a20a3 in a 78 civic!!!

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/4789/motor9tx.jpgHello,
I am new to the site as I just found it tonight. I own the blue 1983 Civic with the A20A1 motor pictured in the above post by the administrator A20A1. I was looking around the web trying to find info out on my 1983 Civic with an 1989 Accord motor and transmission and to my total suprise I find a picture of my car that is in my garage. Cool Site, I like it already.
I know my Civic is a later generation than yours but if I can send you any digital pictures or anything for what has been done to my car I would be happy too. I don't have much history of how it was done with mine. Tracking down the history for this car has been tough. I think this site will help me though. The Civic sites I have joined and searched on have been much less help than I have found here in just the last few hours.
Paul

Sure Snap away. :) we like clear photos of any custom work done to the motor... in this case the most of whats on the motor was custom last time we saw it.

Hi guys,
there has been some great info shared in this thread, I really apreciate it!
I.ve been busy for a few days and havent' done any work on the car, but I have a friend that hooked me up with a 5 horse electric motor for my compressor and I installed it on friday. now I'm ready to go nuts on the body work and motor/trany install. I'm trading an old motor bike and the 10 horse gas motor that was on my compresor to another friend for a mig welder later this week, so... Then I can do the power sunroof and frame work, and.... and.... and....

wow, keep me informed. I curious where this is going. how about some good before pics too see hwere abouts your starting.

to see some starting pics click on the link at the bottom of my signature

Holy shit :O you stripped that thing good. I hope you have everything organized or that's going to a serious pain in the ass to put back together.

Actually its more basic than I'm used to, but I did label the wwiring harnesses and I kept similar parts together, one box for brake stuff, one for door stuff, one for interior stuff, etc. Its 7:30 am and I have the entire day to work on It lets see what I can accomplish. I'll borrow my friends digital camera again and post some new pics in my link under my signature either tonight or tomorrow. I'm so excited!!

yeah hardest part is finding the parts afterwards. theres like 2 options that require more than a bolt and all parts are pretty self explainitory. Ive got a ton of parts, performance and otherwise. i was going to do a full rebiuld on mine but cant find a few nneeded parts so Im thinking i wont.

Hows your weatherstripping. you know there isnt any new kits on the planet right without going custom

man i cant wait till its done!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mykwikcoupe

Hows your weatherstripping. you know there isnt any new kits on the planet right without going custom

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I used to work for a work truck body builder and they have all sorts of door and edge rubber. The only two problems I forsee is the windshield rubber and the door seal rubber that wraps all the way around. The windshield was just replaced last year using the original rubber which they kindly URETHANED in so... I wrecked both the window and the rubber getting them out for the body work.
The door rubber I was going to steal out of my 82 hatch and try to modify, but I'm not holding my breath. I talked to my local honda parts guy and he told me to check out thehondapartsstore.com , where it is listed but i never checked the availability.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mykwikcoupe

Ive got a ton of parts, performance and otherwise.

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What kind of stufff you got???? selling any of it?? mags perhaps?? windshield rubber?? coilovers???:cheers:

I just destroyed my windshield on the 82 hatch last week along with the trim and all the clips that they urethaned to everything else...somehow the freaking thing still leaked. I'm interested in any source for new door gaskets and bits and bobbles though.

ive got a s&s header from the last group buy, dual carb side draft setup from eurocarb made to oscar jacksons original specs with mikuni solex pph36's, I just bought a setup for a custom rear crossmemebr with modified arms with bearings instead of bushings(should be uber-trick). the list goes on, unfortunaly the suspension was one fo the reasons I stopped going for performance and the lack of parts is why i stopped going for original spec. Im not sure just yet but im sure itll end up as a street/strip racer eventually with the stock 1200 biult up to a 1441 (1300 crank, 1200 rods, goldwing pistons and eb3 head, os valves, webcam, Geaderm, inake exhaust has been proven to 130-150hp at the hweels. this si the main reason i didnt go a20a, weight, cost of fabwork and overall gain

one of the reasons I narrowed down my list of posible engines to include the A20A3 was the horspower to torque ratio. They are pretty much even, that makes for a nice car to drive around the city. you don't need to be driving around at 6000 rpm to get any power and down shifting two gears just to merge or pass on the hiway. I don't know how much my civic wieghs, but I'll bet its almost half as much as a third gen accord.

not a whole lot done since last time, but here's a few more pics to look at

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wrxdriver99/my_photos

where do I start...

Well I got working on my hatch opening. I welded the seams at the bottom of the opening then filled and sanded and filled and sanded and... untill I got it just right. I want everything about this car smooth. I ground all the paint off the seams where all the spot welds are and hammered them as smooth as posible, then filled and sanded untill smooth. After that I sprayed the affected places with rust inhibitor and/or primer and then with paintable rocker guard.
I used the rocker guard under the rear chrome bits so that hopefully chafing won't lead to rust. the rocker guard overspray will be sanded off the visible body surfaces, with the exception of the rocker panels, to help with the smoothness of the car. I will be using it around the rear window openings though.
I love this little car. just had to write that
I had a couple of L.E.D. strips laying around so I decided to put in a recessed third brake light. I cut out the roof for metal to use for the recess. I carefuly measured somewherre near centre of the roof and using my handy nibler and my even more handy die grinder made a hole. then I made the recess and test fit it. then I made a bigger hole and welded it in. then more fibre glass and filler and sanding. still more to do, but I'll wait till I put in the sun roof
The minor rust on the rear of the car wont be to hard to fix, I just havent decided what to do on the rear valance ends. I think I will clean off all the paint off both sides right the way accross and fibre glass a couple of layers on both sides for extra strength and corrosion resistance.
I'm sorry this is so long, but I thought you guys would want details. If there are some questions or coments or free stuff out there, let me know.

Happy modifying

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/8...ofmotor2ej.jpg



Hello again all,
Above pictured is my 1983 Civic hatchback with an A20A1 motor swap. As I said in my ealier post this is the same car that was posted earlier by A20A1 with the motorcycle carbs.

hey, 1983civicracer, Do youthink you could take some detail shots of the motor mounts, frame work, cross member, rad, etc??? that would be awsome!!! you can email me them directly or post them, whichever you like.
I realize this is a different car than I have, but I would like to see if my Ideas are similar to others'.
I noticed the center support for the rad support is out, and the hinges have been removed and replaced with pins on all four corners.
also what is the tubbing brace on the passenger side for??

[IMG]http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/5...ofmotor8lu.jpg[/IMG]http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/4789/motor9tx.jpghttp://img389.imageshack.us/img389/8729/frontviewofmotor2ej.jpg
I will try and take some more detailed pictures like you asked for tomorrow morning and post tomorrow night. I am working quite a bit tomorrow so I may not be able to get to post it until Friday evening. They are coming though. The bar on the passenger side of the engine bay is part of the roll cage for the car. It has nothing to do with the swap. Talk to you soon.

Paul

That's friggin awesome!

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/4789/motor9tx.jpg
http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/5...ofmotor8lu.jpg
http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/8...ofmotor2ej.jpg


maybe posting the pics right would help. thats my contribution to this thread lol

Sorry 83civicracer, I totaly forgot to leave my email address. here it is
[email protected].

I'm liking your car very much. things that are original and custom realy turn my crank. I cant wait to get mine up and going . I found a thread on another forum to build your own body kit. I'm going to look at some other types of kits and start some prelimanary sketches and Ideas.

The A20A1 in my Civic to answer CKE was built by John Kaufman of KMS several years ago to be raced in the SCCA. I bought the car from a guy in St Cloud Florida who just kind of played with it a little like I have done.

The engine I am told from the previous owner is from a 2.0 liter 1988 Prelude.

The block has been sleved, 13 1/2 to one Weisco pistons were used (Racing Fuel Only), extensive headwork with titanium retainers and heavy porting, MSD 6A ignition system, High Lift Camshaft (I don't know what the specs are? It likes 8,000 RPM though), Header, and of course the 4 Mikuni Motorcycle carbs. Supposedly the engine dyno"d out at 320 Horsepower. I really doubt that power figure though. The car is plenty strong, don"t get me wrong, but that figure is likely about 100 Horsepower too high. It does spin the 9 inch drag slicks in 3rd gear though?

My plans with the car are to drag race it locally as time and money permits. I would love to autocross it as there is a great club in my local area but I cannot for the life of me find an appropriate LSD or Quaife to fit the transmission (E2Q6).

Does anyone know of a transmission that will fit the A20A1 motor that you can get a Quaife for???? The car has a welded differential now which works well for the dragstrip, but not for the Autocross course.

Thanks

Paul

I'm an information junkie!!! you guys rock. I have learned so much, it annoys my wife to no end. haha

well I have one seriously smashed 88 accord LXi sitting in my driveway waiting to be stripped of everything possibly useful for the civic. Now to find some time....

I even sot some upgrade parts for my air compressor to make it more efficient to do the work. I'm so excited.

Oooo, I got my red type R Honda badges, and my jdm hello kitty/mugen badge(its my wifes car). I'm still excited. I also picked up a nice set of older 14" Enkei aluminum rims for a hundred bucks

More pics and progress soon