WA 78 Civic CVCC for SALE

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E

Errin

New Member
I need to sell my baby... can't find a good mechanic hereabouts who cares enough to fix her right.

1978 Honda Civic CVCC 2 door Hatchback with a '79 Accord engine. Original interior, wheels, stickshift knob, etc. Comes with extra rear bumper (the current one is somewhat rusty, I've just never gotten around to putting the replacement on). Has some rust damage in wheel wells. Runs, but has some sort of fuel delivery issue (occasionally just dies, so not reliable freeway transport at this time). Original FM stereo/8 track player. Repainted in '00 to near original color (red). Tires are shot - has been sitting for a while. I am told it will need new rear brake drums soon.

I am the 2nd owner (technically 3rd). My parents bought me this car from the original owner, then transferred ownership to me. As mentioned, I can't find a good mechanic to figure out the issue and fix it for good, they always want to jerry-rig something - so I'm hoping to sell her to someone who will fix her up right and give her the love she deserves.

Location: Spokane County, WA
Price: $1100 per Gold Book Classic Guide "Fair" condition Gold Book Classic Cars
Pictures: N/A at the moment... can't find my #@*& camera-to-computer cord
You pick up/tow/haul.

SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY

errin@email.com
 
What's the problem with it EXACTLY? I would just to a weber conversion and drive it..

I've been working on these for almost 28yrs. PM me and maybe I can help ya with it..

Errol
 
Errol -

I'm inept at using lists, so couldn't figure out how to PM you.
Unfortunately, as much as I love my car, I only know some rudimentary basics about the mechanics of it.

The problem: At freeway speeds, it suddenly dies (acts as though it's not getting any fuel). Then won't restart for a while. This only needed to happen a few times in 70 mile an hour traffic to scare me enough to sideline it for repair. The fuel pump was replaced. The filters were replaced. The carburetor was rebuilt. But still the problem remained.

I've taken it to several shops, but there aren't really any good old Honda specialists in my area and nobody seems to be able to figure out why it sort of randomly dies. General consensus is that it's a carburetor issue. I've had the carburetor rebuilt twice now and it still has the problem. I've had the fuel filter relocated so that it can be changed easily (in case it was an issue of broken up tank varnish mucking up the carburetor). I had someone tell me that, because it now has a 79 Accord engine, it simply has the wrong carburetor - that person was supposed to get back to me with which carburetor it would need, but never did.

I'm just in a situation where I live in a place in which it's difficult to find parts and mechanics, and I just don't have the money to get it fixed right (ie. tow it to an area that does have good old Honda mechanics). Unfortunately, I'm a student, and don't have anywhere to store it for the future, or to work on it now.
I don't want to sell my car, but I'm not in a position to keep it anymore.

Thank you for your offer of assistance though. : )

- Errin
 
Working on the pics... have to find a loaner camera. Should have pics up by Thursday.
 
DOOOGH!! Look for the Fuel cutoff relay... It's under the dash like the newer main relays for the FI cars.
Gold anodized little box with a red plastic bottom where the plug goes in. It may be going bad.. Does it run fine for several min and then things start happening?
Pull a plug, is it wet with fuel? Pull the air cleaner lid off and lood down the carb (long thin screw driver or coathanger) open the butterfly (choke) stick a light in there and look for 'pooling' of gas. NO? Good If you smell gas strongly, look on the outside lower carb base.. Leaking/pooling gas? There is a vacume diaphram on some cvcc carbs that goes bad and it just SUCKS fuel right down and floods it after a few min of running.

Tell you what.. Just get into the forsale section and just add some 'bump' to every add that you like to burn up some posts.. Then click on my handle (name) and one of the directives is to "send 78civic a private messege" and fire away.. But if you still can't.. synlube4u@aol.com email me and I'll give ya my #. There are just too many things that could go wrong with those old 3-bbl carbs. From the 3 seleonoids to bad floats yadda yadda

E
 
this sounds like a very fun project car there is a guy in utah with a 79 that has a z6 turbo swap and its freakin sweet i would really like to see pictures of this caroh does it pass smog and saftey
 
I found one like that with only 60K on her. I changed from auto to manual and cleaned it up and sold it to a kid who drove all the way from Texas to Memphis buy it.. Never heard from him again. Man, that was a clean car. I just HATE red though on my personal cars.

If you have a hot battery, turn ign ON and unplug the big white (yeller by now) electrical connection down by the d/s headlight. You should hear the fuel pump clickin away if the Cut off relay is bad.
Another thing is that the early Hondas wrapped the coil wires around the tower under the rubber boot. Take off boot, untangle, clean any corrosion, Even down the towers main lead, spray with silicone/wd40, replace. Actually, check all wire ends for corrosion (green crap)
Carefully pop off the clips at distributor and check out the wires going in from side. Is the little square 'grommet' still intact? They tend to get brittle, crack, fall apart, leave wires to rub and short out on housing. (you could find a 82-83 EM civc electric dizzy and pop it in) Check rotor too. cracked? Run the contact area over with a file or even drag it on the concrete to shine it up, and chip off any corrosion from the terminals inside the cap and look for cracks leading from the contact points outward.
While we're on the dizzy, Is there tons of 'red dust' all over everything under the cap? If so, the bushings are going/gone. (replace dizzy)
It could be giving too much resistance to the coil and it's crappin out on ya.
If not, well good that's one thing out of the way. Check if the advance diaphram is moving..? SUCK it and see. If it doesn't hold, it will run but not that well other than an idle.
As you can see, there are T O N S of vacume lines around the carb. Check fro cracked ones and replace. If you mix up 3 or 4 on the back side down by the idle adjust, it will still run but not well. They seem to deteriorate faster since they're back by the heat the most. Do you have sight windows on the side of your carb? Your float level could be off. Pretty easy fix just as long as when you turn the adjuster, the O ring doesn't bind and tear causing a leak and a possible fire.
There are weber conversion kits still available to. But that gets more intailed to pull off correctly.
There are 3 seleonoids (?) on your carb. You can have the ign ON and one by one, unplug them to hear if they 'click' or not.

I'm sorry for rambling, MAN, this is bringing back nightmares..

Errol
 
I just sold the car to someone who wants to restore it. Thanks for the suggestions! I've passed them along to the new owner and told him about this site. : )

Errin
 
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