Hey guys. I'm new to this forum but not to Hondas. I recently picked up this '89 civic hatch shell for $400. bodies in pretty good shape, and it had a walboro 255lph fuel pump, 5 point roll cage, and kyb struts w/ I'm pretty sure ebay coilovers on it already. so not bad for $400 i think.



planning on going forced induction with a LS swap, here's the motor I picked up for $500 (pretty much stock b18a1, completely rebuilt from the ground up with all new bearings & seals, polished crank)



got a cable LS transmission for pretty much free (i'm not exactly sure how this thing is going to drive but hey, it was free), just ordered an exedy clutch kit and exedy flywheel, and innovative motor mounts, so they're on the way. the build's coming along pretty decent, i at least hope to have the car running by december 21st (lost my license and that's when i'm getting it back) and then i'm probably going to pick up a spare LS head and build it for turbo while its off the car.

i got a question though, I'm really unsure of how the hell i'm going to mount a radiator. looking at pictures of some of your guys EFs, i see you guys have a whole front radiator support type thing, but as you can see, there ain't **** like that in mine...



looks like it may have gotten cut out, or something. Not really sure. The guy i bought it from had a traction bar that he removed before selling it to me, is this what's missing? am I going to need to get an aftermarket traction bar?

also i'm shooting for around 250-300hp with my build. i've read that an LS can handle that pretty well just stock, but if I only have the money to upgrade a few things internally, what would be your recommendation to do first to make it as reliable as possible? not trying to spend $10k here building the internals of the motor but I do want to know what are the weakest points so I can upgrade them.

thanks
-connor

 

Your going to need a front crossmemer (or traction bar), it's up to you. The stock one would be cheaper and works just fine and a radiator support which you could just get at the junkyard. GL with the build.

 

so the last couple months has been spent stockpiling parts (well, the first week I bought all the parts and then the last two months I waited for innovative to ship out the traction bar haha

anyways finally got the traction bar (the last package) today, and thew it on the car, probably going to drop in the motor tomorrow

the mounts:


shift linkage:


innovative axles. damn these look nice:


innovative competition bar, really solid and nice:


exedy clutch kit, nsk throw out bearing:


exedy 12lb chromoly flywheel:


megan racing short shifter:


ebay header: (went with ebay header and intake cuz i'm going to boost it anyways, this is just to get it running and broken in)


ebay intake tube, k&n filter:


traded 2 random gsr blades I had for this exhaust, tanabe super medallion race:

can i get this hot tanked?? anyone know?

bosch spark plug wires and bosch iridium plugs (didn't use NGK cause i wanted red wires lol):


got a set of LS mesh to throw on for winter theyre in okay condition



quick shot of the competition bar on the car

 

Looks nice man, I've been wanting to see a good clear picture of one because I'm interested in getting one myself so I wanted to see how it sits and bolts up. I believe I have the same exact short throw shifter from Megan....supposedly 40 percent less shift....and you do feel it. You may not notice it since you havent been driving the car but I definitely noticed a shorter throw when I installed mine. It is alitte shorter than stock physically (and I use a 92 Prelude shift ****). I don't know about you but I like my shifter to be physically low so I was very pleased for the 25 dollars I paid for it. Good luck with swap man, I just recently swapped in a B18a1 into my friends 89 and it gets down....I think you'll be pleased with all your bolt ons. I hope you have a half shaft though (I didn't see one in the pics but I assume you have one).

 

^ I was refering to the competition bar at first....I just re-read that and realized I didn't specify.

 

We're starting out nearly identical. Will be checking this thread for sure. Good luck with yours.

 

thanks for the kind words guys, yeah this thing should be decently quick just with the b18a1 I think, this thing weighs next to nothing LOL,

but anyone know if can hot tank that exhaust and clean it up? its really dirty and messy and i was just going to clean off the outside but then I thought about a hot tank and i can't really see any reason it wouldn't work to clean it inside & out..

 

You can definitely meet your power goal on stock internals with ARP head studs and rod bolts. If you want to go for a bit more power, forged pistons and rods should be added.

How many ft. lbs. of torque is the clutch rated for?

 

Since I'm doing a similar build I thought I would ask...

What is the half shaft for? Those axles aren't what is needed?



I'm using the IM competition bar as well and I was told by the nice guys at Password:JDM that I can mount my (half sized eg+ style) radiator with these:



Was told I should have no hood clearance issues, etc. I guess we'll find out.

 

On the driver side of all b series they have a half shaft that connects into the tranny then the driver side axle.....without one you wont be able to drive your car.

 

90 - 93 Integra half shaft is what you'll want

 

Oh, ok. Yes, I know what you're talking about (EDIT: I just ran out to my garage to make sure I had one...I'm good). Sorry, cjmclead, you can have your thread back now.

 

I'm using the IM competition bar as well and I was told by the nice guys at Password:JDM that I can mount my (half sized eg+ style) radiator with these:



Was told I should have no hood clearance issues, etc. I guess we'll find out.[/QUOTE]

How much do them mounts cost? Because sometime in the near future I'm gonna be doing a EG radiator swap and then sometime later in the future that comp. bar....

 

From Innovativemounts.com, they are $50 plus shipping, which for me worked out to $72. I'm sure you can find it cheaper other places.

Password:JDM does not carry this product, but told me they could get it for me and would just ship it with my order at no additional shipping fee. So, for me it worked out to $50 even.

acmoc has some k-tuned ones for sale over in his thread:
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-crx-ef-civic-1988-1991-3/my-build-thread-1991-usdm-honda-crx-si-d16a6-sohc-zc-all-motor-n-2440724/

Although they are shaped quite differently and I'm not sure how they would work exactly...

Again, sorry cjmcleod!

 

Updates?

 

i just got the car back from pfi. welded some brackets onto the traction bar radiator support was cut out and whatever the bumper is supposed to attach too is gone so idk what i'm going to do about that. speedometer still doesn't work. neither does heat, lol i live in colorado. exhaust isn't on either lol open headers loud as ****. i think the starter relay is bad so i have to touch a wire from the battery to the starter to start it. i got some ls mesh and some function and form type ones.





but its together. oh yeah and i need to relocate my battery obviously. my hood won't fit lol

 

Ha! Always nice to see a non Si build. I have a white 89 std with all motor ls and ctr pistons. Car is so fun to drive

I will be checking back at this thread to watch your progress. Good luck!

 

i hit my ****in alternator pulley because the shop that dropped in the engine didn't bang out any space to clear it, it bent it so it's sitting all ****in crooked, i started hearing banging after i went over this speed bump and I thought the engine threw a rod or something lol turned it off right away and looked at the engine. didn't notice anything at first so started it... immediately noticed the alternator pulley (the one that is attached to the crankshaft) was so crooked it was banging into the ****in side of the engine bay. turned it off again immediately.

i'm not really sure how ****ed up it could have gotten by this, but i'm going to asses the damage tomorrow.

 

today i fixed the pulley, it was easy as **** thank god i thought at first it ran off the timing belt so i thought i might have bent a valve or something but i just had to retighten the bolt. also raised up my front coilovers cause winter lol.

tomorrow i'm going to try to fabricate a couple brackets so i can put the bumper on the car. everything's pretty much cut out up front from the previous owner. also i'm going to put on a new fender since my drivers one is ****ed up. does anyone know if 90-91 fenders will fit on 88-89

i wired up a pushbutton between the battery and the starter as a temporary fix for my starting problem too today. yay now i don't have to get out of the car to start it lol. my car really needs a new harness though. anyone in the colorado area thats dank at wiring? wtb wire tuck lol.

 

Sick, good work. I just got the last of the first batch of my parts yesterday. Next is all the engine maintenance stuff.

If they didn't give you some room for the alternator pulley, how did you make room with the engine in the car? Or did you not make room and it fits?

 

Nice build!! Clean and simple so far.

 

very nice build i got a ef with a ls in it to. but mine is b18b1 not a1. N if i get a traction bar would i need those brackets for the half radiator?

 

Nice build! I'm making an SiR Clone with the stock D15 Non-VTEC ;D the motor will be fully rebuilt with race-spec Skunk2 parts however. Maybe boost.

Good luck with yours!

 

Looks good so far. Your radiator overflow is where the charcoal canister originally goes. Overflow belongs on driver side mount bracket. Regarding your bumper and lack of hood latch you should be able to buy a used t bar and bumper beam from any 88-91 civic hatch which will help with fitment and maintain the factory look. For your exhaust you should be able to sand blast it and high temp coat it black so it won't rust. Or use something like simple green to clean it up. All 88-91 hatch fenders are interchangable.