By Dave Jackson on Saturday, June 26, 1999 - 03:08 am:

Hi,
I have a 1978 1200cc Civic. I'm not exactly a mechanical genius but I'm learning and was wondering what sorts of things I could do to my car to improve the performance of the car. Also does anybody know what kind of horse power the 1200cc engine puts out?
Thanks :)
Dave Jackson

By Richard Nasr (Admin) on Saturday, June 26, 1999 - 02:00 pm:

I would say if you are looking for quick power (and don't want to do major mechanical work) then you should get a nice set of carbs (DCOE, twin carbs, or quads if you can find them), a not too bumpy cam (depends if you want it to be a daily driver), headers and a 2 inch exhast. All this should cost you less than $700 U.S. But if money is no object... and time is your slave... then the sky is the limit. You can get an LSD (limited slip diff) for $995 from King-Motorsports, swap the crank and rods from a 80-83 1300 civic engine, drop a 5spd tranny in from any of the early hondas (one of the wagons had the best one but I can't remember), get koni adjustable shocks for the front and rear (get two sets of front springs and put one on the rear), bump up the compression (the honda goldwing's pistons will do this a little), get some nice alloy wheels and rubber to match, lighten your flywheel (or try to find the mugen flywheel), get a centreforce cluch, electromotive distributorless ignition (don't get MSD, electromotive is better), nology spark plug wires,
..... etc.. etc.. DID I MISS ANYTHING ANYONE?

By John Sinden (208.254.184.121 - 208.254.184.121) on Saturday, June 26, 1999 - 03:59 pm:

Howdy,
The 5speed Wagon tranny which you speak of is from either an 80-81...has 4:42 final drive good gear
spacing for a street car, and still allow reasonable cruising on the highway.
For the quickest acceleration you might want to use the 5-speed from an 80-81 1300...has 4:93
final drive...5th gear remains a power gear rather
than an overdrive. basically a close ratio 5-speed.
The gearbox ratios for 82-83 Civics are both taller , respectively...with the 82-83 1300 being
the tallest of all...3:72 final drive.
My experiance has shown me that the stock 1238
engine works well with only the close ratio unit,
which actually yields an overdrive 5th as opposed
to the stock 4speed gear spacing.
You will really need a few of the engine upgrades
Richard recommended to use any of the other 5sp
ratios effectively. the 5th gears are just too tall for anything other than level cruising under about 70mph.

By trist on Saturday, June 26, 1999 - 08:47 pm:

How do you get the second generation gearboxes to fit the first gen cars?? I know that they fit the engine, but the drive shafts are different and don't fit the first gen hubs. Do you replace the hubs as well?? What do you do about the back hubs? The first gen has a wider bolt patten than the second gen, so your wheels wouldn't match.

By (Civicguru) on Sunday, June 27, 1999 - 06:35 am:

Use first gen driveshafts, they fit straight into second gen gearbox.

By Todd on Monday, June 28, 1999 - 09:29 am:

The 1976 wagon 5-speed tranny is the closest ratio unit. It has the same gearing as the Japanese RS Civic. The final drive is 4.733 which is not as low as the 4.933, but the individual gears are matched to make the total reduction actually lower than the 4.93.

By Anonymous ( - 203.87.27.111) on Tuesday, February 29, 2000 - 02:55 am:

im steve
im from australia
i work for honda im keen on buying a 76 civic..
im not sure if i should drop a city turbo in it or leave stock motor and do it up

with the city motor will i run into any problems.eg. fuel pump and fuel lines, engine mounts, any liitle hassles which is worth mentioning. can i ghet a front cut and put the suspension on to the 76 civic as well as the brakes..

with the standard motor eb1 block what pistons and crank can i use... with no machining just straight boltin plz... is a eb2 head worth bolting on and what carby should i use..and what ignition do u recommend..can i use other carbi's and dizzys from other hondas which bolt staright on..can i sawp radiators whith any other model...

i would appreciate if u can answer my quetion to the best of youre ability

thankyou steve

By Racecraft on Tuesday, February 29, 2000 - 03:13 pm:

If it is a '76 it should already have the EB2 motor in it. The En crank and rods drop in. In the earlier motors you need to do a very small amount of block notching. Carbs are a bit of a personal thing and everyone will give you a different opinion. It all depends on what you want from it. The old keihin twins are a good all round compromise. They offer good gains over the factory carb, they were made just to fit the EB motor and are a direct factory bolt on. If you are adventurous you can move to twin sidedraughts or quad CV or slidethrottle carbs best of the lot would be EFI and it would cost about the same (as the quads).

Bang for buck the city turbo will give you the most reward. To get 110 nice street drivable hp from your EB is not easy and will cost a lot of money. It is possible to get 100-160 hp from an EB but the drivability really suffers. If you drop an ER turbo into your car even with everything else standard including the exhaust, you will get 110hp stock and 50mpg and a smoother idle than you could ever achieve with an EB. 150hp is easily achievable through sublte add on breathing mods and tuning. Best of all it is all factory honda gear with factory honda reliability.

The city turbo does require the addition of a bigger fuel line (leave the rest there as you need them as well), a surge tank of some sort (either in-tank or stand alone with a primer pump and an EFI pump. You only need to modify one mount (the torsion or torque rod). All the civic axles pop right in as does the gear linkage etc.

Wiring needs to be heavily modified with an almost complete swap to the city turbo wiring loom. Or a hybridisation of the civic loom and city loom (a little more compicated). Do not buy the ECU and engine and expect to get it running. You need to get all the additional loom, sensors, idle up controller, five pin resistor pack, alternator, map sensors and the list goes on.

If you want the city turbo make sure the package is complete and that you can check everything of the list. Otherwise buy a half cut.

The brakes, struts, radiator etc is no good to you from a half cut so you are getting a lot of stuff you do not need. The hubs (not complete knuckle), disks and callipers can be swapped onto your civic knuckles if you have the correct mugen calliper brackets. These are good little brakes that will fit under a 13 inch rim (must be 4 X 100 PCD).

If you want to go turbo and if you want a complete 1/2 cut, whole car, or just the complete electrics package let me know.

By john on Sunday, October 01, 2000 - 11:25 pm:

Hi I have a 79 1500cvcc which I converted to a 79' 1200cc engine. I put a down draft webber, cam, minor port/polish, headers, exhuast, and 5 speed from a wagon,coilovers, rims and tires swaybars. My questions are what else can I do for more ponies, and also Im thinking of racing it in rally race does anyone know what i can do to make it into a rally car. or who I can contact?

By Ed on Monday, October 02, 2000 - 06:49 pm:

how did you mount the 1200 in the 1500 ?
what did youdo to get the dngine mounts match??

By ROotUS ( - 202.61.188.181) on Sunday, October 08, 2000 - 08:36 pm:

i mentioned to a datsun duud yesterday about the weight of the flywheel...

he said the he has seen a few people do that with 1200 datsun motors, and the motor is just too small and needs the momentum for torque... sometimes they dont even start.

By Todd ( - 63.52.17.1) on Tuesday, October 10, 2000 - 11:29 am:

Well after all, they are Datsuns. I have used VERY light flywheels in all my 1200s, street and race prep. I have never had a problem with starting and in all cases I have noticed a big increase in acceleration.

By daniel ( - 208.220.89.28) on Tuesday, November 21, 2000 - 05:48 pm:

i have a 78 1200 and im wondering about disc brake coversions. any ideas will help.

By Adrian (Civicguru) on Tuesday, November 21, 2000 - 05:58 pm:

Please use the search function over on the left ... the subject of big brakes and brake conversions has been THOROUGHLY covered in many many many threads...

By A.W. Corriher (165.247.175.232) on Monday, January 22, 2001 - 10:57 pm:

Im A.W.
I live in the USA.
I wont a city turbo motor for my 79 CVCC help