So, this whole thing kicked off kinda randomly. I had my trusty old Civic, you know, the dependable workhorse. But I always had this itch, this fascination with the power you feel in something like a GT-R. Obviously, worlds apart. One day, looking at the Civic, a crazy thought popped into my head. Could it be done? Could I mash these two worlds together?
Getting Started – The Teardown
First step was finding the heart. Scouring around, I managed to snag an engine from a rear-ended GT-R. Wasn’t cheap, but cheaper than the whole car, right? Then came the moment of truth with the Civic. Started stripping it down. Pulled out the old engine and transmission. That little D-series engine looked tiny once it was out. The engine bay looked huge and empty, but also intimidatingly small for what was supposed to go in.
This is where things got real. Getting that big lump of Nissan engineering into the Honda chassis was the first major headache. Nothing lined up. Absolutely nothing. Engine mounts? Had to fabricate custom ones from scratch. Spent ages measuring, cutting metal, welding, grinding, measuring again. It was messy, noisy work. My garage looked like a disaster zone for weeks.
The Grind – Making it Fit (Sort Of)
Once the engine was physically bolted in, which felt like a massive victory at the time, the real fun began. Or maybe the real pain, depends on the day.
- Wiring: Oh god, the wiring. Trying to get the Nissan ECU to talk to anything remotely Honda, or just to work at all in this new body, was a nightmare. Hours spent staring at wiring diagrams that might as well have been spaghetti. Lots of trial and error. Definitely fried a sensor or two learning the hard way.
- Transmission & Drivetrain: Making the transmission fit, figuring out the driveshaft situation… more custom fabrication. Had to cut the tunnel, reinforce things. It felt like I was performing major surgery on the poor car.
- Plumbing: Coolant lines, fuel lines, intercooler piping. Everything had to be custom routed and made. Lots of bending, flaring, and hoping nothing leaked.
There were days I just wanted to walk away. Staring at this half-finished monster, wires everywhere, parts scattered. Thinking, “What have I done?”. It wasn’t just plug-and-play, not even close. It was brute force and guesswork half the time.
Turning a Corner
Slowly, piece by piece, it started looking less like a pile of parts and more like… something. Got the cooling system hooked up. Fuel system sorted. Managed to get the basic wiring connected so the engine would at least crank. That first time it sputtered and tried to catch, even though it ran rough as hell, that was a good moment. Felt like maybe, just maybe, this crazy idea wasn’t totally impossible.
Had to build a custom exhaust, obviously. Nothing off the shelf was going to work. More welding, more making things fit where they weren’t supposed to.
Where It’s At Now
So, after countless weekends and late nights, it actually moves under its own power. It’s loud, it’s raw, and honestly, it’s still a bit terrifying. It’s not exactly refined. Needs a proper tune, the suspension needs a complete rethink to handle the weight and power difference. It vibrates, things rattle. Is it a finished project? Not by a long shot.
But did I manage to get that GT-R heart beating inside the Civic? Yeah, I did. It was way harder, took way longer, and cost way more than I ever imagined when that first crazy thought popped into my head. It’s a constant work in progress, probably always will be. But driving it, even just around the block, feels like a weird kind of accomplishment.
