Project Phil's 1975 Honda Civic 1200

[Phil]

It's good to finally get this off my chest and onto the digital paper.

Best to start where we left off, The twin rs keihns. Completely stripped down, cleaned out all my jets using throttle body cleaner and welding tip cleaners (awesome in the smaller holes :) ). Diaphragms in servicable condition.

After a failed attempt to get one carburetor shop to clean my bodies, I tried another that eventually decided it was worth his time. He lent me his knowledge in how to clean properly and how to clear blocked jets (Mini drill bits). I left the bodies, float bowls and hats with North East carburetor Service for a week while they chemically cleaned them out. I was really pleased with the result, especially the way the hat and needle actuated after the treatment.

[Phil]

I've also been preparing for more RS parts to arrive - Front indicators, side indicators, front and rear badges and an accelerator pedal, Which I say a special thank you to Hiroshi in Nagoya Jp.

A little bit of metal fabrication coming into play here... let's start with my original front apron panel. It had a beautiful big old rusty hole in it, which made it the perfect candicate to chop.

I cut the indicator mounting point off and linished it back with the flap disk. The theory was to use the old panel for the new RS front indicators. I removed the original skin, created a template to match each side using 0.8mm mild steel sheet and tack welded them on. I have also cut patch panels to cover the gap (more fine tuning is required before welding these on). Definitely work in progress as my time has been scattered around other parts of the car.

[JK1969]

This is an amazing restoration! Thanks for every detail in the process you've shared.

[Phil]

This is an amazing restoration! Thanks for every detail in the process you've shared.

Thanks for the feedback. I have so much more to post, just need to get around to doing it. I like your wagon by the way!

[Phil]

Due to covid19 lockdown, I had a week off work, which has turned into a week spent with a civic in the shed and an excuse to spent too much money because the autopart stores were open.

Back to the carburetors, I've got pretty much everything I need to rebuild them, Just waiting on 200 split pins to cover the 3 I need to replace. That and I'm considering zinc plating the visible parts prior to assembly.

The RS parts have arrived from Japan and everything is looking useable with a little TLC. I started by looking at the front indicators. I wire brushed the rusty surface to reveal the devilish pinholes, and shortly after made the decision to fabricate these brackets out of stainless steel sheet. Yet to choose a thickness, but leaning towards 1.5-2mm to stay as close to stock as possible without compromising rigidity. Here's a pretty rough Idea of where it's all heading.

The RS badges are the next part of the pie. They're in servicable condition. If anyone knows a good way to get Resin out of plastic badges (without causing damage), I'd love to hear your advice! Once the resin is out of the rear badge I'm planning to get them stripped clean and plastic chromed by Stephs favourite haunt, A class metal finishers. Followed by a custom mix of resin to fill in the gaps.

Speaking of Resin. I just re-finished my wheel caps. I went for a slightly different method this time. I masked off the surrounding chrome area, hit the face with some wax and grease remover and put a light layer of primer down over the H and surrounding in-fill area. I followed this up with white paint and let it dry for a few days. The next part with the resin was much more tedious than previous, as the resin doesn't flow as well into paint as it does on steel. I had to use a toothpick to weave around the H's. I think they turned out pretty well.

pre resin

post resin

[Phil]

Recently I sent my EB1 head off for some refurbishment with Adelaide cylinder heads and got the following things done.

- welded corroded waterways
- port throats, bowls, valve guide bosses
- port match on RS inlet manifold
- CNC seats - high flow race profiles
- machine valves
- back cut inlet valves
- linish rocker pads
and got the face machined.

[mielko]

going fast!!

[Phil]

Fast as i can. i've just started pulling the interior trim out to start on the body work. Plenty more to come :D. I'm looking at 3 years until completion now.

[Phil]

I wrote a good two hour post last week, that I unforunately lost due to time-out. Here's a summary of images to make up for that lost post.

I pulled the fuel tank out, just looking to check the overall condition. The fuel sender unit appears to be working fine, however is this worth replacing while the tank is out?

During my time off in lockdown I started tearing down my second EN1 engine in preparation for a full rebuild. The block is currently at the engine shop getting quoted up for a 73mm bore and pistons to suit, as well as new bearings for the crank. Hoping to have some pricing back within a few weeks, I do know the only available pistons to suit were the endurotec brand.

[Phil]

I'm getting ready to start my body work. Everything is getting stripped, including the colapsed rear seat mounts. I have given those the chop me make way for the CRX seats, utilising the CRX seat rails hence new mounts.

I used the drill to break the existing spot welds and a cold chisel to separate the parts of the mount that were stuck to the floor pan. for the little bits that remained, I briefly cut would I could with the angle grinder using a 1mm cut off disk. The drivers side had a bog covered 5mm floor plate that was attached with rivets. I also drilled these out and did away with it to reveal a tear in the floor pan. No worries, we'll cut and weld that up using some 0.8mm mild steel sheet. First i'll need to confirm how deep the rust runs (i'm assuming most of it is surface).

I'm taking a lot more pictures than I'm actually sharing. Especially when stripping out the wiring, there's no such thing as too much labelling. whatever helps you piece it back together later is golden.

Off on another tagent - the RS side indicators. I received a set without any gaskets and I was glad to confirm that the Australian indicator rubber gaskets are a perfect fit (assuming the same part). Some of the globe fittings were on their way out so I swapped those out too with some spare ADM ones, along with new bullet terminal connections. I cleaned up my rubber gaskets using simple dish shop in warm water, with a dental tech tool to get inside the grooves.

And finally fitted :)