New here with an '88 LXi hatch

Hey guys, I'm new here (obviously). Just bought an '88 Accord LXi hatchback. Found the car on Craigslist for $500. It's a Georgia car, so no rust or anything like that. It's a 5 speed car, engine was ran hot and is probably toast...

Here's some pics. Sorry they suck ,these are just the pics off the Craigslist ad, I'll get better ones later:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...a552f46016.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...f2c775dc1f.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...b7468cc913.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...717a41e517.jpg

Car is pretty clean inside and out and straight for it's age and mileage (odometer stopped working at 325,000 a few years ago). I will be going to pick the car up this weekend hopefully. The seller is waiting for the title to come in the mail, and as soon as it does, I'm going to go get the car.

I'm mostly into older Ford's, I have several old Ford Mavericks (I have almost 10,000 posts on a Maverick/Comet forum, so I'm not new to forums like this), but I have had a few Accords as well. I had an '84 several years back that got wrecked, then just recently sold my '85 Accord 4 door to my cousin, that was a two owner car that had a meticulously maintained 387,000 miles on it and still ran great!

Right now I have a low mileage '89 LXi 4 door that I bought off my buddy for 75 bucks. The engine runs excellent in it, but the body is junk from the being hit hard in the front. So I purposely set out looking for a cheap '86-'89 Accord with a bad engine so I can make use of this good engine I have, would be a shame to just scrap it with only 111,000 miles on it. I think I found the perfect candidate to swap it into with this '88 hatchback. I love this body style, and the fact that it's a hatch is just icing on the cake! :cool:

So that's it. I just plan to swap my good engine into it, and use it as a daily driver. I'd like to find a set of the factory LXi alloy wheels like on this car to put on it. I'm thinking I'll probably have the car repainted black some time down the road.

Welcome to the forum, and make sure to keep us updated on your progress

Welcome! sounds like you got some nice plans for it. keep us updated!

Nice hatchy. A20s take a beating. so maybe your got away with it. But keep us posted

sweet! sounds like you got good set of plans there. are you gonna rebuild the engine when you swap?

sweet hatch

SWEET and the number of hatches multiply WELCOME

YOU BUTT!!! i was going to look into buying that same car.. i saw it on craigslist also... thanks man.. :D :D :D


well welcome to the site enjoy your stay and now that i have a close member we need to do a meet some time.. :cool:

You should have found the couple that were listed at around 300 buck, but that looks like a good find. Glad were picking up more Georgia members.

i like hatchies, they sort of grew on me but considering all the cars i owned were older RX-7s and 300ZXs, i can see why i love the hatch look.

damn thats a pretty good find i fuckin love the hatch look i always have but keep up us updated man

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Originally Posted by mushroom_toy

You should have found the couple that were listed at around 300 buck, but that looks like a good find. Glad were picking up more Georgia members.

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You sir are not a liar... we NEED Georgia members.. well atleast by me.. :D

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Originally Posted by 86ccord

YOU BUTT!!! i was going to look into buying that same car.. i saw it on craigslist also... thanks man.. :D :D :D


well welcome to the site enjoy your stay and now that i have a close member we need to do a meet some time.. :cool:

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Oh, so you were the guy trying to buy it out from under me for $600? :D Haha, sorry man, I've been in that same position before and know how it is. I just had to have this car. If nothing else, I can assure you the car will be going to a very good home, I'm not going to butcher it up or anything like that. I actually live in Suwanee, GA which is about 25 miles north of Atlanta. I took Friday off work and will be driving down to Savannah with a car dolly to pick the car up Friday afternoon, little over 500 miles round trip. If you guys want to get together and do a meet sometime though, that would be great by me. I have no problem driving about anywhere. The Maverick club I belong to does the same thing all the time.

The seller does think the engine will probably be alright, he said he thinks it just needs some hoses. So we'll see.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

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Originally Posted by mushroom_toy

You should have found the couple that were listed at around 300 buck, but that looks like a good find. Glad were picking up more Georgia members.

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Wow, how did I miss those? Were they hatches?

Yeah! another hatch and in GA to boot. I am rebuilding a hatch too. If you need the hook up just let me know and I will do my best to help

nah i didnt offer i saw it and just thought about it..LOL but what time you going to be down here? cause if you want i could show you my car.. :D

I'll be down there around 2 P.M. Would love to check out your ride, but unfortunately I don't think I'll have time to this time around. I have to be at work at 6 A.M. Saturday morning, and probably won't make it back home until about 8 Friday night as it is. Maybe us GA guys can have a meet in a centralized location for everyone some time.

^^ Welcome aboard man! The GA 3geez family gets bigger! lol. U should check out the Varsity meets the first Thursday of every month. would be a great way to show off the cars and meet each other! I like your plans man. I deff vote for a rebuild of the motor, even if its stock, it never hurts to know its new on the inside. And like pete&jen said, if u need the parts hook up lmk, ill try my best to help u out :)

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Originally Posted by LXiHatch88

I'll be down there around 2 P.M. Would love to check out your ride, but unfortunately I don't think I'll have time to this time around. I have to be at work at 6 A.M. Saturday morning, and probably won't make it back home until about 8 Friday night as it is. Maybe us GA guys can have a meet in a centralized location for everyone some time.

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oh ill be in school anyways! but be careful and enjoy the C-PORT! while you can!

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Originally Posted by Tdurr

^^ Welcome aboard man! The GA 3geez family gets bigger! lol. U should check out the Varsity meets the first Thursday of every month. would be a great way to show off the cars and meet each other! I like your plans man. I deff vote for a rebuild of the motor, even if its stock, it never hurts to know its new on the inside. And like pete&jen said, if u need the parts hook up lmk, ill try my best to help u out :)

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MAN this sucks.. why is all the GA members up north? HUH?! the only one that was in savannah went M.I.A...:burn:

^^ cuz atlanta is more northern. lol

Well, if I do end up having to swap the engine, I'll probably just drop the engine out of the '89 into it as is. The car only has 111,000, and it was a one owner car that was well taken care of prior to the wreck. The engine is super clean inside from what I can see, and it runs like new. Obviously I'd put a new timing belt on and new seals and gaskets and what not before dropping it in. How long are timing belts known to last on these cars anyway?

I'm surprised at all the GA guys here! That's awesome! As far as parts go, mainly if any of you guys know where to get some of the LXi wheels like I linked to above, or if any of you just have any nicer alloy wheels laying around that will fit the car, I'd be very interested. Not really looking for anything bigger then 16 inch, anything 14-16 inch would be cool. The 13 inch steelies that are on it now just aren't doing it for me... LOL They will definitely have to go away ASAP once I get this thing on the road.

Plan to go scouring the local Pull-A-Part's Saturday afternoon, according to their site, looks like they have a ton of these cars in the North, East and South yards. I already go to those yards all the time picking up odds and ends for my '92 2 door B13 Sentra.

your last post gets me curious about the wheels that are on the car now because all of the 88-89 LX-i's came with larger rotors and calipers up front, which need a min of 14" wheel to clear. I guess an exception could come with low offset wheels, but I haven't explored that at all.

Welcome to the board!

As for timing belt, although I don't suggest it, my 89 DX hatch is still on it's original timing belt and still running strong with 237K. The recommended replacement interval is 90-100K though, and some would say 120K is perfectly fine as well. As for overheating, these damn motors are like 'Ol Ironsides. ...actually literally too, as they are a cast iron block. Mine (again, not proud of this fact) had a bad t-stat for at least a year, and on at least 2 occasions, got so hot (temp gauge pegged on "you're-an-idiot" hot) that the damn thing stalled out. Well, the motor is out, and head is off, and the damn thing is still dead true, no warped head, and still ran great until the day I decided to yank the motor for some open-heart surgery. Long story short, that motor should be just fine for a while.

It's great to see a new member here that's interested in bringing their 3G back to it's glory. Thanks for that, and stick around.

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Originally Posted by markmdz89hatch

your last post gets me curious about the wheels that are on the car now because all of the 88-89 LX-i's came with larger rotors and calipers up front, which need a min of 14" wheel to clear. I guess an exception could come with low offset wheels, but I haven't explored that at all.

Welcome to the board!

As for timing belt, although I don't suggest it, my 89 DX hatch is still on it's original timing belt and still running strong with 237K. The recommended replacement interval is 90-100K though, and some would say 120K is perfectly fine as well. As for overheating, these damn motors are like 'Ol Ironsides. ...actually literally too, as they are a cast iron block. Mine (again, not proud of this fact) had a bad t-stat for at least a year, and on at least 2 occasions, got so hot (temp gauge pegged on "you're-an-idiot" hot) that the damn thing stalled out. Well, the motor is out, and head is off, and the damn thing is still dead true, no warped head, and still ran great until the day I decided to yank the motor for some open-heart surgery. Long story short, that motor should be just fine for a while.

It's great to see a new member here that's interested in bringing their 3G back to it's glory. Thanks for that, and stick around.

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hatches do not get the larger brakes lxi or not they all come stock with 13" steelis

well how did it go? :P

not bad