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87 Hatch Racecar!


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#1
CITS

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Hey guys,

 

I have been lurking around here (from the other side of the world - Sydney, Australia) for the past two years after I acquired a beat up old 86 hatch with a really shitty roll cage that had been sitting idle on a farm for the best part of 10 years.

So i gave it a good clean, put a seat, harness and quite a few other goodies in it and have been beating on it fully stock except for integra brakes on race tracks. Here is the old girl:

 

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Late last year I pulled off the front fenders only to find that previous to me owning it, it had taken a few big hits and it was a bit shorter than from the factory, it had also taken a decent hit from behind.

So i have decided that I would buy a new shell and build a compliant car that I can race in competitions.

I managed to pick up an 87 hatch for $150 with registration that I was able to drive up onto the trailer:

 

IMG_20140928_161334_285_zpswayweci5.jpg

 

I very slowly stripped it out and painstakingly chipped away all the tar on the floor getting it ready for a roll cage install (also welded in some seat mounts):

 

IMG_20150228_150720_092_zpsmkxyxxcx.jpg

 

Over the past weekend myself and a friend pulled two 12 hour days in his workshop and managed to knock this rollcage out:

 

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Needless to say I am like a little kid in a candy shop right now, very happy with how it turned out.

Now its waiting to be preped for a paint job. Any suggestions on a colour thats not red or white?

 

I dont promise a quick build here but slowly it will all come together. Plans are to keep it as light as possible. I had previously bought an integra and stripped it bare so I have everything to do an engine swap and the works so watch this space!

 

 

 


#2
CRXer87hf

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Great start! Signed on.


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#3
niccer

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Awesome start, I'm really jealous of the price you picked the new civic up for.  I just used Google's currency conversion and you bought a running civic for $117 USD...  I think that might be a new record. 

 

Keep up the good work and update us as much as you can. 



#4
sedanman

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Wow nice find

Good luck

Billy.

#5
NWClassicHonda

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Welcome!


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#6
Dirtcircle86

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Nice! All these cars should get to race.

I noticed something u might think about. The seat mount/floor cross brace thing you removed, I believe to be a suspension structure. Sounds crazy, I know. I was about to delete them for weight reduction and noticed the stamped steel rib under the car (that the torque tube mounts to) terminates at that cross bar. I decided there could be some torque tube/structure/floor board flex with suspension travel so I left them in. You could easily weld a "stand" from your new seat support to the floor to prohibit my theoretical movement.

Not being critical at all. Just an observation. Love what your doing!

#7
anjin

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Nice work and build.  Colour - mid metallic blue is taken. 

 

I paid $200 for my second last acquisition, rego'd but not running.  I was robbed!!

 

Regarding the seat mounts, I did a similar thing, and haven't noticed any issues with the suspension.  The torsion bar doesn't do a lot of moving at that end, and all the real load bearing is attached to the subframe, so you should be ok.  Makes for a nice low seat - had to boost mine back up from being bolted to the floor to stop looking at the road through the steering wheel.

 

I'll be in Paramatta mid next week on work - normally Perth based. Nice to see another Australian build on the site.


anjin aka Ian

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#8
Maine_Honda_Racer

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If you are building a proper cage, the seat mounts should be attached to the cage, not the floor. Otherwise looks very nice!

Ben


QUOTE (cbstdscott @ Feb 28 2010, 10:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
In fact, I rock out an RPR decal!

#9
Dirtcircle86

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With the car sitting on the ground or suspension supported by a jack, remove the two bolts at the back of the torque tube. I recommend gloves, safety glasses, and a diaper when you do.. No it's not that bad. But try it anyway. That end of the tube will drop about an 1 1/2" and will take more than muscle to put back in place. The 6 cross member bolts are too close together and support the car in a cantilever fashion. The torque tube is the lever that counters the canti... Lol

#10
anjin

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Strange.  Never had a problem with the end of the torque tube moving any distance at all on my crx's. I see about 5mm when I jack up a wheel and unload the torsion bar.

I assume we are talking about the cap with a rubber cup inside, secured by two bolts to the longituddinal body stiffner.


anjin aka Ian

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#11
Dirtcircle86

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It's probably not an issue.



#12
CITS

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Thanks guys!

Ill have a look at the torsion tube mounting once its all back together and see if anything weird is going on. I was just trying to be sneaky with the seat mounts and drop my weight down as far as I could.

 



If you are building a proper cage, the seat mounts should be attached to the cage, not the floor. Otherwise looks very nice!

Not sure that's possible with the cage i've gone with, unless i've missed something really obvious?

 

 

Sorry about no updates in a very long time but I did mention it would be a very slow process. However a colour was chosen and the horrendously tedious sanding and painting process began (I would never wish this process on anyone - I now have a new found respect for spray painters). Its a slight variation of Kawasaki green(the one on every Ninja you see) basically made it a little bit lighter. These photos were taken on a sunny day with a phone camera so they arent real flash and the colour in the photos looks quite different, its a much more green colour than you can see. But I definitely wont be missed anywhere I go haha.

 

Firstly the priming:

 

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And now put on your sunglasses and get ready for the colour!

 

 

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Next step is to begin the jigsaw puzzle and make it resemble a car again!

Then i'll start the carb-efi conversion and do the integra brake upgrade - Already have all the goodies for this - new stainless lines, race brake pads, new discs and re built calipers.

 

Hopefully the updates will begin to roll out a little bit quicker now that the biggest ticket items are out of the way.

 

Cheers.



#13
GeezRX

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Looks good...like the color...will be looking forward to seeing it completed. Best of luck with the rebuild and thanks for posting!


"Old and usually in the way" - Check out my '86 3G build in "VIEW GARAGE"


#14
CITS

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So it has been the best part of 1.5 years since I last posted here and I can say with the biggest smile on my face that the car is FINISHED! For now...

I bought the car on 28 Sept 2014 and it will be going for its first run on the track this Friday 02 June, thats 978 days I took to get this thing together (Sad that I counted eh?). Getting a bit nervous as to what will come loose as everything has been rebuilt...

 

I have hundreds of photos of the development which I will post up in the coming weeks but here she is in all her glory

 

Rough list of whats been done:

 

Stripped back to bare shell, caged and painted

BC Coilovers with 12® and 10(F) kg spring rates

Heel Toe 29mm Torsion bars

Rear internal swaybar removed, locking plate and rear external swaybar added

Custom adjustable panhard bar

Integra brake calipers (fully rebuilt), discs and knuckles added

Conversion from carby to EFI

Custom surge tank located behind the fuel tank

Battery relocation to behind the 'passenger seat'

Rebuilt the dash (only did it because of how much I needed to chop it up to fit it around the cage) then wrapped with vinyl

Complete Integra wiring harness(body and engine)

D16A3 from a 1988 integra fully rebuilt (bored out .02)

PM7 CAMS from a JDM ZC installed (only engine mod really) - running the stock 1988 integra ECU

Oil filter relocation and cooler

Oil pressure and temp gauges on the dash

Custom short shifter

Very daggy looking CAI

Headers with straight through 2 inch exhaust(a little loud might add a resonator or two)

New front and rear tow points

Window net

Battery and ignition isolation master switch with external activation

Sparco seat and 5 Pt harness

Toyo R888R tyres

 

(I'm sure theres more, ask away if you've got any questions)

 

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Number 457 are my 3 lucky numbers as told to me by my Grandma years ago.

 

Turns out I forgot to grab a completed picture of the engine bay - A pic of that will appear in an update down the track.

 

If all goes well this Friday, it will have 1 more practice day - Sunday 11th June, before I enter it in the competition series. So watch this space!

I'll upload a video or two from after Fridays run.

 

Cheers!



#15
GeezRX

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Looks great...best of luck with the first run on track! I'll look forward to future updates.


"Old and usually in the way" - Check out my '86 3G build in "VIEW GARAGE"