bscanlan' Hatch Build - The Sequel

[bscanlan]

It's been a while since I've been on the site here. My '88 Coupe build went well and netted my some experience with the platform.

Now I get to try my hand at a hatch. I actually saw this beauty first on 3geez Facebook. She just arrived today after I got her in a government auction. Plans begin now, I just wanted to introduce her. Name -tbd?


I have one of the Mosselman turbo manifolds from the recent group buy, so who knows where this one goes. Should be fun!

[Dr_Snooz]

Cool stuff!

[nastytee]

It looks great!

[bscanlan]

Thanks! My research thus far tells me it's a North Carolina car which explains the cleanliness. I am going to pull-a-part tomorrow for some odds and ends, and then getting ready to have a key made to test the internals. I will post more pics of the disassembly soon.

[bscanlan]

Weather is breaking here in Ohio, and so the shop starts to heat up. Here is recent motor-pull progress from the weekend.

[bscanlan]

Ok, so it’s been more than a while since I’ve posted. My ‘89 Hatch build continues, albeit methodically and slow. I wanted to catch everyone up, so here goes. Since Covid has given me more than normal time this spring and summer, I have been able to complete the lion’s share of the repair, reuse, restore portion of the build. I started it off a couple of years ago by purchasing an 80 gal. 2-stage compressor (since I did the whole coupe build mostly with a 110 piece craftsman socket set). I follow that this winter with a sandblasting cabinet, Branik strut compressor, and parts washer.

[bscanlan]

So with the car on stands and pretty well disassembled, I began assessing, blasting, priming, and epoxy painting suspension parts. I went with all black urethane bushings, ST sway bars, and ST (2”) Speedtech lowering springs. I then happened upon an SEi on a yard in Pittsburg, so I got the rear trailing arms and knuckles, and proportioning valve.

[bscanlan]

Engine got the full cleaning, and then Eastwood epoxy engine paint. I got a full DnJ engine kit, so timing belt, water pump, oil pump, gaskets, blah blah blah; and the engine is now making the steady climb back.

[bscanlan]

Engine bay is next. I pulled the rear crossmember, discarded the rack and got a reman. I also enlarged the strut tower holes for Cheddas extended top hats. Now it’s time to remove the seam sealer, and do a few deletes; prep, prime, and paint the bay; and then get moving on body work. Then it’s suspension reassembly and some sacrificial Steele’s so I can roll her around and get ready for color. I hope to continue to this point even before the snow flies here in northern Ohio. Then it’s on to OBD1 conversion, and mating that Mosselman up!



Oh, and I did Eastwood Extreme (Ceramic) Chassis Black on the full undercarriage and the wells.

[Oldblueaccord]

Hey thats looking good.

Could you, if you think of it, take pictures of the bushings that go with the subframes to the car body. I'm just curious what they look like and if there is something that could need an upgrade in the future...like solid bushings.

I have never had mine this far apart.

[glutenfree]

Those parts are SUPER clean mate.

Gonna havta step up my game!

[Jinnai]

I love it. I'll do my best on my build too, but I don't have quite that many tools or resources.

[bscanlan]

Here is a cross member close-up.

[bscanlan]

Thanks again for the kudos, it is great encouragement!

I was able to: prep, prime, paint, and clear the bay...finally.

[bscanlan]

With Ohio weather finally breaking, the shop has seen some reassembly! I’m hoping to have full suspension reassembled in a few weeks. Engine assembly and install next!

[bscanlan]

Sway bar time.

[Oldblueaccord]

I spy some custom lower links there as well.....

[Dr_Snooz]

Yay for pics! Yay for progress!

[bscanlan]

Indeed! Cheddas is all over this build. Big shout out to Jordain for showing the 3g some love. More pics to come.

[Oldblueaccord]

Indeed! Cheddas is all over this build. Big shout out to Jordain for showing the 3g some love. More pics to come.

Wha? Those dont look like "hack to fit" Civic parts?!?!

[ShiRen]

Uuuuuuh, wtf. Those are the arms he's selling? That's nothing like what he shows on the site if I am seeing that correctly. Those look like a tapped piece of extruded hex aluminum with heim joints, the description even says they're chromoly steel. I thought those were something you made so I wasn't going to say anything, if you paid $410 for those you got fucking shafted, that's not ok.

[bscanlan]

Correct, those are aluminum. I had the option, and chose those for weight. Can’t recall what I paid for them, but I like them; what I was looking for.

I’ll post more pics as I have more assembled.

[ShiRen]

Ok... If he gave you the choice that's better, I hope it was a significant discount off what he currently sells the arms for. If those are extruded aluminum the problem is they will very likely break, if this was a diy arm them yeehaw, adjustable arms (honestly it never even crossed my mind to make something like this), if they break then make another set. If it was like an A arm instead of a single link I would guess the chromoly would be lighter than an equivalent aluminum arm, and that means aluminum tube and well braced for strength, that and steel is all around a much better material to make the parts out of. They aren't cast so weight shouldn't be too much of a concern, and the stock rear arms are stamped from thick sheet metal, so they aren't very heavy either.

I don't want to sound like I'm giving you a hard time, I was just concerned you got jipped. I wouldn't worry about strength unless you find one snapped after you hit a pot hole, and the rear suspension in these cars can't be tightened up enough with the parts we have available where the flexibility of steel vs aluminum is going to make much difference in handling.

[bscanlan]

I agree that strength is the concern, but as it’s not getting race car stresses, I feel relatively comfortable with them. I like the figment, but the proof is in the pudding, so we shall see.

[Oldblueaccord]

Also does away with the cam bolt design.