Restoration Steve's 1976 Honda Civic Project

steve.ewing@ottawa.ca · September 21st, 2011, 1:08 pm

I can't claim much credit for this job other than I supplied the pieces. This was built by a couple of guys I went to high school with. Randy did the cuts and Kevin did the welding. It needs a bit more grinding and perhaps some polishing and then I'm going to get it ceramic coated. I'm pretty happy with it. What you will do when you can't buy a part!

steve.ewing@ottawa.ca · October 26th, 2011, 7:31 pm

I've been holding back on posting the progress on the engine install because it doesn't look like much. The reality is that there has been a fair bit of effort and time gone into it up to this point. The outstanding issues are to get the header welded up to clear the intake, do the wiring and hook up the various hoses. No promises on when that will happen but I'll be there videoing when it finally starts for the 1st time. What's made this a more difficult and more expensive swap was the absense of a donor car. I've spent a lot of time collecting things like the motor and transmission, motor mounts, starter, brackets, flywheel and clutch kit. At this point, I can't think of anything else I need. Finally.

steve.ewing@ottawa.ca · October 27th, 2011, 1:03 pm

islander wrote:Hey there, Nice looking car you are building. Just wondering... what color is your car? kinda hard to tell from the pics. Is it black or a dark metallic?

It's called Mercedes Tektite Gray. It's essentially black but has an element of charcoal to it with some metalic. I've yet to clean it or polish it so no idea what it's gonna look like when it's clean and shiny. Thanks.

steve.ewing@ottawa.ca · October 27th, 2011, 1:12 pm

I got the header (Pacesetter possibly) from Kurt who got it from Andrew Smit. It's a bolt on but with the custom intake, 2 of the pipes came out too far from the exhaust ports and were in contact with the intake. No, I'm not doing the work myself. It's farmed out to someone with a lot more exhaust experience. I could probably pull off the welds but I've got nothing to do the bends with. Besides, this isn't really something I want to learn on even if it will be under the hood most of the time.

steve.ewing@ottawa.ca · November 3rd, 2011, 9:04 pm

It is for twin Webers and it is very custom but I think it'll work out well. It's pretty solid.

steve.ewing@ottawa.ca · January 19th, 2012, 9:06 pm

Well, I know it's been a while. Things have been happening just at a slower rate than I ever anticipated. The latest news is that I picked up my header and intake from getting cermachrome coated. The header got a bit hacked up in fitting due to the way the intake was built. There wasn't enough clearance with the fabricated intake so things were shifted around to get everything sitting pretty. Overall, I'm really happy with the way they both turned out. They'll be on the car shortly and I'll post some shots of the engine bay then. For now, I've got these to show.

steve.ewing@ottawa.ca · February 21st, 2012, 8:49 pm

Here's a short clip of the motor running. It sounds way better when you're standing next to it.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1177443111 ... 6949717074

steve.ewing@ottawa.ca · February 21st, 2012, 9:07 pm

It seems to be working well. I can't wait to get the interior in so I can get it out for a run. But it's tax time and that comes first.

steve.ewing@ottawa.ca · April 20th, 2017, 3:54 pm

I'm back working on my car again. I had the engine overheat a few years ago and cracked the head. I got a new head and had it rebuilt and tried to hone the cylinders. The result was 2 unacceptably low compression cylinders and 2 marginal. After going back and forth between getting the engine rebuilt and buying a used one, I decided to pull it and rebuild it myself. I was already .50mm over so I was looking for .75 over. One of my best deals of all time came when I found 4 pistons, rings sets and pins on line auctions for under $80 CND delivered. I've had the block bored and have just finished installing the pistons. (side note: using the ring compressor I used to do my last rebuild circa 1987. Back when you could go to Honda and have your pick of parts). Anyway, my old build thread has disappeared so on to better things. Stay tuned but be patient. :honda