critical parts that Honda doesn't make any more

[w261w261]

Our cars have already faded from general use, and in the next few years the beaters will be given up and crushed. Consequently, Mother Honda will discontinue more and more parts. I bought the last bronze-tinted SE-i windscreen in North America 3 years ago, and I had to travel to Montreal to get it.

In the case of "classic" cars, what happens is the aftermarket steps in with reproductions. That ain't gonna happen to us, unfortunately. Most people think it slightly odd that I'm driving around in what they consider to be, at best, a moderately good-looking, somewhat quaint funny-fronted vestige of the 1980's. What do they know anyhow?

I noticed today that Majestic does not list the heater control valve, which is a fairly important piece. Maybe it's still available from China, probably is, but the time will come when all those parts will go away too.

So I'm wondering what parts we should stockpile now, before we can't get them any more. I've already got quite a few...headlight motors, sunroof motor, gauge module (with 82k!), headlight switch, etc. I don't have: window relay, ignition switch (but did get a new one about 4 years ago), what else?

[frantik]

theres still plenty of 3geez in jys around here.. can't get new parts but plenty of used around.

[ZackieDarko]

rear view mirrors

[mephi]

manual transmission internal shift linkage parts are no longer available. The are all pretty much stamped steal parts though, so they wouldn't be to hard to fabricate at home or fix wear with weld.

[MessyHonda]

i just buy more cars....i own 3...like frantik said i went to the junkyard and found what i was looking for in the first couple rows

[w261w261]

i just buy more cars....i own 3...like frantik said i went to the junkyard and found what i was looking for in the first couple rows

The junk yards are good right now, but when you start seeing the 3G's not on the streets, it won't be long before they'll be gone from the JY's too. Here is lower CT, 3G's are not a common sight anymore. I used to see them pretty well sprinkled around Bridgeport and Norwalk, fuggedabout the more upscale towns, but now even those places are thin.

My SE-i has bronze glass. I'm thinking maybe I should put up the side windows at least, because if some creep goes in through a window, I might have a problem getting that glass. But it's a lot to store, and only once in my life have I needed a side glass anyway. Indecision=no action.

[lostforawhile]

manual transmission internal shift linkage parts are no longer available. The are all pretty much stamped steal parts though, so they wouldn't be to hard to fabricate at home or fix wear with weld.mantrans down in Tallassee can get or make most of that stuff.

[lostforawhile]

rear view mirrors
do what i did,get rid of the annoying overhead mirror and get a universal glass stick on mirror. i still run across early eighties and even late seventies hondas in the yards, there are more of these out there then you think, the hatches have oddball parts you can't find, but the drive train and suspension parts swap in. i think with the poor economy a lot more people are going to hand on to their cars that are paid for and cheap to drive.

[w261w261]

[Warning - thread drift]

Speaking of rear view mirrors, years ago on the old Compuserve Automobile forum, a guy (that I now think was really a Troll) stated with great conviction how his driving had become more less stressful after he took off his rear view mirrors. He said he just didnt' worry about those behind him any more. He really got a bucket of responses, all saying what an idiot he was. But like I said, upon reflection, I think he was just trying to stir things up.

[Dr_Snooz]

I share your concern over the disappearance of parts. I don't have an answer but I'm emphasizing my maintenance. The very best fluids changed at the first sign of dirtiness and plenty lube on things that start squeaking or binding. Beyond that it's going to be all about my super keen redneck make do skills. I'll be making my own parts (which I don't really know how to do) and putting stuff together with wire and duct tape and hoping it holds together.

The distributor is on my mind. The mechanical advance gets a lot of wear and no one makes dizzie parts. My homemade rebuild didn't really work out so well, so I don't know what to do now.

The rear discs are on my mind too. I'm getting ready to swap them in, but they're so rare I know it won't be long before I can't buy pads or calipers for them.

[2oodoor]

outside door handles.. my pass side broke the other day for no apparant reason. Seems like some kind of impact it gets when you snap them back after releasing them maybe.
A lot of stuff can be retrofited from other HOndas, or just made from something else like Lost says. It depends on how original you want to keep the car.
It also makes me ill how many 2nd gen preludes are cut up for sport when they are getting harder and harder to find. I guess you coulD make an analogy of 55 chevy, and how many were destroyed for tv and sport, or 69 Chargers.. at least the chevys you can pretty much build from aftermarket totally now. Never will see that with a 80's HOnda Accord... sigh

[LX-incredible]

The distributor is on my mind. The mechanical advance gets a lot of wear and no one makes dizzie parts. My homemade rebuild didn't really work out so well, so I don't know what to do now.

The rear discs are on my mind too. I'm getting ready to swap them in, but they're so rare I know it won't be long before I can't buy pads or calipers for them.

You could always go obd1. :D

I'm pretty sure there's several other calipers that will bolt on there... and I remember 4 or 5 other cars listed on the box that the rear pads came in...

There's a lot of other stuff I worry about though.

[2ndGenGuy]

You guys don't know how good you have it.

[Civic Accord Honda]

rear view mirrors

fyi the 4th gen accord shares the same rear view mirrors and can be purchased from honda :D

[Civic Accord Honda]

You guys don't know how good you have it.

i was wondering when you and the other 1 and 2g guys were going to chime in here

[MessyHonda]

The junk yards are good right now, but when you start seeing the 3G's not on the streets, it won't be long before they'll be gone from the JY's too. Here is lower CT, 3G's are not a common sight anymore. I used to see them pretty well sprinkled around Bridgeport and Norwalk, fuggedabout the more upscale towns, but now even those places are thin.

My SE-i has bronze glass. I'm thinking maybe I should put up the side windows at least, because if some creep goes in through a window, I might have a problem getting that glass. But it's a lot to store, and only once in my life have I needed a side glass anyway. Indecision=no action.



i just took my car to the tint shop and got my front windshield tinted

[3gmodifier]

i too agree with the fact that we will need to stockpile certain parts. i mean just 2 years ago i couldnt find shit for my freinds 4th gen and i could count more than 25 3g's on any given day at any junkyard. now there is more 4th gens than 3rd's. the shift is happening. i also see alot more EG's/EK's, i have even seen a couple 6th/7th gen civic's and accords.

[markmdz89hatch]

I was just trolling around Majestic's site a few days back and realized I can't buy the exhaust valve springs anymore either.

As Tim pointed out, the Hatch-specific parts are getting more and more difficult to come by as well. (Yay for me.)

Snooz --> As for the rear disc, as LX-incredible mentioned, there are a number of other applications that use these same calipers (and therefore, pads). Rotors are pretty well supported in the aftermarket as well. Bearings too.

Dizzy's could become a pain in the ass to track down, as well as carb's for those that want to just get a cleanly rebuilt stock one. Hal, those Bronze glass's are gold (pun intended). That is one of the very reasons I'm now less intent on trying to find a good SE-i coupe for a DD, and instead leaning more toward a very clean LX-i coupe.

Oil pans could become scarce.
Certain seals could be very hard to find.
Upper front control arms, although plentiful now, could become difficult in the coming years too.

[lostforawhile]

I was just trolling around Majestic's site a few days back and realized I can't buy the exhaust valve springs anymore either.

As Tim pointed out, the Hatch-specific parts are getting more and more difficult to come by as well. (Yay for me.)

Snooz --> As for the rear disc, as LX-incredible mentioned, there are a number of other applications that use these same calipers (and therefore, pads). Rotors are pretty well supported in the aftermarket as well. Bearings too.

Dizzy's could become a pain in the ass to track down, as well as carb's for those that want to just get a cleanly rebuilt stock one. Hal, those Bronze glass's are gold (pun intended). That is one of the very reasons I'm now less intent on trying to find a good SE-i coupe for a DD, and instead leaning more toward a very clean LX-i coupe.

Oil pans could become scarce.
Certain seals could be very hard to find.
Upper front control arms, although plentiful now, could become difficult in the coming years too.
importcarbs.com usually has the stock carbs in stock,rebuilt,run and everything set, if he doesn't have one he can rebuild yours cheap. he's been in buisness since the 70's so that says something. best price on a carb rebuild you are going to get. If you need carb parts Marietta carburator specialists. they have been around forever too. they mail order. these companies stay in buisness because they do good work and they are established,the more places close,the more buisness they get. I have never bought a dealer carb part.

[w261w261]

Well, this is kinda interesting. Last week I ordered a shitload of suspension parts from Majestic, then ordered more stuff, because I noticed that the timing belt was at 65k. I forgot to order the cam cover and crank cover seals, so I went down to my local store and ordered them.

A week later, the local Honda dealer only has one of the seals in, and the $850 order from Majestic is MIA (I just sent them an email about the status). The smaller Majestic order with the timing belt, fuel filter, water pump etc did arrive in a couple of days.

To me, this means that the regional warehouse is not being kept up with 3G parts, and they have to go to (Marysville?), or other regional centers. The stuff I ordered I didn't think was that rare; UCAs, LCAs, suspension bushings, ball joints. Maybe things are being held up because just a couple of parts are missing, and they don't want to ship a partial order.

Not having a seal for a timing belt job however, is a little disquieting.

[lostforawhile]

Well, this is kinda interesting. Last week I ordered a shitload of suspension parts from Majestic, then ordered more stuff, because I noticed that the timing belt was at 65k. I forgot to order the cam cover and crank cover seals, so I went down to my local store and ordered them.

A week later, the local Honda dealer only has one of the seals in, and the $850 order from Majestic is MIA (I just sent them an email about the status). The smaller Majestic order with the timing belt, fuel filter, water pump etc did arrive in a couple of days.

To me, this means that the regional warehouse is not being kept up with 3G parts, and they have to go to (Marysville?), or other regional centers. The stuff I ordered I didn't think was that rare; UCAs, LCAs, suspension bushings, ball joints. Maybe things are being held up because just a couple of parts are missing, and they don't want to ship a partial order.

Not having a seal for a timing belt job however, is a little disquieting.
the seals for the timing belts are all available from Nappa, good quality parts, i order all my suspension stuff from Summit because it's moog and thats about the best you can get. it's not unusual to not get parts from the dealer like that when the aftermarket is carrying them. I know i ordered a key switch from Nappa,it was in a belken box,but the switch was in a bag marked with the honda logo. it was a factory part being sold by nappa, thats not that unusual eithier. every thing i ordered in the suspension was eithier moog from summit or it came from nappa,a lot of their stuff is also moog,or it's a high quality part. everything i got seems to have been of the higest quality. just not gold plated like the dealer stuff.

[w261w261]

I checked back with the Honda dealer today, and the cam cover gasket is discontinued.

[lostforawhile]

I checked back with the Honda dealer today, and the cam cover gasket is discontinued.
order it from majestic, you can get that seal almost anywhere

[Dr_Snooz]

I checked back with the Honda dealer today, and the cam cover gasket is discontinued.

That has to be wrong. I can see the obscure stuff like gears for the PS pump but probably 50% of the 3gs on the road right now need that seal. Are you sure the guy you spoke to wasn't just too lazy to find it for you? That sucks if it's right.

[markmdz89hatch]

That has to be wrong. I can see the obscure stuff like gears for the PS pump but probably 50% of the 3gs on the road right now need that seal. Are you sure the guy you spoke to wasn't just too lazy to find it for you? That sucks if it's right.

While I do agree with you, something like a v/c gasket is a standard maintenance item, and one which does not require some patented technologies (unlike head gaskets) as it's nothing more than a rubber or silicone gasket that's not expected to last a lifetime. FelPro and hundreds of other companies make these, and FelPro does so very well. idk, I'm perfectly OK with aftermarket for something like this. Honda may be in a similar boat. After all, there's not that many 3G owners that are going to go to a Honda dealership and pay to have a v/c gasket done at dealership prices.

[w261w261]

I checked back with the Honda dealer today, and the cam cover gasket is discontinued.

I did get it from another dealer, and I mentioned it only as a possible indication that Mother Honda is allowing some normal maintenance parts to fade away. Although I'm sure that several companies make these seals, my problem with the aftermarket in general is the variability of quality. It may be good one day, bad the next. At least with Honda, you know what you're getting, even if the price is high.

I couldn't say this about, say, Chrysler, btw. Even a factory part is probably no better that the aftermarket...hell, it probably IS the aftermarket.

[markmdz89hatch]

well ain't that a kick in the pants. it does suck to see that Honda is phasing out these parts. Damn Hal, your SE-i is getting itself more and more rare now that it's got one of the last stocked v/c gaskets, and you took the last damn bronze windshield in existence from all North American stock. ...soon you might have to retire your daily driver to a museum piece.

[lostforawhile]

if you want high quality aftermarket parts go with a known name, most gaskets on this car are made by fel pro, normal maintinence stuff that is sold after market is usually phased out by dealers, because they don't sell that much of it. thats any dealer. and just because a particular dealer doesn't have it doesn't mean it's not available. I even called the american honda customer service number and they helped me locate some parts for my 81. dealer said they couldn't get them,they located me a dealer who could.

[w261w261]

well ain't that a kick in the pants. it does suck to see that Honda is phasing out these parts. Damn Hal, your SE-i is getting itself more and more rare now that it's got one of the last stocked v/c gaskets, and you took the last damn bronze windshield in existence from all North American stock. ...soon you might have to retire your daily driver to a museum piece.

OTOH, I just ordered almost every rubber bushing in the rear suspension, and they all showed up, so that's good.