So I was thinking....

"Frosted" (frostedbuns)
09/23/2014 at 14:46 • Filed to: None

...at about 1am this morning, I had an idea. It might be a terrible idea though. I want a car with manual transmission. Something dirt cheap so I can learn to drive it. A Civic from the 80s/90s comes to mind. It seems easy to get decent power gains out of a 4 banger too. My thought: buy cheap ass Civic. Dump money into engine upgrades, make at least 200 horses, swap engine/trans from Civic to Cube.

Thoughts? Plausible? Insane?

I would love to get some power from my Cube but the MR18 is still fairly new and not a lot of companies seemed to be making parts for it.

DISCUSSION (19)

mcseanerson > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 14:50

Don't buy an 80's Civic to be cheap. Cheap Civics are worn out by ricers. Anything decent is over 2k for no good reason. Buy an 80's Sentra if you want a cheap japanese car. If you want a cheap nothingmobile to learn stick on buy a 90's cavalier. People are practically giving them away.

Frosted > mcseanerson
09/23/2014 at 14:53

An old Sentra could be fun. Pretty sure there's a reason people are giving away Cavaliers though.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 14:57

It wasn't too crazy until you said swap civic drivetrain into the cube.

miadaman? yes please > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 14:57

Step 1. buy a $500 rust bucket
Step 2. spend $1k on engine upgrades
Step 3: spend another $1k on transplant
Step 4: spend $2k on engine rebuild because previously noted turbo upgrade blew a head.
Step 5: ???
Step 6: what?

Where have all the lightweights gone? > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 14:57

Anything from 95 on is a cockroach. For some reason, they refuse to die!

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 14:59

They are, however, capable of taking a lot of abuse. And if you're spending less than $1000 on a car, there's no reason not to get something you don't care about. Also consider Saturn. The twin cam cars can take boost pretty well and they've got a hydraulic clutch so they're forgiving.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 15:00

unless your an idiot your not going to destroy your car if your a first time shifter

handsoff > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 15:02

Trade for a manual Cube. Then you HAVE to learn to drive manual, and it'll be reliable. And warrantied. And not some Honda/Civic mashup

Steve in Manhattan > mcseanerson
09/23/2014 at 15:02

Tested a Sentra SE-R way back when (bought a CRX Si) but the Sentra felt pretty good. Possibly pick one of those up cheap.

Frosted > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection
09/23/2014 at 15:03

I've always had a thing for Saturns, especially the L series. Dunno if the L series wagon came with a manual, but if so that'll probably be what I hunt for now.

Frosted > handsoff
09/23/2014 at 15:05

I've had my eyes out for a manual Cube in the SL trim with similar options to what I have now. Nothing anywhere near me. Most Cubes sold seemed to be base models with CVTs.

Frosted > OPPOsaurus WRX
09/23/2014 at 15:06

Perhaps I should stick to my original plan and just buy a z31 300ZX with a manual in that case.

RazoE > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 15:07

Check your state laws regarding engine swaps. Your car is too new to chop up with a 25+ year old engine/transmission.

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 15:12

If the L wagon came with a manual, it was an L200 or LW1 (depending on whether it was a 2000 or 01-04)

It's also powered by the 2.2 ecotec, which can be built to ridiculous levels of power - as evidenced by the FWD Drag Cobalts...

pauljones > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 15:22

Unless you already have extensive experience doing custom engine swaps, don't even go near trying to swap an engine, especially from a 30-year-old Honda into a near-new Nissan. Swapping engines between two identical cars is enough of a pain in the ass.

If your goal is to learn to drive a manual, I'd go with Doug DeMuro's suggestion - buy a shitty little Cavalier, Sunfire, or Saturn SL to start on. They may be shitty and they may drive like shit, but as my father once put it, "German cars will drive better than any other car. Japanese cars will run better longer than any other car. American cars will run like shit longer than any other car will run at all."

And that's exactly what you want in car you're going to learn on.

As for tuning the car... put that on the back burner. Learn to drive a shitty manual and get the most out of it and any other car as-is before you start trying to tune cars for more power.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 15:26

YEP

Mathias Rios > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 15:47

why

Frosted > Mathias Rios
09/23/2014 at 15:51

Science.

jkm7680 > Frosted
09/23/2014 at 16:34

There is a very low percentage that you're going to find a clean Civic with manual transmission for cheap. Especially one of the earlier models.

Ricers will have killed them by now. Oh, and don't dump money into ricing out an early Civic.