Up and running!

Back together and on the road.
Got a rebuilt carb from Carb X in CA and had it installed and dialed in. Car runs great.

Put the back seat in, put all the bits back together and it runs like a champ.

Everywhere I go people have to say something about this car.

Next step is to get original seat fabric to match the original hounds tooth pattern. Then it gets painted this winter.

Bits back from paint

New bumper brackets and front bumper valence are back, fender arrives soon along with the re chromed bumper and headlight trim.

Maiden voyage

Got the carb rebuilt and installed.

Put in a new brake master cylinder.

Fired up the car (once I hooked up the choke right) and she started and ran. Has a vacuum leak so the car won't idle on it own.

Took it out for a spin around the block and it was a hoot. Revs nicely once it get above 3000 rpm.

Drove it 6 blocks and parked it back in the garage.


Evening was rolling in so the civic goes back in the garage along side its younger sister (the '89) for the night.

Will get the car off to the shop for them to fine tune the carb/idle and get it running smooth.

Trim rings are polished

Sent out the old ratty trim rings to be straightened and polished and they came back looking awesome.

All the curb rash was gone and they were super shiny.














Looks good on the car too. Tried to get a new set but cannot find 12" trim rings anywhere but China... and then I would have had to have them made.

Old ones look just fine to me.

Now onto the little nits

Pulled the carb off the car and sent it off to be rebuilt. Car runs but does not idle at all. Needs a bit of TLC in the fuel delivery department.

Thanks to eBay, got a carb kit for $20 and off to have it rebuilt.

She starts, she runs!

After 22 years, the cars started and ran.

Well, started up and ran after I cleaned out the fuel lines that were clogged with tar and the carb floats were stuck.

Fuel pump gave out a minute into the run but I have the donor car fuel pump and hooked it up with great success.

Smoked for a bit, then ran great after about 2 minutes. Engine sounds great and smooth despite the carb being jammed with crud.

Swapped out the "new" engines' black valve cover with the period-correct cast CVCC valve cover just to make it look better.

Donor Car

Got a FREE '76 donor civic to help me on my way the '77. Pulled off the front bumper and trim to get it cleaned up. The '77 had a crunched right corner so '76 came into save the day.

Bumper and headlight trim goes in to be re-chromed and the bumper supports to be painted.

January update

Left rear brake hose had collapsed inside so no more fluid was coming out. So new brake hoses went on. Hard to find these as well. None of the main stream stores had then had to really dig. Was not sure they would be the right ones but they were!













Bad ball joint on the drivers side. Loose as can be. Needed a new control arm. Found 1 after lots of looking. Glad I only needed one, passenger side seems to be tight.










Took of the dented passenger fender. Found a new one on 1stgencivic.com for $75 from SoCal... even had the CVCC emblem on it.











Took the front bumper off to be rechromed. Looks kinda sad right now but in a month or so it should be looking quite nice.

Moving right along

Got the tires back from being blasted and powder coated, new 12" tires installed as well.

The wheel trim rings are off to be straightened and polished to remove the road rash and dents.









Pulled the old engine torque mount off to reveal a very tired and brittle bushing. Try to find one of these out there, it took me 3 weeks to locate one and then I wondered if it would ever show up.

I get really annoyed with sites that list the items for sale, then let me know a week later they don't have it in stock. Let me know a day from when I order it so i don't have to wait a week between orders!!!!

Getting to work on the bits

Took the brakes apart since the fluid would not flow, replaced the rear wheel cylinders, front calipers, and hoses. Had to replace one rotor due to really bad scoring on the inside.

Old time rotors that require pulling the hub to get to the rotor on the back. Honda did this AGAIN on the Accords, really annoying design. On the Civic though, it is a lot easier.

Bought 1 rotor from Napa since NO one had another. Napa could only find one in the entire U.S.


Front right CV boot was ripped so put in a rebuilt axle just for fun.

Parts for this car are not easy to find. Lots of people list the parts but all are "out of stock".













Dropped the gas tank to clean it out. Had been sitting for 21 years. Dry as a bone but some rust particles and debris but very minimal.

Soaked it with kerosene for a week then drained it and put in lacquer thinner to dry it out.

Used the pressure washer to blast the inside clean and it worked like a champ.

Nice coat of satin black rattle can and ready to go back in.

New year, New find!

2 months ago, I got a call from a friend.

Her boyfriends just blew the engine on his car, oil was leaking every where and it was going to the junk yard. But, she knew me all to well and asked if I was interested in the car... a 76 Honda Civic hatchback, in yellow.

Sure, why not. If nothing else I could part it out.

And so it sat, for 2 months and just as I was ready to part it out, I found this listing on Craigslist for a 77 Honda Civic, a twin to my dead 76. Both were yellow, but this 77 had a brand new factory engine in it, installed in 1989 and then put away in storage for 21 year without ever being started. So new engine, never run and in really great shape for a honda civic. Mind you, these things rusted just by looking at them. In salt climes, they wasted away in 5 years, in SoCal and such, they still rusted. This one was in Seattle, so the rain was a factor.

Pulled up and the car was better than I thought so I HAD to buy it.

This made car #16 that I had currently in my possession. But I had to save this one. Sounds like a hoarder to me! Besides I had a twin donor car, fate was calling me. It was like giving a kidney to your brother, you can't say no if it is a perfect match, right?

Car had the hood off since the engine was just installed... uh 21 years ago.

Paint was faded and oxidized.

A small dent on the right front corner.

Classic black pin stripping perfect for the era and dealer installed body side molding.




Parts were all there, grill, turn signals, alternator, air cleaner, etc. All had been taken off and never put back on.

Hatch and door were rust free at the seams, that is all that really matters on these. Once the seams go there is no help in the world to save this wafer thin metal.






Looked good to me. I knew I had a gem and I was looking for another project. After all the 78 Datsun 810 wagon was 6 months ago, I needed some new juice.










Got it home into the garage and started cleaning up the body. Took of the body side molding and did a real light buff on it. Paint is super glossy and nice.

Bits of rust were hiding where they rivited through the metal for the moldings.







Quick shot of the back and all the dirt. Looks bad but take a look at the next picture!












That is less than an hour of cleaning and it looks like a million dollars. Okay, 350,000 dollars.

I was very pleased. The more I looked over the car the happier I was becoming.









Took the valve cover off to see the jewel. Brand new, never even had oil in it. Covered it with oil, filled her up and let it set a day and hand cranked the engine over. Super smooth and never a hitch..

Now onto the tires and brakes.