Have a crashed 03 civic with the d17 drivetrain. Was thinking of fun things to do with it as it's virtually worth nothing to sell. Couple ideas that came to mind were to try and jam it into a Honda Odyssey off road kart, generator, etc. Really I have no idea but am always looking for fun ideas to try something new. Nothing is too crazy...

 

Blender!

 

The Odyssey kart idea is cool but it seems like it would be a bitch to put a 4cyl car engine in place of a tiny dirtbike engine. You could build a Locost if you could find a cheap way to mate a RWD trans to it.

You could also take the block apart, clean it up nicely, and use it as the bottom for a coffee table or something.

Maybe build a space frame and use the civic suspension, steering, etc. and mount the engine in the middle to make it RWD for a fun track toy/go-kart.

 

Junkyard cart? Parking lot blower? Redneck offroad something or other. Rail buggy? Hook it up to a huge water pump and drain a lake? Maybe build your own power substation?

Better yet. Sell it and collect the money to buy new tools.

 

Yes!

 

there is a guy building a locost that is mid engine.he is using a k24 front drive in the rear.its called midlana he also has a build forum for people to share ideas on there builds.he is also writing a book and all the drawings to build the car from.so when its done you would have all the info to build one.the design is open to put whatever front drive engine you may have laying around in it too.check it out google midlana to see it.

kevin

 

Another thing that came to mind was to use the motor in an old VW Bus... Reliability never hurts.

 

That's not a bad idea. 130hp would be a pretty big jump in power over stock as well, and mileage would probably improve.

 

grab the rotating assembly, and make a 1.7L more traditional d series?

there was an article about some guy running in honda challenge with it

 

it was in honda tuning, right? i think that he used the natural gas poweredversion of the d17, which i am unfamiliar with. it came out a civic gx. i dont think thats what the op has.

 

Not worth the developmental work. Just sell it and get something more useful.

 

Mainly reliability is the attractive point. However part of the fun with a friend's 77 Westy was not knowing if you would make it home...

One of the issue's I'm seeing is the motor not really being worth anything worthwhile. For the $200 I'd end up with, it's easier to have one an adapter plate made and chuck it in a bus. The money from the rest of the car could potentially carry the whole project including the bus.

 

Sandrail!

 

You could do a rock crawling buggy with it.

 

First small project in a long time:



Arms to come.

 

I made one of those seats too. It's awsome.

 

In the end, I tip my hat to you sir.

These newer motors are just too much of a pain to do anything fun with. Up for sale it has gone. Good call!