87 DX Sedan Project Log

Oh my God, guys I'm aching to drive this car again. At the time of writing this she is down with a broken clutch fork (presumably). I have so much planned for it and its been put on the back burner because I don't have the time to pull the engine right now.
https://i.imgur.com/roDfkZY.jpg

Here she is right now. I am only the second owner and despite having a little quarter rust and the front end being a little tweaked from a deer, it is a very nice car. 120k miles and a very healthy engine. I gave it a tune up and deleted all of the vacuum lines and I have to say its almost fast. I have a ton of parts for it that will be installed when I tear into it.

Right now it has
-Msd ignition coil
-Full vacuum delete
-Cat delete
-Wideband sensor
-Rebiult brakes. Metallic pads, new master, booster delete. Looking to do the lines later and add a wilwood proportioning valve
-Solid dogbone bushing
-Choke delete

Parts I'm waiting to install on it
-Exedy stock clutch
-Flywheel
-the damn shifter seal. I'm almost glad I broke my clutch
-Shifter birdcage bushing and poly shifter bushings
-Poly front engine mount
-Catch can

I'm probably forgetting some of the things I have/installed, but I have a few big plans for it
First, as soon as I need tires I'm installing 15x7" Diamond racing Pro Street wheel with presumably 195/50r15s and fender flares.
Second, I have these babies.
https://i.imgur.com/9097oyJ.jpg
Its been too long since I've played with them to remember what size they are, but I do have adjustable needles for them and they should really let me tune this car good. They are ready unless I'm forgetting to buy an accel pump diaphragm. once I've set the floats on them though all I need to do is make a manifold and put it on.
I have two turbos lying around. A Toyota ct26 thats prooooobably too big, and a built Garret t25 with an oversized t28 wheel on it and Saab housings. I built that when I was a youngun and I'm a tad scared of it, I have no idea what it will do, its so small, but I don't know how to give it a test run before I try to put it in a car. I don't know how those bike carbs will behave under boost, but I'm not above building a header for it. I will probably put a return style fuel system in it when I change carbs unless I happen to get a manifold built while I'm doing the clutch. I will put a walbro in it and a boost reference fuel pressure reg in it and that should be way overbuilt for any boost the stock engine will handle. Head studs are in its future as well.
Also, I plan on making a cruise and speedo controller with and arduino... this is a precautionary plan for when the speedo cable inevitably breaks and breaks my heart along with it, also the cruise only works if you steer with your feet and balance a glass of water on your head. I should be able to use the handy wheel speed sensor used for the cruise control :)

I really hope I get some work done to it soon. I'm going to do a timing belt and clean the cylinders out when I have it apart. I'd say its biggest and most confusing problem right now (besides the clutch) is that it diesels when its hot, but I never thought it could be carbon.
More pictures will come later, maybe after I figure out how to straighten the hood gap or I have to whole drivetrain strung across my garage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShiRen

I should be able to use the handy wheel speed sensor used for the cruise control :)

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Well I have some bad news for you. There is no wheel speed sensor. The speed is measured off a magnetic pulser in the speedo gauge. Sadly, then the cable brakes, the speed pulser will too...

Anyway, it sounds like a fun project. Do keep us posted on all your adventures.

Can attest. had my speed cable break 3 days after I got it running again. Odometer is tied into it as well so I dont even know what my actual mileage is now =P

Is that right? I know you have to turn the driver side wheel and yeah its just a weak magnetic pulse you can measure off the cruise control plug. I thought it was on the wheel, but if its driven off the speedo cable I might have to put a trigger wheel on the cv axle, which isnt a big deal.

The only thing I use my odometer for is my oil changes, other than that I dont think I want to know! lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShiRen

I might have to put a trigger wheel on the cv axle, which isnt a big deal.

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Take pics and do a how-to for us, please.

You can always use your smartphone to find out your speed.

Biggest thing I need to find out is what the control module sends to the cruise motor. I dont exactly have a reliable module and I cant think of a good way to check besides jacking the front of my car up, starting it in 5th, and pray it sets speed long enough I can check it. Ive only gotten the cruise to set a couple times and it would turn off after a little bit and not come back on, when I took the module out I couldnt get it to engage no matter how many times I tried. The manual might have said a little bit about it, I will have to look to refresh myself.

Edit: nothing in the manual says the voltage, but I see what I am working with. There is 3 valves in the actuator, theyre tied together on the brn/wht positive wire. The other 3 wires are negative, blk wire goes straight to ground and completes the circuit for the safety solenoid (I dont know the exact purpose of this, but it would be always fully closed in use, vents with vent valve), the brn/blk wire goes to the vacuum solenoid (this may be used to physically turn the cruise on/off, activated with the resume button. Its rest state is closed unlike the others.), the brn wire goes to the vent valve and this wire must be resistively controlled because I highly doubt brn/wht carries a pwm signal. The resistance range must be extremely minute because operation of either the safety valve or the vacuum valve is enough to shut it off. If the test calls for applying 12v to all solenoids plus vacuum that means the vacuum is pulling the actuator to wot, venting the vent valve would reduce vacuum pull. There surely is a harmony these old vacuum cruise control systems work in. To prevent from under/over shooting when resuming the vent valve must be adjusted on the fly according to the vss. Vacuum will pull the cruise when under load while the vent valve should still be actively moving to adjust speed, which is good because the vent valve may have very limited movement, acceleration is a much quicker action than deceleration. Under deceleration the vent valve will slowly creep open and bring the car to a cruise. Depending on engine vacuum the cruise control may have a maximum operating rpm, if speed is set high enough that the vent valve is fully closed then the cruise probably wont be able to pull all the way to wot, it will sit wherever the vacuum pressure can pull against the spring within the diaphragm. Concluding this it should allow me to test some function of the actuator. I can find the resistance range used for the brown wire (for the final product I will need to find components able to operate between ~12v and ~14v so I have enough range to fully open the vent valve with extra voltage from the alternator) but I will not have any idea how it translates to speed. Im going to have to start with my code soon, thatll be pretty tough too.
Edit2: brown wire may actually be pwm my bad, even if its not, it may be my safest bet to do anyway. I will need to buy my arduino and make a driver to test the actuator like this. In the meantime, is there a picture of what the end of the speedometer cable looks like going in the back of the cluster?

Yikes. You're getting pretty cozy with it. It might be easier to follow the troubleshooting flow chart in the manual to fix it.

Haha, sorry I do get a little carried away, but its a lot easier to get my thoughts out if I'm reverse engineering something. I've fixed my pedal switches and checked about everything else on the flow chart, I'm almost 100% sure the control unit is dying. If it works how I think it does it will be pretty easy to replicate on other cars.

I'm back. Car is finally being worked on. Pulled the engine and trans to find the clutch was improperly installed. Spent a long time cleaning the engine and making everything look way too good to go back into this beater. Disassembled the trans today, I just want to say that I am beside myself because I have the wrong shifter seal... the correct one should be a Frewdenburg-Nok W0133-1634604-NOK, not a Timken/National 221607. Should be 26mm outside, 14mm inside.
https://i.imgur.com/HQCittR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BPnht7S.jpg

So you opted to pull the engine after all? Or do you just keep pretty long blocks sitting around the shop. :rofl: Sucks about the seal. :( Hope you get it sorted.

No worries on the seal. The one I mentioned was the right one, it seems to be the same as every other honda, or at least for a d series... Just don't let the parts store give you the wrong one!
https://i.imgur.com/zfwq8zk.jpg

And yes, I had planned on pulling the engine, practically the easiest way to go about it, especially with all that I wanted to do.
https://i.imgur.com/CixEKTQ.jpg
I've cleaned it up the best I could, looped the power steering lines today and tucked/deleted a lot of wires and lines.

Here's my poly front engine mount taken from https://www.3geez.com/forum/restorat...ght=poly+mount
The images were down on the linked post, so here is an example. The ones he was making should work on the back, but I'm not going to mess with it yet (stock front mount is UGLY)
https://i.imgur.com/BMjjZCC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8ySMhk8.jpg

I should have it driving soon, maybe this weekend, only shifter bushings to go (I need to find the birdcage bushing I bought from cheddars Im going nuts). I have a goal now to go to Hot Import Nights KC on July 6, so once I get it moving Ill fix some rust, put new oem springs on to fix the gangster lean, and get my bike carbs ready. Hopefully my budget allows for new wheels and tires by then.

Very cool! LOL at that orphan exhaust manifold in your bay.

Alrighty boys, its been a few days, got her running, but had no time to post (so I'm writing this at work while doing tune ups 😉)

Night after my last post I got my bike carbs polished and put together. They ate Mikuni Vm26ss's I need to make a manifold for these still, I may go with 3d printing if they will hold up.
http://i.imgur.com/NM8Prhw.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Ikzt8Up.jpg
le bent needle
http://i.imgur.com/yJxOcaq.jpg
If you are interested in the parts and manuals for these I can post them, otherwise Ill put everything for this car up on github later.

Earlier this week I got the energy suspension poly shifter bushings, cheddas auto delrin birdcage bushing replacement, exhaust manifold painted, clutch on, engine in, front engine mount shortened, aaand running. Had the distributor 180 out at first, but its been smooth.
http://i.imgur.com/U3fBfFF.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/iBYntwk.jpg
I had to add a piece of tubing to the bottom of the clutch cable because its so stretched, and also had to remove the jute from behind the pedals under the carpet because there was no way the clutch pedal could move all the way before hitting the carpet.
http://i.imgur.com/rNMEcWb.jpg

I just ordered a carb kit because Im not getting enough fuel when the throttle blades crack open, either one, main or secondary because of the big vacuum spike. So whenever I take off I have to get the engine to about 3k rpm or it just falls on its face when the clutch grabs and I see my afr meter peg lean. Its not cool but I suppose its my sloppy old accel pump diaphragm, the accel pump is adjusted as tight as it can go without leaking, theres no stop on the lever, and my float is as high as it will reasonably go. Good news is after I adjusted the float it at least doesn't lean out if you ease in the throttle, even passed the secondaries. I know I dont plan on keeping this carb, but I would like to have it as a safe alternative

Starting to look exciting!

Carb kit was the wrong one, imagine that. I could have used parts out of it, but I'd rather get my $50 back. Accel pump diaphragm actually looked good though. I put it back together and couldnt get the accel pump to stop leaking even with new hex head screws and o rings, I didnt notice it before today, but maybe thats my problem. May have to use silicone or something.

Would your smog laws allow for a Weber swap?

Its been a while, but I've only been dailying the car for the past week. I fixed the carb problems, accel pump finally sealed and made a base gasket for it. Runs better than ever now, but its pretty lean down low and sometimes stumbles if you let off and then get back on the throttle. I switched jobs too, so I haven't had much time to do more than that to it , but I've already been making enough money I can jump on buying more parts right away.

Emissions here are basically free game. I already don't have a cat, but I don't want to spend $300 on a weber when I have carbs I want to try.

Also theres an 89 DX auto around here that I'm going to pick up for real cheap, I can fix up my front end and I guess I'll paint the car since I don't want to have a white, brown, and bondo pink neapolitan paint job.

Looking at your picture of your clutch cable I think the round rubber part that catches the clutch fork should be at the bottom of the cable and the rubber touches the fork it slef. Just looking at it from memory.

http://repairguide.autozone.com/znet...528005faf2.gif

The rubber is under the fork with the domed washer between it and the fork. I added a piece of tubing below the rubber to take out the whole ass inch and a half that my clutch cable has stretched. Kind of ghetto, but I expect this cable to snap somewhere down the line. That's the only thing I did though really, nothing is rearranged on the cable, the zip ties at the top just help the cable stay tight and upright in the bracket because of the way I have the cable routed.

I hit a sweet spot in the tune today. Added roughly 5deg of timing, aimed for 10deg, hits the 24 mark at a ~1000rpm idle. Richened it up, mixture screw is out about 3.5 turns, put the idle afr around 13-14. I didn't realize how low I had the float, raised it back up to the middle of the sight. Much more responsive now, no more hard jumps if you get back on the gas too hard after shifting, no more stumbling getting back on the gas exiting corners of heading up valleys. Still running out of fuel though, I am at the limit of the stock carb for sure, but its sure come a long way. I'm just waiting for the day it feels faster than my old 06 rsx.

DanST Engineering makes a18 bike carb manifolds. He could easily do one for an a20. Hell, I gave him the a20 pattern cause he made my dcoe manifold. Just email him and tell him what you want.
The dcoe manifold cost me 312$ shipped. Crazy ass dollar to pound conversion rate 8(

Making the manifold and welding it isnt a big deal. I used to be a full time welder repair tech for Miller Electric working under my grandpa up until a few weeks ago. My grandpa specializes in aluminum tig, but I dont want to throw a big project on him, Ill have to cut the flange out at least, I might even weld it. Luckily I dont have to make 2 flanges like dcoes. The biggest problem is finding the time to make it, even if I had time theres other things I need to get done like fixing the garage doors and running power on my detatched garage. Im currently waiting to buy a parts car, I have one lined up and I might jump on it next paycheck. I want to see if the stock manifold can be cut to work with the bike carbs temporarily, but Im also going to regrind the cam and while Im swapping the cam its getting a head gasket and head studs because Im getting a little suspicious that water is magically disappearing

Well I have a stock carb manifold laying around if you're interested in it.

Im buying another 3g probably next weekend, should have all the parts I need. New front clip, 89 bumpers, itll really fix this car up... after I patch the rocker panels and paint the whole car...

I hear that. Though I am tempted to just leave mine all rusty for the lulz

I know I wont get all the rust, but enough it wont be structural for another 10 years. Im so torn about having a quick beater vs a straight up nice car. Nice car is winning hard now that Ive been dailying it, its such a clean single owner car and runs like a spotted ass ape, its just seen a deer or a few and some salty Missouri roads

Nice car or not, nobody likes losing a race to an old 4 door Honda.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShiRen

I know I wont get all the rust, but enough it wont be structural for another 10 years. Im so torn about having a quick beater vs a straight up nice car. Nice car is winning hard now that Ive been dailying it, its such a clean single owner car and runs like a spotted ass ape, its just seen a deer or a few and some salty Missouri roads

Nice car or not, nobody likes losing a race to an old 4 door Honda.

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I'm so quoting that last part.
Mine has been beat up so much over its life to fully repair it would take thousands. I'd just rather make it quick. I just like the fact that it was built in May of 89 which means it was one of that last ones made.
One cool thing is I do have a folder with every service ticket since 1989. One for each time it was taken in for things like oil changes and such. Last one is from 2016. I like having that sort of stuff.

I wish mine had a service history, but based on the fact that when I first pulled off the air cleaner to find the choke mechanics wired open, I'm going to guess it was serviced in the driveway for 30 years. Luckily thats the most hillbilly thing I ever found.

Also my plan to fix the rust was literally to sandwich 1" angle iron across the pinch weld and add a litte sheet metal around the filler neck. An old customer didnt pick up his welder so as of yesterday I have a Millermatic 35 for my own garage, so I"ll add a considerable amount of metal to this thing... Surely the weight will be made up for stiffness once I seam weld btis of the chassis right :lol:

I'm one of the lucky ones I guess, no rot around the gas filler. Pretty common thing in these and preludes.

You should post pics of your car for us.

It hasn't changed a bit on the outside since the very first pic I posted lol. I will get some later this week for sure. Ive got some parts that will probably be here sometime next week that Ill post. Guess I can snap some pics anyway.

Real quick though... is that dinky little thing on the back of the intake (carb) with the bullet connector the coolant temp sensor for the gauge? I dont have coolant going through my intake and the yel/grn wire isnt hooked up. If thats it I need to relocate it, if its not I need to find it lol

Ive actually done some work to the interior though
https://i.imgur.com/I9gjpnr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/UJsvWQn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/90OIINK.jpg
Clean on the inside, clapped on the outside
I scream paint job

Yes to the dinky thing.
And high five for using an fi valve cover lol. They look so much cleaner than the carb ones.

Pretty sweet ride really. Nice and clean with "theft-proofing" on the outside. It's the best of all worlds!

My first car was a '76 Accord with lots of "theft-proofing." It was a true pile, but it never got broken into, and that was at the height of the US car theft epidemic in the '90s. I was at an Iron Maiden concert and some drunk fool broke into a car right next to mine in front of a crowd of people. We all ran off and I wondered what might happen to mine, but it was fine. I could park that thing anywhere. That's the way to do it: nice on the inside, theft-proofing on the outside.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dr_Snooz

Pretty sweet ride really. Nice and clean with "theft-proofing" on the outside. It's the best of all worlds!

My first car was a '76 Accord with lots of "theft-proofing." It was a true pile, but it never got broken into, and that was at the height of the US car theft epidemic in the '90s. I was at an Iron Maiden concert and some drunk fool broke into a car right next to mine in front of a crowd of people. We all ran off and I wondered what might happen to mine, but it was fine. I could park that thing anywhere. That's the way to do it: nice on the inside, theft-proofing on the outside.

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Mine was not only "theft-proofing" but also "wife-proofing". The paint was too ugly before my Rustoleum job and wife refused to ride with me...

Haha, my wife hates riding in my car, too loud, too smelly, too rough riding, too ugly, no air conditioning. All good by me lol.

I wouldn't know about any wife, but I havent noticed any women flocking to my retirement home on wheels.

Well, I did some wiring today. I wanted DRLs so I decided to run the parking lights with the ignition and while I was in there I wanted to fix Honda's mistake of not using any headlight relays. Good news is the DRLs work, even added a diode so you cant turn the ignition on with the parking light switch, I'm sure this car is easy enough to steal. Bad news is that the headlight switch's workings are an anomaly. You can see my wiring diagram for what I did, I know I didn't do anything super wrong, it must be the way the switch bridges the contacts, maybe I'm missing one little thing. The problem with the way I had them wired up was the low beams did not work, that really stumped me, another problem is the high beam indicator did not turn on. I put an led bulb on the third brake light tonight as well, it did't work at first either, and I'm pretty sure that was because the wires were backwards from the factory (repinned and fixed), so I'm not too surprised about the relays now. Luckily, I totally planned my wiring out and didn't just get super lucky by being able to unplug the wires coming from the switch to the relay and plug them back into the plug going into the fuse box, I'm just that good. I also left a little spot on my bracket for a fog light relay and unpinned the stupid dimmer wire in the clock.

https://i.imgur.com/cBvhLhT.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Cnu6V60.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/C3LnK92.jpg

Well here's the summary for this weeks adventures:
I got a bunch of leds in... over $150 worth of them. This is about everything excluding the dash lights because I like the incandescent green and they're already bad enough about throwing a glare on the windshield. I got 6 194 whites, 2 194 ambers, 4 1157 whites, 6 1156 whites (and I bought in pairs, but forgot the front blinkers, not that I really care because I got corner lights. I'm actually only missing one because I put one in the third brakelight, it took priority) and one 3022... But also, I found these babies, projector, glass lens, h4 bulb, under $20, oh hell yes, h4 bulbs got added to my superbrightleds cart right away and I have no regrets. This became completely necessary because I get up at 5am and drive to work, its sometimes dark when I leave my driveway, I often have foggy windows, and I couldn't turn the halogen headlights on until I have warmed up the car (very rarely do I give myself time) or at least after I'm rolling, but usually after I've stopped to get breakfast or something and have left the car run in the parking lot because I'd probably kill the engine at the stop signs down the road. So, that's why I made drls last week and the leds make sure they're bright and not tri\ying to kill the engine. I haven't put many bulbs in yet because I had a few more parts to gather up like a brake light strobe module and some load resistors so it stops telling me that I have a brake light out, I already changed the blinker relay... i don't remember the part number, if you need it I can go dig it up though.
https://i.imgur.com/PccBR66.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wDFhCdB.jpg

My msd 6a came in, don't know if I mentioned it in this thread without looking back, but I will update the msd thread later with the install procedure once I actually get around to doing that. It was really ugly when I got it, my shitty wrinkle black paint job looks a tad better, or at least matches the rest of the engine bay. Everything looks good in here, but I didn't really bother to run any tests on it, this old 6a is a little more robust than the digitals and visually it looks new, I just soldered in new wires on it.
https://i.imgur.com/CtDqZsZ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YBayj5l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ebMHy2E.jpg

Today, I started by breaking my glove box, epoxyed the hinges back together with some washers to hold it. Then I bought the other 3g, its an 89 and has very little rust, I have more sheet metal than I ever imagined I'd ever get to fix this car, among other things like all those golden parts like the headlight motors. Also, this is a Japanese vin car, my main car is a US, they have different distributors, is the Hitachi any better than my TEC? Anyway, I'll be trailering it home tomorrow morning where it will sit in my garage where I will barely touch it because I don't want to put the nicer body panels on my car because a white and brown car is extra ugly. Later today I went to get some groceries aaaand as soon as i pulled into a parking spot I hear a spooooosh. At first I thought I was having a funeral for my 10yo tires, but no, the vacuum cap that I put on the small nipple of the coolant crossover pipe blew. Imagine that. So, I put some duct tape, water, and water wetter in my grocery cart, made a patch and made it down the road to Oreilly's minutes before closing and pulled the coolant temp sensor out of the intake and told them to find me a union and a barb and some 5/16 hose. Hole plugged and now I have a coolant temp sensor that makes contact with water now... although I forgot to ground it, I'll figure that out in the morning.
https://i.imgur.com/zFlt618.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Ux0AUip.jpg

Hope you didn't think I was joking about the adventures...

RIP my water pump. It was raining under my hood today. I got the coolant temp sensor grounded, but I haven't seen it read anything on the gauge yet.

Same problem I have, where I dont have the stock intake anymore, I cant find a good place to put the temp sending unit in. I've got it in the thermostat housing since I dont use that particular sensor anymore but it's not long enough to make contact with the coolant there unless there is good pressure like higher rpm. Isn't really anywhere else to put it. Only thing I can think to do is to cut my bypass hose in half and find a T-fitting I can screw it into and clamp the ends of the hose to it.
Something like this but I need to see what size I need: https://www.glowshiftdirect.com/suba...tting-adapter/
What size is that female end on the fitting you got?
Mine only has one wire running to the sensor. It's a yellow/green stripe.

I have no idea what size fitting it is, I was in a hurry and I just told the guy behind the counter to grab me a union. I think it fit in an m10x1.0 brake union though, you might be able to translate that, idk if its npt or bspt. the end of the sensor is perfect length for that union, I don't know why its not working unless because the coolant just dead heads there there isn't really any pressure and I didn't grab it to see how hot it was, couldn't rev the engine either because of the shower of rusty water coming from the driver side of the engine compartment. I'm not sure what bypass hose you have, I might have one too, I think there's a 5/8 heater hose running from the nipple by the pump on the crossover tube to the t stat housing where it used to go through the intake, the sensor is currently on the small nipple under the intake that I think ran directly into the carb. A tee is probably what it needs to have some flow to it, or if it didn't you'd always think it should. Problem now is my sensor is semi permanent on that union now that I soldered a wire to it to ground it, and electrically it should be working :dunno:

and who the hell is cutting fuel lines and putting barb fittings on them lmao wtf glowshift

My bypass is just a length of hose to route the lines from the stock intake. I blocked off one and routed the other two.

lol ikr... I just used that as an example of what I was thinking of. A fitting like that would be perfect because the sensor would stick into the coolant flow so it could read.
Mine does work with the one wire, just not all the time cause the sensor itself doesn't sit in the coolant flow unless there is a good amount of pressure.

We probably have a similar bypass, I had one blocked off too and thats where it blew saturday. I think the hose on that bypass would be pretty big, the tee and barbs would be pretty big it might be hard to find a tee that also fits a sensor. Im assuming your sensor is screwed into where that vacuum thermovalve went into the thermostat housing, I thought about putting a sensor there too, maybe itd be easier just to find one thats longer

Yea, it's where you said, right next to the bleed screw.
Used a spare fitting I had lying around that happened to fit into the housing and the sensor is screwed into that. Just doesnt stick down far enough.
I think I used 1/2 inch hose to bypass the intake lines.

New water pump is in, boy that was fun. I didn't realize all the timing cover bolts had to come out!
Also the union I put in for the coolant temp sensor is stone cold... might be going back to the drawing board with that, maybe find something to fit directly into where the thermovalve goes on the tstat housing and is long enough to reach the coolant

There. I think that is a suitable replacement for the black box :cool:
Still waiting on a set of bus bars to finish it, but it is wired up and running. Smoothed the idle out some and you can stay in 2nd at a lot lower speed, but not much else difference. My carb causing hesitations doesn't really help it show its merits.

Edit: checked float level and found the reason why it felt like my hesitations got a bit worse. Accel pump is leaking again! Right back around the inside bolt or somewhere around there where you can't see on or off the car. I would like to fix it so I have a good stock carb to keep around, but I'm out of ideas. Guess I'll work on getting that other car picked apart.

https://i.imgur.com/lQ7SgUz.jpg

Extreme energy!!!

Battery is +15hp, easily measurable on the but dyno unlike fancy ignition systems

Wouldn't know anything about those =P

So uh, I cracked my carb. Right on top of the accel pump... no wonder it wasnt working... even after I began sealing it up with jb weld and seal all, because I cant fuck it up any worse than it already is, it still wants to find little holes and leak from the mating surfaces of the accel pump. I have it down to a very small leak and decided to drive it to work today because Ive used all the gas in my truck and the Accord was just filled up before I popped the carb off.

Been working extra hours too so I haven't done much to the car and won't for a little bit, next thing I need to do to it is put a driver side axle in it and thats not very exciting

Axles are always exciting

If I had known it was a sub $40 part I would have replaced the big bastard when I yanked the engine. I say that though and I also forgot the rear main seal.

Doh!

Double doh!

I picked out a set of wheels and tires on croooober, can't wait to post pics with them on

awww yeaaaaaa

New tires and wheels came in today, these are Work XSAs, 30 and 35mm offset (too little of a difference to care which wheel goes where, but the dishes are different) with 195/45r16 ATR Sports fresh off the boat from the motherland. Wow I really need to lower it now, I feel ashamed of my gap :kekeke:
https://i.imgur.com/cscxu3l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/23D4b93.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DVkbg8g.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/u9X8VLJ.jpg

Oh my God does this car steer quick, caster is going to have to get cranked, it turns in so fast I can barely keep it between the lines, but its so much smoother than the 10 year old Hankooks that looked like they were about to kill me.

Rollin that gapplesauce from gapplebees

Man I really need to get my ac recharged, this 100° weather with 110% humidity is a little much in this little untinted oven (fuck it, Im on break Im calling to get an appointment for tint too) I got es-12 to do it. tonight Im going to release the remaining freon into some balloons and pull the compressor that I didn't run without oil off the parts car and throw it on mine.

Absolutely blows my mind what parts are still available for these cars. Techna-fit still carries steel brake lines, for almost any classic Honda for that matter, have some on the way. I'm also eyeballing that OBX header still listed on their site... but that will have to wait until I grab some ksport coils.

Meanwhile you can't even buy upper control arms for a 2g lude, I guess youre just fucked if you bend one in an accident, and Im just fucked if I want adjustable camber. It seems like hell will freeze over before any yard listed on car-part.com will email you back too, been trying to get a vigor sway bar for months.

I lucked out the 2g lude arms I got but I paid more than they're reasonably worth.
Only ones I found after weeks of searching though so it is what it is.

Where did you get yours? I think Im just going to have to keep emailing until someone from car-part.com replys and takes my damn money. Maybe I should hand my insurance man a little cash lol they might actually sell something to him.

Ebay lol
They're legit ones from a junkyard seller.
Came off an '83.

I will have to check then 🤔

In other news, ac is working like a champ on es12 refrigerant and I installed an oil pressure gauge. Im actually extremely impressed with how well my oil pump is performing, makes pressure immediately after starting, 30 at idle under ac/electrical load ~600rpm, 40-60 at driving rpm, 80 when you give it the beans.

Msd box is also shining again because Im 100% certain I couldn't get away with taking off and idling with the ac on without it lol

damn, wheels look nice!

Ebay was a good call because I found a set of prelude arms and the top hats shane86 recommended. I was going to lower it last weekend but I wasnt able to get it on the rack... kind of a good thing now because I can have all this done and get it aligned.

So, I couldn't keep the air out of my transmission and had to drive it a little over 100mi with presumably the input shaft bearing growling like mad... Going to let some air out and see if it stops, but I was curious, do the 3rd gen b20/b21 ludes trans fit the a20 or is it only the a18 2nd
gen trans? I dont like the gearing in the a2q6 and theyre kind of scarce anyway.

Might be a question better for preludepower, but Im mainly worried about the bellhousing matching, at least around the front and top

3rd gen lude trans wont fit. a18 wont fit on an a20 either unless you change out the housing.
Only one from a lude that will is the SI model.
OR the gearbox off a 1st gen integra but good luck finding one of those.

Good luck finding any of them because I put half a quart of oil in it and it still sounds like hell. Ruined a good trans. Really thinking about cutting my losses and buying a low milage fb rx7 on bringatrailer.com

Edit: Cooled off a bit and a friend came and looked at it. He thinks the clutch is blown up. Theres like 5k miles on the exedy kit smh, but Ill remove the clutch to assess the damage some weekend.

What happened to the trans?

Drove up to see family, bout 70mi from home, got to the city and went to do some shopping, when I left the first shop I noticed it sounded like the trans was full of nails. Decided to drive back because it was ok in 5th at constant throttle and I had no tools. Id heard the noise before, wasnt too bad then, just thought it was some clutch chatter like my rsx used to do. I was parked on a hill when I left that first shop and had to slip the clutch a lot to get out of there. It could be clutch, the noise comes and goes really randomly, stops if the trans isnt moving, but it was also kind of low on oil for some reason and it may not be happy about driving that far

Sorry to hear about a new problem. The LX-i trans is geared slightly more toward performance, FWIW. Hope you get it worked out without spending a fortune.

gearing overall isnt too bad, but that 3rd to 2nd gap its crazy, good way to blow an engine

And thats how you kill a wild ass crx on pikes peak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kYrnum4d7s

The gearing in these cars always amuses me... 1 and 2 are super shirt then you hit 3rd which is ridiculously long for being a 3rd gear.

Is the clutch very old? I wonder if it could be clutch disc springs loose, rattling against the flywheel bolts. Found that in the last 3g clutch job I did. Luckily it didn't round off the bolts very bad

Just went through that, disc wasnt even 6 months old and two of the springs were popping out. Gouged the flywheel but luckily it wasnt on the friction surface.

Yeah 3rd pulls ok, but dont downshift to 3rd on the highway unless you get off on disappointment.

My clutch is a brand new exedy. had like 5k miles on it.

Good news! I ordered a flywheel and Exedy should be shipping me a new clutch kit free of charge, today. They just asked for my receipt and said they'd send it after seeing the clutch is 2 months out of warranty. I hope this is the problem because I am not taking it apart to diagnose it... I'll see when the old clutch is out lol.

My brother might take the car for a while though, he needs something to drive (I know right, what a wonderful, dependable vehicle). Should work out fine though, I will help him put on the boat load of new parts that are in the trunk, it'll be fun. I am a little worried about hill starting this thing with a beginner behind the wheel, and I am also worried about the cracked carb that I can't believe I haven't posted pictures of on here. My accel pump could straight up just break off, its patched with jb weld and that clear fuel proof sealant that eats paint for breakfast. I am a little hesitant to swap parts to my other carb because idk it might happen again because I'm crazy and I am pushing the stock carb to its absolute limit. I just don't want a fire... What better way to train a newbie than to throw a car at them and tell them to chase the fuel delivery issues though.

I'm still just blown away by Exedy's customer service. Seriously, they've earned a lifetime customer. No telling how long the kit I got from Rockauto had been sitting on a shelf because man I have got some parts from them that look just as old as the car itself lol.

Lol found the pics of the giant glob on the side of my carb... They belong here.
https://i.imgur.com/64hOMfc.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/KANvawl.jpg

Another update for today

I so went out and put a battery in her, started her up. She runs like the day she was parked, fuel leaks and all, oh and I guess the clutch cinder block. Seriously look at this: https://youtu.be/QTiX-xPZsIo

Since I had another carb I decided to do the worlds fastest vacuum, delete and swap them out. It still leaks! Seriously, why are these accel pumps such a pain in the ass. It might do with some bolt tightening, if all else fails I'm cracking the goop off the old carb and getting the new diaphragm out of it, hopefully that will seal it.

I may have really caught the bug again, carburetors man, this is what they do to me.

New o rings in the accel pump fixed that leak, so maybe she will run happily without being a fire hazard. Pulled the intake off yesterday and I'm just fixing some stuff up. Oil pressure gauge line was leaking so I sealed that back up. My coolant crossover pipe o ring blew, went though all the trouble of sizing a new one (1 3/8 OD x 3/16 thick), before I ordered a pack of 50 off McMaster Carr I called the Honda dealer aaand they actually have it in stock part number 91314-634-000. That won't happen again. Then I just ordered an OBX header out of the blue too, shit header, but better (read: cooler) than stock, I need it. Also found the Vigor rear sway bar, again factory 52300-SL5-003, it was actually cheap, I already had poly bushings waiting to get one. I still have the self control to keep myself away from the Wilwood brakes and Ksport coilovers. My pockets are not that deep... but when this car is back in my hands after I pass the bug to my brother mark my words. I was looking for cam gears, which seem to no longer exist, even from Bisimoto, I noticed Bisi had a sale on thermal intake gaskets so I got one... Probably does literally nothing, but its stronger than paper lol... actually my intake was really hot removing it yesterday, so maybe.

I can't wait to get home and stare at the back of my engine and stuff, maybe I will put some of the goodies I bought a year ago on her. My flywheel and free clutch should all be there waiting for me too.

I know I am barraging this thread with posts, but I am going places rn. I am really just tidying things up right now and putting on the parts that I've had for a year now.

Looking through all that I've got, big cv shaft, wheel bearings, clutch cable, fans, more headlights because the blinker fluid is overfull, stainless steel brake lines, fumoto oil drain valve, prelude upper control arms, KYB Excel-G shocks, and front extended top hats.
I was going to cut the springs, but they're shot from the darn cast iron engine. So I did a thing. I'm trying to get some Skunk2 519-05-1650 Lowering Springs off amazon. These are for a 4g civic and a decent price. I don't know if they will work, but they are the closest thing to fitting, they might just work on my custom struts. I don't have extended top hats for the rear, but I may not even get as much drop as they would in the civic. I'd like some input on this, but I bought from amazon for that return policy alone lol. Whatever works out my car is coming back strong.

Here is some pics of today
https://i.imgur.com/bM2BZZ0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kRe62oK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DlChjyz.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShiRen

Lol found the pics of the giant glob on the side of my carb...

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I LOLed 3x seeing your accel pump! :rofl:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShiRen

I noticed Bisi had a sale on thermal intake gaskets so I got one... Probably does literally nothing,

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I don't know about the carbs, but on the FI cars, those paper gaskets fail routinely, just for shits and giggles. They create nasty vacuum leaks when they do that are nearly impossible to fix with the engine still in the car. I wish I had a better gasket on mine...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShiRen

I was going to cut the springs, but they're shot from the darn cast iron engine.

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How do you know when springs are shot? I mean, aside from them breaking.

Quote:

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I'm trying to get some Skunk2 519-05-1650 Lowering Springs off amazon. These are for a 4g civic and a decent price.

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Keep us posted on how that goes.

I LOLed again looking at your headlight. At some point, I'm going to rip out my headlights, wiring and all, and re-engineer it around some H4 housings. I'm going to put it on a relay instead of going through that combo switch that cruds up, craps out and is ungodly expensive from Rock Auto. There are some fog lights in the Red Car's future too.

So my springs are shot just because of how much they have settled, drivers side is a lot lower than the passenger side, they are going to differ in length and tension, they are out of spec. Shortening them isn't going to fix the issue.

The headlights that I bought have a cheap bulb holder in them, like a spring clip instead of a twist lock. I don't think theyre that bad though, I have another set I am just going to seal up. The problem is they sit at an angle that they normally wouldn't in other cars. I don't recall them filling up if I just drove in the rain with the lights on. So if you redesign a bit of you headlights, I'd do something to keep the water away from the bulbs. I have another set of popups I am going to put in and I will attempt to do whatever I can to seal them. Also if you look back in this thread I put relays in for the headlights... but it doesn't work how you think it should, I am able to get drls working, but the hi/low beams did not like being on a relay. I've slept since then and I want to say I had no low beams and the hi beams was actually using both filaments. The relays are still in there I think I can switch the wires back and try again sometime.

She runs! No noises, new carb is way happier, shifts great with Delo 15w-40. Im real happy I don't have to start looking for a new trans

Hey Snooz, if you look back a couple pages you can check out the wiring for how I did my headlights on relays. They work now! Turns out one of the relays I used for my brights was bad, changed it out and they work. Had to mess with the combo switch some more, aside from a bit of varnish, the spring in the little pin that puts pressure down on the rocker that switches the lows/highs had collapsed a little bit, so I stretched it a tad and put some cardboard down in one end of the hole, the highs work every time now. Still have to rely on a 30 year old combo switch, but there is no current going through it no matter what kind of bulb you are running, should be much more reliable. I think the stock high beams are 40w iirc, thats 3.3A though tiny wires and copper contacts, my relay probably knocks that down to .2A or less, thats even less than leds.

Car is on cinder blocks now because I put my techna fit brake likes on and found the RR wheel cylinder's bleeder had seized and Oreillys cant get one until tues :banghead:

Haven't posted a pic in a hot minute, so here she is.
https://i.imgur.com/IfD3YLl.jpg

I will regret taking it to work later... like when I go to lunch and its hot as balls.
Probably going to park it back in the garage tonight and get to work on the hvac while I am still getting suspension parts together. I am going to comb the condenser, replace some vent seals, and clean the evaporator. As far as suspension goes, I had to order some coilover sleeves for the rear, the springs are too short, but I am really not worried about the rear shocks, my god they have a ton of travel, I will just shorten the bump stop. I am about to break even with a Skunk2 coilover sleeve kit, but I didn't want those super stiff springs. Depending on how far the shocks can extend once they are installed I may need some extension limiting straps. I would really like to replace all these old suspension bushings, but that looks like it will get expensive if I don't opt for pressing in new ones. I'd like some Cheddas parts, but that's not in the budget rn. Oh well, nothing is blown at least.

That parking job! Good thing you got curb clearance. If I parked my Camaro like that id need a whole front end.

There's no curb there lol. sometimes I drive up on the concrete and I could park another Accord behind mine, you still probably wouldn't be able to see the car between the trucks that park beside me. I am self conscious about my ground clearance though, don't rub it in.

I pulled the housings off the evaporator last night. Not only did that suck and took me forever to find the self tapping screws that hold it together around the pipes, but I don't know how I got any air blowing through the vents at all with a mouse nest on top of a layer of slime. My AC ought to work a tad better now. From now on, that is a part I am going to replace if I ever drain my freon. If I could use r-134a I wouldn't have even thought twice.

Wow things go by real fast on this car... Went to go work on the AC this afternoon aaand theres a puddle of water under the front end. So this is radiator 2, lasted about 100mi after finding the lower tank was leaking on the stocker, so I pulled this one off the parts car. Welp, the lower tank blew out at its seams again, so I yanked the head. I'm not about to throw a radiator at it and not make sure that my head gasket wasn't blown. It only took an hour and I had bald eagles screamin through me, so I sent it.

It didn't look blown to me, but cyl 1 exhaust valve is pink and the piston has a tiny bit of rust on it, so it might have been leaking.

https://i.imgur.com/NxVbjdD.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShiRen

If I could use r-134a I wouldn't have even thought twice.

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Please tell me it has 134 now. You didn't go to all the work of pulling the evaporator and not convert to 134.

Did you?

I can't convert it to r134a because of the keihin compressor. I did not pull the evaporator, I did it all in the car, and it is charged with es12a

I see your point. ES12 is a good choice. How does it work?

The only sucky part is that your Keihin is gonna leak it all out and you'll have to buy more. You'll do that about a half dozen times before you realize how expensive the ES12 is, and how hard to obtain.

Actually its held in there for a year and I have no noticeable performance drop. Now the seals on my AC gauges did go to shit in a years time, but I bought a case of this stuff, itll last me a while. I will swap in a Denso system with a new expansion valve, evaporator, condenser, and accumulator once I find a Denso compressor and the lines for it... I really just plan on body swapping at some point and I am leaning on a prelude or an Aerodeck, I will bank on an Aerodeck having one.

Small break from the Accord... I just traded my Si in on this baby. Worst decision I've ever made and I am so glad I did it.
https://i.imgur.com/ZlpigdS.jpg
Kachow

No pic?

- - - Updated - - -

Oh snap! Nice!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShiRen

Small break from the Accord... I just traded my Si in on this baby. Worst decision I've ever made and I am so glad I did it.
https://i.imgur.com/ZlpigdS.jpg
Kachow

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NOW WHERE TALKING!

Your next Snooze.

I just took it to TN and back... already put 1500mi on the car. Great daily, however its a 10mpg cut from the Si I had, if that matters.
Hopefully I can get back to the Accord pretty soon, I plan on driving it a bit more and balance the miles between the two. I will 100% look like an insane person driving a hodge podge race car and a brand new race car every day, my only argument against that is they both have AC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShiRen

I just took it to TN and back... already put 1500mi on the car. Great daily, however its a 10mpg cut from the Si I had, if that matters.
Hopefully I can get back to the Accord pretty soon, I plan on driving it a bit more and balance the miles between the two. I will 100% look like an insane person driving a hodge podge race car and a brand new race car every day, my only argument against that is they both have AC.

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I drive my Camaro ZL1 1LE and my Honda in the same week....guys at work are used to me by now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Oldblueaccord

NOW WHERE TALKING!

Your next Snooze.

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Wait, WHAT?!?!
https://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i-w600/-whaaat-2.jpg

I'm still nursing the payment for my truck. Stupid truck I had to buy for a dumb job that laid me off a few months after I bought it.