Project Steph's 1978 Honda Civic 1200

[mielko]

Never seen a LED like that.
Nice!

[Steph]

Just putting the finishing touches on polishing the headlight bezels. I'll post some photos in the next few days. I managed to get a pair of the Anzo 7" chrome LED headlights from Bezos for A$468.51 which was about a A$100 saving over the best price I could find on the bay. The Aussie dollar had just rebounded and I raced over to see what the price was. They're the last parts I needed to buy. I also ordered a bunch of stainless screws to replace all the M4 screws up front that adjust the headlights and secure all the lenses mounted in the front and rear bumper. These screws have small heads so I had to special order them from a place in the UK that stocks them. Stainless philips-head screws all have huge heads for some reason? The ones I ordered are A2 stainless and made for Japanese restos. Cost me A$53 for all the screws I need that go into the front of the car. I now have everything I need to reassemble the car. It feels like all the hard work is over. It's going to look really trick with the 881035 Anzo 7" headlights.

[Gusto]

Good info Steph! Looking forward to seeing the headlights in there. I bet Phil will be dying to see your car when it's all back together too!

[Phil]

Good info Steph! Looking forward to seeing the headlights in there. I bet Phil will be dying to see your car when it's all back together too!

He's not wrong. I really enjoy reading your thread and would love to see your car in person. Excellent motivator!

[Steph]

Hey, thanks for the comments! I sometimes wonder if anybody is still reading, much less locals! Inspections will be welcome once it's finished.

I just finished the headlight bezels. I really wanted them polished so I would be able to see how they look on the new Anzo 7' LED headlights when they arrive.They still need to be chrome plated.

[Steph]

It thought I'd post a batch of photos on how to modify the rear bumper mounts for all you visual learners. I used a 225mm long piece of 75mm x 3mm (3" x 1/8") flat bar with 2 bends, with one at 85mm and the other 195mm which I did with a rubber mallet while the flat metal bar was being held in a vice. Real basic stuff. The 2 bends were at 4 degrees and 13 degrees. Again, I just crimped the flat bar in a vice and banged it with a mallet until I reached the correct angle. I used a pedestal drill with an adjustable vice, but you could also use a hand drill. The extra hole is for the power wire to go through with all external wiring going internal with no modification to the wiring loom at all (it goes inside the rear hatch trim panel where it's hidden away). The original bumper mounts act as the perfect templates for marking your holes out to drill. Of course some kind of welder is going to be needed. I tacked it all up with it all bolted tightly in the rear bumper (so I effectively used the bumper as a welding jig). That way I could angle the factory-made ends perfectly to match the new centre mounting plates. I then cut a 265mm long narrow piece of 3mm plate to cap the mount off so the bolts weren't visible from overhead. I used some cardboard to make the template and traced around the mount with a pen. The straight edge of the cap is positioned to be parallel to the line of the bumper (again this is all done while bolted in the bumper which is the welding jig for this job).
edit: I added 2 more photos below which show the angles the OEM parts are welded at. For those struggling, that's 29 degrees on the end that points outside (where the rubber bumper ends attach), and 55 degrees on the opposite end (side of mount closest to the number plate/centre of car).

[Steph]

Took a couple of pics with one of the Anzo headlights mounted in a headlight bezel. Notice that the plug fitted is a H4 type, so these just plug straight in to the factory fitted plug. Photos can't do them justice, they look that good.

[5door79]

Hey Steph, I’ve read through your whole project from start to finish and its given me lots of inspiration to get started on my own civic, it’s a 5 door 79 with an EB3 in it, I was just wondering if you have a link to any rebuild kits for the EN1 keihins and also if you could send me the jet sizes for your 32 dellorto’s, hopefully you’ll see this, also I created an account on this forum just to post this haha

[Steph]

Hey Steph, I’ve read through your whole project from start to finish and its given me lots of inspiration to get started on my own civic, it’s a 5 door 79 with an EB3 in it, I was just wondering if you have a link to any rebuild kits for the EN1 keihins and also if you could send me the jet sizes for your 32 dellorto’s, hopefully you’ll see this, also I created an account on this forum just to post this haha

The carburetor kits were from a Honda Goldwing bike that used the same carburetor (slightly different). From memory 90% of the parts were identical with only a fuel bowl seal being slightly different but it was 'adaptable' (I think I had to trim some rubber with the scissors off the outside edge).

In regards to the jet and venturi sizes I was super lucky to get all of those from Neil (can't think of his user name) who in my opinion is the only person who got these working the way God intended. He fitted the smaller 32mm Dellortos rather than the larger 35s. For the street I think the 32s are the way to go. Anyway, it took him a long time (including fitting an O2 sensor and fuel ratio meter) and lots of changes until he got the ideal fuel/air ratios and the car became a dream to drive... then I sheepishly 'wandered up' and asked him if he'd share all the sizes and settings with me which he kindly did. He also had fitted a 1300 crank and the same camshaft I'm using (actually it's a copy because I managed to snag an as-new RS camshaft from Japan years ago). Anyway, I have no idea where all those details are now so at best I would have to try and think of where I wrote it all down... I'll have to get back to you on that one. Anyway, in regards to the Goldwing carburetor kits, I seem to remember I just looked at the photos the sellers on the bay provide and I recognised the one that looked almost identical. The fuel bowl gasket had a tiny difference, like an extra tab of rubber that I needed to trim off or something if my memory serves me, which it often doesn't! Good luck.

[Steph]

I had to work out how to mask these screws for chrome and I came up with an idea to use standard mains power cable that I spliced open to obtain the individual strands of copper. I then used two pieces about 4" long to wrap the end of the screw and then I wrapped the other end around the tip of my pointy-nose pliers to create a loop. The cable was for lighting, so the copper strands were not too thick to manipulate. In fact I found I could bend and wrap it with my fingers pretty easily. Once I'd wrapped it I dipped it in Seal 'n' Peel to mask the threads for chrome plating. Now the million dollar question is where do these screws belong??? !!!

I thought they were from the grill but the parts book says those screws are all self tapping and this has a flat end... plus a counter sunk head.

Name That Screw!... somebody... please