19 replies to this topic

[cvcc_wagon]

well i've finally finished my EK1 swap into my 83 civic wagon. for those of you who haven't seen any of my other posts regarding it here is the recap:

1983 Civic Wagon
1.8l (1751cc) EK1 Block (honed and rebuilt)
non-CVCC EL1 head (off canadian 1.6l motor)
port & polish with 3 angle valve grind, deck shaved 20 thousandths
272º cam (medium grind, 260º stock)
14lb flywheel
Dual sidedraft Weber DCOE40 carbs on custom manifold
4-2-1 F-series header adapted to fit
2.25" exhaust w/free flow muffler, no cat.

the swap was not without it's headaches, i ran into many problems and even faced the possibility that i fried the new rings on initial start up. luckily that was not the case as i have put about 600 miles on it and the compression tested above stock. another one of the annoying problems was losing power on the highway after 10 minutes of driving, turned out to be a clogged fuel filter, runs fine now. i still have an alternator issue to deal with and i have to find some time to remove the brake booster (requires removing drivers side carb) so that i can run a proper set of filters (looks like no more power brakes!) the engine is performing nicely but will be needing larger main jets to regain the top end of my power band. good bye good gas mileage, i have been averaging 21mpg this last 2 weeks
here is a pic of the new red beast. for those who are curious, the gage is a fuel pressure gage to make sure my pressure regulator is performing properly, it's correct more or less but has some funny tendencies.

[Airgazm86]

Awesome! Do you have any pics of the outside of the car?

[cvcc_wagon]

this would be the most recent from the Oct. 17 BC meet , but i've got 14" CRX si wheels now, the 4 hole ones. they actually suite the car pretty well.

[C_piddy]

beautiful.. now how about some dyno numbers?
chris

[rpr]

Now THAT is old skool cool!

[E-AT_me]

man. i love old stuff. heheheee. mad props dude.

[grjr]

hi, I saw your cross post on civic1200.com and I thought that your work was pretty impressive. Nice job on the swap and putting those side draft carbs on. How does it compare to the original engine? I have an 82 civic wagon that I've done a lot of work on too but no cool mods for me since I'm in CA

[87MugenProCR-X]

Good job man, i love those cvcc's and diy stuff.

Julian

[dnocrx]

nice job...what do you expect out of it performance wise?

[grjr]

Also, looking closer at your pics I saw that you don't have your vaccum advance for the distributor hooked up... that can be robbing you of power and gas mileage. It needs to be hooked up, but you'll probably have to play with the orifice size that you hook it up to to get the right amount of advance

[cvcc_wagon]

beautiful.. now how about some dyno numbers?
chris

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

when i get it tuned right i'll have eldo hook me up with the dyno in his neighborhood, right eldo

hi, I saw your cross post on civic1200.com and I thought that your work was pretty impressive. Nice job on the swap and putting those side draft carbs on. How does it compare to the original engine? I have an 82 civic wagon that I've done a lot of work on too but no cool mods for me since I'm in CA

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

well it pulls a lot harder then the original motor but the carbs need larger main jets (i knew this ahead of time but i figured breaking in the motor on a lean set up was better then risking too rich and burning up the rings) so it's topping out at about 95mph right now, i could push it higher and probably will but you gotta remember it's still an 83 civic wagon, not exactly built for high speeds, and one of the front tires is a little unbalanced so it vibrates a lot.
as for no cool mods, this car is originally a CA car so i had the same EM1 engine as you...you poor bastard, emissions crap coming out if your...well you get the point. the 2 best mods i did to my EM1 was to cut the outer edge off the air cleaner lid so it draws air from the full circle outside the filter, and i put 2.25" exhaust on it with no cat and the same free flow muffler i have now. you won't be able to get away with no cat but you can get a high flow cat, if i did the exhaust again i would have gone with 2" as i lost some bottom end with the 2.25" and it's probably what i'm going to with the EK now.

Also, looking closer at your pics I saw that you don't have your vaccum advance for the distributor hooked up... that can be robbing you of power and gas mileage. It needs to be hooked up, but you'll probably have to play with the orifice size that you hook it up to to get the right amount of advance

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

for now i'm going to leave the vacuum as is, form the asking around i've done the only thing i will lose is gas mileage, it shouldn't affect performance. besides there is no vacuum line to hook it up to, it requires a line that does not draw at idle. i may eventually work some sort of valve that works with the throttle cable

[cvcc_wagon]

got some larger main and idle jets today, let's see if i can make this thing rev up a little more on the highway.

[nivek2002]

NICE!

Love the manifold!

Kevin

[Erik]

man that is so sweet makes the 1g crx or the 3g civic look silly...anyway man great job on the engine and i wanna see the numbers on that car...qt times, horsepower to the wheels and everything

[lemons]

Perfect sleeper.....

You must race some 16yr old in his 4g Civic and give him a peice of old school honda muscle.