First off, I'd like to thank everyone on this forum for helping me more than you know. Searching and lurking on here has been invaluable. I'm currently about 65% done with my rally car build, and this is the first Honda I've ever touched. Its a 1990 Civic HB with a 1991 Civic Si motor/trans/harness, disc brake swap, and some random other rally stuff (suspension, roll cage, skid plates, etc.). I'll make sure to post some pictures on my progress, as I haven't seen much rally car stuff going on here. Plans are to run SCCA Rally-X, Colorado Hillclimbs, and eventualy Rally America events.

As for right now, I just have a quick question that I haven't been able to resolve by searching... On the firewall side of my trans, right next to where the speedo cable plugs in, there's another hole- on the flat part right next to the speedo tube. What goes there? I found something in my pile of parts that looks like a tach drive, but that seems like an odd place for it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks - Ryan

 

pics would help.
I'm pretty sure theres nothing else on the back side of the trans except the speedo drive. Its probably just a plug.

Good luck with your rally build. Ive taken my hatch off road a few times. Its not at all built to handle what I threw at it but it held up pretty good.

 

Good luck with the build. Any stage rally experience?
Here's my build thread, my third stage rally car:
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1824331
Max Attack 2008!
http://www.max-attack.com/

Rotten's website, I think he is building an older civic right now:
http://fatboyraceworks.com/gallery/Integra

 

sweet ITR! I don't have any stage experience yet, so I'm going to attempt the full season of rallycross and hillclimbs. If I can make it through a few hillclimbs wheels down, then I'll be moving onto RA. thanks for the links. i've been reading about maxattack over on specialstage. sounds cool. hope to see you at an event sometime

 

We're finishing up the new reincarnated EF Civic rally car.

If you want to see the original car (now wrecked) for inspiration, here you go:

http://www.hondatuningmagazine....html

I'll be posting a lot of photos and information on the new build on the website over the next few months.

If you need any help or advice, let me know.

 

another rally car! nice. i actually do have one question for you... what did you use for a front skid plate? i'm most likely going to go get a sheet of 1/4 inch aluminum, but wanted to see if you might have had any better ideas first. also- any cooling issues using the half radiator? looking forward to seeing your updates and pics. thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by G2civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">another rally car! nice. i actually do have one question for you... what did you use for a front skid plate? i'm most likely going to go get a sheet of 1/4 inch aluminum, but wanted to see if you might have had any better ideas first. also- any cooling issues using the half radiator? looking forward to seeing your updates and pics. thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

On the Integra we used 1/4" aluminum plate, bent and cut to fit.

On the Civic we used 3/16" aluminum, also bent and cut to shape. I'll post the photos of the unit at some point soon.

The skid plate causes some cooling issues (on the Integra). Make sure that you have somewhere for the air to escape from the engine compartment. We're going to also put louvres on the Civic to help the hot air escape. We used a full width radiator on the civic (OEM replacment). On the Civic we're using a three-row, half width aluminum unit from and EG (92-95).

I don't think we'll have issues with cooling on the new car.

 

thanks for the info. i'd really like to see some pics of your skidplate and where you attached it, if you get a chance. just picked up an OEM replacement full width radiator today, so that's what i'll be going with. also planning on wrapping the header in some DEI heat wrap, and adding some vents in the hood. hopefully that will help.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rotten &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Make sure that you have somewhere for the air to escape from the engine compartment. We're going to also put louvres on the Civic to help the hot air escape.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

You need more combat hood!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mattjohnston &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

You need more combat hood!
</TD></TR></TABLE>

You're right! Need more combat hood! And combat boots! And combat wings!

Or just more combat in general.

 

So the civic is fired up and runs great. I was a little worried because I'm using a motor that was upside down in rally colorado 05. i figured out what the other hole on the tranny is, and the first responder above was correct, just a random hole, found the cover plate for it. Now my only electronic issue is getting the gauge cluster to work. The harness was tampered with, looks like someone tried to wire a bunch of aftermarket gauges in there, which is just what I might do too. We have a new thing in colorado this year called the Colorado Rally Cup. First event is a rally-x on March 30th. Still hoping to make it. Pics soon, i promise!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by G2civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So the civic is fired up and runs great. I was a little worried because I'm using a motor that was upside down in rally colorado 05. i figured out what the other hole on the tranny is, and the first responder above was correct, just a random hole, found the cover plate for it. Now my only electronic issue is getting the gauge cluster to work. The harness was tampered with, looks like someone tried to wire a bunch of aftermarket gauges in there, which is just what I might do too. We have a new thing in colorado this year called the Colorado Rally Cup. First event is a rally-x on March 30th. Still hoping to make it. Pics soon, i promise!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Motors run just fine even if they have been flipped. As long as it wasn't running upside down for long--in my experience motors basically stop running when they are upside down.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by G2civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
As for right now, I just have a quick question that I haven't been able to resolve by searching... On the firewall side of my trans, right next to where the speedo cable plugs in, there's another hole- on the flat part right next to the speedo tube. What goes there? I found something in my pile of parts that looks like a tach drive, but that seems like an odd place for it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks - Ryan</TD></TR></TABLE>

If its within an inch of the vss its the bolt for the little plate that holds the vss in place (10mm head) or if its on the top of the tranny closer to the front end its the reverse light switch.

only other real holes on the tranny are the drain plugs (on the side) and a breather close to the the reverse switch.




Modified by spun Vtec at 6:30 PM 3/14/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rotten &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">in my experience motors basically stop running when they are upside down.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I can only imagine how you've accumulated such experience...

 

lol didnt see you found out what it was already

 

yep - def holds the vss in place. honda noob = me. got the sunroof hole welded shut tonight, gonna finish some painting tomorrow and welding up a brace on the rear crossmember for the skid plate to mount to. whats the record time for building a rally car anyway?

altoona?!? i went to PSU. been down to your hood quite a few times

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ...esteban &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I can only imagine how you've accumulated such experience...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I hope to not gain the same experience... this year anyway..... there's a bit of a curse in colorado. we have a place called C.O.R.E, which has a ~3 mile stage for testing. newly painted cars wind up wheels up often.

 

Glad to see that there's more Hondas being built for rally. Not just subarus and golfs.

 

I love watching rally and would love to participate in some off track events. Probably can;t do a legit stage rally but luckily the Chicago region will soon offer rally cross events so I will definately look foreward to doing that.


my only concern is will the stock air filter be enough to keep flying debris and dirt from entering the engine?

anything special I need to do for a rally x as opposed to an auto X?

do I need special tires or can I mess around in street tires? I intend on learning skills and having fun, not trying to win.

how can you keep the undercarriage clean with all the dirt being caked on the suspension and such?

 

i'm a bit worried about the dirt in the intake thing. I have an aftermarket intake with a cone filter on my rally car, and have added a k&n prefilter, which is basically just another layer of foam around the cone. I'm also going to rivet a plate over the hole in the fenderwell just below the intake to hopefully keep mud out. i'm not too worried about dirt caking on the suspension, probably will just stop at a spray off car wash on the way home and blast it all off.

side note- anyone have suggestions on economical gauges (oil, temp, tach) that will easily hook up to my civic? i know an electrical tach is a no brainer installation, but as far as the oil and temp go- mechanical or electric? i was thinking mechanical for oil and electric for temp.

 

Not much to worry about the filter getting dirty. You can check them at service if you're worried about them but in 27 rallies I never had an issue.

As for the gauges, do them all electric, dont mess with oil lines and crap like that. Electrical oil pressure and temp sensors are way easiers to wire and route than a mechanical line (that might fail BTW).
I got one of these in my car, works perfect.

 

aaahhhh!!! i came across a mention of that while doing some research. thanks alot for the pic. i'll probably be going with the same thing. heading down to the garage. she's getting doors, windows, hatch and fenders tonight.. almost a real car.

 

Shoot can't wait to see some action shots of your car!

 

well, i successfully completed my first rallycross with the civic. finished putting together the car the night before. its still not painted, but it performed quite well on the sandy, dry course. bridgestone blizzaks do great on dirt! the only issue i had was the fan relay.. just had to keep the car off between runs and it was fine. i've since wired up the fan to a switch. next steps are skid plates, mounting the passenger seat and belts, and PAINT! (needed badly) It's affectionately known as the smurfmobile right now. a name i hope to get rid of quickly... here's a pic from the photographer that was there.
http://kevinhahnphotography.co...8.htm

 

too cool!