comets

to drop a few hundred dollars on a car with a blown motor, body in good condition - and repair it to make it in to a weekend racer?

need a new motor + tranny (around a few hundred dollars to repair)

i have nothing to do this summer and will probably strip this ugly car, and get new tires, a 4 pt cage, remove the glass windows etc

any advice / suggestions from people with a dedicated weekender?

anyone free this week @ night to help me go look at the car itself?

MikeyCB

Car to say what kind of car it is?

Really depends on the car I believe...

comets

It'd be a civic hatch

iDomN8U

Swaps are a dime a dozen for that car... As long as the body is in good condition gut the whole thing and drop in a K20A3 and your laughing...

MikeyCB

That could be a pretty pricey swap, no? I would say say a good ol B16 with a little headwork, maybe cams and the usual bolt ons would come in at similar cost and yield better performance. Plus replacement parts would be much cheaper and more accessible, as they've been around for over 10 years.

But I got away from the Civics before the K20 really gained popularity as a common swap, so I could be wrong.

Agreed though, good frame and body and you could have a pretty fun project on your hands!

comets

Never had a beater civic. For a noob, what do I look for other then the usual rots and ends...

MikeyCB

Depends what year, but rust-wise there are a few spots on the body that will be dead obvious, like the rear quarter panels. I do not know of any specific chassis spots that are overly prone to rust on any year Civic so a general inspection would be a good idea.

If there's no motor anyway just give it a standard once-over considering you can look past the parts that you know you'll change anyway, ie. suspension components, interior wear, etc. Cool thing is that again, as long as you have a solid shell of a car, you're going to put into it some cheap, effective components and have a pretty track-worthy car for only a few thousand bucks, not including cost of cage fab.

There really isn't too much to worry about, though if I'm remembering correctly you'll want to just consider the generation of the engine you'll put in because early 90-s pretty much every Honda had switched to a hydraulic clutch set up as opposed to cable. Again, not a big deal but if you're still completely pre-purchase you may as well have a general plan in mind and avoid hidden expenses of converting things and adding expense to the project.

mikeys2k

A common problem that some people have with the 92-95 hatches are water leaks from the drivers side door. So i would check under the carpet if possible for rust. The 95's apparently do not have this problem.
As for motor swaps K20's are definitely the way to go, its a little more expensive to do but definitely worth it because that motor has a lot of potential then again it depends on what you want to do, like stated before the B16 is a good base to start at.

BKL

It really depends on how much you want to spend on the car.

To make a civic into a track car it costs around 12g at least...that is with B18C engine.

MikeyCB

B18's pretty heavy on the front end when you're trying to neutralize the weight distribution.

Realistically you aren't going to get enough power out of the engine to compete in a straight line with higher-end imports of a similar class, so I think the key is to out-handle them in the curves, so don't turn it into an understeering piggy with an engine that weighs hundreds more up front.