Restoration Speedy 1975 Civic

[EvoCivic]

(I heard someone stuffed it into a 1200? anyone got a link?)

You hardly need to 'stuff' an EW into a 1200 shell. It's a relatively easy swap with only minor chassis clearancing to do. With appropriate brackets you can use the standard engine mounts. I've not got any pictures but have seen several done.

[Speedy]

So I've been getting a lot done in the past couple weeks on the civic project. The engine I rebuilt is not for sale anymore and I have sold one of my "parts" Honda`s along with my parts '73 Charger and made a nice sum of money for my Civic project. So a couple months ago the head gasket on my dad's yellow Honda blew and I just got around to working on it 2 weeks ago. Water was sitting in the cylinders and rusted up the walls a little bit. Since I was selling my engine and I needed a car for my engine swap, I told my dad he could have my rebuilt engine and I would install it for him if he buys me the donor CRX I need for my swap. After a bit of convincing from my uncle, my brother, and me, he finally gave in. So last weekend I finished buttoning up all the little things on the engine and I must say I did a damn good job on the rebuild because it runs better than any other carburetor car I've ever driven. So now I have my daily driver and my gas mileage back, because driving that Charger to work everyday was killing me on gas. In the middle of me installing the rebuilt engine my dad got me my donor car like we discussed.

Drove it home and everything, so I know the motor is good. Guy that I bought it from who is actually in that picture said that the engine was rebuilt and still being broken in so I didn't rev over 3K RPM, but when I took apart the engine I couldn't believe one bit that it had been rebuilt. There were a few mickey-moused things, wrong bolts everywhere, missing parts, and tons of gaskets that didn't look like they'd been changed since the car came out of the factory. It's all fine though because I was going to rebuild the motor to my specs anyways. Spent an entire day cleaning the garage and pulling the engine, and just last night I got around to test fitting it in the Civic.

It fits really well in there, just going to need some modification for mounts, but nothing major. Hubs and differential line up really well, similar mounts in a couple areas, enough space to run the exhaust in the front of the engine instead of the back, enough room for the EFI system, and it just barely fits in the engine bay width-wise. Going to compare axles once I figure out where the heck I put my CVCC ones. Some problems that I see are that the sway bars look like they're going to hit the transmission and smash it against the frame of the car

I may have to relocate the sway bar to sit underneath that second rod that connects the sub frame to the control arm, don't know if that would affect performance or not just by moving the sway bar a little lower for clearance? I'm going to try to keep the same angle on it along with not moving it back or forward any because I believe that might affect the leverage and force on the sway bar. Anyone have any input on this???

As for the engine I have decided that I'm going to rebuild it completely like I did with my ED3 engine that is now in the yellow civic, then put a set of ARP rod bolts and head studs in it, and put a turbo on it. I am going with the Garrett GT15 turbo. It is small enough to spool up very quickly, and strong enough to give me boost all the way to red line. My power goals are around 140HP, and that should be fairly easy to obtain once it's tuned right to that turbo. In my engine build I'm really just looking for something that will give me more bottom end power since I want to haul my dirt bikes out to the hills and jet skis to the lake, and that would still give me my mileage since this WILL be my daily driver even after all the money and time I have dumped into this project. Also picked out my paint color for the car! It's a House of Kolor color, I wasn't trying to stay original with the car as you can tell.

So that's the basic rundown of how my project's going. Once I've got the engine mounts done which should be by the end of the week then I'll be sending the car out to paint, then once it's back I should have the engine rebuilt and I can start working on getting this baby back together and get my Koosjer stripe on! I'm very excited at this point to see all the potential in this car start to actually become realized.

[EvoCivic]

It fits really well in there, just going to need some modification for mounts, but nothing major. Hubs and differential line up really well, similar mounts in a couple areas, enough space to run the exhaust in the front of the engine instead of the back, enough room for the EFI system, and it just barely fits in the engine bay width-wise. Going to compare axles once I figure out where the heck I put my CVCC ones. Some problems that I see are that the sway bars look like they're going to hit the transmission and smash it against the frame of the car

I may have to relocate the sway bar to sit underneath that second rod that connects the subframe to the control arm, don't know if that would affect performance or not just by moving the sway bar a little lower for clearance? :dunno I'm going to try to keep the same angle on it along with not moving it back or forward any because I believe that might affect the leverage and force on the sway bar. Anyone have any input on this???

The sway bar is already underneath. The upper bar is the radius rod that locates the lower control arm, the lower one is the sway bar. You can't move the radius rods easily. You need to move the whole thing more to the left. To do that you will need to make a bit of clearance on the engine side. You will need to trim the left chassis rail to clear the bottom pulley. Either do it with a big hammer (I've seen this done and it's not all that pretty) or do some cutting and welding. You can use the standard left engine mount on the body with an appropriate bracket.

[Bill]

If the map I am looking at is right, maybe, the Garrett turbo on that engine you should see 140HP @ 5 psi, somewhere around 2500 rpm....? Properly setup of course... you are going to have a lot of fun in that car!

[Speedy]

If the map I am looking at is right, maybe, the Garrett turbo on that engine you should see 140HP @ 5 psi, somewhere around 2500 rpm....? Properly setup of course... you are going to have a lot of fun in that car!

That's exactly my power goal haha I plan on running about 7psi max, and I really wanted the low end power in this engine so 2500rpm is going to an awesome power band for my type of driving. Exactly why I chose the Garrett.

Evo, you're correct, the sway bar SHOULD be underneath the radius arm. Found out last night that my dumb arse put the sway bar in upside down without noticing. Flipped it around like it should be and my clearance problem is gone lol. I started chopping up the frame last night to make room for the engine and pulleys. I'd rather chop and weld than just bash the frame in with a hammer. I mean, I've gotta do some fab work for the mounts anyways, right? Might as well go the whole nine yards.

[EvoCivic]

Glad you figured out the sway bar. Looking at your pic it IS on top. I've never seen one mounted that way and didn't even realise you could get it on like that and not have it hit stuff (or was it hitting things?).
As far as the size of the bay goes, the 1500 is around 100mm longer but they are the same width.
Bashing the chassis rail into shape with a hammer is definitely the bodgy way to do it and does NOT look at all good so it's a good thing you aren't going that route.
You shouldn't actually need to modify the engine mount on the body but rather make a U-shaped bracket that bolts from it to the engine.

[79cvccHM]

I really like the progress. Looks good. You cant trust anybodies work but your own. Taken notes for when I do mine. Good luck sir, I am tuned in for the project.

[Speedy]

Sorry for the slow updates, hopefully I can start updating more often. I've been getting a bit done though and am very excited with the progress of the car. I found a set of rims with new tires, which is exciting! Had a friend of a friend pick them up on their way to LA. They need to be polished, I'm hoping the chrome isn't already beyond polishing. I may have a hookup to have them shined up for cheap or even free.

I painted one the way I wanted with the chrome lip, but sadly there's no chance I can get away with leaving the chrome the way it is.

The pictures always make the chrome on these rims look like new when in reality they look like crud. But you don't get much choice unless you wanna pay the big bucks! Anywho. I also managed to collect all the parts I needed for my rear disc swap and bolt pattern swap to fit the new rims/tires. Most parts I bought new, only ones I didn't are the ones that they don't make anymore. So hopefully soon I can get that going and have everything installed. All that is on hold at the moment though, because I got the car back from the body shop and quickly sent it out to another! The first shop didn't do as well as I thought they would and so I'm glad they didn't end up painting it. This second shop did up my uncle's 1967 VW Type 3 Notchback show car a while back and it looks amazing! In fact that car just won another award a couple weekends ago. So naturally, since they knew my uncle and they liked that I was so young and passionate about cars, they gave me the same treatment. They straightened EVERYTHING, reinforced all the thin sheet metal, and sealed every corner of the car along with getting the gaps straight and straightening out the frame. I gave them the paint code and just yesterday they started shooting the inside of it. It is EXTREMELY exciting to see some color finally go on the car! They said they were going to do the outside of the car today and finish up shooting the parts like fenders and doors tomorrow. I am VERY happy with their work and how fast they were able to turn around the car when the first body shop took a few months to do a small amount of work in comparison. Total turnaround was a little over 3 weeks.

Meanwhile as the car's been in the shop, I've had another project going for it. The dashboard and door panels are getting some genuine wood veneer on them. The door panels I had were a little warped, so I had the guy in our Laminate Department at work spray a little water on the backsides of them and leave them in the press overnight and they straightened out very nicely, they're like new panels now. I also got some African Mahogany veneer for free from a closed out job we had a year ago, and the Finishing Department lead guy is color matching it to my steering wheel and shifter knob. He's going to leave me with a quart or so of stain in case I want to do anything else on the car, which I do of course

Sorry for lack of pics, Hopefully everything will be coming together soon and I'll be a bit closer to the finished product. Next update I'll have the car here at my place with some color all over it! Then after that comes the Koosjer stripe 8)

[bob78cvcc]

It's always exciting to watch fresh paint go on.
Those wheels with the side stripes will rock!

[whiterabbit06]

Have you thought about using a chrome paint? Maybe something like http://www.alsacorp.com/products/killer ... chrome.htm