In search of a 1981 Honda Civic. My car’s body is full of rust but my engine is excellent so I want to locate a car into which I would drop my engine. I understand junk yards and used auto salvage places are inventoried on line. How do you suggest I find a 1981 Honda Civic body ?
Ebay. And luck.
Anybody with an '81 Civic with a good body would probably have taken pretty good care of the rest of it. I wish you luck, but yes . . . go to salvage yards and start looking. Rocketman
You may be looking a long time for a good used rolling chassis. Most have been recycled back into tuna fish cans and any chassis that has been sitting for a decade or so is likely going to need some work. (brake hdryaulics, rusted fuel tank/lines, etc.
Agreed with mountainbike; EBay and good luck.
Maybe it’d be better to put your engine on ebay and look for a newer vehicle?
I’d second eBay, or check craigslist including the “auto parts” section. If you’re in the northeast or upper midwest, you’ll have to drive a lot to find a good one.
It may be hard to find though-- Japanese cars of the late-70’s and early-80’s were characterized by very reliable engines, but really flimsy bodies that rusted out very quickly. There were a LOT of them that were junked in your same situation of a good running engine but a dangerously rusted body.
My brother went through the same thing with 1972 Datsun (now Nissan) pick-up truck. The body was flimsy and the frame eventually rusted through and broke. He temporarily fixed it with a 4 x 4 and couple of big C-clamps. He searched all over and eventually found another Datsun truck with a blown engine. He swapped his good engine into the second truck. However, the second truck developed the same problem in the frame, so he got rid of it. My point is this: is it really worth the effort? As someone else has said, these cars have weak bodies and you may not get that much service out of another Honda with your transplanted engine.