First non-Honda, new to the whole scene

Like the title says, this is my first non Honda I'll have ever owned, and I'm excited, but nervous.

I've wanted an OG JDM mini truck for years, and my buddy finally came through for me. I've owned every variant of the 92-95 civic chassis with rare JDM swaps, an RSX, and now a 2013 Si. Long story short, I'm a huge fan boy. I had a 94 civic coupe with an ultra rare 2001 Integra Type RX motor swap. I wound up selling the motor swap, and the shell just sat in front of the house for a couple of years until my buddy offered to trade his 87 B2000 for it. My Civic Si has just been in a pretty bad hit and run collision so now I NEED to get my mini truck up and running. (I was a JACKASS and declined rental AND uninsured motorist on my policy to save money...FML)

I've only ever seen the truck three times in person, since it's not running. It's currently sitting in my buddy's driveway. I bought a Weber 32/36 and a complete motor gasket kit to throw on just in case. I'm hoping that it has no major issues, since it DOES drive, but it leaks oil and smokes. My friend is supposed to have the motor torn apart, reassembled with the new gaskets, and have the carb installed by the time I get there this Saturday. We will have literally two days to trouble shoot the truck and make it a DD before I have to drive back to Houston from where the truck now sits, about 160 miles away.

He's an ASE certified mechanic, who has built countless motors for me in the past, so a simple carb'd Mazda should be stupid easy, Riiiiiiight? What do you guys think?


Also, I have a few nOOb questions. (sure i can use the search feature, but hell, I've already typed up a novel, so just humor me damnit. haha!)



#1) This truck has a third the power of my current car. Will the Weber make any difference? I've never dealt with carbs, so I have no idea what difference slapping one on will have. That being said, how fun are these things to drive? What can I expect coming from my super light, corner hugging go-carts?

#2) I've never driven a RWD car/truck. Can I have fun going under overpasses? Half the fun of my Si is turning traction control off and goosing it. Right when you think you should let off, the LSD works it's magic and pulls you out of the corner beautifully. I know, I know... That's not what I should expect... I want the opposite. I'm not expecting to become the "Drift King" or anything, but please tell me I can at least break traction or have a liiiiittle bit of tail happiness going on.

Now that I'm done with that... What's up guys?! How's it going?!

Yeah, that's right. Those are definitely 92-95 Civic sideskirts. (and EF lip i believe.)

First off, welome to the forum.

Secondly, you have about the most obnoxious avatar I have ever seen.

Third, the trucks develop 80 hp (2.0 liter) 86 hp (2.2 liter) under the best of stock circumstances and no carburetor is going to fix that. The FI versions get 93 /110. The wow factor just doesn't factor in. It's going to be hard to get it to oversteer using the throttle.

Unless it's raining.

My .02.

yea carbs are sloppy fuel delivery compared to fuel injection, dont expect alot of wow factors if your looking for a drift truck from a stock motor. im sure you can chirp the tires and perhaps get sideways if your trying hard enough and going fast enough. theres guys doing s2000 swaps and eclipse gsx turbo swaps in these or similar trucks. ive seen a few s2000 motors swapped in i know absolutly none of the specifics other then the drive line will need work wether that is new ends, lengthen or shortening im not sure. however im not sure how well the rear end will hold up to 200-300 hp. so you might have to price a rear end and have it shortened to specs required. any good air ride shop should be able to give you a price on it extensive etc etc.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

As for the avatar, I've used it on all of my car related forums since 2009. It'd be a shame to change it. I guess I could always opt for my old fall back:



I can't say it's any less inane.

Also, I'm planning on investing in a Pacesetter here shortly, although my cats are already hollowed out. I doubt the header/exhaust combo will net me anything more than a few WHP on the old butt-dyno.

We've been daydreaming about an JDM F20 swap, but honestly, the 5-7K it would cost for the swap and fab would go much further in my Si, where I could touch a healthy 400whp with an upgraded full race turbo kit and tune. (with A/C!)

I'd definitely consider a FE3 swap though. There are several just collecting dust in a nearby pick-n-pull.

maybe consider a b20 swap? think they were rear wheel drive but for sure they are torque monsters atleast for honda

Welcome to the scene! I have a driveway full of Honda's as well. A 2013 SI to a 87 B2000 is a big jump. The mazdawg will not have the response the Si has without an engine swap. There are a few guys on here that have done import motors with turbos. There are also many that have gone to american V6 & V8 engines.

Good luck with your truck!

These trucks can be a lot of fun. They can corner good when you have your suspension tweaked just right. I had one back in the day before I switched to Hondas. Then I missed my minitruck so I ended up getting one again.

Welcome! Im a huge honda fan myself

Hey guys! I recognize y'alls names from my few months of lurking the forums.

I'm definitely going to be doing a swap if I wind up keeping the truck more than a year, which it's looking like I just might. There have been so many times I've needed a truck to haul something that's JUST barely too big to fit in my cars. If i were to ever ditch the truck, I'd be for another older honda, but like I said, I think for practicality's sake, I might just keep the damn thing and rock it out.

I'm a CNC programmer for a shop here in Houston, with access to pretty much any machine tool you can think of. Mills, Lathes, EDMs, water jetting machines, ect. so fabbing parts for custom mounts, grills, bumper adapters, seat rails, tranny adapter plates, ect would be right up my alley, I just have very little mechanical expertise outside of my Hondas. I can machine you an entire truck, just don't ask me to reassemble it for you. There'd be hundreds of extra bolts left over. I need to make friends with someone who owns a speed shop or something. I could trade parts for a turn key motor swap. That's a BIG reason why I love my Honda's. They're like legos! Want to swap in a 220 whp 2006 ITR motor and tranny to replace your worn out 86hp 1.5L? Buy the kit and it's plug and play. With these trucks, you almost HAVE to know what you're doing. There is no drop in conversion worth while.

As far as the B20 option goes, that'd be GREAT if I could find a way to slap it together. They only came in either AWD or FWD in CRV's though, so I'd have to find a tranny to mate with it, since throwing the Honda drive train would be way to much hair pulling. If I could get it to work though... I could have a MONSTER B20-VTEC swap, after I swapped the internals for high comp guts, as well as a B16 head... A 260whp 2.0L all motor swap in a truck...

Game over!

F20 swap