Project Steph's 1978 Honda Civic 1200

[Blackbullet]

Looks great, i must try the paint trick on the manifold

[Steph]

I've been working day and night to get the engine bay finished, as well as my twin EN4 Keihins and manifold fitted. I wanted to do everything right, so every hose has been replaced in the process, so other than the air conditioner hoses, there's nothing that's not new.

I had some trouble fitting the fuel pump, as every time I fitted it, it wouldn't pump, so after two tries I had had enough, so I pulled off the rocker cover so I could have a look, and sure enough, there's a trick to fitting it, as it needs to be fed in at the correct angle, or otherwise it hooks upwards and sits on the camshaft/rocker brace. Often good comes out of adversity, and this was one of those times, as while I had the rocker cover off, I decided to polish it. It came up really nice, although not as nice as the chrome plated one Steve posted photos of recently, but it's not that far off, and all it cost was a lot of elbow grease, and some VHT clear gloss engine paint to seal it up from oxidizing again. I coated it quite heavily, and then oven baked it on. I had thoroughly cleaned the inside as well, so it wouldn't stink up the oven with cooked engine oil smells.

[Manx_Gti]

looking good Steph :D

[Thor]

STEPH
coated it quite heavily, and then oven baked it on. I had thoroughly cleaned the inside as well, so it wouldn't stink up the oven with cooked engine oil smells.

So, was the turkey alright then?

[bob78cvcc]

Looking good - I might have to try the oven trick - though thoroughly scared that I will get caught in the act.

[Steph]

OK, I finally got the engine to start... woohoo! Lotsa hassles with the fuel pump, but in the end I worked out how to get it to work properly, as I had to tweak the lever coming out of the back to get it to engage with the camshaft properly. While it was moving before, it wasn't enough to pump, so I gave it a gently adjustment of a few degrees, and now it pumps beautifully. My next problem is sorting out the carburetor so they run properly. I can get them to idle, but when I accelerate under no load, the engine bogs down, and the only way I can get it to rev up is to pull on the choke, and once it's above about 2500rpm it revs freely. I'm guessing I have to wind out the idle screw... no?

Anyway, it is soo nice to hear it finally fire up, as that's one major hurdle I'm over. Next I'll mess with the idle screw, and balance the carburetor. I have one of the 'Snails' that Jay bought, so I'll be able to do the job properly. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just need to overcome this bogging down issue and I'm back on the road. This was definitely a job to be done over the holidays, as my car has been off the road for about a week now. At least I was able to do the job meticulously, and not do a hurried botch job.

Steph

[steve.ewing@ottawa.ca]

Great work Steph. You've been way more productive over the holidays than I've been. Can we see a picture of your newly painted car? I'm going to go pick mine up this afternoon or tomorrow and start the assembly. First thing to do is clear a space for it. Nice job on the valve cover.

[Steph]

Heya Steve, I'm going to finish the assembly tomorrow (bumpers, trim, etc.) so I'll post some photos tomorrow evening.

[Steph]

It's getting there...

[Gusto]

Wow. Looking amazing.