Alright guys, I have a 1981 civic hatch that has a blown engine... And right now im trying to decide what to do with it. Its all old school with the good ol' round headlights and chrome, so i'd like to keep it, but i want to make it worthwhile if you know what i mean.

I was just wanting to check if anyone has done, heard or knows of a swap into these cars. Ive been leanin on a d-series swap because it would be cheap and simple, yet give this thing plenty of power. I want to consider all my options, cause i think it would be neat to fix up an old school hatch that could surprise everyone that thinks its just some old POS . So what should i do?!?!

Pic of the beast!

 

No more modern motor is going to drop easily into that car. First f all, custom fabrication is going to be needed to drop the motor in. And extensive electrical system and fuel system mods are going to be required to make the motor run. And speaking of ease of swapping, D-series is not going to be easier than anything else. So don't let this stop you from trying to drop in a more substantial motor.

 

I think the standard 1500 is nice engine for your civic. But if you want build a supriser, put newer engine to it. It will need much on mechanical skills for that. But it would be a stopper. I remember at some magazine, that somebody at UK put B16 to civic like yours. And it was a pretty neat.

But i think if you want to build the orginal engine. I suppose you can have pretty nice 1500 from it.

 

this guy dropped a brown-top ZC into a 1978 CVCC

http://p196.ezboard.com/fhonda...topic

 

dam thast a nice swap. havent seen many of those around.

 

what ever you do, do it!!!! i love those oldschool civics!!!!

 

i have flash lights that run off bigger batteries then that....lol but clean swap

 

Thats a sweet looking swap... in a wagon too lol...

Anyways, i am anticipating doing plenty of fabrication if i do swap, because the car itself could use a little bodywork, if i fix it im going to go all out. I always wanted another money pit

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of the 2g Civic!

I'm a fellow owner. I've got an '83 1500S

I'll have a swap by the end of the summer in mine. The hardest part is converting to EFI. The fabrication is the easy part!

Also, having a 2nd gen will give you more options than the '78 posted in this thread. The 1st gen has a smaller engine bay!

A good resource is http://www.civic1200.com ...check it out.

Here's a picture of mine:

 

here is a link to a 2nd gen with a b20 bottom and b16 top. not much in the way of details on the swap, but maybe a little inspiration.

http://asia.vtec.net/beystock/hybrid/art4/

 

That car always makes me laugh.

i like how it has 14" brake rotors from an accord and 12" brake rotors from a Prelude.

and 15" wheels...LOL! Yeah right!!!!!!

 

I have an 1986 prelude that i have gone the other way with i put an 1983 accord engine in it. I have been toying with the idea of putting the 12 vavle preude engine into an older accord actually. Friends of mine have put the accord 1602 into 1976-83 civics. it's a basic swap over. I found doing the swap from the 12 valve prelude to accord engine that alot of parts were the same and motor mounts could be interchanged with ease. You may want to look in this direction as it would be a lot easier than putting in efi all your electrics would stay the same.
Super79Dave

 

Ya, i was toying with the idea of just dropping in a B16, cause hell, the car don't run now so i don't have anything to lose with letting it sit a little longer while saving some money to start this project..... Would give me some time to work on the body and interior.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

People down here also swap the Mk2 Honda City Turbo engine into those...

 

that would be so badass with a nice red dohc valve cover in it against the white paint.

do it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by doublethink &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that would be so badass with a nice red dohc valve cover in it against the white paint.

do it.</TD></TR></TABLE>
lol, i was actually thinking if i put a b series in i would do a mild n/a build and maybe paint it championship white once i get to the body.