Project Steph's 1978 Honda Civic 1200

[Steph]

While I've been working on making a resonator I've also started work on my muffler. I found a NOS stainless 1-3/4" Genie turbo muffler at a local muffler shop. It was only $100 so I was really happy with that. Only problem was that it was too long (400mm), so I went about cutting it down to size, as well as changing over the packing material from fiberglass to stainless steel scourers. I've made it the same length as the stock muffler which is 350mm. On one end I'll use the end-cap from the Genie muffler which I removed carefully, and on the other end I'll cut a new one so it's nice and flat. I plan on polishing it once it''s finished.

This is what was inside...

This is what's going back in...

Hre is the muffler cut down to the correct size and packed with stainless scourers...

Here it is with the cap back in place ready to be re-welded back up...

[Steph]

I've also decided to make my own air filter up that will look the part. I'm going to use a stainless lower plate, with a polished aluminum top plate. Using stainless will allow me to weld a small compartment on the underside to act as a filter between the PCV outlet on the valve cover and the intake, just like the original filter box has. I'll stuff that with the same stainless scourer material I'm using in the muffler, that way it will have a 'catch can' so oil isn't sprayed into the carburetor. I was going to make it removable, but it occurred to me that it could be easily cleaned out by spraying carburetor cleaner into it and letting any muck just drip out, thus making maintenance an easy task.

I didn't like the top of the EN4 velocity stack as they have squared off edges and ridges inside where the idiot screens were put in place to stop items from falling inside the carburetor. So I removed the screens and went to work radiusing the edge and removing the internal ridge, as well as smoothing all the casting scale, casting part-lines, and any irregularities. I'll mount the base plate for the air filter so it sits flush with the edge of the velocity stack...

This is what it did look like...

And here's what it looked like after a couple of hours work. Both stacks look the same...

[anthonydarling]

Steph,
you're incredible :shock:

[Thor]

A woman's work is never done :roll:

[Steph]

Thanks for that Anthony.

The picture below is just a test upload to check if it's working for Randy

[koosjer55]

Nice 8) btw, I thought you didn't like this RS dash badge.. Btw no2.: are you the one who's won [url=http://]This RS manal[/url]? I was in the race but lost it in the end

[Steph]

No, it wasn't me bidding against you, but I did consider bidding on that one. If you see something like that which you are going to bid on, then let me know and I won't bid on it. It would have been more of a curiosity for me, but I imagine it would have been a welcomed addition to the 'shrine'.

I don't mind the dash badge, but I think they could have improved it and made it complement the other RS badges. To be honest I would have bought one if it came available, but the last RS badge I bought was 500 yen It looked fairly worn, but I gambled it could be saved, and I was lucky, as it cleaned up like new, so it's going on my dash. That's it below

DSC00027e.jpg (13.92 KiB) Viewed 194 times

[Steph]

I tried reusing the end-plate I carefully removed from the muffler (shown previously), but it looked terrible because it buckled with the heat, so I cut it back off and cut a new plate out of 1.5mm stainless sheet, and then drilled an 1-3/4" hole with a bi-metal hole saw. Then I tacked it all into place and proceeded to weld it. I finally got the perfect settings for welding this material which is soo easy to blow a hole in. I basically had to select the lowest setting, with the voltage on 1 and the wire speed on 2... very low. Seeing the welder is a pretty heavy duty single phase unit, it's nice to know it's still capable of delicate work.

The first shot is after I welded the plate in place. Then I used the linisher to sand the weld down. After that I used sandpaper and some elbow grease, followed by polishing it with a close-stitched mop on my bench grinder/sander.

Oh yeah, my header is finished now, I just need to finish polishing the welds attaching the tubes to the header plate and I'll post some pictures. I polished the tubes to a mirror finish before assembling it, so the header will look great in the engine bay

[bob78cvcc]

Nice & shiney.

[Steph]

Got a couple of NOS goodies in the mail today