wasabivtec

This is how to do a full clip swap, not just a firewall. The pros and cons of this approach should be heavily weighed.

Pros:
-Your car will be virtually indistiguisable as a conversion
-The engine mount recievers will make it possible to use stock B series mounts
-The chassis rails are larger and stronger
-The chassis rails are designed for alternator clearance
-An EF8 front end will bolt directly up with absolutely no modification
-Your wipers will operate in the correct direction without modification

Cons:
-It entails a great deal of work more, in comparisson to just a firewall swap
-If your interested in doing a K swap it will be more difficult to find mount kit
-You must purchase a full clip in order begin this approach

The first step would be to source a complete front clip. It will most likely arrive cut halfway up the A pillar and just behind the front seat mounts.

Disassemble the entire front end (every nut, bolt, bracket, line). Next dig out all the sealer, from the floor where it meets the firewall, there is a seam about 6inches back from the the door openning on the rocker, and just even with where the door check is located you will find a seam with 3 plug welds inside. Next I would recommend stripping all the paint from your front end.

I had initially taken pictures of this process and how to prep your clip, but my camera was stolen. So i removed the front end off my car the exact same way i had with the clip.

You will need:
-a punch
-a drill
-a 3/8th drill bit
-a 3/8th spot weld cutter
-a cutoff wheel
-a heat gun
-a hammer
-panel splitters
-measuring tape

First take lots of line measurements and crosscorner measurements. I choose to make supports that bolt into the hinges and seat mounts to keep everything from moving.

So lets get started. Make punch marks in the center of all your spot welds, as not to skip off and damage or break your spot weld cutters. The pictures I post will illustrate where you will be seperating, but i will try my best to explain at this point.

There is a small cover on each side where the fender bolts on, this needs to come off. Next the entire seam at the floor, there are also 2 tack welds on both sides of the tunnel, 3 on each side of the chasis rails, 1 inside the chassis rail, and 6 on top of the tunnel.

If you look down the inside of the rocker you will see a seam there are 6 welds on each side. Then all the way up the door openning to the top of the firewall. There will be 3 plug welds even with the door check that need to get drilled out.

Now we move back to the outside of the car on the bottom of the rocker there is a line of spot welds, you have to pay attention you are trying to seperate the jack point from the rocker on both sides. Follow this seam up the A pillar to the windsheild opening.

Now you have a choice, at the top of the firewall you will see there are small stiffener brackets. Either drill them off the A pillar or the firewall or cut them (they most likely will not be salvagable) You will need to make your own when you put your new front end on.

Now at this point I choose to use an engine crane to support my front end. Then i went thtough with my panel splitters and a hammer and carefully seperated everything. The front end will literally fall off when its ready. (Do not push out on the A pillars)

And now the pictures...

wasabivtec

More pictures

BrayzieEF9

What about the Trunk/Gas pop levers, isn't that a dead give away that its a conversion? lol

wasabivtec

When you purchase the complete clip it will come with the rhd levers and cables, there are holes on the right side that are just filled with sealer that need to be dug out and it bolts right up

jxh_28

HAVE U AWARE OF VIN FIREWALL N DASH? SEEMS VIN TAMPERING....TO ME. IF U HAVENT, UR FOOKED!

Deetz

You could just come up to Canada and buy the real thing.....low mileage,no rust, all the power options, not cutting up chassis.

Here where we have both right and left hand drive cars, the left hand drives are worth more, and the right hand drives are looked down apon

DeathSquad

Screw vin tampering. If you have enough money to buy a front clip, who says you don't have enough for the cops.

But I'm in for more. I rarely get to see a write up of a whole front clip conversion. Keep it coming, and subscribed.

wasabivtec

Yes I am aware of the vins...You could change your old vins to your new firewall...we will get to that part soon enough

CB_ejcoupe

Nice suscribed

jxh_28

u can check DR VTEC - https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-crx-ef-civic-1988-1991-3/rhd-conversion-how-method-keeps-stock-v-i-n-windshield-2635185/

Proper

Yeah, here in Cali they will immediately impound your sh+t if you don't have vins that match up our if they look to have been modified at all. I believe it is very illegal to even cut and place your origional vin on your rhd clip. vin tampering is vin tampering

wasabivtec

1-thank you (jxh 28) that would be a firewall swap. This is a how-to on a full clip swap. 2-i am not going to discuss vin situations at this time.

da9jake

Is this being used for a race application or street use? Either way, I'm in for more.

J_Marc

[QUOTE=wasabivtec;43944629]
-The engine mount recievers will make it possible to use stock B series mounts
-The chassis rails are larger and stronger
-The chassis rails are designed for alternator clearance
-An EF8 front end will bolt directly up with absolutely no modification

-the engine mount receivers are made for the EF8/EF9 mounts, when you say it's possible to use stock B series mounts what are you reffering to? DA mounts? Only two companies make aftermarket upgraded mounts for this chassis, as far as I know they don't interchange with anything else or they would be advertised as such

-the chassis rails are different in a few aspects, different enough that swap mounts or anything other than the oem or aftermarket ones don't work, traction bar kits are hit or miss, most people have had trouble fitting them to the chassis

-the EF8 front panels will bolt on just the same on a usdm chassis, with the JDM t-bar. One of the only issues I know of is fitting the complete EF8/EF9 airbox/intake setup on the us chassis due to a tiny difference in the framerail.

If you're lucky!

And I can't understand anymore why people want RHD conversions, I think it's just all about getting what you couldn't.

I have an EF8, if I could've gotten a bone stock rust free lhd north american CR-X I would've, but those are less common here in eastern Canada (NB) than EF8s, there are no good chassis here. I'm restoring mine with OEM parts, a complete bare chassis rebuild. RHD is a pain to insure, I don't know what'll happen when I'm done fixing and have to go to my insurance with the new appraisal, if it were LHD I'd have no problem. So far I'm lucky, mine is registered and paid for, some provinces are banning the importation and registration of them.

Deetz

[QUOTE=J_Marc;43947403]Exactly my point, and you are right, around here, i think a clean lhd crx is more rare than an EF8. I sure wouldn't cut one up/

The whole "right hand drive thing" is Meh! I bought one myself, a real one, it wasn't a crx, but a convertible GTR Celica. My reasons were because it had on 80K, not miles, came with full leather, 4 wheel steering, a crazy engine that made about 180hp and wound up to 9000rpm stock, and was fully loaded with power top. I used it a couple summers, but then was happy to let it go

wasabivtec

Da9Jake - Im building this one for a bit of both

J Marc - I am refering to using stock B16 mounts (iv found most people around here prefer stock mounts due to engine vibrations)

Most mount kits will work on an EF8 but some modification to them is needed(contact Karcepts)

Traction bars are hit or miss as far as bolting up(do some fab work and they work great)

Reguarding the front end, The EF8 bumper support does not bolt right up to my experience (you can modify your recievers and shim the support and visually it looks fine though)

Reguarding the popper levers, etc... As I stated purchase a complete clip, and they will be there(contact Steve at HMO)

J Marc and Deetz- Why do I want an RHD? Because i do, simple as that.

Purchase price of this car-Free, Purchase price of the clip-$500, The difference I pay in insurance for a RHD-None

Its my car, Its my choice. But if you can get me a 50 state legal RHD CRX that just needs a motor for $500 im all ears.

Deetz

ha ha, well, if you are talking about value, i bought that genuine rhd for $4200, used it for 2 years, then sold it for $7200.....3 thousand dollar profit, plus i used it....i'd say that was better than free

Anyway, good luck with your project. Do it right and don't cut any corners. I guess my biggest concern with such a swap is what happens to that crx if you ever in an accident?

mitsubishiv5

leave the man do his rhd conversion.

wasabivtec

Deetz-I personally am not concerned about resale of this car. Iv got 2 other 91's that I drive almost never. Id rather keep them, rather then see someone else destroy them.

A front end collision is a valid concern. Honestly, Im more concerned everytime i take one apart and find how many welds never stuck or missed from factory. Reguardless, proper measures must be taken as mere precaution.

haddowj

i drive a rhd ef6 crx and i want to pick up lhd and use my jdm parts on it like front end power options etc. deetz is right the rhd thing is just meh. its my second jdm car and when i first bought my Z i thought i was "cool" for buying my jdm car but it soon wore off fast. and was worth about half of a lhd Z. i also agree with him saying there looked down upon and are worth less.... but your not from here so its going to be something special around there not to mention you can take pride in saying you did the conversion yourself! good luck with the build! keep up pics!

bfatdaintegra

yay another rhd swap,mines just a firewall cause im keeping my vins and im shaving my wipers its just gonna be a drag strip/street fun car i have other cars to drive everyday.Im doing it cause i like being different im just doing it to **** on the ricers with big body kits when i pull up to them at a stop light....ballin

75euRFE

man Deetz, is there ever gonna be a RHD conversion thread that you won't go into and say "I'll never understand why you would do this.", lol. Seriously man, not everybody lives in Canada, eh, where you have both LHD and RHD drive cars and where it is a million times easier to register them than here in the states.

Also when it comes to people working on and building cars, everyone has their own personal tastes and not all of them will be the same as yours believe it or not, lol. Also, it's not "cutting up" a chassis. It's not just one solid piece of metal that is getting hacked away at. It is numerous pieces of metal that are held together by spot welds. The spot welds are being drilled out, and I'm sure the replacement pieces will be spot welded back in. To me, this is a big difference than cutting up a chassis.

OP, would I go through all the trouble you're going through? No, probably not. But it looks like you are doing an awesome job and props to you for trying something other than just a firewall conversion. I'm in for the end results.

J_Marc

[QUOTE=Deetz;43947716]
There's some good and bad to RHD, I like the cars, I like the feeling of driving them, but I don't like the attention and all the misinformation out there. I've had a few non-car enthusiast people I felt like slapping in regards to what I overheard them say behind my back. When it's something you can't get here whatsoever, like your Celica with all those features it's more worth it. I'd consider getting another in the future if it's possible, maybe a Silvia S15 or a CTR.


Cool, I was wondering about the mounts. Mine are fine, but if ever I plan on making some serious power I was thinking of upgrading to the Innovatives, unless there was other options.

If you want RHD, that's fine, your car your choices. As for the insurance, be careful! Will they know it's RHD and what kind of coverage will you want? If you ever have to make a claim you can get completely screwed over with a RHD! Any thing done to the car not mentioned to them is enough for coverage to be denied.

Anyhow, I don't want to be messing up your thread, I had a couple of questions, and a few comments to what the others had posted. I really like the way your doing the conversion that's what first got my attention. Good luck with your project, I'm pretty much in the position. My EF8 is apart and I've got thousands in parts sitting, I've got finish it rather than posting on h-t.

da9jake

good luck with the build, im definately interested in this lol

wasabivtec

Ok...

Now that you have seperated your LHD front clip from the chassis, and seperated what your using from your RHD clip its time to begin prep.

You will need:
-an angle grinder
-a palm grinder
-a body dolly kit
-a mig welder
-assorted vise grips
-a wire brush
-metal conditioner

First you will need to address all the spot welds that have been left after drilling them out. Intially you need to take a rough pass with an angle grinder to get rid of all the excess metal. Next take a light pass with a palm grinder to remove all unneccesary glue, sealer, primer etc.

You may find at this point that some of your spot welds were drilled too deep and actually broke through the pieces you wish to retain. I had 2 that ended up this way. Clean off the back side where you broke though and grab your welder. You need to be very careful. (its is only 22ga steel after all) Once you have filled them in, dress them off accordingly.

This is also a good point to address any rust if it is present. Like most EFs you will find slight pitting on the drivers side floor seam. Pour a small amout of metal conditioner on it and let it sit for a few minutes. Next, take your wire brush and just start scrubbing at it. It will all come out, just be paitient.

Now, as you would assume, the seams where we seperated are probably a little bent out of shape. Just grab your body tools and lay your dolly on the back side and just steadly hammer them back into place. (do not strike these areas hard, you will weaken the metal)

Finally, for today, inspect your door checks. I dont think iv ever come across an EF without a broken or weakened door check. Now is the time to correct this. Mine was torn away at the top on the drivers side and I will address that next week along with more.

And now the pictures...