Need help/advice with a '86 jdm civic sedan

[MurdoK]

Howdy all, new to OH!

Had my little hands on a '86 Civic for a little while now. I believe it's an AH with a EW2 motor. To be honest, it's a great car. Always starts, with a bit of choke, and is very smooth. Also, I can't believe I'm saying this, it's not that slow. Anyways...

Was thinking of giving it a bit of TLC, gettin my hands dirty and throwin' some money at it. The problem is...where do I start?

Is changing the carby anything to think about? (only ever worked with EFI's, not familiar with carby's at all!)
Headers and exhaust upgrade... worth it?
Can I get away with a CAM upgrade without a re-build?

So yeah, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
(google'd honda wreckers in the Mitcham area and got heaps of results, only problem is... they're GONE!! ALL GONE!! I asked a few businesses in the area and they confirmed it....what the hell happened? I feel like i've entered this game really really late, lol)

Cheers.

-Ned

[Zilli]

mate most people here will tell you not to waste your money and to do a transplant with a later model D or a B series motor...

in my opinion, the real fun is the play with what you have in there... depending on your budget though!

you'll need to find someone who is proficient with carbies to play...

[MurdoK]

Couldn't agree with you more. I love screwing around with what's in there.

Money is no object, this will be a bit of a hobby with a goal in mind in the end. ANY gain in performance or quality would be great.
Just wanted to know how difficult it'd be to change the carby to, say, a 32/36 Webber. Headers and exhaust I'll do anyway.

I'm not the type of guy that goes and buys "off-the-shelf" items at retail price, trust me. Been self-employed for 5 years now. Gotta have a good head on ya shoulders to keep afloat in your own business these days. I'm looking for value-for-money items, upgrades and replacements. I'm "opportunistic".

I love getting my hands dirty spending hours on cars. I've got a 3.0Ltr Mitsubishi Magna mainly DIY mods + NOS. You'd be surprised with what you can do with what's already there. Anybody can buy a car, spend $5,000+ on parts and labour and have something quick-"ish".

I'm not looking for 12sec 1/4-mile's here. Just a boost, a marginal gain in ride quality and performance.

I don't really want to transplant the motor. Too much work for what I want to achieve. I will not appreciate any remarks about what i'm doing is not worth it or a waste of money (for future reference). :cool: You've been warned. :p

What I've got in mind atm is carby, headers + exhaust and maybe a camshaft.

[beeza]

Welcome Ned,great to have U aboard mate,U sound like U are full of great knowledge that I hope you'll share with us all! :)

What engine is it?

What U have said sounds great,plus all the usaul maintenence things,I made a list a while back,here it is:

- Use Subaru Upper engine cleaner every 2nd/3rd oil change
- Collaborate voltage on TPS (http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120191) sensor on the throttle body
- Clean/replace spark plugs and set gap correctly
- Check resistance in your leads is fine
- Clean contact points in the dizzy and lightly sand the rotor on the outer edge where it sparks on the contact points
- Adjust the Tappets (http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15443&highlight=tappet+adjustment) - VERY IMPORTANT!
- Clean air filter OR replace with pod filter and good cold air piping/Cold air intake.The point is COLD AIR/air from outside the engine bay (Make sure you re-connect the IAT sensor on the new intake arm)
- Get a wheel/camber/toe alignment and check your tyre pressure is correct once a week
- Change the oil and oil filter (every 5000km's)
- Change the fuel filter every 2nd oil change
- Transmission oil is every 20,000km's
- Charge your battery to full
- Expell air in coolant system through the radiator
- Check for engine codes and get familiar with how to do it!
- And get used to doing regular checks of everything in the engine bay,I have found many problems like this! - Like bolts I forgot to do up!
- And check for air leaks everywhere,all the clamps on the intake,all the gaskets on the engine and all the gaskets on the exhaust system! Important! No use having the whole thing running 100% if it's just gonna lose it somewhere.
- Make your car as light as possible
- Use BP Ultimate 98 fuel only (1/2 a tank max at a time if your keen)
- Just a small amount of windshield water too!
_ Also for $40 an injector (well worth it) you can get the spray pattern and flow rate adjusted correctly
- Also look into advancing the timing 2-3 degrees.
- Insulate your fuel lines - prevent the fuel from getting warm/hot

Like benny said in the d-series thread:

'Any of u d series guys simply installed a nice high FD and LSD combo and lightweight flywheel ? I would be this the best money spent on an otherwise overlooked and tired engine. "

http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89578&page=73

Dunno if your engine has those 3 things but well worth looking into.

d-series.org (http://www.d-series.org/) is the place to find out what's best though.WE are just learning here lol

Brett.

[SHOGUNOVDDRK]

Best recommendation is to join a forum called 'rpr' for short.

www.redpepperracing.com

You can find headers for these but they are getting pretty rare IMO.

In my opinion the first place you should start is by checking rust and cleaning any and all of it.

Second thing would be decide if you like the Carby or not, you can buy a rebuild kit for it or as you mentioned, webers.

Basically its easy to put in but you will need a good tuner (imo)

Canadian carbs are more helpful with a weber just FYI.

If you want to go B-series, there are mounts from Hasport and other various companies.

D-series is a sinch really once you work out fuel injection, the first generation integra's came with the D16a1 and the JDM AH (AT's) came with them from Factory, they provide plenty of power and are pretty simple to wire in :)

Nothing special required, they're bolt on bolt off situtation, hell the Integra's were built off the Civic, that means you can virtually use everything from the tegs on the Civic's (though seat mounts are different for the Sedan Clan)

Best advice is to hit up RPR and do some homework, your decisions will become alot more clearer then.

Glad to see another AH enthusiast join the ranks here on Ozhonda, hope to see some progress and you join us on RPR.