78 civic a20a1 swap

so, I'v pinned down the engine I'm going to "gently place" in my wife's little civic. its out of an 88 accord LXi. I got the whole damn car for 2fiddy and it runs awsome. it got sideswiped real bad on the driverside. I'm taking the engine, trany, ecu, wiring, guages, sunroof and anything else i want or need, and get this, the wrecker will give me 50 bucks back if I bring back the shell!!

Progress report on SXYCVIC;

right now I'v got the hood, trunk lid, doors, engine/trany, front bumper, fenders, lights, interior, and trunk all removed and stripped ready to start the body work.

today the dash and the front window come out, as does the main wiring harness, and rear bumper.

I will try to make regular progress reports to update those interested, also a friend of mine is giving me her old digital camera so I will see if I can post some picks too.:thumbsup:

cool. sounds like what my 78 wagon looks like at the moment

got a couple of wagon steering knuckles you want to sell cheep??

not at the moment. i have a set of second gen wagon knuckles tho

here's an update on my progress....

here's whats left of the car. so far no rust!!

http://photos.yahoo.com/wrxdriver99.

does any one know of any one that has shaved the drip mouldings from their civic??? I would like to, but I wonder about the door seals leaking and the cabin vents beside the back windows. also I'm looking to change the bumpers for some sleeker, one piece rap around ones, but I'm having trouble finding some, I even looked at thehondapartsstore.com, but I didn't find any thing I liked. any ideas much appreciated.

well I havent done a whole lot , but I did get the drip rails off, as well as the battery tray, the charcoal canister bracket and the side motor mount. I started the body work today and I'll be going nuts on it tomorrow too. heres a few pics from this morning, before I started with the body filler.
I don't have my own digital camera, so I can only take pics when I borrow one from a friend, so there will be missing steps in my photos

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wrxdriver99/my_photos

I still find it amazing how simple these cars are.
http://f7.yahoofs.com/users/446bb63czd6b5e2cd/mail/__sr_/f28bre2.jpg?ph4eVeEB59Cu91u.
Good job!

where do I start...

Well I got working on my hatch opening. I welded the seams at the bottom of the opening then filled and sanded and filled and sanded and... untill I got it just right. I want everything about this car smooth. I ground all the paint off the seams where all the spot welds are and hammered them as smooth as posible, then filled and sanded untill smooth. After that I sprayed the affected places with rust inhibitor and/or primer and then with paintable rocker guard.
I used the rocker guard under the rear chrome bits so that hopefully chafing won't lead to rust. the rocker guard overspray will be sanded off the visible body surfaces, with the exception of the rocker panels, to help with the smoothness of the car. I will be using it around the rear window openings though.
I love this little car. just had to write that
I had a couple of L.E.D. strips laying around so I decided to put in a recessed third brake light. I cut out the roof for metal to use for the recess. I carefuly measured somewherre near centre of the roof and using my handy nibler and my even more handy die grinder made a hole. then I made the recess and test fit it. then I made a bigger hole and welded it in. then more fibre glass and filler and sanding. still more to do, but I'll wait till I put in the sun roof
The minor rust on the rear of the car wont be to hard to fix, I just havent decided what to do on the rear valance ends. I think I will clean off all the paint off both sides right the way accross and fibre glass a couple of layers on both sides for extra strength and corrosion resistance.
I'm sorry this is so long, but I thought you guys would want details. If there are some questions or coments or free stuff out there, let me know.

Don't forget to check out my pics!!

Happy modifying

sounds pretty sweet, makes me want to get bck to work on my wagon

well I have one seriously smashed 88 accord LXi sitting in my driveway waiting to be stripped of everything possibly useful for the civic. Now to find some time....

I even sot some upgrade parts for my air compressor to make it more efficient to do the work. I'm so excited.

Oooo, I got my red type R Honda badges, and my jdm hello kitty/mugen badge(its my wifes car). I'm still excited. I also picked up a nice set of older 14" Enkei aluminum rims for a hundred bucks

More pics and progress soon

Hats off to you for getting involved in your project.Sometimes i question my sanity,working on my civic Si ,covered in dust in the searing heat when all my mates are having a beer!Nice to see I'm not the only one...
My welding is now underway and roll cage is coming next...number plates and Rear suspension arrived too.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2283923

Pimpmcdaddies,

Although this doesn't look like it's a picture of your car, I like the wheels!
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/3/web/2283000-2283999/2283923_10.jpg
:)

Here's my project:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2278318/1



Ok, back to the topic.

well mostly.... it was more harder than I thought it would be, but it looks great. now I have to test fit the glass and motor assembly, and start on the body work. there are pics of the install on my link.

You keep yourself busy..I expect my projects will untimately end in single life for me!
I've never removed roof gutters before but I imagine water may penetrate if the door rubbers are worn.These can be injected with sillicone to bulk them out as they are hollow.(Teqnique borrowed from a sunroof fitter).You could also try adjusting the door catch in as much as you can visibly get away with,I expect even 2mm would make a difference.

Hi, i'm interested in what you're doing to the old 78 civic... I have a '79 civic cvcc wagon I've begun restoring and I'm trying to find a replacement engine with a bit more umph to it as a direct or slight modify. I also want to replace the old 4sp with a 5sp. what tips can you offer me. I also want to lower the little guy a little. any ideas on what to do re: leaf springs and front coils?

motor with a little more umph would be the 80-83 accord/80-82 prelude motor. not much more power but a little. the prelude/accord motors came with a 5 speed manual and 3 speed auto so that would take care of your 4 speed problem as well. the 5 speed has a lower final drive so some find it a little sluggish, i ran with one in my second gen wagon and found it to be alright for daily driving and it got good mileage on the highway. the desirable tranny is the 1980 civic 5 speed as it has a high final drive and close ratio gears, any of the civic 5 speeds have the higher final drive but the gear ratios differ some. in a series of unfortunate events (too many to type) i ended up having to run with a 4 speed from my 78 wagon in my civic and i really liked it, on the highway it rev'd high and limited my top speeds however for round town stuff it was nice and peppy with the higher final drive ratio. only the second gen motors (80-83) will bolt in with little or no modifications.
the primary motor mounts are identical on the second gen motors however the tranny side mounts are a little different, in your first gen there is a rod going from the head to the firewall, on the second gen motors this is replaced with a triangular mount off the tranny with a rod in a slightly different location. with a little backyard engineering and perhaps a friend with a welder you should be able to come up with a workable solution.

as for lowering, cheep and easy: cut front springs and put a 2" block under the axle beam in the rear. the front struts are going to be stiff and the rear shocks are going to blow so you may have to find a generic replacement to prevent this.

this is all just really brief off the top of my head and there are dozens of things i'm forgetting and am simply not well versed in, a good site for more specific questions is http://www.1stgencivic.com/forum/index.php

well heres a little bump for my thread. I've been working somewhat steady on my car over the last two months and here's what I've got done;
-speedo, Tach, switches and dash wiring converted into original civic dash
-roof section, sunroof and roof bodywork nearing completion
-drip rails, corner lenses, antenna, chrome trim shaved
-three piece mid-wing preliminary constuction complete
-most of the bodywork on the shell is done. started the rock guard.
-Interior stripped, cleaned, primed and basecoat painted

-Engine bay;
*Three of four engine mounts made(top driverside left)
*4 of 5 notches complete(front and rear crossmembers, and both framerails) one more for top driverside to do
*had extra serpentine and vbelt grooves machined off pulley(looks super cool)

things are coming together nicley
I have posted some new pics in my link at the bottom of the page.

been working on my car new pics on my link
http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wrxdriver99/detail?.dir=mail&.dnm=a0acscd.jpg&.src=ph

WOW!

Nice job!

looking good

anymore progress...

There has been lots of progress, but I will do an official update tomorrow and hope fully add some pics. my sig contains a link with some new pics since my last update(only a few).
Oh by the way it runs now, needs rad and axles to drive and finishing bodywork, paint and reassembly.

So I've been a busy little beaver....
The civic now runs, very short amounts of time with no rad and all, but runs.
The shifter linkage, fuel system, brake system, engine electrical system, and heater hoses are all hooked up.
I need to finish the rad support, the axles, and the throttle cable to be able to move it under its own power. they'll be done by the end of this weekend for sure.
I also intend to have the rest of the body work on the shell done and primed as well. unfortunately it will be staying in primer for the rest of the winter, so I will be re-assembling the civic in primer.
there are new pics in my link in my sig at the bottom. any questions please feel free to ask. I can take some extra pics of things(if possible) if you like