Project Steph's 1978 Honda Civic 1200

[Steph]

Off your meds again, huh?

I don't like them, they make my thoughts all foggy, and everything feels bland...

nah, not really, I'm just trying to remember what the characters in movies/TV shows say when they routinely go "off their meds" and chaos ensues. They usually get an "off-my-meds-pass" for whatever they do, yet in real life they'd get 72 hours of observation at the local funny farm, and a huge shot of benzo, with a little lithium thrown in to the 'mix'. Thorazine too, if they're real lucky? :P

[Thor]

Pearlescent orange will show every nuance of the design beautifully.
Having had an orange launch model back in the 70s, the colour really suits the car.
How about the interior in the same colour, with either brushed alloy dash infill, or the same orange?
If I had the chance, I would, no hesitation.
Then let the buggers say that they did not see you coming!!
jmho

Pete

[Steph]

I have to say, there is an awful lot of paint involved in a colour change, and it's not like I don't love the colour I have now...

Okay, mania is subsiding now, I'm sticking with metallic blue. However, I am stripping the interior out (not the dash), before it goes to paint, so they could... hmm... :oops:

[EvoCivic]

Take the dash out! It's about a half hour job (a few screws, half a dozen bolts, some plugs and the heater pipes. Makes it much easier to paint the interior and then there is no chance of overspray (it's bugger to mask off properly).

[Steph]

Take the dash out! It's about a half hour job (a few screws, half a dozen bolts, some plugs and the heater pipes. Makes it much easier to paint the interior and then there is no chance of overspray (it's bugger to mask off properly).

OMG, if you were here now I'd slap you Adrian! "half hour job"???

I honestly have had a complete turn around today. The Lorie Blue Metallic is a beautiful colour, and while I'm fairly sure I'd love the orange, the blue really works well with chrome, by providing a stark contrast to see all the chrome and polished parts against. I also chose silver to paint my engine block, gearbox, and the painted parts of the ancilliaries (I wish I could find a chrome alternator), and blue always works best with silver in my opinion. OK, I better stick to my original plan, which is going to be much cheaper too!

p.s. I'm going to pull my old alternator apart and polish the cases and then recondition it. It's only 45A but it's served me faultlessly for 7 years, and it wasn't new when I bought the car. My batteries have always lasted a good while (only ever bought 2), plus I recently started using a trickle charger to keep the battery in good shape.

[Steph]

A scene from Steph's garage...

[Kurt]

I love the blue on these cars.

For the alternator....It is an aluminum body. You could polish it I suspect there is a way to mount the nice chromed MSD ones but some custom brackets would be needed and we of course would need a small one

[EvoCivic]

Yes, it really is that easy (helps if you've taken one or two out in the past ). Two screws in the vents, pop them out. One bolt behind each vent, one bolt in the back of the glovebox, two bolts on each end (you need a skinny socket to get to these), one bolt in the back of the cubby hole, two bolts by the steering column then two further in to drop the column (makes it easier to get the dash out). Disconnect all the electrical plugs and the speedo cable. Diconnect the heater controls (one screw for the heater tap and one for the vent flap). Pull straight back (there is a little post in the middle that it slides on) and out it comes. It's a while since I took one out but from memory that's what's involved.

[Thor]

Take the dash out! It's about a half hour job (a few screws, half a dozen bolts, some plugs and the heater pipes. Makes it much easier to paint the interior and then there is no chance of overspray (it's bugger to mask off properly).

If you follow the Haynes Manual, the dash comes out, leaving the heater and controls in the car.
I have a Haynes in bits to make it easy to scan, so when I'm home next week, I'll see what I can do.

From what I recall, it's 2 bolts on the A-post[between the dash and the pillar in the cut-outs], some Phillips screws behind the heater control overlay, slacken the speedo cable by pulling the gearbox clip, undo the centre bolt in the cubby beneath the heater controls and lift the assembly backwards off its rubber-coated mounting. This faces into the car, not up to the ceiling.
It is designed so that anyone fitting the dash can assemble it and fit it as a unit, complete with speedo, wiring, etc.
If I recall correctly when I did one of mine, I released the dash as an assembly, pulled the speedo clip and then wrapped the dash in bin-bags, leaving only the screen to be masked, I held the rubbers off the bodywork with a piece of string between the rubber and the steel, masking the rubber right to the edge. This allows the paint to get under the rubber, thus avoiding original paint showing.
It works on the outside, as well.
Just my way.

[Steph]

Mock up time...