JeremyR
10-31-2008, 01:50 PM
I don't talk a lot on here, but I have been slowly transforming my `87 LX-i (a while back I installed a cold air intake). This past week I continued in the performance-enhancement vein by installing a Pacesetter header. I also got a wild hair to replace the broken power antenna with a new one.
I'm not sure which job was more work! Fortunately, most of the exhaust system nuts and bolts had very little rust (the header bolts were particularly clean), so they came off with little more than an application of PB Blaster. But the nuts fastening the exhaust pipe (is it the downpipe?) to the cat had a good layer of rust caked on. I thought I was going to have to cut them off, but then I got the idea to grind the rust off the flats (the ones I could reach, anyway). This allowed me to get the proper-sized (12mm) wrench on the nuts, and they came off with just a little coaxing with a hammer. I was able to install the new exhaust plumbing more or less without incident.
I have no way of measuring the performance gains, but the car "feels" faster. There seems to be a bit of a resonance or similar effect around 1800~1900 RPM and again at around ~3600-3800. (Since one of these is exactly double the other, I'm chalking it up to resonance, anyway.) It's difficult to characterize since it happens only under acceleration/load and only happens for a split second--but always in the same part of the rev range. Maybe it will go away when I get the rest of the exhaust system replaced.
Then there was the power antenna. Apparently Honda thought these things would never break, or they wouldn't have made them so difficult to get to! As others have warned, the motor is way up underneath the dash, with various things in the way that didn't have to be where Honda put them. And the original antenna wire inexplicably snakes up into the dash somewhere and eventually comes back down to plug into the radio. Consequently there's no way to remove it; I ended up cutting it off at both ends and left the inaccessible piece in there.
I almost gave up several times; after all, the antenna would have worked fine had I left it disconnected from the motor. But I persisted and eventually prevailed--the new antenna works almost perfectly. I say almost because it doesn't retract fully; it stops at about six inches of extension. I suspect there's still a piece of the previous drive cable left in the motor (I say this because when I pulled the old, broken drive cable out, it didn't have the ball on the end of it). To get that out would likely require pulling the motor out--and I am not going there!
Any suggestions what to do next? I'd eventually like to do the following...
shocks (revalved Bilsteins) and springs (1" lowering)
exhaust system--high-flow cat and muffler
upgraded wheels--15" or maybe 16"
Cheers,
Jeremy
I'm not sure which job was more work! Fortunately, most of the exhaust system nuts and bolts had very little rust (the header bolts were particularly clean), so they came off with little more than an application of PB Blaster. But the nuts fastening the exhaust pipe (is it the downpipe?) to the cat had a good layer of rust caked on. I thought I was going to have to cut them off, but then I got the idea to grind the rust off the flats (the ones I could reach, anyway). This allowed me to get the proper-sized (12mm) wrench on the nuts, and they came off with just a little coaxing with a hammer. I was able to install the new exhaust plumbing more or less without incident.
I have no way of measuring the performance gains, but the car "feels" faster. There seems to be a bit of a resonance or similar effect around 1800~1900 RPM and again at around ~3600-3800. (Since one of these is exactly double the other, I'm chalking it up to resonance, anyway.) It's difficult to characterize since it happens only under acceleration/load and only happens for a split second--but always in the same part of the rev range. Maybe it will go away when I get the rest of the exhaust system replaced.
Then there was the power antenna. Apparently Honda thought these things would never break, or they wouldn't have made them so difficult to get to! As others have warned, the motor is way up underneath the dash, with various things in the way that didn't have to be where Honda put them. And the original antenna wire inexplicably snakes up into the dash somewhere and eventually comes back down to plug into the radio. Consequently there's no way to remove it; I ended up cutting it off at both ends and left the inaccessible piece in there.
I almost gave up several times; after all, the antenna would have worked fine had I left it disconnected from the motor. But I persisted and eventually prevailed--the new antenna works almost perfectly. I say almost because it doesn't retract fully; it stops at about six inches of extension. I suspect there's still a piece of the previous drive cable left in the motor (I say this because when I pulled the old, broken drive cable out, it didn't have the ball on the end of it). To get that out would likely require pulling the motor out--and I am not going there!
Any suggestions what to do next? I'd eventually like to do the following...
shocks (revalved Bilsteins) and springs (1" lowering)
exhaust system--high-flow cat and muffler
upgraded wheels--15" or maybe 16"
Cheers,
Jeremy