New to the site is a kind of help contact ticket system, the link can be found in the top menu. Select the topic that best describes your issue, then you can fill out a form with your specific details.
Follow the restoration of my 1978 Honda Civic (1200 Model)
You may also find some tips and other projects while you are here and links to resources to find parts.
Shreck’s Project
This is a post that follows the restoration of my 1978 Honda Civic. The 1200 Civic hatchback is a restomod built for my personal Sunday drives and car shows.
I purchased the 1978 Honda Civic in July 2002 from Cobourg Honda in Ontario Canada. It has 134,000 original kilometers. Gold exterior, AM/FM radio with 2 door mounted speakers (looks like dealer installed when new). Purchased by dealer from the original “elderly” owner in 1996 for display in their showroom. It was repainted in 1997 in the original gold color in base coat clear coat, since the original owner had the car painted white and this was the only way she would buy the car when new.
The interior is very clean with all original vinyl and carpet in excellent condition, the drivers seat was replaced with the covers from a passenger seat of the same colour car. The car sat 3 years in the dealers showroom until the space was required to display current models.Many new parts including front calipers, hood, rear hatch, door, fenders, bumpers and filler panels. Took me about 1 week and $95.00 to get it certified. Parts I had laying around including 2 drive shafts, 1 upper strut bearing, 1 tie rod end, front strut and lower ball joint. New parts included 2 rotors, pads and tires (the tires witch I stole from my restoration project car.
(Read More)
Roadkill fans always ask to see a competition with hosts David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan going against each other, so we finally deliver it in Episode 59 of Roadkill powered by Dodge! The idea was to have each guy buy a car for $1,500 and enter the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational in Las Vegas. But there was a catch: the cars could not be American-made. Finnegan ended up with a 1974 Honda Civic—now known as Laphonda—and Freiburger had to go rear-wheel drive with a rotary-powered 1985 Mazda RX-7…but then the whole thing went “Roadkill” in a huge plume of Honda smoke. The story ends up with burnouts, road-tripping, engine explosions, engine swapping, racing, and, as usual, thrashing around in the desert. That’s a lot of fun for $3,000 worth of cars. Roadkill is sponsored by Lincoln Tech, CRC Auto, Optima Batteries, Pioneer Car Audio, Jegs, and Cooper Tire!
Keep an eye out on episodes after 73, The 1StGenCivic is coming back to roadkill to faceoff or race against all the other builds including the disgustang that just got a new crate motor in episode 73.
While watching another automotive show that is about to premiere this guy bought 20 cars from Richard Rawlings. They showed the cars being loaded on to two car haulers and I had to do a rewind!
This guy actually bought a Honda and one with a pidddly little motor that does not compare in size to anything in his garage. What was he thinking, $22'000.00 from Barrett Jackson!
I really love the condition of the car and so cute to cuddle up with my Civic when it gets done.
I can see why he got rid of it as it would give the wrong impression the size of the package he drives.
30 YEAR OLD HONDA AZ600 INFLUENCES TODAY'S SUPER HATCH EP3 Honda Civic
On roadways crowded with gargantuan Suburbans, Excursions and Grand Wagoneers, Jose Avila's diminutive Honda AZ600 looks like a refugee from the set of the Disney movie about an absent-minded scientist who accidentally shrinks his kids to ant size.
The micro-coupe debuted in Japan in 1970 as the Z Coupe. A 354cc OHC air cooled twin mounted up front and driving the front wheels powered the coupe. When Honda honchos decided to bring the teeny tiny car to the Unites States in 1972, the displacement was bumped up to 598cc. Lampooned as a powered "high-top tennis shoe," the American-badged AZ600 was lost in a sea of Chevy's, Fords and Chrysler's.
Recently, Tampa Honda Land invited Jose Avila to display his '72 AZ600 next to a '02 Civic Si. "Even though three decades separate these two cars, both share the common Honda attributes of being well engineered and fuel-efficient," said Todd Earwood, Tampa Honda Land sales representative.
This is by far one of the cleanest/mental 1st gens I think I've seen (Garage R)
370% More Power: K20-Powered 1979 Honda Civic
This 1979 Honda Civic was the subject of a now six year old build in which it was transformed from a clean but tepid 70k mile automatic donor into the 260 HP, K20A powered screamer shown here. Built in Florida and the subject of much chatter around the time it was being put together, it’s somehow found its way Europe where it is offered with what’s said to be only a few hundred kilometers use since completion. Find it here on Auto Scout 24 in Bleiswijk, Netherlands for 15,900 euros (~$19,445 today).
Photos all appear to be from a previous Super Street magazine feature and 71 page-long build thread, and seeing as there’s no word on how, when or why it was exported it’d be nice to see some snaps of it in front of a canal or windmill.
Shannons Club TV hosted by Mark Oastler & Joe Kenwright talk about Australia's rich motoring history on the road and in competition. Episode 42 features the Honda Civic.
In 1978 the cylinder head (EB3) was redesigned with larger intake and exhaust valves and larger straighter intake & exhaust ports including a deeper combustion chamber with domed pistons. This engine design lends is self to high performance modifications. This design has won many racing championships including a great Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve or American driver Adam Malley still racing his today.
So as you can see, there's more than one Civic in Police Academy, there's three. The one the two guys drive, one as the riot is breaking out (yellow wagon), one as the Police Bus is driving up to drop off the Police Cadets. Here's some shots of the famous movie clips that everyone talks about. Police Academy, Footloose, MacGyver, 1978 Honda Civic in Back to the Future
This is one built and not bought Honda Civic which represents the labor of love and has been handmade and engineered to be as speedy, efficient and exciting as it gets. We'r predicting this Honda Civic might intensely inspire you as well to procure a project car and turn it into an amazing automobile! The host of the video from Car Throttle describes this Honda Civic as the most inspiring car he has ever seen. Well, that surely speaks a lot about this project car. Click here to watch this featured youtube video
This 1978 Honda Civic ad includes all of the essentials of a great family car commercial including a peppy everyday car on sunny roads and a young family in need of a ride. Over the past 40+ years, Honda has made a great many cars, but private owners still hang on to their classics.
Many truly did love the original Honda Civic. I'd expect everybody has some nice of story including this little car. It might have been a first new car, a friend's weekend go home machine in college, a parent's well-loved car. The Civic picked us up from school, took us camping, drove away from churches with tin cans tied to its bumper and a "Just Married" sign hung in the back window. It went on long very road trips, got wrenched on by back yard mechanics, got smashed up in traffic, got sent to the wreckers or sold to a friend. But in the end if the rust did not beat the Civic down, it just kept on purring.
The T360 Coupe was introduced in 1963 as one of Hondas' first Trucks and production models.
This unique truck that has a top speed of 100kph(62 mph). This was achieved with the first (DOHC) double overhead camshaft engine with 4 Keihin carburetors, it’s inline four cylinder engine was water cooled and ran at 7200rpm to make 30hp from 356cc’s of motor.
It has a 4-speed manual transmission gearbox. The front was held up by MacPherson struts, while the rear used a swing axle; a more modern style attached to leaf springs.
Just when you thought you had seen it all, This is a real jewel from Italy. It’s what you call a true blue Mugen Civic.
Vehicle Specifications
Horsepower: 160 hp a 8500 rpm
Weight: 400kg
Performance Modifications
Cubic displacement 1276cc
Bore and stroke: 73 X 76 mm
Max power: 160 hp a 8500 rpm
Compression ratio: 11,5:1
Coppia max: 13,8 kgm a 6800 rpm
4 Keihin CR 35 carburetor
Oil cooled
Spark plugs: NGK 216 Mugen spl
Mugen head has a very large inlet and
exhaust ports where the valves are much bigger than stock ones.
Mugen camshaft
Mugen oil pump
Mugen pistons
Mugen water pump
Mugen crankshaft
Mugen-Showa suspension
BBS magnesium wheel, 8” ant., 7 ” post.
Mugen stabilizer
Weight 400 kg
Max speed: 230 km/h (in order to gear)
View Poster
Australia’s fastest front wheel drive on street tyres, Also the fastest 1st Generation Civic in the world.
Angus ran the 12.628@113mph he did it on 185/60/13″ Dunlop Type R tyres and had an open diff. He hoped to get a stronger gearbox and put my LSD back in so I can use my slicks and hopefully get a low 12 second quarter mile. On low boost 10-11psi I can beat most cars on the road. But on 18psi it is a beast and is more power than I need. At 100kph in 3rd gear I can push the accelerator down and spin the wheels. It now revs to 7500rpm. As you can see the new rods by AGO are huge and I am told good for 200HP each. This is to cope with the extra boost I intend to run.
Tires: 185/60/13″ Dunlop Type R
Horsepower: 189.2HP and 420nm of torque at the wheels on 18psi boost.
Fibre Master fender flares www.Fibremaster.com.au. for the Holden Gemini
View Poster
10 years ago a group of Southern California car enthusiasts got together with the idea of putting on a new event – one that would celebrate vintage Japanese automobiles and the culture that surrounds them. At the time this was a pretty bold idea, as classic Japanese cars had yet to reach mainstream acceptance.
Fast forward 10 years, JCCS has become one of Southern California’s premier car gatherings. In recent years the event has grown right alongside the popularity of classic Japanese cars themselves. It is and remains to be America’s First and Original Japanese Car Show, Dedicated to Old
View Poster
The 1st gen Honda Civic was deigned by a young Honda design engineer called Mr Iwakura (eye-waa-kura). Born in 1939 he was still in his early 30’s when he was given the task to design the 1st gen Civic.Here he is with some early design sketches
During the 1970s, if you were sensible and had a fat bankroll, you did not buy an Eldorado or Mark IV or even a Toyota Crown. No, you bought a Honda Civic, and then you kept it while the pages flew off many decades of calendars. If you were really serious, you got the Gas mizer CVCC four-cylinder, as the original purchaser of this now-retired-at-age-43 - 44 Riverside, CA did.
Unlike many elderly cars in California, this one has some nasty body damage. If you live close to the ocean and by close we are talking a few blocks at most the salt spray and daily morning fog will cause top-down rust on outdoor-parked cars. This one is not all that bad compared to some examples of Pacific Ocean Body Rot we have seen, but this one appears worthy of restoration.
These Civics are now virtually extinct, both on the street and in the junkyard, because they were used up and summarily discarded. There isnt much enthusiast interest in restoring these cars, so backyards and driveways are not full of get-to-it-someday projects. Thus you will not see the steady trickle of 1973-80 Civics into wrecking yards the way you do Fiat 124 Sport Spiders or MGBs. The CVCC engine ran so clean that Honda was able to omit the use of the primitive early catalytic converters that strangled performance in Malaise Era cars, giving the early Civic a gigantic edge over its competition both in performance and fuel economy. As emissions standards became stricter, the CVCC engines were burdened with both catalytic converters and comically elaborate tangles of smog-related hardware.
In 1978, nothing could compete with the Civic on its own turf. The Corolla might have been more reliable, but it was less fun to drive and its rear-wheel-drive configuration made it more cramped. The Rabbit was fun, but it broke early and often. I owned a 5 of these things, loved them, and have driven Civics almost most of my life. Aggressively greedy California Honda dealers sold these cars for well over MSRP. Buyers were happy to pay the extra cash to avoid driving such horrors as the Chevrolet Chevette or shudder the Fiat Strada.
Civic debuted in 1973 that achieved more than 40 mpg on the highway with dimensions with a 86.6-inch wheelbase and 139.8-inch overall length. Powered by a 1170cc EB1 all aluminum engine except for the cylinder liner, with the 2 speed Hondamatic or 4 speed standard transmission made this quite the economy car to drive. In 1974 the engine grew to 1237cc EB2 and grew 146.9-inch in length. The cylinder head is aluminum with a cross flow design, intake ports on the back and exhaust on the front side. This design generally produces more power than others with both ports on the same side.
In 1978 the cylinder head (EB3) was redesigned with larger intake and exhaust valves and larger straighter intake & exhaust ports including a deeper combustion chamber with domed pistons. This engine design lends is self to high performance modifications. This design has won many racing championships including a great Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve or American driver Adam Malley still racing his today.
How to identify a 1200:
-1200cc engine, designated EB1,EB2, or EB3
-Engine will only say Honda on the rocker cover
-Hose for air filter goes to passenger side fender (if it's still stock)
-Water pump is on the front drivers side and alternator is on the back
-Fenders shorter in length than the CVCC
-2 spoke black steering wheel
-Hondamatic or 4spd transmission Standard 1200's never received a 5spd transmission
Only the Canadian 1978-79 Special X version received the 5spd transmission
Not a Civic, but we need to discuss the car and it's history to see the relationship to the 1st gen Civic, What motor swap! Read on.
City Turbo I from 81-83, City Turbo II -1987 Both motors were based on a 1237cc CVCC Honda engine. Compression ratio was 7.5:1 with boost up to 12psi. The Turbo II had a compression ratio of 7.6:1 now with an inter cooler.
Honda has only manufactured two models of turbocharged car (other than F1). One was a 2.5 litre V6 Legend needing a bit more go, the other, a tiny commuter car known as the City or Jazz. It's ironic that the car they choose to release as a special edition turbo was the least sportscar like vehicle in the Honda range. The Honda City Turbo was the brainchild of Hirotoshi Honda. Hirotoshi is the son of Honda's Founder. Hirotoshi’s company Mugen had already proven it’s worth making performance parts for motorcycles and some cars but was largely unheard of out of racing circles. Hirotoshi Honda took Honda's ugliest, most ungainly vehicle and turned it into an aggressive performer that was well ahead of its time (as with most Hondas) and Honda released a production version of it.
The sporty Z600 coupe was introduced in the US in 1971 with a total production of 40,586 sedans and coupes were sold here. Approximately less than 2-1/2% remain today of that number of which most were sedans.
The 2door Z600 hatchback originally had a 345cc engine in the Japanese market, a more robust 599cc engine was squeezed in for the European markets. It came in basic colors of primarily orange, yellow, olive green and blue. The power plant was a Air-cooled, two cylinder SOHC aluminum engine, this gas miser came through during the oil crisis of the 70’s giving the owners a excellent fuel efficient car, it was rated to get approximately 40mpg while it only held 6.9 gallons of gas.
The Honda Z600 was built on a 123in x 51in chassis and approximately 51in high with a Curb weight of 1312lbs. Given it’s small size it was found to still give reasonable comfort to the driver and front passenger. The back seat would be described as storage only because of the little wiggle room in the back. This car had some interesting advances like retractable seat belts and a in dash seat belt warning system, front wheel drive and power assist brakes.
Special X model was produced for the Canadian market based on the "1200" model
The Special X was only released to the Canadian market to signify Honda's tenth year in Canada-hence the X. It only came in blue/black with yellow to orange to red stripe, red hound's-tooth interior-door panels and seat, wooden 2 spoke steering wheel, wooden shift knob, chrome shifter, red deluxe gauge set, red center caps, amber-red tail lights, mud flaps that have Honda in red, 5 speed transmission, blue tint windows.
The Special-X was released in 1978 as 1979 model in Canada. It only came in black with a yellow to orange to red stripe down the side and included the following options: -Red hound's-tooth interior- door panels and seats -Wooden 2 spoke steering wheel
-Wooden Shift Knob -Chrome shifter -Red deluxe gauge set -Special-X decals on sides and rear -Red center caps -Amber/Red tail lights -Mud flaps that have HONDA in red -5spd transmission -Paint Code B-14M
Looking on an angle you can see a red haze to the paint. But from a distance it is black clear coat paint. -Paint Code B-14M
n 1985 a couple of Canadian designers Paul Deutchman & Kell Warshaw manufactured in Montreal a kit car based on the first generation Honda Civic (1973-1979). The Spex Elf was a two seat fiberglass convertible with a sub frame for added structural integrity. The styling was comparable to that of many Japanese cars of the mid to late 80's. The Elf used the Honda chassis/drive train as well as other parts from the donor car, while the front lights came from the Honda Accord and the tail lights from the back of a Mercury Capri. A build up of the kit was featured in the September and November 1985 issues of Kit Car magazine published by Petersen's. Kit value was approx. $3,750.00 basic and $5,995.00 for the deluxe. 20 Kits were built before the molds were sold.
The idea was fairly simple - take an early (e.g. 1970's) Honda Civic 3-door. Cut off everything above the window sills and remove the doors and all of the bolted front panels (guards & hood). On to this shell was bolted a steel strengthening frame and the whole lot was then covered by a simple but elegant open body, complete with opening doors etc using the Honda hardware. The original Honda running gear was untouched so it was mechanically simple and reliable. Performance was improved a little by the slightly reduced weight. Looks and style were GREATLY improved.
Dominic
SPEX/ELF BUILD UP
Many thanks to Darren Segan and Dominic for this wonderful contribution
Dubbed Road Sailing, it was a more performance oriented civic opposed to the standard economy-boxes we all know. It was released with an 1170cc EB1 motor pumping out 70hp compared to the 50hp of the standard model. Engine modifications included twin Keihin carburetors, a freer flowing exhaust manifold, longer duration cam (15 degrees), domed pistons (bumped compression up to 8.6:1), and strengthened crank bearings.
Handling was increased with a set of stiffer springs (30%), shorter stiffer struts and 13" wheels wrapped in 155-80-13 tires. The wheels were black with a polished lip and had a red "H" center cap- this is where the red Honda "H" started.
Besides the RS badge on the front grill other exterior options included flared fenders, fender mounted rearview mirrors, and a slightly different bumper assembly. The RS's were only released in warm red/orange paint schemes. The predominantly black vinyl interior included a wooden steering wheel and shift knob, center console, grab handles, a mechanical tachometer graded to 7k rpm, and a center auxiliary pod with fuel/temp gauges and an air vent. The US gauge pods merely had the gauges for fuel and temp.
The CVCC engine debuted in 1975.
Offered alongside the standard Civic engine, the 53-horsepower CVCC engine displaced 1,488 cc and had a head design that promoted cleaner, more efficient combustion. The CVCC design eliminated a need for a catalytic converter or unleaded fuel to meet emissions standards. (Nearly every other U.S. market car for this year underwent the change to exhaust catalysts and the requirement to use only unleaded fuel.) Due to California's stricter emissions standards, only the Civic CVCC was available in that state.
A five-speed manual gearbox became available this year, as did a Civic station wagon (only with the CVCC engine). A CVCC engine has a special cylinder head. The CVCC head uses a stratified charge combustion chamber.
A stratified combustion mixture is richer at the sparkplug and much leaner at the main part of the combustion chamber. The rich mixture is easily ignited by the sparkplug and this initial flame will ignite the remaining leaner mixture. The CVCC head uses a pre-combustion chamber that is about the size of a thimble. The CVCC carburetor is actually two carburetors in one, a lean part and a rich part.
The lean part feeds the main combustion chamber and the rich part feeds the pre-combustion chamber. The rich mixture in the pre-combustion chamber is ignited . A "flame hole" in the pre-combustion chamber allows the pre-combustion flame to blow across the regular combustion chamber and ignite the lean mixture.
Prelude was introduced in 1979 as a sports coupe (1979-1982)
Performance and more stylsh than the Accord. It was released with an 1751cc EK1 motor pumping out 72hp compared to the 68hp of the standard Accord model.
Whellbase 91.3, 2.4 inches less than the Accord, Prelude could compete at the quarter-mile in 18.8 seconds at 70 mph, however backseat space was at a minimum. The one feature that was a mainstay in this car was the power sun roof. The Prelude's main power plant was a 1751cc version of the Accord's CVCC SOHC four producing 72 hp at 4,500 rpm and 94 pound-feet of torque at 3,000 rpm, backed by either the Hondamatic 2-speed automatic or a 5-speed manual transmission.
Four wheel independent struts, brakes and floorpans were all borrowed from the second generation Civic design.
The Accord was introduced in 1976 as a follow up to the Civic
HONDA will soon have delivered the millionth Civic to its customer somewhere in the World. Few cars have aroused as much interest and speculation as the next Honda which would be launched at the height of the Civics' almost mythical success. The new Accord, a thoroughly developed design with many praiseworthy features, fulfills the expectation and more. This is one Japanese car which is judged by its design and technical finesse, commendable road manners, rather than by generous equipment The Accord is a sound development of the Civic in its basic mechanical configuration and design. It is an evolutionary car.
Honda CVCC EF Inline four, transversely mounted and inclined 15 degrees forward, powered by a 1599cc capacity engine delivering a Bore and stroke of 74x93mm. That’s a 8:1 Compression ratio. Power is delivered by a water cooled cast iron block with a aluminium head. The head drives a single overhead camshaft, cogged belt driven and acting on three valves per cylinder through rocker arms. One intake valve in pre-chamber. One each intake and exhaust valve in main combustion chamber. (Remember this is the new emission friendly CVCC design used in the Civics’). It’s carbureted by a Honda-Kehin CVCC triple choke downdraft carburetor, fed from a 50 litre fuel tank by an electric pump. Japanese power rated at 80hp at 5300 rpm, equivalent to approximately 72 bhp. Torque rated at 12.3 kg-m JIS at 3000 rpm. Honda CVCC dual combustion chamber charge stratification, deceleration and ignition control, meeting the 1976 Japanese Emission Standards.
Wheels are driven by either 4-speed manual., 5-speed manual or Honda 2-speed semi-automatic. The manual transmission transfers it power through the use of a single dry plate clutch that is hydraulically operated. The weight of this new Honda is 855kg for the SL model to 890kg for the EX version. The Honda Accord design can be compared to the Scirocco or the Toyota Sprinter LB (Corolla). There styling at a glance is very similar between the three models.
Okay here's the low down..
For the civic 1200 chassis, the easiest swap is the D series single camshaft motors. You can go with pretty much any year. The most desirable would be to go with a '92-'95 D16Z6 mated to a '88-'91 civic transmission( you go with this transmission due to the fact that it's cable and not Hydraulic like the '92-'95)
1. Strip the engine bay of all parts (I.E.: Engine/transmission wiring harness ,brake booster/master cylinder etc etc)
2. I start off by removing the cross member/sway bars/tie rods.
3. I then proceed to trim and shave the battery tray, the pinch molding below the hood latch, the front upper radiator support.
4. Next step is to bring the motor and transmission in and test fit to see where the inner frame rails need to be shaved/massaged. (see pictures of Peter's Hybrid)
5. I then proceed to build the new mounting plates to support the motor. (I always start with the driver's side and then the transmission mount)
6. Shave the lower lip of the steering box in order to clear the transmission shifter assembly.
7. Place motor in the engine bay and double check that the motor is sitting level, and that both axles will work properly.
8. Weld in both mounts.
9. The front cross member is next!! Place the cross member back on the car, you will have to trim the lip in order to clear the oil pan and transmission. The front mount is next. basically weld two plates to the front cross member and bolt on the mount.
10. Depending on what exhaust manifold you go with depends on what cross member modifications have to be done. I have cut the whole section out of the cross member and re-enforced it. another one had a stock exhaust manifold from a '96 civic (the ones with the cat built right at the top) we cut the cat off, and ran a custom 2 1/4 pipe right off the manifold and brought it out between the cross member and the front valance. On Peter's we built a custom cross member to run a 4-2-1 Mugen header.
11. The Oil pan if you go with a stock cross member you will either have to make some custom tie rod ends, or cut the corner off the oil pan. (I will post pictures of a modified oil pan)
14. All depending on skill, the stock radiator can be used, or a Volkswagen 2 core with external filler. You will have to build custom mounts for either set-up.
13. You will need to run a new fuel line/ change all the hoses at the tank to high pressure injection line/ add a fuel injected pump ( I found the '88 Ford F series inline pump works great
14. You will have to build a complete wiring harness for the EFI swap.
15. More to come...
You will retain your factory axles with the swap. You will need a portion of the shifter assembly (the stabilizer bar and rod) and then you will have to cut and shorten your stock assembly and weld it together.
The 1300 is the the international car for every country
The 1300 Coupe was introduced in 1969 as one of Hondas' first full size car. Also considered as (Coupe 7 or Coupe 9) This unique car that has a top speed of 185 km/h (115 mph). This was achieved with a (SOHC) single overhead cam engine with 4 Keihin carburetors, it’s transverse four cylinder engine was air cooled and ran at 7200rpm to make 100hp from 1298cc’s of motor.
It has a 4-speed manual transmission with a silent chain driven all syncro gearbox. The front was held up by MacPherson struts, while the rear used a swing axle; a more modern style attached to leaf springs.
The 1300 was replaced by the 1973 Honda 143 Coupe powered by a 1433cc engine, now water cooled and quickey outdone by the introduction of the Civic a year ealier (1972)
Here is a project or should I say a restoration that has been shared and gotten a lot of attention since January 2009. 559 replies. 70,296 Views, that is a lot of looking. I am sure Google has had a lot of look, but have you. If not; now the time to put your feet up and discover what its all about.
This car looks deceptively good from the outside. It has nice paint on the outside. But as you peel back the layers there is a lot of work to be done. It should be going to the body shop sometime this winter to take care of the rot and paint the whole interior. I plan to refinish the dash, install an AM/FM Stereo, deluxe gauges and repaint the seat brackets. "I would love to have the car finished in time for the Carlisle Import Show"
S360 is the beginning of the lead up to the S500 and S600/800
The Honda S360 was introduced in 1962 as a prototype car. This 4 seated convertible sports car that had a top speed of 100km/h. This was achieved with a new double overhead cam engine with 4 carburetors, it’s inline four cylinder engine was water cooled and ran at 9000rpm to make 33hp from 356cc’s of motor.
It had a 5-speed manual transmission with a chain driven final drive with rear independent suspension. The S360 never went into production because of Japanese restrictive displacement laws. Future changes of the S360 would increase the engine size to 531cc @ 44hp with drum brakes to make the new model S500 convertible for the Japanese domestic market.
Firstly, the Civic 1200 engine is a very strong little machine which has high rev capability. To exploit this some good cheap modifications which can be made easily are the fitting of a sports exhaust and perhaps a Weber carburetor. The sports exhaust is easy enough, with a set of extractors, a hotdog and a turbo tailpipe should give you a bit more power by freeing accumulation of exhaust gases. Genie make a good tailpipe, the hotdog can be bought pretty much anywhere. As far as extractors go, well in Australia there is a header pipe made by Hurricane, as far as I know this is all there is for the Civic 1200.
Installation of a Weber is where real performance comes from at this level, note that this is not really effective without a decent exhaust system. We have used two types of Weber, the best seems to be the 32 DGV model which is an aftermarket carburetor used on just about everything up to 2 Liters. DON'T believe anyone when they tell you this is the wrong carburetor for a little Honda, from my experience so called experts haven't a clue about the capabilities of these cars! On my own Civic I have a 32 DIR 21 model which comes from a Renault 12, I think my a father picked it up for about 40 $AUS from a wreckers.
Fitting it is pretty easy: Tear off the old carburetor and air filter. Get an adaptor plate, Lynx make one for a Datsun 1200 for about 25 $AUS, that is the one to use. Since Dattos use the same Hitachi carburetor, obviously this will work. Get another air filter, we have tried lots of tricks here but the best seems to be the RamFlo type filters, once again they cost about 25 $AUS.
It was a front-wheel drive two-door sedan with a 78.7-inch wheelbase and approximately 122inches long. It was technologically advanced for its time. It had a mere height of 52.2inches and a curb weight of 1213lbs powered by a type S2, SOHC, 599 cc (36.553 cu in) air cooled 2 cylinder engine able to reach a top speed of 81 mph. This little car was suspended on rear torsion bar and leaf springs.
It was the first front wheel drive 2 door sedan Honda imported into North America in March of 1970, It was first introduced in Hawaii in 1969.
The philosophy at Honda's engineering department has always been, "Keep it simple'.' Sometimes it's more difficult and requires a lot more ingenuity to keep a design clean and simple rather than doing things in a complicated way.
The Honda Civic 1200 and the Civic CVCC are both good examples of clean, straightforward styling.
Everything on the car is there for a definite purpose. And what you don't see, the engine and chassis parts were all designed with the same goal in mind.. ."build it right, but keep it simple'.''
If you missed it on Speedvision Adam Malley won the H Production again for the forth time in Sept 2003. Adams 1974 Honda Civic started in 5 position at the start and roared up to second position behind Tom's Triumph Spitfire on the first lap. On lap 3 of the 2.258-mile track Adam over took first position to lead until over taken in the last lap by Tom Feller, at which point Adam regained the lead with ease to victory lane by 0.555 second. At one point it was thought that Adam had some car problems when a cloud of smoke came out from the sides of his first generation Civic, it was later discovered that the CV boot had blown, and at one point near the finish also lost a belt.
Way to go Adam, keep us proud.
Driving in his Civic, Malley began to tear up the 2.5 mile, 13-plus turn courses. Over a three-year period, Malley won every one of the 30 races he competed in.
The races, which last about 50 minutes, are quick-sprint style races. The cars tend to go around the track about 25 times without pit stops.