So, this weekend I picked up a complete, running 1978 Honda Civic CVCC for 500 bucks. All it needs is a good brake bleed and some fresh gas to be roadworthy (maybe).
Oh yeah, and probably some repairs to the structural rust in the front passenger corner of the body - this is the spot where they rust so fast Honda had to recall most first-gen civics within 3 years of selling them to replace body panels, or sometimes scrap the cars. Luckily, the only major rust in this car is that front corner but boy it is bad.
That tie down is free to wobble all over the place, and knocking on the body anywhere in the vicinity of that corner causes a pile of rust flakes to snow down. The rest of the pan is a little crusty, but nothing that can't be cut out and patched, and the body, other than the rockers, just has a couple small patches of surface rust.
Yeah, those rockers need to be replaced before that cancer spreads... Rust repair is the top priority right now, since if I don't take care of it now, there won't be a car left in a couple years! My goal here is to fix it up to the point that I can drive it around and hopefully hit some rallycrosses while I'm still in college, then next year once I've graduated it will hopefully become my first (non-Wreck Racing) challenge car.
tuna55
MegaDork
10/18/16 10:13 a.m.
Cool car. Fix that rust and drive it!
Awesome, I live those old little cars. Living in pa I've never seen one in real life, but I can dream
trucke
Dork
10/18/16 11:53 a.m.
I had a '76 'S' with the 5 speed. Slow, slow, slow. But it was fun, fun, fun! Only had it for a month when someone took a left turn into me. Totaled it.
Edd China did a great job on theirs. Over 40mpg when they tried to hypermile it.
Yes! This board needs more early Hondas! I took my 83 apart and I wish I hadnt, it was an awesome car (if ungodly slow). And it's great to see another (current) yellow jacket on here!
ebonyandivory wrote:
Edd China did a great job on theirs. Over 40mpg when they tried to hypermile it.
Funny, we just saw that epsiode last night! I love the old Hondas; lots of miles in them over the years!
Early Civics have definitely grown on me. I can't wait to see how this ends up with a little bit of high-voltage TLC.
It kinda looks like the rear suspension is sagging a bit; how does it drive?
In reply to ssswitch:
Not sure yet! I will know tomorrow after I put the new caliper on the front. The guy I bought it from thought there was a clogged brake line, turns out some dingus put two passenger calipers on the front, making the driver's side impossible to bleed. He had clearly tried bleeding it and did not think an upside down caliper was a problem...
Also note the big, cast "R" in the caliper: Honda made it so easy yet somehow these guys still messed it up!
Anyways, with the new caliper it will be roadworthy and I will be able to cast judgement.
No need to replace, right? Just remove from the hub, flip vertically, bleed, then reinstall.
Good find. My first car was a '79 Civic CVCC wagon like this one: