D16Z6 HappyJack 1978 Civic 1200 engine swap

Post by **Randy** » January 3rd, 2012, 2:10 pm

I had a simular problem years ago when I put a transmission in with overdrive from a second gen. Here are some pictures. I did't have any clearence issues in the opening.

Bill · Post by **Bill** » January 3rd, 2012, 7:25 pm

nicely done.

robynhood243 · Post by **robynhood243** » January 9th, 2012, 7:21 pm

Looking good Jack, I'm going to have to get back to work on my beast to catch up.

HappyJack · Post by **HappyJack** » January 10th, 2012, 6:02 pm

I got the engine settled in roughly where I want it, with some minor cutting of the frame rail. I thought that was too easy, and I was right.

It fits great without a sub frame. Once I installed that, a whole new set of fitment issues cropped up. I know I should of expected this. I've read other similar swaps. And everyone had to at least trim the sub frame. But I'm an eternal optimist, even in the face of facts.

So I started with small cuts first. Just trimming the lip first. I knew I'd have to do some major cutting for exhaust clearance. But for now I just wanted engine placement to tack in the motor mounts.

Even though the sub frame started out looking pretty solid, with only a couple spots that needed touching up. Once I started cutting and banging it around, the extent of the rust became apparent.

So now instead of just trimming this piece, I'm scrapping it, and just building a whole new piece the shape I need.
Good thing my son is a welder.

islander · Post by **islander** » January 10th, 2012, 8:22 pm

Nice work Jack. Nice to see the project coming along again. Cant wait to see what you come up with for a cross member.

Layspeed · Post by **Layspeed** » January 11th, 2012, 5:27 pm

Jack, yep, same issues I ran into with Annie's wagon. Sometimes it's better to build from scratch then to try and salvage something that just won't work. Good luck. There's been lots of different designs and options when fabricating a new crossmember. Ideally it should look and function similarly to the factory crossmember.

Eduardo I. Nieves Davila · January 12th, 2012, 8:31 pm

Nice and cool project

HappyJack · Post by **HappyJack** » January 17th, 2012, 6:05 pm

I realize that people who have done a swap before are probably un-interested in all my pics, but this is more for myself than anyone else.
But feel free to point out errors, thoughts, ideas etc. I've read a few similar swaps, and everyone is different, so I'm only using them as a rough guide, and doing some trial and error stuff on my own.

With my front cross member rotted i decided to build from scratch. I did find another perfectly good cross member I had from one of the many parts cars I stripped. But it seemed a shame to chop up a perfectly good piece for exhaust clearance.

So my cousin who is restoring one of my old parts cars had a cross member that is in ok condition, but did need some repair. So I swapped him. I figured if I'm chopping one up, might as well be one in need of repair.

So I chopped the ends off, keeping the stabilizer bar brackets. I figure I'll weld in a 2 inch square tubing along the front edge to give clearance for the exhaust.

This is just my old rotted one as I experiment.
I still have clearance issues with the clutch arm. It hits right above where the stabilizer mounts. Also on the arm is a counter weight, I removed,... but how important is it?

Before I finalize the location of the engine I installed the front suspension. Again, I've read other builds on how to change the front suspension and make a 4 X100 swap. There are a few different ways, but again, I'm experimenting on my own.
I took the entire strut and hub assembly from an 83 Civic wagon. All I did was install the strut tops from the 78, onto the 83 assembly after I removed their strut mounting top.

83 assembly without top used for mounting.

added the rubber gasket from the 83 wagon

Added the top from the 78 Civic

It all bolted in, but there is an inch and a half difference in height. I'm hoping the extra 150 pounds of the vtec will settle it down to proper ride height. If not I'll either have to cut some springs, or look at a different way to do this.

Also have some positive camber, but this may straighten out with weight on the front end.

Right now the struts are fully extended. If I lean hard on the car I can feel them compress slightly, but when I remove the weight they snap back out to full extension. Might be a might stiff. Should be interesting with all the weight of the engine and transmission in to see how it sits and responds.

This part almost seemed to easy, so I'm sure there is some fatal flaw here. But isn't this half the fun? Trying to figure out how to put two things together that were never meant to go together.

Bill · Post by **Bill** » January 18th, 2012, 4:29 am

In some of these situations the struts need to be run in to circulate oil and seat the discs, should be a good unit when you are done!

steve.ewing@ottawa.ca · January 18th, 2012, 7:51 am

Looking good Jack. Great progress.