Mark 1 Four Door powered by Honda VTEC motor.

[914turboford]

I made some progress over the weekend.

[914turboford]

[srgtlord]

Just curious about the ultimate goal of this project... From what I can see you  are swapping one econo car  motor for another.....  Is this more of a "Im doing this because I can" build or is there some sort of perceived gain that Im missing? Would'nt it have been easier to drop in a more powerful vw motor?

[ORCoaster]

Gotta wonder about the swap myself.   My son has that VTEC motor in his 94 Honda.  The car is built special light from the wheels to the frame and all places inbetween for it to be light.  So are you really getting to a better place with this. 

My sons just rebuilt the motor after 300K and he is back to his 48-50 mpg on the highway.  His car rides much better than my 81 that is for sure.  I am not convinced the VTEC in the front is a good swap.  What was the motivation here?

[914turboford]

I hesitate to cast dispersions on VW stuff but it seems to me that you can't get the power vs. economy from any VW motor that competes with the Honda. It sounds like your son has the Civic VX with it's D15Z1 motor. This is the economy vtec which does indeed return 45-50 mpg highway while making 92 hp. I guess an early TDI would do that. I did run 6 psi of boos on one of those in my AWD civic.


With this car I'm using the D16Z6, which is 125 hp and gets 37 mpg highway. I don't think there are any VW gas motors that would do that. I plan on running a turbo on it later. Another motivation, with the whole front clip replacement was to have decent AC. I don't think it is practical to make a Mark 1's AC system work well any more. Granted, I could have done a front clip from a later VW. I kind of like the 1.8T's (but again, I don't think they get very good mpg) but the track from those cars is quite a bit wider. Also I'm not a fan of the VW shift linkage, although I'm not sure if it got better by MK3 or 4.

So in summary I love the look of Mark 1 Rabbits and I love Honda D series motors so I combined the two. I do realize it's not for everyone and thanks for being restrained with your replies!

[914turboford]

Here is the AWD civic. I built it in 03 and put 190K miles on it. Just sold it 3 months ago. 


And, here's a MB turbodiesel wagon I converted to 4x4, just for good measure

[libbydiesel]

With this car I'm using the D16Z6, which is 125 hp and gets 37 mpg highway.

A mildly tuned TDI would give higher peak HP, MUCH better fuel economy nad WAAAYYYY more torque through 4500 rpms.

[VW Smokr]

With this car I'm using the D16Z6, which is 125 hp and gets 37 mpg highway.

A mildly tuned TDI would give higher peak HP, MUCH better fuel economy and WAAAYYYY more torque through 4500 rpms.

Agreed! But then it's your wheelz, so... whatever smokes your shorts. Go for it.

The VW tech / creative guy who sold me my first VW Dasher diesel was ready to stuff in a Ford 351W V8! He'd already measured it for fit & was going to make his own trans adapter.

3 cheers for independent thought & action!

J.R.
SoCal

[thegimpster]

I dig it. Its not my thing, but I get it. I'm working on putting together an om617 powered e30 for about the same reason.

[ropadopa]

why not

[TylerDurden]

3 cheers for independent thought & action!

+1

Props on the skillz.   

[914turboford]

[914turboford]

[914turboford]

 I got the front valence and grille mounted yesterday. The hood also latches. I got the bumper mounted as well, not shown in the pictures. I had to cut all of the inner reinforcement out of the valence, but I did mount it in 7 places to the structure I built to house the radiator/AC. I did have to move the Honda Radiator/ AC back about an inch and make my own core support.

[RabbitJockey]

needs a mk3 rear beam under the back to make the wheels even ;^P