-modulated and have been since 1988 and possibly earlier. What this means is that the alternator is controlled by the ECU to output power on demand. This is one of the features that makes Japanese cars better than domestics.

Can an integrated starter alternator be installed on a 2001 or 02 civic?

I don't know what that is. I hope you're not talking about how the starter is integrated into the electric motor on a hybrid.

I assume the radiator fan is electric. Does it run constantly and can it be hooked up to a thermostat? I don't want the fan to constantly be draining the battery if the engine doesn't need cooling.

Whoa buddy you need to catch up with the times. I don't know of any crank driven fans (except on trucks) since the late eighties. The electric fan is indeed controlled by the ECU to turn on only when the coolant passes a certain temp. This generally only happens at idle or in stop and go traffic.

Are the air conditioner and the heater one unit in the 2001 and 02 civic? I want to remove the heater because I don't need it since I live in the desert south west.

The heater consists of a coolant/air heat exchanger mounted in a box that is downstream of your blower. You really don't want to remove this. There's no mpg gain from removing it, and it can be quite complicated re-routing or looping the coolant lines. It's a good thing to have in case your car begins to overheat.

The blower itself and all the ducting can be removed for a small yet significant weight reduction, but I wouldn't recommend this if you ever want to sell the car someday. It's going to be a lot of work to remove the dash and pull all the components. You'll have to eliminate the AC. Truth be told you'd be lucky to pick up 1 mpg but the value of the car will plummet. Some parts of the AC system are difficult to remove without damaging them. And you'll have to pay to have the AC system drained and recycled (about $40 or maybe free if they're nice).

Where is the air conditioner located? I'd like to locate it somewhere else in the car if it is located in the engine compartment. The engine compartment gets hot. I makes no sense to put the air conditioner in there.

The air conditioning is a large system that has components mounted on the engine, in the engine bay, and under the dash. You can't relocate any of this and for much of it there would be no benefit as you are assuming. The A/C pump is driven by a belt off the crank pulley. The A/C radiator (not the technical term) and fan are in front of your coolant radiator and can't be moved for obvious reasons. Various lines are routed through the engine bay but these do not soak up heat. In some places these lines are insulated. Under the dash in your air ducting attached to the blower motor is the condensor. This is the part of the A/C that actually cools the air.

[monroe74]

"Under the dash in your air ducting attached to the blower motor is the condensor"

I think you gave him very good advice, but one minor correction: that's the evaporator. The condenser is the part that looks like a radiator, and is either in front of or beside the radiator.