Mission: Difficult
 

Hey guys,

Well it seems my 1980 1300 civic engine and associated parts are starting to show their age.
Since I don't have the time or the tools to replace the drive axles and the clutch myself, I'm probly looking at somewhere in the neighbourhood of $600 at the shop. I'm thinking about looking at this as $600 off a B18C swap. From shopping around on Ebay, it seems I can get an engine and tranny with ECU and axles for around $1500, or if I'm really lucky I might be able to pull one from a wrecking yard for a lot less. But I imagine it'll take a fair bit of cutting, welding, and fabricating to get that pretty little engine to fit in there properly and get it running. Mind you, I've seen pictures of this swap before, and it didn't seem like it was anything too extreme.

I just smile thinking about how rediculously fast it would be with 170+hp vs. the stock 61hp it had before!

Suggestions? Comments? Estimates on price? Offers to come out and help me because it would be pretty freakin sweet? haha

-Brad

RE: Mission: Difficult
 

I think thats awesome... 1980 civ means it is pretty stock looking, huh? If it is, keep it a sleeper... 170hp is just enough to give someone a laugh at a light when you just pounce in that thing. Well estimate wise you're looking at labor to be at least 1000 bucks whenever a motor is in the picture. You will have the joy of feeling like home in your old car, but the whole time driving for a while will be like "THIS IS NOT MY CAR!!!" it is a fun feeling.

RE: Mission: Difficult
 

Wow, someone finally replied!

Yea it is completely stock. I still have some body work to do since there's a wee bit of rust and a few small dents to fix, but other than that it looks pretty good. If you want to see it, I think I posted some pics in the intro section a month or so ago, but it looks even better now since I got nice new chrome bumpers for it and replaced the broken trim pieces. Anyway, the only changes I'm going to make are the rims, (the ones on there now are 12x3 or something rediculous like that,) the exhaust, (no huge fart can!) and the intake of course. Maybe a small lip spoiler on the hatch if I can find something that fits. I'd like to tint the windows too.

Anyway, yea, if I could get away with a swap for $2000, I'd definitely go for it. I think I'll have to talk to my shop about that. I got an estimate on the clutch and axles for $580. I'll have to see how much money I can hold onto over the summer.

-Brad