Project Steph's 1978 Honda Civic 1200

[Blue-Civic-Hybrid]

Looking forward to see your shiny new parts come back!

[Thor]

Come on Steph,
It's time you polished that car off LOL

[Steph]

Hey Pete!

I have been pouring money into it of late. We got all this stimulus money thrown at us by the government so I used it to stimulate the chrome plater's business, although because A Class Metal Finishers have such a good reputation, they had huge amounts of work coming in from all over the country with ever man and his dog restoring their cars during lock down. My brother picked up my last load this week and is dropping it off to me some time this week. It's on the other side of town across the road from his work! So it's pretty hard not to take advantage of him dropping off and picking my chrome up for me. This last load had my valve cover in it, as well as the door latches (I had to gaffer tape my doors closed) and a few parts that my new friend Phil managed to grab for me from his many wreckers visits. It's funny, with social media I was instructing him what to grab and he was sending me photos virtually in real time. It was like I was there looking over his shoulder, also sending him photos out of the parts book so he knew exactly what I was after. I managed to cross every single part and bolt I needed off my list, finally.

I also snagged these two Mugen limited slip diff centres from Japan. Anybody recognise them? They were listed as limited slip diff centres through the translator. The were listed in the Hobby, RC Cars section by mistake (I believe/hope) so I took a punt that they were the real thing and bid and won them. If they are, you'd cry if you knew how little I paid for them. I had them sent sea freight about a month ago, so I'm hoping to see them soon.

[EvoCivic]

I don't think their listing in the RC car section was a mistake ...

[Steph]

I don't think their listing in the RC car section was a mistake ...

We'll soon see. I certainly can't find ANY Mugen RC car parts referenced anywhere online.

Much less for a SB1 Honda Civic diff centre, which is what these were listed as... jealous?

[mielko]

They look very small. I would. Say They are RC parts..

[EvoCivic]

I don't seem to have a pic of a complete Mugen diff handy but here is a disassembled one (on the right between the gearbox casing and the gears.)

[Steph]

Last night I pulled the intake manifold and radiator hose neck off my engine. I had to remove the carburetors first and carefully place them aside. Today my brother dropped over and took them with him and dropped them off at the chrome platers on the way home. It's like an hour's drive from my place, so real handy that he lives over that side of town and visits a lot LOL. So I'll have a polished and chromed intake manifold to match the chrome valve cover. The polished stainless header matches closely to the valve cover, but the polished alloy intake manifold looked a mismatch to my eye. Anyway, it's exciting to have it all in motion now. I'd been staring at the intake for a while, but last night I got bit by the bug and had to remove it. It was a coincidence my brother came over... like he called me at 11am and said he was going to drop over. It was almost kismet... I remove the manifold the night before, he turns up the next morning to deliver it to the platers. On top of that, the electroplaters said it was good timing because after Christmas they get inundated with work from all the people who go on holidays and pull their cars apart. He said they couldn't do it before Christmas, but that mine would be one of the first jobs that gets done after the break. After this there's nothing left to chrome... except the bumpers. Turns out they are bumper experts and even straighten them out. Mine aren't bent, but I like the idea of getting them done by specialists. I was going to paint them until I found out they specialised in restoring them. Perfect bumpers with a show chrome finish sounds pretty nice to me.

[mielko]

Thats gona be good xmas tree presents!

[Steph]

Thats gona be good xmas tree presents!

It sure would be, but I have to wait until February 2nd next year to pick it up. They take 4 weeks of over the Christmas and New Year period.

Last night I changed 2 of the intake studs over to 10mm longer ones to make allowance for the throttle cable bracket. One stud came out easy, but the other had me worried for a bit but finally gave. I used a stud remover, and I'm sure there's a knack to using them, but it ends up being a Chinese puzzle for me every time. I eventually get it right, but then it's a pain getting it to release the stud it's hanging on to. I used the brass head hammer to release the studs in the end. Very effective, you just knock the stud sideways on an angle until it levers itself out. That's another job crossed off the list.