Project Psylocibe 1975 Honda Civic 1200

[Psylocibe]

And sometimes it's the little things that make a difference, like replacing the marker lamp with the pick n pull find.



e: swapping lenses into my old housing because the new housing has a damaged harness and I noticed some minor differences in the mounting hardware, early on the bottom. Later style certainly makes bulb changes easier.

[EvoCivic]

List of upcoming projects as finances become available: need to replace pretty much every suspension bushing I can locate, a clutch will need to be done at some point as it is at the max adjustment on the cable, the transmission will likely be swapped to a 5 speed as I find 2nd gens in the yards fairly regularly. Will I need to make hybrid CV axles? I've read conflicting information, but at this time am still interested in retaining the original 4x120 wheel spacing. The right front brake rotor is so warped you can visually see it while turning the rotor by hand, the right side tie rods are worn out and the steering rack boots are disintigrating. Motor mounts will be replaced for PM all the way around. And of course I'll be keeping an eye out for early parts. Like a spare carburetor, mine's pretty messed up and I like keeping the original air cleaner so am not interested in a Weber swap just yet.

2nd gen 5-speed is basically a straight swap and you need to do nothing as far as different axles go. I think you must have got a little confused about when you need to modify axles/CV joints. You only need to change the outer CVs if going to 4x100 with 2nd gen drive flanges. You need to make up some kind of hybrid axles only when doing a later engine swap (d, b or similar modern engine).
I'm not sure how your old EB1 will handle a later 2nd gen box with its tall (4.6) final drive. It might be a little on the sluggish side. If you can, try and find a 1st gen or 1980 2nd gen 5-speed.

[Psylocibe]

Thank you for the transmission advice. My little 1.2 Has the 4sp manual, and the engine seems relatively healthy aside from a dead spot immediately off throttle, and at the very end of WOT. Like, rolling from a stop sign there's a dead spot immediately that goes away almost instantly, and only the very last little hair of pedal travel (such as flooring it to merge onto a freeway) so I back off just a hair and it pulls just fine. It likes to cruise without complaint at a verified 75mph, and I've even taken it up to an indicated 95 one long lonely stretch of highway just to see what it can do. I quite often see '80-81 Civics in the yards, and there's even an '82 with a 5 speed I could go pull tomorrow if I only had the funds to do so Always a balancing act with deciding what gets done next.

[EvoCivic]

One thing to note - the speedos are pretty much always wrong. They read at least 10% fast with 12" wheels as they were originally designed to use very tall cross-ply tires. Putting in a later 2nd gen transmission will only make things worse. My old gold 2-door with 82 5-speed 165/70/12 tires used to read 130km/h when it was actually only doing 110.

[Thor]

If 13'' rims with 165/70x13 tires are used, you'll be using the appropriate wheel/tire combo that was fitted by the factory to 2ndgens as standard and matches the box. The turns per mile of the 165/70 matches the 6.00x12 that was the design spec tire and the speedo is then pretty accurate as tire matches the final drive.
This is also good for the 4-speed and Hondamatic gearboxes, they are also accurate with this size tire, Honda never corrected the 1stgen speedo error of fitting radials [nor suspension settings, but that will be another thread]. [one day].
Pete

[Bill]

Did your car come with the rear wheel bearing caps? If not you should grab a set at the picky-pull on your next trip.

[Psylocibe]

Yep got the 3 bolt caps with what appear to be a rubber? gasket on them on both rears. They were just off for the photos I was taking documenting my work along the way.

[Thor]

Yep got the 3 bolt caps with what appear to be a rubber? gasket on them on both rears.

It is a surprising gasket option.
Incidentally, when fitting alloys, some foul on the bolt heads, let alone the cap flange.
If you have such an issue, then fit M6x8mm [or 10] dome-headed socket screws, these ''cure'' the issue most times, at least allowing the wheel to be true to the brake drum face.
The cap flange itself does not seem to cause any issues, certainly not with any of my alloys.
Tryin' to help
Pete

[Vulcan]

Yep got the 3 bolt caps with what appear to be a rubber? gasket on them on both rears.

It is a surprising gasket option.
Incidentally, when fitting alloys, some foul on the bolt heads, let alone the cap flange.
If you have such an issue, then fit M6x8mm [or 10] dome-headed socket screws, these ''cure'' the issue most times, at least allowing the wheel to be true to the brake drum face.
The cap flange itself does not seem to cause any issues, certainly not with any of my alloys.
Tryin' to help
Pete

My Wolfrace wheels are machined slightly larger on the back specifically to accomodate the hardware.

[Thor]

My Wolfrace wheels are machined slightly larger on the back specifically to accomodate the hardware.

Lucky you!