Hey guys,

I want to start off by saying this is my first honda, first import, and it's already been a fun little car for the few hours I've owned it. I found it really good deal on Craigslist and was the first person to look at it, and snagged it right up

The car has had three owner (including me), and the previous owner only had it for about 5 months. Otherwise a couple bought it brand new and it has been a NC car for it's whole life.

To the basics

1983
1500 DX
5-spd
121k Original miles
No a/c, ps, pw, cruise etc..bare bones
everything under the hood literally looks original
The tires are old and dry-rotted, they even have Japanese writing on them..makes the car a bit shakey, so those are going to be replaced.

It has a little bit of surface rust (seen in pics), otherwise underneath is extremely clean, no floorboard rust, and overall very straight body.

Interior is a little rougher than I expected, dash is cracked, carpet is dirty, rear seat was bad...needed to be taken out bad, so I already did that.

I have new brakes/rotors on the way, along with a new alternator, and valve cover gasket that I will put on tomorrow morning (the battery light was on, and the previous battery died on me when I got home. I took it to get it tested, and sure enough junk).

I'm pretty excited to tinker with this thing,

Anyway enough talking. Here it is.

 

Nice looking 2nd Gen...love mine as I'm sure you will love yours!

 

BTW...how is the interior?

 

Rear seats looked like they had a rat for a very brief stint. I took them out and trashed them for health reasons. Front seats are actually pristine minus passenger headrest. This thing sitting and baking in the sun did a number to break down the material...The carpets are dirt but I can live with that.

 

Congrats, Great looking Civic. I just bought an 83 Civic I haven't brought it home yet as soon as I do I will start a thread.

 

Here's some updated pics.

I installed new brakes, rotors, fuel filter, air filter, painted the wheels, and got new tires yesterday. Also here is the bumpers with a fresh coat of plasti-dip. They really turned out well.

 

Hey guys, I know this sub doesn't get nearly the amount of traffic as others, but I'm looking for some information. I really like this little car, but every time I'm in it and when it's not warm yet, it sort of hiccups and runs a little rough. Which isn't really that big of a deal now, but I can see it getting pretty old if I continue to drive this car.

What I'd really like to do is put a d16 in the car, leave the engine stock, and just drive it till the wheels fall off. I've found partial information, some build threads that never go anywhere, etc... I was wondering what all the swap is going to take. I'm new to Hondas, but pretty mechanically inclined, so I'm not too worried about the difficulty, I'd just like to have a plan of what I need to buy, and what I need to do to make it happen.

 

you referring to a D16 from a newer civic? ie; fuel injected? granted I know very little of the pre-88 models a didn't know they had a 1.6

 

Yes, something from a newer civic. I'm not really dead set on any motor over another honestly, I just want something fuel injected. I'm honestly not too worried about the fab work on the motor mounts, I'm more worried about the wiring, axles, and little things that will add up immensely.

I just want a new(er) (like 1990+ or something) engine that is OBD1, that I could get for fairly cheap. If someone could chime in, that would be great.

Also, through scouring build threads, I haven't found a definite answer on axles, it seems like with a swap in this car I would maybe have to get some custom made, if that's the case, then I'm looking at paying more for that then I did the entire vehicle.

 

Hey everyone, I thought I would give some updates if anyone is interested. I bought a 32/36 on craigslist for $60. It looked like it had been sitting for years and years, I decided to say screw it and slap it on there the way it was. Well it I could get it to idle, but whenever giving it throttle, it would bog down, and the car just wasn't driveable. The air/mixture screw wouldn't change how the car revved up much..

After a while of starting, stopping, starting, stopping the car, the carb wasn't getting fuel all of the sudden, we thought the fuel pump gave out. It was late at the time, so we decided to call it a night and re-group in the morning. Woke up, checked the fuse, and sure enough fuse was bad. Put a new fuse in, and bingo we were running again.

We decided to take the carb back off the motor since it wasn't driveable with the bogging. I took the top plate off, cleaned the bowl, jets, pretty much everything I could see. Slapped it back together, put it on the car, set the idle screw to about 2.5 turns out (from all the way in), and BAM, the car drives absolutely amazing. It's about %200 percent faster than it was with the old setup, and just drives so much better. It feels "healthy"!

For those of you with the weber, can you tell me what jets you are running? Mine I believe are 170 and 160.

Here's all the junk that came off the car. All of this weighs approx 36 lbs



Heres the shiny new install (minus air filter top). Yes, that is a snus can EGR blocker plate lol.



I was curious as to what the car weighs so I decided to throw it on the scales quick.

1750lbs with half to 3/4 of a tank of fuel!!

 

Looks good. If I can't get the idle and bogging problem straightened out with my stock carb I am going Weber also. Used them on 2 mazda trucks I've owned and they were much easier to deal with than the stock carb's.

If you haven't checked there, look at 1stgencivic.com. Some useful information for these cars. Also several threads specifically about weber's also. Site has subforums for both 1st and 2nd gen civics.

 

sell it to me

 

PLEASEEE lol

 

I got some 35% tint, also restored the trim above the windows (not pictured though). Here is a pretty recent picture.

This weber is really starting to get on my nerves, it was running fine, then I took it off to smooth the hokey adapter that I got with the carb, and put everything back on and I can't get it to idle right. Idk if I messed with something on the floats or what, but whenever I let off the gas to come to a stop sign or something it will die. It sounds like its backfiring a little out the exhaust. My air/fuel mix screw is 2.5 turns out,

main jets are both 140

main air correction 170
secondary air correction 160

idle 50 i think?

Does that sound right at all?

 

that carb set up is weird looking to me its dead backwards from the weber on my 83 civic.and ive found a way to get around the throttle cable pinch style to make it work. my setup opens the carb all the way and is very smooth.no need to pinch anything.

 

oh and i put a d15b in mine,everything has to be custom made.axles,mounts,fuel lines,ect,ect.

 

It is backwards, the person I bought it from modified the stock carb base-plate and then looks like they made their own carb adapter. It actually seems to be working okay for now, maybe down the road I will buy the redline adapter. I was having some troubles with the carb, but I think that was because it sat for so long, not related to the adapter. I tore the carb down pretty far yesterday, and decided to take the air/mix needle screw out completely.... I think this may have been contributing to my problems. It looks like casting or something, but it sure was some big pieces in that tiny area..



Also, this car sat for so long and the trim above the door was extremely faded, and the clear that they put over the chrome was cracking and peeling. I grabbed a heat gun and a razor and went to town on it. Once I got all of the old plastic/clear off I used metal polish. It's not perfect, but it sure does look 100% better with some newish looking trim above the doors.

 

Do you have an up-close pic of the trim?

 

Cleaning up nicely! The tint should help keep the dash and interior from destroying itself. I need to do that to my car... I've noticed the dashboard starting to burn from sun exposure...

 

Yep, here it is. It's a bit dented, but it adds character lol.





Also an update on the car, since the first day I got it, it took FOREVER to warm up. I suspected the thermostat was stuck open, so I went ahead and replaced the thermostat and put a new water pump on as well. No more slop in the pulley, and it warms right up now!





Also I got a chance to run a complete tank of gas through the car and then fill up again. I wasn't sure what to expect with the weber, but this tank was probably 65% highway and 35% city. 35.6MPG! I am extremely happy with that result. Heck, I was going to be okay if it was like 25mpg even.

 

Looks like a fun project!

 

I like!

 

Nice...I'm contemplating the Weber...I am getting nearly 40 in my wagon and I love the stock look but I need a bit more powah as I am at 7k feet.

 

if yours is running good dont waste the money on the weber, dont get me wrong i love mine but the power difference,would not be worth it.

 

Just getting some opinions, I have a chance to buy this car for $800. It has a slew of new parts, (water pump, thermostat, little things..) but he never could get the car running right. He had some janky guy do the timing and now it lost compression on one cylinder. He said he put a new head on it, and it ran briefly but was backfiring bad. I honestly think it was in the carb, but with the compression on one cylinder scares me now. It's almost too nice to be a parts car, but I really need a dash that isn't cracked, some trim, the rear seats, and a few little things. Think I could part the rest out for my money? I actually think the wheels on it are pretty cool, might be fun for a spare set.