Conozo's Daily Driver Adventures

Then i took my exhaust off. When i did the engine rebuild i shined a light through my catalytic converter and thought it was good because i could see the light but it was actually clogged and my flex pipe was rusted/broken so it has been very loud and really too loud. I confirmed it was clogged by looking at the exhaust with a thermal camera and you could see all the heat before the catalytic converter. I sprayed it out with carb cleaner and it make a big improvement, right now its soaking over night in water and Dawn dish soap as some people said that worked for them. Got a new flex pipe and found a gasket for the pacesetter downpipe. Its a Felpro 95088 from a 1991 Subaru Legacy Turbo. A ton of Subarus use this same gasket kit for 15 years or so. I think the subaru one actually matches the ports better than the original pacesetter one.
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Lastly the transmission is dripping a little oil here and there now. Looks like its coming from the 5th gear cover. It really wants me to take that 5th gear cover off which i am still afraid to do so.

I'm going on vacation soon and my thought is to take the 5th gear cover off before hand so that i can look at it and have time to order parts or think about what to do during vacation.

I'm loving the much quieter car. Its not even completely quiet because there is still a hole in the muffler but it was so loud before it was vibrating the car and it feels so much smoother driving down the road now. At some point I will replace the muffler and originally i was going to get a Maglaflow that had some noise but now I'm thinking stock quiet. The A20 will make enough noise without help from the exhaust if I really want to hear it.

Next on the list is to get the rear toe sorted out. After i replaced all the bushings i could not adjust the toe anywhere near where it should be. Its pointing in quite a bit. The lower control arm toe adjuster is turned to the max and i still need quite a bit more. I was wondering if i got the trailing arms or other parts mixed up left to right but I'm not sure that is possible. The toe was perfect before hand.

Thats odd the toe is so bad off after all that. Ill dwell on it a little we can get you some measurements are length if you need it.

I am having a similar issue with my front toe and camber. Youd think that I could get more than .8 deg front camber with prelude arms... lol think again
Really might have to get creative on where you squeeze your toe out of or its cheddas lcas for you. Knuckle to trailing arm mounts maybe?

i get very close to -2 degrees camber just with the TRW camber mounts.

Trying to get maximum MPGs out of this tank and the next tank.

After i recently unclogged my catalytic converter with brake clean and soaking it in Dawn dish soap overnight my mileage went from 25-26 to 31 normal driving. So i though lets try for 37 MPG on this tank. I didn't start this tank till i was 1/4 the way down so we will see. My best mileage ever was 34.7MPG on two tanks in a row, it was %100 highway driving and i did have 5th gear. This time i am doing a mix of city and highway with no 5th gear.

I used to have a 2000 Honda Insight, for 5 years or so I got a lot of practice with increasing MPG, best I did in that car was 90MPG

The key is to get up to speed fairly quickly then hold that gas pedal steady. You'll loose some speed going up any hill and you'll gain it going down. Stay at the speed limit or 5 over. Coast as much as you can before stops. You do not want to accelerate slowly, you want to minimize your time accelerating. Find that sweet spot where you find the engines maximum torque for accelerating and it will feel peppy without stomping on the gas pedal.
This all can be done without being the annoying super slow driver.

If i reach 37MPG i will try for 40MPG

Slowing down is always good for a boost here. I gained more than 1 MPG (~10% improvement) on my truck by dropping from 70-75 down to 64. Fifty-five is great, but exasperating.

Ninety MPG???? Wow.

I got 34 MPG on that last tank. It was about 80% city so I'll do better this next tank because I wont be starting a 1/4 way in like last time. Not sure if i can get to 40MPG without that 5th gear.

That 2000 Honda Insight is the MPG king, no car gets the mileage that car does even to this day. Its thanks to its lean burn, all aluminum body weighing in at 1800 and the super low rolling resistance tires. It was a hybrid but the gas engine ran all the time and did not help with MPG, it only helped it accelerate a little faster since it was a 3 cylinder 58 HP engine. I ended up getting rid of it mostly because its only a 2 seater and i need to carry around more than one kid but Honda really sacrificed everything to improve its mileage so the ride quality was not very good. It was super reliable and I'm still glad i got to experience that car.

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Originally Posted by conozo

I got 34 MPG on that last tank. It was about 80% city so I'll do better this next tank because I wont be starting a 1/4 way in like last time. Not sure if i can get to 40MPG without that 5th gear.

That 2000 Honda Insight is the MPG king, no car gets the mileage that car does even to this day. Its thanks to its lean burn, all aluminum body weighing in at 1800 and the super low rolling resistance tires. It was a hybrid but the gas engine ran all the time and did not help with MPG, it only helped it accelerate a little faster since it was a 3 cylinder 58 HP engine. I ended up getting rid of it mostly because its only a 2 seater and i need to carry around more than one kid but Honda really sacrificed everything to improve its mileage so the ride quality was not very good. It was super reliable and I'm still glad i got to experience that car.

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Thats pretty good considering Im getting 14 mpg in my Jeep with 93 octane. :bowrofl:

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Originally Posted by Oldblueaccord

Thats pretty good considering Im getting 14 mpg in my Jeep with 93 octane. :bowrofl:

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Jesus, how are you driving that thing in these times. Id be inclined to push it. Glad the most I ever paid for gas when I had a truck that got 17mpg was $3.

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Originally Posted by ShiRen

Jesus, how are you driving that thing in these times. Id be inclined to push it. Glad the most I ever paid for gas when I had a truck that got 17mpg was $3.

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The air works! MAX AC!

I didnt really buy it for gas mileage...91$ to fill it last night. Im going to convert it to flex fuel some day probably be better sooner or later. I been mixing 3 gallons of E85 with 7 gallons 87 for a while and thats been working very well...hint there some videos on my channel.

You can get good AC out of about any car :rofl: meanwhile Im taking my klr everywhere, it was 98F yesterday with Missouri humidity

Got 34mpg again. Not bad but I'll need some improvements to get higher. 5th gear and wheels that point straight.

I mentioned before that my rear tires toe was all messed up. After I replaced all the bushings I did a string alignment and I could not adjust the toe enough to be anywhere near close. It was so far off that if I went over a series of bumps or even drove over a painted line on the road the back end would scoot sideways because one tire would lose traction. Tonight I decided I wouldn't take a look at it again and I think the bushings have settled because I was able to adjust it a little better. I just used the tape measure method and didn't get out of the string but when I took it for a test drive it was much better but not completely gone. This weekend I'll do the string method and hopefully get rid of it completely because it's really annoying.

I also was checking out a noise I was hearing in the rear driver side when I took right turns. I ended up that two lug nuts were loose. I haven't taken the tires off in a very long time so I'm not exactly sure why it would just suddenly loosen now other than I replaced those lug nuts about a year ago and there are definitely cheap because they're already rusty

Hey, fellow 3Gee daily-ers! I bought my 89 LX recently to daily drive, and have been slowly cleaning it up as I go. Bad gas milage and fuel smell at idle makes me think AFR is off, but I haven't seen the suggestion of cleaning out the cat before to improve milage. Only got 100k so probably not necessary but I can't imagine it'll hurt to do.

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Originally Posted by tristanpark

Hey, fellow 3Gee daily-ers! I bought my 89 LX recently to daily drive, and have been slowly cleaning it up as I go. Bad gas milage and fuel smell at idle makes me think AFR is off, but I haven't seen the suggestion of cleaning out the cat before to improve milage. Only got 100k so probably not necessary but I can't imagine it'll hurt to do.

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Before you go cleaning it you need to check if its clogged first. The temperature should be much hotter after the cat than before it. I got the cheap harbor freight thermal camera but you can also get one of those even cheaper infrared thermometers for $20 to check. Check it right after you have driven it for at least 15 minutes to give it a good read.

On the rear alignment note i think i figured it out. The side that is messed up is the side the toe adjuster bolt was rusted in place when i redid all the bushing on the suspension. I remember i had to wack it pretty hard and put a lot of effort in getting it out so i bet i bent the "subframe" 1-2mm toward the middle of the car throwing the whole alignment off. Next week i should have time to give it a couple of good wacks to push it back where its supposed to be.

Ah the fine art of alignment tuning with whacks. ROFL

Got under the car while my wife was rowing through the gears and the bird cage was so sloppy i went ahead and ordered the kit from cheddas.

Also was inspecting the ball joints on the suspension and found that the front upper control arms are toast. The rubber seal was actually fine but when i lifted it up it was all rusty underneath. The metal clip on the bottom of the seal is missing on both sides and allowed water in. I'm glad i caught it now but i think its been like that for a while because they look fine from a distance. Had to order Delphi brand, we'll see how long they last.. was willing to buy OEM honda ball joints but they don't exist.

That bird cage will take a lot of massaging to get together, had to take a lot of material off mine

You mean a Cheddar part...hack to fit.

I had delrin and a lathe the the time I put in mine, they would have been easy to make myself. Good solution though.

I got the Cheddas shifter bushings installed, haven't even test drove it yet but they are definitely firm and a few of the original ones were definitely shot.

I also had purchased Prelude upper front ball joints since the ones on there that were only a few years old were shot. I purchased Delphi brand since i had Moog on there and they were junk and the boots looked the best in the pictures as far as i could tell. When i went to put on one, one of the studs stripped out of the ball joint while simply threading the bolt on. I hadn't even gotten to tightening it down. Complete junk, so i put the old one back on for now.

What brand do i buy?

Moog (didnt last very long)
Delphi (what i just tried, the cotter pin was as skinny as a paperclip too)
Ultra-Power
MAS
Quick Steer
Local auto store brand - Autozone, Advanced, o'Riley


I was watching the South Main Auto Channel and he recommended a made in Japan brand called (Three Five) 555. It seems to be a manufacturer of some Moog parts. I also saw a post that said Moog ball joints that have silver backing are the value line and Moog ball joints that have a "gold" backing are the premium parts, dont know if that true. Ideally i would love to run all oem ball joints or find a ball joint and press it in but im not sure how you would press these upper ball joints in since they don't use a snap ring.

I purchased a 555 set on ebay. They dont sell them on rock auto.

Had a little fun with a break down yesterday. I went to pull out of parking lot and the shifter linkage just fell off, i could hear it hitting the exhaust shield under the car. I was able to get the car sort of in first and pulled to the side of the drive to the lot. Had my wife pick me up and drop me off with tools. The bolt that connect the shift lever in the car to the rod to the transmission fell off. When i was putting it on the new bushings were slightly bigger so i couldnt tighten that bolt all the way as it made the shifting too stiff, so i intentionally left it a little loose thinking ill probably have to come back to it at some point but not necessarily three days later. While in the parking lot i could not jack up the car high enough to really get to it so i restored to a zip tie and i could only get one in there. It did work and i was able to drive it home to get it properly fixed with new bolts and locking nuts. I also swapped rubber extension mount Part Pic #22 back to what it was before, the cheddas delrin transferred too much vibration to the car.

I didn't have any missed 1st gear shifts but it still didn't seem 100%, so i looked at the mounts. they all looked ok visually but when i was rocking the car back and forth, it was lifting and twisting. Most of the slop being in the dog bone. I took the rubber bushings out which were never in there tight even when they were new and filled it up with the automotive window weld, let it dry and pressed them back in there. Basically making a solid mount, so far it feels so much better and the engine doesn't twist or lift when i was rocking the car afterwards. This was the only mount i took off during the engine rebuild so it could have very well been this mount making 1st and 5th pop out. They were worn more on one side probably allowing it to move in a new direction when i reassembled it. The engine vibration is just about the same as before.

Update on my theory. I have some evidence that bad engine mounts destroy 5th gears. Since i filled in my dog bone mount with window weld the shifting in 1-4 has been working 100%. 5th Gear still doesnt work but i think the synchro was fried from not engaging all the way because it wines now. I think what happens is that the engine twists/rocks that when you shift into 5th gear it doesnt engage all the way. Causing the synchro to be the engagement and therefore causing overheating. From my research online bad engine mounts can cause shifting and popping out of gear issues with shift rod shifters like what we have. Cable or hydraulic shifters dont have this issue.

Another new unrelated problem I'm having is that the coolant gauge drops or stutters when i go above 4k RPM. Car did not overheat but i assumed i had air in the system. I did find that the thermostat housing was leaking a little, so i got a new gasket and really cleaned the mating surfaces while also adding a little RTV since there was pitting in the housing. It still does it so i assume i have a pinhole leak in the intake coolant pipe under the intake manifold causing air to get sucked into the system. I did rent one of those radiator pressure testers from the auto store but none of the adapters fit on the radiator so i couldn't use it. Next I'm going to take off a small coolant line somewhere and pressurize that to 10psi using my air compressor.

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Originally Posted by conozo

Update on my theory. I have some evidence that bad engine mounts destroy 5th gears. Since i filled in my dog bone mount with window weld the shifting in 1-4 has been working 100%. 5th Gear still doesnt work but i think the synchro was fried from not engaging all the way because it wines now. I think what happens is that the engine twists/rocks that when you shift into 5th gear it doesnt engage all the way. Causing the synchro to be the engagement and therefore causing overheating. From my research online bad engine mounts can cause shifting and popping out of gear issues with shift rod shifters like what we have. Cable or hydraulic shifters dont have this issue.

Another new unrelated problem I'm having is that the coolant gauge drops or stutters when i go above 4k RPM. Car did not overheat but i assumed i had air in the system. I did find that the thermostat housing was leaking a little, so i got a new gasket and really cleaned the mating surfaces while also adding a little RTV since there was pitting in the housing. It still does it so i assume i have a pinhole leak in the intake coolant pipe under the intake manifold causing air to get sucked into the system. I did rent one of those radiator pressure testers from the auto store but none of the adapters fit on the radiator so i couldn't use it. Next I'm going to take off a small coolant line somewhere and pressurize that to 10psi using my air compressor.

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My coolant gauge did that to it was just green with corrosion at the connector. I cleaned it up and it stays solid now.

You are certainly on something about the 5th gear. mounts can do that.

Glad you are still zinging along I am very close to my 340k mark maybe this week.

Jordan. Can you make your own new post about your car and issues. We'll respond there.

Today is the Accord adoption day or whatever you want to call it. My dad purchased it on this day in 1988, 34 years ago. I asked him if he expected this car to still be around and driven daily and his response was, "definitely not!"