Project Over Drive 2nd Gen Transmission Swap into 1200 Civic

Post by **Shreck** » November 14th, 2008, 9:39 pm

Rusty floor

Shreck on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 05:35 am:

It would depend on the extremity of the rust. Cost ? That’s a good question. Mostly my time. Approx. $750.00 in donor cars (2) and other new Honda minor parts, and about $300.00 in sheet metal and supplies.
A body shop would have cost me thousands. I guess the 3 years of night school restoration courses at collage paid off.

I did the work my self. If I had to pay someone to do the work I think the car would be in the shed with the rest of my spare parts. $$$$$$
As well as the floor being gone I also had to salvage the seat supports from a donor car. The side rocker panels I made from scratch inside and out, If you notice the rocker panels have the same shape as the stock ones. A body shop would not go to this extent. Most of them would most likely fill the holes with filler and not care about body lines in this area of the car.
In fact the car belonged to a body shop owner. When I uncovered some of his repairs I was disappointed at what I found. A rag stuck in a hole and filled over with body filler. A patch put in under the car where the electrical leads go through for the gas tank had a sharp notch cut and the wire shoved through. No grommets here to protect the wire. A small patch in the traditional places by the front door pillars were only tack welded without being sealed. Considering it was handed down to his son he did not seem to care about the quality of the repairs.
I will give him credit for the great paint job the car had. I guess that is what sold the car if nothing else.
I started the project in 1999 and I have not touched it since last fall. In a few weeks I plan on getting back to it. The last few things to do are put in the rear steering rack frame, new front wheel bearings, strut bearings and shocks, get it started and off to get the safety done.

Mine was 3/4 gone. Don't use fiberglass, fiberglass is only good for a temporary repair. If you want the car to last you will have to cut out all of the rotten cancer. There are products that you can use to remove or treat just the surface rust. I stripped the entire interior and cut out the worst rust then sand blasted the rest to get it nice and clean for welding.
Here is a picture of what I had to cut out. Sorry no originals.

More details here

https://www.1stgencivic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20559