Picked up my first Honda an 82 Accord

Hi everyone, so I picked up my first Honda ever last week, a 1982 Honda Accord I found on craigslist for $325, it looks a little ruff but for $325 what can one expect? It has 235,000 miles and it's been sitting for awhile but driven recently a little. It actually runs pretty good for having old gas, a clogged air filter and how dirty it is, but I don't drive it more than 10 feet to move it as it needs the registration put back online.

The main issue I was told it has is it needs a new clutch, which it does, pretty bad, a buddy and I were going to install one which shouldn't be that bad a job, the only other issue that is concerning is it threw out some white smoke when I had to accelerate hard to get it up a ramp :eek5: when I checked the coolant it looked a bit brown so I was like oh snap it has a blown head, but low and behold I was looking at the power steering tank LOL the coolant doesn't look milky and she doesn't overheat so (I may be in denial) I'm hoping some deposits just burned off and caused the white smoke :crying::sad2::bs: I have another car because this was for a fun project type thing so it's no biggie but kinda bummed, but $325 right?

It's slowly been coming back to life though, when I first got it the lights didn't work, the system check light didn't work, dome light didn't work but the more I cleaned, let her idle and just kept messing with switches and buttons the more things started to pop on one by one, like she was waking up, lights started working, dome light came on, system check started working, turn signals came to life (but died again) so it's been interesting, I feel like this little car has a will to keep on going, and I have plans for it, my only hurtle is going to be smog and if it actually has a blown head/cracked head.

I ordered a new air filter, aprk plugs, spark plug wires, oil filter and will put some fresh gas in, then next check will be the clutch kit, I can tell it needs to be driven, to blow everything out and to see if it overheats under normal service but need to fix the clutch first.. Will post some pictures here in a bit! Never was a Honda fan was always into older Mercedes and Mercedes diesels but this little car won me over and I really like it a lot! :D So I am starting to be all pro Honda haha

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Yep. Those '82s will steal your heart away. You have your work cut out for you there, but the joy of driving it will reward you. Have fun.

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Originally Posted by Dr_Snooz

Yep. Those '82s will steal your heart away. You have your work cut out for you there, but the joy of driving it will reward you. Have fun.

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Thanks Dr. Snooz, yeah it really did, what's amazing to me is how this car went the way of the freakin dinosaur, so hard to find parts! Everything is discontinued and I went to two different junkyards only to find only one similar chassis but it was an 85 and the parts I needed were different and wouldn't fit. A bit worrisome because how do you get a part that has been discontinued that you can't get at a yard??

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Originally Posted by Jdlca

A bit worrisome because how do you get a part that has been discontinued that you can't get at a yard??

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You keep looking and keep looking and keep in touch with all your resources. :)

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Originally Posted by 2ndGenGuy

You keep looking and keep looking and keep in touch with all your resources. :)

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Haha thank you for the advice! The hunt is on, i'm hoping to bump into one at a junkyard...

Yeah, you got it. I made trips to the junkyard a regular exercise until I was able to find everything I needed. Keep your eye on eBay, Craigslist, etc. If you need a bunch of stuff, look into buying a donor car. Then scrap it when you're done. Persistence and creativity are the keys.

Definitely requires patience & creativity fixing up our toys so long after everyone has abandoned them & scrap parts were plentiful, though the results will be noticed more. Looks straight besides the bumpers & well equipped with the alloys & dealer(?) bumper over-riders.
At least these still mounted the engine & hung the g-box off it, with room to move the g-box away to make the clutch slightly easier.
Best wishes for the adventure.

Thanks for the replies guys! She's finally home and boy it felt AWESOME finally vacuuming all that sand out of the carpets, wiping things down and making her look decent again. Hopefully the clutch replacement will be this week, just need to have her towed over to my buddy. I did drive it from a storage unit I had her in for about a month which was 5 miles over to my house. Now starting her up and letting her idle there was blue smoke and when I was leaving the storage place I had to rev pretty high to get her moving with her bad clutch and I had a cloud of blue smoke BUT during the entire 5 miles of decent revving the smoke competently disappeared, I had my dad following me and he told me there was zero smoke from my take-off's to idling at a red light, so rather than the rings being shot I'm hoping it's just the valve seals, does that sound about right? Once the clutch is fixed I'd like to drive her to confirm that smoking stops when driven. I can't really start her up right now though as she lets out a cloud of smoke and it's embarrassing and discourteous to my neighbors to have these blue clouds floating over into their yards, but when the clutch is fixed she'll be in an industrial area so I'll be able to start her up and drive around a little bit. Anyways I'll post some pics of her clean here in a bit! ^_^

Valve Seals are very common to go out. But nearly just as common on those engines is a blown head gasket. I would definitely plan on that being a possibility.