Time for another project! I recently found this car and decided to rescue it. It was rusty, dented, barely ran, and was just generally neglected. In spite of all of its problems, I was able to drive it home in a big cloud of oil smoke and steam.

Day 1






Seriously, how cool is this interior!? I'm loving the wooden steering wheel.



The engine bay was full of wet leaves, dirt and 35 years of caked on motor oil.









She is a little smoky....



Epic smoke pouring out of my garage!!




Despite having a new carburetor, it still wouldn't run right.



I decided to try and buff out the hood a little bit to see what was under the faded orange paint.




There were some pretty serious rust holes. I started with the passenger side fender, cutting out and replacing the rotten metal:





Beating out the dents and first layer of body filler



I think the hood is too far gone to repair, but I tried anyway just for fun.





Some of the side molding pieces were missing so I decided to take them all off for a cleaner look





Much more to come on this one:
Major rust repair
Engine swap
Paint
Interior
Suspension
Wheels

 

This is going to be good. Best of luck on the new project.

 

can't wait to see more...

 

this is totally sick.

 

Good luck. Looking forward to seeing this.

 

Thanks!!
More updates:




Stripping the engine bay


Big dent in the roof



I used last year's calendar to create a template LOL



Traced onto some new metal



Tacked into place





I still have to cut/modify the frame rails to fit the new engine. Stay tuned!

 

haha The love is a never ending saga... Good Job man

 

will be watching this for sure!

 

I made some more progress this weekend:

Removed the stock cold air intake fitting and filled the hole










Scored a D16A6 from an '89 CRX SI at Pull a part this weekend. I'll be doing a refresh on it, cleaning it up and painting it, but not much else. It should still be a lot of fun to drive.

Painting the valve cover



Test fitting the new engine/transmission

 

This is sweet! Love seeing unique builds like this, keep up the good work, definitely gonna follow this one

 

Good luck w build

 

I may be able to offer something here. When I saw you were building a '79 I was very interested as I used to have a '75. When I saw you were putting an A6 in it I knew I had to comment, as my '75 had an A6 in it also, with a nitrous kit.

Here are a couple pics:

If you don't want these pics in your thread, I apologize. Let me know and I can delete them. Or, if you want to see more pics, let me know.

 

D series is definitely not a bolt-in!
passenger side frame rail



Driver side frame rail



I was originally planning to use a D16Y8 manifold but it's just too big.



Driver side frame cut out for clearance! I aint scared!!



Passenger side



Still need to cut some more to clear intake manifold



Aligning the motor and installing the stock motor mounts to locate and fabricate mounting brackets









Template for driver side motor mount bracket



The valve cover is the only part of the car that's finished



Back to the body work:

both front fenders were borderline beyond repair. I got my dad to bring his 40 year old hammer and dolly (seriously) along with his 40 years of body work experience to fix it.



Massaging the fenders back into shape




Dad pulling out the radiator support from where it was pushed back



The subframe was rusted out on both sides and needed some fresh metal



A lot of progress on the body, but still a long way to go.




New frame rails and motor mount brackets will be cut out of 3/16" steel plate

 

Oh man! Nice project!!!

 

I love seeing these things. Any idea on the weight of the car? Definitely a beast when it's all said and done. Where do you buy your sheet metal? Price per sq/ft?

 

I'm guessing it will be a bit more than the stock 1500Lb. due to the extra weight of the engine/transmission.
I get all my metal from Freedom Metal in Charlotte. The 3/16 steel was about $80.

 

Thanks!!
The D16A6 I bought from the local pull a part ended up having a thrown rod... luckily they worked with me on a trade, I just had to find another engine.
I was torn between an 86 Integra D16A1 and a freshly dropped '91 hatch with a ZC swap. The Integra looked pretty beat, and clearly hadn't been maintained. The Civic was wrecked in the front, which is a good sign the engine was working when the car was junked. I pulled it yesterday and after getting it apart it looked really clean inside. Also, it has a MLS head gasket and a brand new clutch among other things. And, except for having to spend half a day wrenching it out of the car without power tools, ended up being a much better deal.

 

yes, any d series motor would be beast in this car.

 

Cool! good luck with you're build

 

Yeah I looked up the specs for the SOHC non-vtec ZC and it's rated at 118HP. I figure another 10 for I/H/E, plus it will be dyno tuned with NepTune at RLZ so guess around 110 at the wheels or so, in a 1500Lb car it should be reasonably quick. I'm running a 1989 CRX SI transmission too.

 

Thanks!
Time for a quick update:

I was contemplating replacing the old stock radiator with a plastic one from an EK, but I decided to repair and polish it up. I have to say it looks pretty cool!



Test fitting the first pieces of the new frame rails:

 

Tig welding the new frame rails







ZC motor almost ready to drop in

 

What a stout project. Cant wait to see more, subbed.

 

Sweet build!

 

Very cool!

Keep it up.