ian1006

So I am going to go look at a clean titled 1983 Civic S tonight with 140k on the clock. There is no rust at all on the car and the interior is clean other than a small crack in the dash. Exterior appears to be in great condition as well. The bad about the car is a head gasket is needed. He said it was running up until April and has sat until now. He said it will run but he doesnt want to start it since it would damage the engine.
So my questions are:
What should I look for? My oldest Honda was a 91 and this car is 5 years older than me! Anything about the year or model I should check out before committing to buy it? He is asking for 800 and seems like he is willing to negotiate. I dont want to buy this car if the motor is damaged more than a head gasket so that is making me nervous, the unknown about the motor. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Ian
edit: Heres a picture he sent me.



Modified by ian1006 at 12:20 PM 7/9/2008

slayersluck

wow that's a good buy for $800. S models are very hard to find... i don't know where you live but here in socal, the junkyards have a bunch of these engines and they're only $400 here. I would buy it for $800 without a doubt. if you know how to change head gaskets, you should go for it.

PS: it even has the very rare front lip on the bottom as you can see!!!

smithenhiven

I've got an 83 1500S, it's a great little car. Mine however is the opposite of the one you're considering. The body of mine is not rust free, the interior needs some attention, but it runs great. I paid $400 for mine, but I put about $200 worth of carb work into it. However, I would have gladly paid upwards of $1000 or more if it had a better body. I'd say the car you're considering is worth the asking price. I had a hard time finding some of the carb parts I needed to rebuild the stock carb, I ended up buying a complete reman'd carb, I hope you can easliy find parts to rebuild that engine.

ian1006

Good news! The guy was very nice and took my offer of 600 dollars! I was completely surprised by the fact I could not find rust anywhere! AC still works great, new water pump, tires, battery, yada yada. I pick it up tomorrow and will be ordering a new head gasket probably this weekend!

2ndGenGuy

Cool! Just remember to get that head machined and checked for cracks before replacing the gasket. Should only run about $60-100 at a local machine shop, and will keep your headgasket from blowing again due to the warped head. Warped head is pretty typical on the older Hondas when they blow a head gasket.

ian1006

Oh definitely will be surfacing the head. Tracking down a new head gasket and hope to have it running fully in a week or two if things go well and I have time. Time being the biggest factor. After I polish and wax it ill post some more pictures. I think its pretty cool that its 5 years older than me though haha. Plans for it are to restore it as much as possible and drive it to work a couple times a week.

NW Classic Honda

I would buy it, great deal for a rare car.

illtakeurcar

awesome!

E-AT_me

pimp little car.

nsxmatt

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ian1006 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Oh definitely will be surfacing the head. Tracking down a new head gasket and hope to have it running fully in a week or two if things go well and I have time. Time being the biggest factor. After I polish and wax it ill post some more pictures. I think its pretty cool that its 5 years older than me though haha. Plans for it are to restore it as much as possible and drive it to work a couple times a week.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Be sure and have the head checked for cracks between the valve reliefs. I've seen a few with head gasket problems that end up needing a new head or sending the old one off to be welded.

ian1006

Ill be sure to check the head very well. The guy I am buying the car from bought it from his brother who didnt machine the head before he put the head back on
Do you guys know where I can source parts for this thing? I mean like major parts from blocks to radiators, to heads if I need to in the future? I looked through the faqs and know where to buy the small things. Thanks

Jonathan_ED3

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ian1006 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ill be sure to check the head very well. The guy I am buying the car from bought it from his brother who didnt machine the head before he put the head back on
Do you guys know where I can source parts for this thing? I mean like major parts from blocks to radiators, to heads if I need to in the future? I looked through the faqs and know where to buy the small things. Thanks </TD></TR></TABLE>

Engine parts should be the least of your worries - you can still find those all over the place, and lots of people reproduce them. Most of the cookie-cutter online parts stores have them (partstrain.com etc)

For major engine components, car-part.com you'll find a bunch of stuff.

You got any more pics of that beast? Looks like a heck of a buy!!!!

Show us those pimp red/black OEM seats

BTW, if you have any particular questions....shoot me or smithenhiven a PM as we both have the same car!

ian1006

Yeh unfortunately I dont have the original seats...not happy about that but whatever.
I just started a build thread in the appearance cosmetic thread...
Heres the link:
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2341409