Starting new Del Sol project

We may earn a small commission from affiliate links and paid advertisements. Terms

delsoul

honda hooker
Whats up, Im the new guy here..

I recently bought a wrecked 98 civic hatchback from a guy, who also has a 97 Del Sol that needed some minor work. I ended up getting the Civic for $500, and my repairing a few things on the Del Sol. As it turned out, the Del Sol was not what I was expecting to see.. it was completly modified front to rear. I fell in love with this thing, and have decided to build one for myself.

So Im starting a new Del Sol project. I located a 95 SI in the area at a decent price (asking $2200.00). Im fairly sure I will buy it this weekend. This is all new to me, as I have been a muscle car guy at heart all my life (Camaro, Firebird, Corvette)

After repairing the clutch on the guys Del Sol (Slave cylinder was shot, and hydraulic lines were sucking in water/debris, not to mention the massive abuse it took from slamming the clutch pedal all the time), I took the thing for a drive.... :eek:

I have never experienced anything like it in my life. So, here I am.

My question to start off with is, What motor would you guys go with? The one I am looking at has the original SI motor.. 1.6 liter.. Im not sure yet on the exact model engine. At this point I am looking into some VTEC options. Feedback?

Here are some pics of the guys Del Sol, and the Civic I got from him. (the rims on the civic are temp. and make it look even worse)

Index of /img

Thanks, and yes.. Im fairly ignorant to honda engines right now, but I am reading more and more on them every day.. Im HOOKED!
 
:wave:

Welcome to HondaSwap!

The guy's 97 del Sol looks like it needs a LOT of work. The car needs to be lowered, the engine bay could use some help (cheap parts), the wing is all wrong, and he has a ton of cash in the stereo system.

Whatever you do, please be more conservative with visual mods on your Sol when you get it. :)

The USDM del Sol Si came with the D16Z6 SOHC VTEC engine. Stock it put out 125hp and 106lbft (not 100% sure on torque, look it up in the reference section) to the crank. If you're looking for good cheap power on a budget, you can turbocharge the stock block and get 200whp or more reliably. If you want to go with a larger engine, you have the world open to you- B series (Integra sourced) is the most common swap, and you can easily go with the H22 from the Prelude or the K20/K24 from the current cars if you want to spend some serious cash.

Good luck, read up, ask questions. :)
 
Thanks Calesta, and yes.. that Del Sol needs a lot of work. It would be a good car to strip back down to nutz and boltz, and rebuild. It actually doesnt need lowered, it has air bag suspension, wich in the images is raised all the way. When air is relieved, you almost can not put your hand flat under the car.

Im not certain if I should hold out and locate a VTEC model.. but I want to at least look at this one first.

Conversion wise, money is not really an issue.. even if cost is high, I will just take a little more time to gather the needed parts. I would like something that will not take a huge amount of fabrication, but still not something thats already been done by millions of builders. I can fabricate most anything, metal work is nothing for me. Ive been in the autobody tech. industry for years. I can cut and weld with the best of them ;)

At the same time, I would like the preformance to be fairly even from low to top end, and reliable. I suppose something within the DOHC VTEC is my best bet.

I am also learning that the weight of these things are a bit on the heavy side *coughs* so, I am going to see what can be done to lighten it up.

Sorry if anything mentioned here is redundant, but I have scanned the forum threads.. but really, I am after opinions of what others would do, not what I should do. :) so, anyone know where to start removing weight as well?
 
Don't wait for a VTEC model. They're relatively hard to find, expensive, and not really worth the cash if you're going to swap out the engine anyway. The Sol VTEC comes with the B16A2 which is nice, but it's the smallest out of all the B series engines. You can rev the piss out of it and it has a wonderfully flat torque curve all the way to redline, but that curve isn't amazing in the least.

If you're willing to swap and money isn't really an issue, just keep the Si model and drop in a K series engine. Swap mounts are available for pretty much every Honda 4 banger on the market for that engine bay, so you'll have more or less a bolt-in installation no matter what engine you choose. You will have to finesse the engine bay some, but that should be easy if you've been in bodywork for a while.

The K20A2 engines (RSX-S) can make almost 300whp to the ground all motor on the stock bottom end, and even more if you build in the 2.4L bottom from the TSX and CR-V. Add boost and you can make upwards of 500-600whp on the stock bottom end with good tuning.

As for weight reduction, strip out all the sound insulation. That will save you about 40 pounds. Toss the carpet, rip out the interior panels, remove the power rear windshield assembly (I wouldn't though, it's nice) and toss in a piece of Lexan. You can save significant weight on the exhaust system if you're willing to pay for a titanium cat-back.
 
If that is the del sol you are getting in the pics then don't change out the motor just take the crappy painting off. It already has a Dohc in it as well as pretty sure Vtec from the pics. That motor in that sol should put out at least 160 HP depending on what motor was dropped in it. I can tell you if that is not the DOHC model then it has had a B series motor dropped in it.
 
Right,

Calesta, you mentioned the wing on that blue Del Sol was all wrong. Can you explain a bit about how you mean that? I thought it looked pretty tight.. hmm

The Del Sol I found had sold already, so the search is still going.. while still concidering other options too, like maybe newer prelude even. *shrugs* I suppose I better find the right Del Sol fast!
 
I can't see the pictures in your link anymore....

It just looked like the wing was some huge gaudy AutoZone special with a completely wrong angle of attack on it- more like it was there for looks and not function. You can put a wing on a del Sol that's much more functional and doesn't look quite so loud. If that type of style is your thing, then you can still find good wings that work and look like that- but for the most part- you're not going to need that kind of downforce until you're moving VERY fast or you're on a road course.
 
Back
Top