Project Steph's 1978 Honda Civic 1200

[freakynami]

I've done a walk-through a while back on how to do the conversion. As mentioned, you don't need to swap the whole assembly over, but I did because I could

viewtopic.php?t=11712

Linky...
There are some side-by-side photos of the differences.

[Steph]

Thanks Andre, I read your walk through, but it was an engine pull version, and I'm going to leave the engine in. I have to say, I did love your time-lapse photography/video you did. Even Chilli wandered into the picture on occasion. Marshall usually gives me 30 minutes max before he comes up and insists I spend some time with him.

I seem to remember Andreas doing a run through when he changed over to manual. I'm pretty sure he left the engine in. The Shop Manual I have tells you how to remove the transmission, but I'm hoping to be able to do it with having to mess with the ball joints. I was hoping the drive shafts could be popped out as the transmission was lower, and vise versa?

[Layspeed]

Steph you can remove the driveshafts by disconnecting the strut from the knuckle also. Just make sure you loosen the brake hoses first before you stomp on the knuckle/rotor assembly. I unbolted the caliper bracket (with caliper attached) from the knuckle assembly altogether. I did this on the wagon I just finished, didn't wanna touch the lower ball joints either. As my 5 year old daughter would say, "easy peasy, lemon squeezy!"

[Steph]

Thanks Lay, that's great! I want to pull it out of the car at the wreckers' myself, so I was hoping I could do it the easy peasy, Japaneasy way. Even better if I can actually do it on my car without doing any damage.

Thanks again for the good news.

[Steph]

My Civic is finally in the paint shop, and they've already replaced the rear section, and started prepping for paint. I've been visiting every day just to keep an eye on things, and make sure they're fully aware of just how fussy I am. I have a knack of making a bit of an arse of myself, and then apologising profusely to get them back on side. As I was leaving the shop manager said to drop back any time, which made me laugh out loud, and then the other guys in the shop started laughing too. I know he was being sincere, but I also know he didn't really mean it. He's got better things to be doing than spend 5-10 minutes each day allaying my fears, and listen to me repeat everything I said the day before. I just want him to know I'm not easy to please, so no corners get cut. All I'll need to do after this is get the 5-speed in before February when the All Japan Day show is on.

[Bill]

Just be sure to get them all a nice bottle of 'juice' when they are done.. it is the season for it after all.

[islander]

Any pics of the car in the body shop Steph?

[Steph]

Sorry Jeremy, I forgot to take my camera, and today was the first day I didn't go in there. I'm going to drop in tomorrow, so I'll try to take some shots then. By that stage they should have both doors stripped back as well.

[islander]

PM'd ya :D

[Steph]

After I got my car back from having the rear end damage from the accident repaired, I noticed a few things that weren't done properly. The crash repairer was really good about it and promised to fix it, and last week I took my car back in to have it fixed. With the car all painted there was one area that hadn't been painted, which is the areas that are exposed when the doors are opened up. So before I took my car in I sanded them all up, and primed them in preparation for paint. I also spent ages cleaning in and around the door hinges that had years of accumulated grease all over them. The grease was stuck on like glue, but after about an hour each side I was able to remove it all. It was interesting driving my car there as I had removed the door locks/latches and had to use octopus straps inside the cabin stretched from one door handle/armrest to the other to keep the doors closed. The reason I did all the prep work myself was because he offered to paint the insides of the doors free if I did it, to make up for the inconvenience caused by the repairs not being done properly in the first place... well actually, he didn't offer, I asked!

Anyway, my car has now been completely repainted and looks like new again. I have to give it a clean to remove dust from the engine bay, and then give it a full coat of wax, which I plan to do this week, so I'll take some photos and post them after that. It's nice to have a car with no imperfections in the paint. The only downside is I have to park it well away from other cars when I go anywhere. :P