Project Steph's 1978 Honda Civic 1200

[Bill]

Have your thumbs turned permenantly black yet?

3M, wild story isn't it!

[Steph]

It's really just my right hand thumb and forefinger that see the most action. It usually the nails that get worn down from folding the paper in two, etc, but of late, I've been wearing non-latex gloves that I pay waaay too much for, but they save my fingers, not to mention it makes for faster clean ups.

...working on the block again today with #2000 grit to remove the finest of scratches before the final polish with Autosol. It'd be so easy to cut a corner or two now, but I keep telling myself, you've come this far, might as well get it all perfect, or as close as humanly possible without going completely insane. It's my Everest.

Hey, my car just got its name... Everest.

[Bill]

It seems to fit...
...I guess I will have to call mine Khumbu.

[Steph]

Still been working on prepping parts for chrome. I went through all the parts and gave them a bit of extra attention, then sealed them up in plastic bags, ready to go to chrome. I'm going to use standard MIG welding wire and make sure all the parts are easily hung up on the plating racks by the platers. If you leave it up to them there's a chance there will be wire marks/burns where you wish there wasn't. Sometimes they polish out (mostly). So, what I'll do is 'pre-wire' all the parts so they can just put their hooks through the wire loops I provide, avoiding contact with the critical (visible) areas of the parts.

I'll also be painting a 'Stopping-off Varnish' on the areas I don't want chromed, like the centre of the flywheel & alt pulley, and bolt threads, etc. Apparently there's a tape available as well, but the paint seems the better choice for what I need to cover. Hopefully it just dissolves in thinners afterwards? I forgot to ask how you get it off. (I just had a look, and it seems it just peels off afterwards, which is probably why they named it Seal n Peel Stop-off Coating. The manufacturer is Crowies.

I also found a cable company that manufacture the entire range of auto cables. I need to get my throttle cable extended 100mm and these guys seem ideal. I like the fact that they also supply stainless inner cable/wire rope...

http://www.adelaidecables.com.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.adelaidecables.com.au/DOCS/P ... 20M2-4.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Evoboy]

It never ceases to amaze me what you're researching. But my wish list always grows reading your posts and my civic is not even on the road!

[Steph]

It never ceases to amaze me what you're researching. But my wish list always grows reading your posts and my civic is not even on the road!

I'm just thankful for the internet and forum posts, because that's most times where I get the answers, or leads to answers from. In the 'old days' I would have been making phone calls and annoying people... you know, back when The Yellow Pages were actually a thing. Of course, the upside to that was you actually met people, which now seems (mostly) unnecessary and time consuming. More and more, we're heading towards a one-click society of strangers.

[GenkiHonda]

Hi Steph,

I just bought a dual Keihin carburetor myself for my '78 1200 (same color as yours 8) ) and I was looking into modifying an air cleaner housing like you did off a Nissan Patrol.
However, I can't find anything about those air cleaner housings on the internet, could you please point me into the right direction?

Thanks very much!

- Stephan

[Randy]

Okay, it's useless posting time again... Does anyone know what the 3 'M"s are in 3M? don't just Google it right away, let's see if anyone already knows!
(see how I choose to use my 10,000th post...)

I better know, I have been buying from them for years.
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing

[Steph]

Finally swung my focus back on the Civic.

I got a call from the insurance company this week, seems it's been almost 3 years since I made the claim and they approved the repairs, and they wanted me to send the car into the paint shop ASAP to clear it off their books. The good news is it gave me the kick in the pants to get back to it. The car is finally ready to leave for paint.

Here's some quick photos I took today... more to come.

I picked up the chrome this morning, and all of it came out perfect. Rob over at Windsor Electroplating at Windsor Gardens did all the plating. He really does top notch work. The dip stick looks frosted in the photos, but it's not. It came out perfect. I'll be taking heaps of other stuff there over the coming months.

I used a sealer on all the machined surfaces like the inside of the crank pulley, alternator pulley, and all the bolt threads, etc to prevent the chrome from coating the threads. My research led me to a product called Seal N Peel by Crowers which they use to coat aircraft when they mothball them. Most air forces use it. If you've ever bought a magazine that had a CD or other disc stuck to the front cover, it has a gooey soft glue that holds it to the magazine cover. That's the same type of glue as Seal N Peel. In fact, I'd be surprised if they weren't the exact same formula. It peels off really easily, and turns into a blob as you pull it off. It made it through caustic solutions, a 50C chemical bath, and the plating tank, and was still in perfect shape at the end. Crowers advertise that Seal N Peel is suited to electroplating, so I shouldn't be that surprised that it works, but even Rob at Windsor Electroplaters hadn't heard of it before. I left the product info with him. It's about A$44 (US$33) a liter. In the last photo you can see a bolt I peeled the Seal N Peel off, and one with it still on. The metal looks like new underneath once it's been removed. It comes off bolt threads in seconds. It's a bit fiddly to get out of tapped holes, but once you get it started, you can grab it with tweezers.

[bob78cvcc]

Lookin mighty fine!
Welcome back!