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Although the donor 2001 Civic EX was purchased late February 2006, the frame sparks started flying Thanksgiving when my son was home from school. The car is intended to be my practice Ar-i-el At-om clone (tribute?). (I'll stop practicing with my third or fourth try.) It only has 127 HP (flywheel) from the D17A2 engine but if it comes in at the target 1000 lbs., it should go pretty good.

Projected budget is about $6000, which for me is high-cost. I don't have a web page, so I will post updates here if you don't mind. It's not a Se7en, but embodies the same spirit. If I get time to work on it, the build could be completed next year around this time.

Wow, lots of people planning or starting MR builds lately. Should be cool seeing some of these come together.

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If you can't buy it, build it.

I can't wait to see more. I would assume there is gonna be lots of cool custom hammered aluminum? Now that we know what your capable of our expectations are high!

Looks good! I can't wait to see more.



I hope that Civic wasn't hauling a passenger.

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

This is going to be one of my favourite threads, I'm already hooked.

Looking forward to following along John, particularily as my next project will have a lot in common!

-Steve

looks sweet, good luck with it! I'm hooked!

Cool project! I plan a similar build which is how I ended up here. I'm looking at using a wrecked late-90's contour with the 170hp duratec dohc v6 and 5 spd or a Lumina Z34 with the dohc 3.4L and 5spd if I find one. Did you purchase your car online?

I will use two front ends. I will mill the inboard end of the outer cv off just past the dust seal. A strip of .125"x 4"x 3' steel drilled to accept two lugs and ground to clear the concentric ring will be used to remove/install the hub nut. It works a lot better than just using the weight of the vehicle on the tire.

I am suprised you are not using the rubber engine mounts or atleast some kind of isolation. Since I plan to use the donor's full track and enclose the wheels, I expect to use a fiero fuel tank between the seats along with the shift cables.

Cyberdyne has a digital electronic speedo for $130 that works with any speed sensor, has a built-in tach, odo, has push button speed calibration as well as 0-60, qtr time, and max rpm logging. They come in blue, red, and green from Jegs. The brightness is reduced for night driving.

Spent last 10 days finalizing brake and suspension design. Will be making new front and rear uprights instead of trying to modify the donor pieces. That will save weight and improve looks. I will essentially copy the Brammo design as seen on the Leno car build photos. That version is improved from earlier photos I have seen (maybe Ar-i-el version).

Will use donor front rotors. Donor had rear drums, so will use 91 CRX rotors and in lieu of buying new Honda calipers with integral emerg brake for $160 ea, will buy Wilwood 2-piston Dynalite calipers and mechanical spot brakes for e brakes. I could use the donor front calipers, but they are 12 lbs ea and don't match the Wilwood rears, so will use Wilwood forged, 4 piston Dynalite fronts. That will make the donor brake pedal look out-of-place, so, you guessed it, I will need to use Wilwood pedal system with dual master cylinders and balance bar with remote adjuster. Thanks, Santa. (All included in $6000 build budget)

Ordered 16+ 1/2" diameter, high strength rod ends for all upper wishbones and rear, lower outers. Will use bushings for all lower wishbone frame pickups, and Moog ball joints for front, lower, outers.

Regarding recent comments:

Yes, all panels will be unpainted aluminum, including seat pan and what little body panels are used on the car.

There was, luckily, no evidence of either a passenger or driver left behind in the donor car. Dismantling would have been a greater challenge if I had to remove feet before I could remove pedals.

I found the donor by chance when I went to salvage yard looking for a tail light for my van. $800 dollars for car with 29,000 miles, good air bags, undamaged power steering pump, ABS unit, AC compressor, steering rack, brake MC and booster. Coolant and oil still in engine. I had to buy a shifter base on Ebay.

The motor mounts have plastic (of unknown species) bushings. The original mounts would probably not fit the frame and they are heavy. I will save 12 to 15 pounds by tossing them and making custom pieces. I don't need no stinking isolation, harmonic-cancelling mounts. I have other cars that are quiet and vibration free. This will be designed with maximizing NVH as design criteria.

I'll use the donor gauge panel mounted in center of dash. Will put ignition switch in dash and may mount Honda light and turn indicator controls near dash, removed from wheel.

More photos:

About the At-om....

as found at.......
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=467
(please be forgiving of any Faux paus I may have typed in this thread)

JonW Thank you for sharring. YOU are AWESOME!!!! My hat's off to you in a HUGE way. I look forward to any progress you make on this and love every picture you post.

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I'll keep an eye out for you!

To err is human...
I am more human than most.

Just a basic question about adapting an FR drivetrain for MR. What do the shifter cables pull on? Are there levers like on a motorcycle transmission? Also, if you were to need longer cables, what would you use? Thanks

-Tim

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If you can't buy it, build it.

The Honda shift mechanism is simple and elegant. Move shifter right or left and the vertical lever at the trans lifts or depresses the shaft. Move the front or back and the horizontal lever engages 1-5. An extra hard push to the right moves the vertical lever some more so reverse can be engaged.

The least time-consuming way, IMO, to move the shifter to mid position in front of engine would be to lengthen the cable and wrap around the engine to stilll approach from the rear. The extra long cable may induce too much friction. I think I will extend the length with rods until I reach the engine where I will transition to the cable.

If I later don't want to clutter the engine by wrapping the cables around the left side of the engine, I will approach the trans from the front, right side. This will require new cable anchors and maybe some motor mount mods. This would result in having the cables leave the shift lever from the back to reverse shifter action to match the reversed trans action. This would be the elegant solution; shortest length, least clutter, best feel, but require some re-engineering.

I will think on this until later in the build. Something will come to me (like copying someone else's design).
At this point I have not yet discovered how this is done on other mid cars, eg. MR2 and Elise.

My idea is that, since the cable will be pulled in the opposite direction by the shifter, to have the cable act on the opposite side of the lever as well. Pretty much, if in standard form, the cable goes to the right, attach it to the left. Maybe even fabricate a new bracket that would bolt into existing holes on the transmission to hold the cable/rods.

_________________
If you can't buy it, build it.

Made some progress today on rear uprights. Fabbed both uprights out of 3 1/2" dia pipe and 3/16" plate. Will add 1/8" cover plates on inside of uprights tomorrow for stiffening. Should save 2 to 3 pounds per side. It's hard to compare to the original strut versions.

These uprights are very similar to the new Brammo versions as seen in the Leno build photos on their site. Brake mounting will be simpler, however.

Will make lower wishbones tomorrow. Waiting for my AA-Mfg stuff to arrive. It was only shipped today, not 12-21 like I thought. Lower arms will be 1" dia x .120" DOM. Uppers will be 1' dia x 0.065" DOM.

Lacking weld-on brackets and rod ends, I may have to start the front suspension box and front uprights next.

It' good to see progress after so much studying, etc. I have 6 more days of vacation to work on the car.

That's really awesome work, Jon! You're a real inspiration!