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New project - 1975 Civic 1200


harmonda

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Price was right...free. Mother moved into a condo and her husband has been off-loading possessions. He loves this car so I couldn't say no.

 

The good...he had a new timing belt installed, gas tank relined, new fuel hoses and filter, After-market carb (holley?), head gasket, battery. The tires look fairly new...I don't have a gauge. It tracks straight, takes bumps better than expected...no rattles or shakes. Seats are super comfy with that faux sheep skin. :) It came with a second motor and a bunch of parts he has collected over the years. Plus 2 other sets of wheels/tires.

 

The bad list...only gauge that works is oil pressure. Won't idle. Shop that did the timing belt AND carb tried and tried and couldn't get it to idle. (WTF?) He said they wouldn't take money when he picked it up. So, at least he didn't pay for that mess. Also, I drove it about 100 miles home...and it surges off-throttle. If you get on it...it is fine. But off-throttle or going easy...it surges. Oh, and as you can see...the paint is heavily oxidized. It has sat outside at that shop for 2 years. (again, WTF?). I drove it before that and it had been stored inside and was much more shiny. Also, it was a fun drive. The original problem he took it to the shop for was it would stall unexpectedly when it warmed up and he couldn't restart it until it had sat. That led to the shop re-lining the tank because they said there was rust in it. Not sure about their abilities/experience.

 

Anyway...I posted on the 1st gen Civic forum and got a little advice on troubleshooting. Also, borrowed a timing light. hee. This is going to be fun. I figured I post it on here since there might be some Honda guys who'd get a kick out of it.

 

pics...

29616966575_aec1b6b4c8_z.jpg20160911_175026 by Dan Harmon, on Flickr

29616977635_024b9febd3_z.jpg20160911_175017 by Dan Harmon, on Flickr

29326731710_9f459c0f35_z.jpg20160911_174958 by Dan Harmon, on Flickr

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Looks like it's in pretty nice original condition, except for a few suspect mechanicals.

 

Careful, I worked on a 70s civic ONCE and I swear every damn thing under the hood was razor sharp, honed to a samurai-katana-ninja edge. I've heard from others isn't uncommon on older civics.

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Looks like it's in pretty nice original condition, except for a few suspect mechanicals.

 

Careful, I worked on a 70s civic ONCE and I swear every damn thing under the hood was razor sharp, honed to a samurai-katana-ninja edge. I've heard from others isn't uncommon on older civics.

 

Ha...good advice. I worked on a "Dodge" Omni once...head gasket swap. The perimeter of the engine bay was spot welded and then trimmed leaving literal saw teeth all the way around. It looked like I got in a fight with a barbed wire fence when I was done.

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IIRC these old hondas use a Kehin 2bbl downdraft carb. Its pretty junky. I think the hot swap for these was a weber DGEV series carb (unless you can find some side draft webers DOCE or Dellortos). I saw online a while back where someone had put a rack of CBR carbs on it, which is a neat idea.

 

Good luck with it. Neat car.

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IIRC these old hondas use a Kehin 2bbl downdraft carb. Its pretty junky. I think the hot swap for these was a weber DGEV series carb (unless you can find some side draft webers DOCE or Dellortos). I saw online a while back where someone had put a rack of CBR carbs on it, which is a neat idea.

 

Good luck with it. Neat car.

 

It has a weber. Lots of disconnected smog gear under the hood. I need to clean that up once I get the idle and surging issues resolved. Looks like some of the ports/hoses on the carb may not be right. one nipple is capped off with a piece of rubber and a zip tie. Another vac hose has a screw blocking it off. euw.

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It has a weber. Lots of disconnected smog gear under the hood. I need to clean that up once I get the idle and surging issues resolved. Looks like some of the ports/hoses on the carb may not be right. one nipple is capped off with a piece of rubber and a zip tie. Another vac hose has a screw blocking it off. euw.

 

Your surging is likely a vacuum leak then. Need to sort out the emissions connections and figure out what needs to be capped.

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Your surging is likely a vacuum leak then. Need to sort out the emissions connections and figure out what needs to be capped.

 

Ya. So I guess the shop was chasing fueling problems around. I've looked over the fuel system diagram and there are return lines going back to the fuel tank. I'm wondering if disconnecting those was part of the problem. Here's my theory...so if the tank isn't venting properly...or it is obstructed somehow or too small...it wouldn't idle but may run because the pump is pulling harder...then it surges as it overcomes the vacuum then it builds up again. I am going to get in there and see if I can't disconnect the air return line directly from the tank.

 

I don't have the instructions for the weber conversion kit...I'm need to get my hands on those too.

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