a20a3 in a 78 civic!!!

[wrxdriver99]

I've decided to undertake a good' r
Thats right, I'm going to stuff an 88 accord LXi engine and 5peed into a 1978 honda civic. I'm also doing a complete tear down, repaint, and rebuild on the entire car. I'm going custom and sleek. no chrome, and nothing is going to stick out more than 2 1/2 inches(the bumpers). I've already got the entire car stripped and cleaned out, now for the body work!!
I'm interested in any info on the engine and transmision regarding performance and look goodies that is out there. I may be a newbie on this forum, but not in the garage, so I'll try to help if you have any questions on pre-90s hondas and nissans.
thanx

[86AccordLxi]

You got me scared for a second...a20a1 is the carbed a20 and I was thinking, "who the hell would want to swap that in?" lol. a20a3 is the lxi motor.

Member phydeaux has an a20 swapped into this 2g Accord, so he might be your best resource, though I have no clue how similar the 2g is.

Anyhow, sounds like quite the project! Keep us posted! And welcome to 3geez!

Alex

[wrxdriver99]

thanks for the info, I learned somthing new today!!! I'm going to have lots of fun with this one!

[A20A1]

Remember that one guy, I think he worked for KMS or was KMS with the old school civic with the Quad bike carbs and A20motor.

[wrxdriver99]

that pick you have is of an 80-83 civic but those are some mean flares

hmmm????? where can I find some?

[A20A1]

Is this still 80's?

[mykwikcoupe]

actually sorry to burst your bubble but ive got a 78 1200. id imagine your is. it may be the cvcc which would be better as the engine bay is 3 inchers longer. however the baqd news, the a20a is a taller motot than most hondas. it doesnt have the clearance from lower crossbraces to hood. It would take some major mods to work.

Look at 1stgencivic.com and i think 77civic.com is the other. It used to be civic1200.com but they closed down that site. Good luck and if you need anymore info Im a wealth of knowledge. 4 wheels disc brakes with 2nd gen prelude stuff. changed from 4x120 to 4x100. Ive got lots of performance stuff if you want to explore the biuldup of a 1200. My plan was a good 120hp very streetable with the stock 1200 block. Tops was 140-150 big cam barly idle

[A20A1]

even with it's 15 degree tilt it still is too tall?

[wrxdriver99]

Is this still 80's?

yes thats an 80-83 S type... very nice

[mykwikcoupe]

yes it is actually. the nose on the 1200 is like 3.5 inches too short to fit the a20a in. I measured from crossbarace to straight edge across the fenders and did a little math. From there i looked at the accord and civic from the bottom and tried to find ways to put the a20a in. Ive got enough of them here. It was my prefered choice as well. The weight would plant like trees and the available powwer along with install time would make it a prime choice but unless you want to make a hood for it it weont work

[A20A1]

I would bet on the raised hood line... vroom vroom

[carotman]

Hehe. I saw a couple of 2G civics with A series in racing events.... this means a JDM B20A would fit in there too.

[HostileJava]

I would bet on the raised hood line... vroom vroom

Yeah, sounds like a good excuse for a nice cowl induction like hood.

[wrxdriver99]

well.... for two hundred bucks and a damn good excuse to break out the welder I'm going to try it out. I thought about that Focuz intake manifold I sawin another thread and I thin k I can shorten the runners and then build some new crossmembers and c-notch the frame rails as needed. when I get the guinae pig motor out and stripped down I'll do some math and figure out where to cut and weld and add/remove mounts etc.

P.s. I've takken a couple of pics, but I'm not permited to post attachments so visit http://photos.yahoo.com/wrxdriver99. to see what I've done so far

[HostileJava]

No photos are available

Sorry, wrxdriver99 has not enabled any public albums in their account.

[wrxdriver99]

sorry, I fixed it, you can view them now. I will add more as I get them

[AccordEpicenter]

just remember, boost is your friend. This sounds like a way cool project too!!

[HostileJava]

Do those work for everyone?

[AccordEpicenter]

yes

[A20A1]

Just stick the motor in the back

[AccordEpicenter]

you should paint it burnt orange and call it the fez

[lostforawhile]

it can be done,I put one in an 81, I also put a legend v6 in one,don't ask,I killed a marriage on that one. you would do better using a carbed engine and running webbers,just for the sake of simplicity. these cars were pretty quick even with the 60 horsepower 1500 in the 81 dx, they will fly with the 120a carbed set up with webbers. be very careful of the sway bar,front control arm locator bar, check it over for cracks and if possible find something heavier to replace it. if it snaps,and i've had several do that, one of your wheels will slam backwards into the rear of the wheel well and lock. I was almost killed when I had one do this.

[speedpenguin]

Wow, I wanna hear mor about this!

[mykwikcoupe]

well Im in ewith a cross on carotman and the other guys thoughts. I have a couple b20as bhere and was hoping to go b20a with dual sidedfrats. Like I said though it proved to be too much for me. If you do get it all fabbed up. Put a 1/2 piece of steel around both front crossmembers for support of the engine and stuff and Ill buy one.

As far as suspension goes I run a whitline rear bar and no front and it works killer. the weight would only improve

[lostforawhile]

it can be done in a seventy eight, back in 93 I knew a guy who had a shop in alpharetta GA and one of his buddies had a turboed a20 in a seventy eight, you could smoke the tires until they blew out if you wanted too. painted that awful seventies tripping orange too. you have to watch how much power you run though, the v6 in the eighty one was too much for that superlight chassis and I had a terrible time with traction, even accelerating from a light was a pain. the seventie eight was awesome though. if you remember the first police academy movie,when they stole the civic, that was a STOCK!!! one that was flying around corners like that.