1980 Honda Civic

Wagon Wagon

4 - Cyl.

Manual

WDA1029010

Gasoline

No Reserve! This is a very nice hot-rod Honda that has been constructed and maintained in a professional, tasteful and mature way. The car was built 17 years ago as a mild sleeper Street Prepared autocross car that does not compromise street-ability. The suspension is firm, but not harsh and not too low. It handles great, is very quick and fun to drive. The engine pulls strong and flawlessly to 6000 RPM, yet idles like a sewing machine at 900 RPM and gets great mileage. The entire car is very mechanically sound; I would not hesitate to jump in and drive across the country. Registered through December 2011. In addition to years of autocrossing, the car has seen a few open track time trial events at Willow Springs, Laguna Seca and Buttonwillow. All racing was done on the original Civic 1.5L engine. The 1.8L Accord engine in the car now has never been raced and has mostly ~8 years of freeway commuting miles. With 20% more power than the Civic, it still gets 30 mpg in town, 33 mpg highway. I get frequent compliments, people striking up conversations, and offers to buy the car. The car has been a daily driver for many years, so the body shows wear to be expected after 31 years. The car has never been hit, but there are some waves to the body from people leaning against it, paint chips, scratches, and hair-line cracks showing. Basically, the car looks quite good until you get closer than in the photos, and then you see that the car has been driven. The front seats are torn and the foam is blown out-- they need re-upholstered, or replaced with something sportier. The rear seat also needs re-upholstered. There is currently seat-covers on the front and rear seats but they are also worn out. The gray carpet is worn but in reasonably good shape. A nice shampoo would really fluff it up and bring it back. The dash and door panels are in good shape. There is only a 1" small hairline crack on the dash. Dash & door panels were originally a terrible red, and have been dyed with a black vinyl spray. Scratches over the years have caused red to show through in places and they need refinished (Black Vinyl dye included with the car). The headliner is dirty, but in good shape with only a few small holes. The battery is under the rear trunk floor, so the full size spare tire does not fit anymore. I carry a space-saver spare off a newer Honda in the trunk when going on long trips. The car has 385,000 miles on it, and except for the seats you would never know it. The 60 HP 1.5L Civic engine was still perfectly good but sold at 236,800 miles and replaced with an 80 HP 1.8L ’83 Accord EK1. These engines last forever, and I'd expect the 1.8L EK1 to go another 150,000 miles easy. Nearly every single mechanical bit of the entire car has been replaced over the 20 years I’ve owned it. This is one hot classic Honda! You will be surprised how well this car handles, and how quick and fun it is to drive! 3 SETS OF WHEELS & TIRES options - 1 set comes with the car, 2 as an extra option: The car comes with steel Accord rims (13 X 5.0”) with worn out Falken Ziex 185/60/13 tires. These tires are 1" shorter than the original 155/80/13 tires, so the gear ratio is nice and zippy around town, but it causes the speedometer to read fast. The car is shown with these wheels in photo #9, viewing the passenger side of the car. ADD $250 to the final price if you want 1989 Accord LX-I aluminum wheels (14 X 5.5”) with brand new BF Goodrich Comp TA Super-Sport 185/60/14 tires. These tires are the same height as the 155/80/13" originals, so it makes for better freeway gearing and an accurate speedometer. These lower than the original 80 series profile tires really handle great. The majority of photos here show these wheels. ADD $300 to the final price if you want: Custom made race wheels (13 X 7.0”) with old 215/50/13 BF Goodrich Comp TA R1 tires. Custom rims are made from OEM Accord steel wheel centers that were plasma cut from the skinny 5.0” outer sections, trued on a lathe, and re-welded into Diamond Racing wheel’s .095” lightweight spun 7” shells with safety beads. These tires clear all bodywork and turn lock-to-lock without rubbing. They make the car handle absolutely incredible, and the car has won a local D-Street Prepared autocross season championship using this setup. The BFGs are now too hard to be competitive but would be good for some fun-runs. Get new Kumho V710 Hankook Z214 or Hoosiers R6 tires to be truly competitive again. The first 4 track photos show these wheels and tires. ENGINE 1983 Accord 4-port 1800cc “EK1” Engine – 148,000 miles on rebuilt engine w/new Genuine Honda cam, rockers, oil pump, STD pistons, rings, exhaust valves, bearings, seals, clutch and pressure plate at the time of rebuild. Still looks very clean inside the valve cover! This is the most desirable 4-port "1751" head with all the exhaust valves toward the outside of the head for even heat distribution and a fully counterweighted crankshaft. The piston bores were sized to the loose end of Honda’s spec to eliminate the chance of hot tight pistons scuffing in the bore from hard driving. Be aware, this means you can hear harmless piston rattle on startup when the engine is cold. Oil changed every 3000 miles using Honda or Denso filters and Valvoline oil. Uses ~1 quart between oil changes. Valves just adjusted. Timing belt due in 6,000 miles Coolant changed every 30,000 miles using Honda OL999-9011 Blue coolant Lightened flywheel 1G Prelude large capacity radiator 1G OEM Prelude oil cooler with 2 stage Prelude oil pump OEM Honda (Sumitomo) plug wires Heater core replaced in 2001 with a new OEM Honda unit Canadian EK1 exhaust manifold (Canada EK1’s had no air-injection so it makes the Accord engine look like a Civic) port polished and JET Hot black ceramic coated Large diameter center section 1987 OEM Integra exhaust from the cat-back (bolts in up to rear axle!) 2” Stainless steel Genie Turbo muffler and hand built stainless axle back exhaust Lifetime warranty Kragen (CSK) alternator Not BAR certified, but the Accord engine looks just like the original 1.5Civic and always passes smog. Last California smog with 26 of 220 PPM allowed HC. / 0.0 of 2.0% allowed CO. Compression 150 / 152 / 150 / 148 psi 5 SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION Original Civic Wagon (desirable close ratio) transmission with 2.92 1st / 1.76 2nd / 1.18 3rd / .85 4th / .71 5th / 4.428 final drive. Rebuilt at 237,000 miles with Genuine Honda Synchros, bearings and seals. All rebuilt shift linkage, shifts great! Transmission oil changed every 30,000 miles with genuine Honda/Acura Manual Transmission lube SUSPENSION / BRAKES Custom wound heavy front springs – 200 lb/in rate Extra leaf spring added in the rear with 1 1/2" lowering blocks KYB front struts / heavy duty Rancho rear shocks Spherical bearing upper strut mount (nonadjustable caster/camber plates) Front control arms custom TIG weld fabricated with spherical bearing inner pivots (eliminates rubber pivots for razor sharp steering response) Custom front sub-frame ‘g-load’ brace connects lower control arm pickups for improved stiffness and steering response. Custom rear sway bar 1987 Integra large vented rotor front brakes, fresh rebuilt Acura calipers and new AXXIS brake pads Lifetime warranty Kragen (CSK) Brake booster Tight ball joints, tie rod ends, steering rack, and new rack boots (one installed, and the other still in a box). CHASSIS / BODY A California car since new – never been hit. Only a small amount of rust under the rain gutters (see last photo) The car was originally metallic silver, but was re-painted a blue tinted machinery grey (Ford Paint code FM 8123) in 1995 when the original clear coat started peeling. Body de-badged of all logos. Painted with all glass and interior out of the car, so all jambs, inside of doors, hood, interior metal, etc. match. Only the engine compartment is still silver. The car looks great from ~20 feet away, but get close, and you’ll see plenty of door dings, scratches and general body waves from people leaning on the car. Paint is still in reasonably good shape; keep it waxed up and it should last another 5 – 10 years….however if you are looking for a classic show Honda, it should definitely be stripped, long-boarded and re-done. Battery moved to under the rear trunk floor OEM Battery tray’s spot welds were cut out and the tray has been removed from the engine compartment. Vitaloni Tornado / EMPI Mini Sprint exterior mirrors INTERIOR 1987 Integra steering wheel Factory tachometer, cable, and cam-drive tach housing from Sport optioned Civic "S" Kenwood 2 way speakers with Neodymium magnets in the OEM dash location New black carpet in the trunk area EXTRAS Factory 1983 Honda Accord Service Manual and Owner’s Manual Factory 1980 Honda Civic Service Manual Clymer 1976-85 Accord & Prelude Shop Manual Spare Accord cylinder head Monroe 20722 Brand new softer rear shocks, never installed, but I bought them for a more comfortable street ride alternative to the Rancho shocks Spare carburetor, ignition coil, voltage regulator, electronic ignition module, radiator fan, and misc. smog parts Spare catalytic converter hollowed out with a straight thru pipe welded in place Spare under-dash fan blower, various interior and dash bits, and too many other spare parts to list PROBLEM AREAS Those that know these old Hondas know that the CVCC carburetors are finicky. This carburetor has never let me down, but it does start rough especially when the temperatures are cold. It takes a few minutes to warm up and smooth out. The fast idle does not come down on its’ own and requires a tap on the throttle pedal to kick it down. When it is cold, it takes a long time to come off fast idle.There is a slight lean surge only at light throttle at about 3000 RPM. The CVCC was super lean back when gas was just gas and I think it now does not like the leaner MTBE and now oxygenated, ethanol mixes in California. The problem goes away on Nevada and Utah gas. If you have a jet reamer, or a selection of larger jets, I think the spare carb could be easily tuned for modern CA gas. The KYB struts are under-damped for the 200 lb/in spring rate. I believe Koni made strut inserts for the early Hondas, and the car would feel much better with stiffer damping up front. The e-brake cable is broken. The radio’s LCD display is burned out so you can’t tell what radio station you’re listening to and the cassette player doesn’t work. The antenna was kinked from catching on a low hanging tree branch. I repaired it with an internal sleeve, but it now no-longer telescopes in. The rear window hot-wire defroster does not work There are two cracks on the passenger side of the windshield Most of the plastic trim insets for the front and rear window rubber are missing. The roof rail channel trim pieces are long gone, and the seam sealer and paint down in the channels is peeling. On hot days, the rear-view mirror does not hold its position and vibrates down until you are looking at the back seat. Some of the plastic is broken around the edges of the rear-view mirror California weather wiper system: Wipers are truly intermittent (needs a new relay?) and wiper blades are shot (I use Rain-X) There are some scratches on the driver’s side window where beach sand got into the felt scraper and scratched the window when it was rolled down. The left rear passenger's door seal has a missing section of rubber and needs replacement. Years ago, someone dropped a coffee mug off a 2nd story balcony on to the hood. There is a small dent that has touch up paint that is weathering into a different color. The climate control panel is for an A/C car, so the label is wrong for two positions: 1) Max AC = everything off. 2) Min AC = vent. The driver's side mirror blows out of alignment over 90 mph. It needs removed and the pivot needs tightened. Please e-mail with additional questions or requests for details. I have hundreds more pictures and can show you any detail you'd like to know about the car. I am located just north of Santa Barbara, and about 2 hours north of Los Angeles, CA. The car can be viewed / test driven by appointment. Enjoy!