Bagged B18 '88 DX Coupe Build!

[B0CKS]

Okay, honestly, I know I just made a stream of posts, truth is- it’s been like a week since I drafted them up, but I hadn’t found the time to post! And well, since time has passed since then, I’ve got MORE UPDATES.

It’s all Civic based, but I mean, it’s a third gen, and it’s been the only thing occupying my frontal lobe, so Imma write about it. Plus its ultimate purpose is meant to be sacrificed on the grand altar for the paint budget for the Accord, soooooooo- technically?

Anyways, enough preface! I’ve been ramming information through my skull on this car, and admittedly, my home grown crash course has not revealed everything I needed to know. For starters- no front end swap is gonna be possible, so that’s a bummer. The stamped header panel is way more different than I thought, so no beans. Shoot, was really looking forward to those recessed headlights. Past that, it turns out that the swapping the pre-facelift bumper is also a hassle and underwent a complete redesign, meaning I need a whole bunch more brackets to using a bumper with all of it’s grille slats intact. Really makes me appreciate our Accords and how interchangeable all the parts are. So moving from the front end, here’s what’s under the hood, obviously the coolest thing is a complete vacuum delete and a Weber, but truth be told, since the plan is suck as much currency as I can out of this car, I’ll be reverting back to the original rat nest of vacuum lines and strangled factory carb and selling the Weber. Just more bang for buck.

Come last Saturday I started in on the Manual trans swap! Had a great early morning start and enjoyed a clean barn, some peaceful tunes, sun beams and simple wrenching getting familiar with this painfully clean Civic, I wish I could live that part of Saturday every day!

And well, complications came fast, like very. Dropping the transmission wasn’t anything too serious, and pulling off all the rust free bits were a breeze. But that was almost the exact same time I found out the crank shafts were transmission specific. AAAAAAAAAA. So, took a minute and ripped some hair out, but amazingly enough, one of my Dad’s friends who was around to lend a hand amazingly already knew someone who was not only into these cars, but after a quick phone call, has a spare manual EW motor for parts, that he said he’d be more than willing to hand off his crank… FOR FREE.
So with that sorted (amazingly enough), that means that doing a crank swap will entail an engine pull, so we got back to it and dunked the auto trans into the auto trans hole so we could pluck out the motor, then set the car down, unplugged the last few hoses that were strung to the motor and gave it a tug from the top. Enjoy the corny photo of yours truly & friends with another kill. We happened to take the same one with the Custom Cruisers 455 a week earlier. We enjoyed poking fun at how much of a smaller catch this was than the big fish V8 from the days prior.

So, engine out, it meant it was time to see if I really did land myself a freshly built motor or if I had picked up snake oil. Turns out the previous owner was true to his word, brand new gaskets, new oil, fresh filter, belt, water pump and you name it adorned this motor, we were blown away at the newness of practically everything.

But the next thing to do was correct the sins of the previous owner’s paintwork, the purple spray job was factually a sin- there was no prep work so it was literally falling off the top, and the gold timing cover was scornful, so, after more hours than I kept track of, the valve cover was fully stripped of both factory paint and rattlecan with a half-pound of aircraft remover, and the junkyard timing cover cleaned up great to replace the gold plastic. The black powdercoat looks factory fresh, and all the cast brackets already caught their time in the sandblaster and oven, the AC and alternator brackets are now also that clean black.

In the same vein, the crusty, kinda rusty pedal cluster also received the powder coating love, here’s the factory part, honestly not in bad shape for the environment it existed in, but clearly has room for improvement.

Few hours later, and here we go. More full black powder goes to use, along with a less worn set of pedal pads happily donated from the B-Cord. Feels great, and barely reminds you of a the decade of mouse piss it lived in. Just gotta do this to every part that comes off, and before I know it, this Civic will gleam like it should!


So that about wraps that up! There’s small stuff I’m glossing over, but it’s been a wild couple weeks, that’s for sure. And while I’m hauling away at the keyboard, there’s also been serious consideration for a K20 swap. And by K20 swap, it’d be just that, nothing more. No lowering, no cool wheels, just a total sleeper build with the ability to lathe 13 inch wheels to nothing with ease. I priced it out, Cheddas is just about to come out with new K series mounts, Insane Axles has the axles covered, my friend who’s been cordially helping with wiring on the Accord would be more than happy to build the harness, and so all I’d need to specifically sort is the exhaust and a parts car to source a heart from. Unfortunately, the rate of return doesn’t make sense, building this car as cheaply and as factory as possible gives me roughly the same rate of return as does building this car out, with a 1/3 of the cost involved, which is far less of a gamble when the core goal of this car is to turn it into cash for the Accord. So huge darn, in another life.

[Dr_Snooz]

Do you ever sleep?

[B0CKS]

Do you ever sleep?

More than I'd like.

[B0CKS]

Truth is, I am currently fully distracted from my Accord. So I apologize about posting like solely about the wrong third Gen Honda in advance. Just been having a total blast with this car, really excited to get it on the road in these next couple weeks!

But I’ve been HAULIN on this Civic, lots and lots of little jobs squared up over this past week. Some small stuff like installing the front pair of new Rockford Fosgate speakers, fixing rattles in the both door’s B-Pillar trim, another great junkyard haul checking off a ton of little things that I’m hunting down (Unbroken dipstick, some trim, front crash brackets and supports, the works!) And have been refinishing parts left and right! Which is great on this budget build! Let’s start with that- refinishing! A whole bunch of stuff has gone through the sandblasting and powdercoat process, seen below are the main front bumper crash brackets (I’m converting the front end to a pre-facelift 85 front bumper) and so the side brackets, and larger main brackets went from junkyard rust to a clean, even sheen of satin black, along with a scraped up battery tray, clutch cable bracket, a few lasercut bits, the works! Been a blast making all of it new again. (get it??)

Then, the boss battle of the aircleaner was also put through the process- holy cow- this thing had like easily a couple dozen parts to remove from to rip off for sandblasting prep, it was nuts! But it was fully sandblasted and caught a clean layer of powder, along with the cap, I was able to keep the 12-Valve sticker intact as it was removed and re-apply it (with the help of some spray adhesive) to give it that nice factory look.) really like the way this came out! The EGR vacuum release was also lightly sandblasted and sprayed with GM Satin black (not shown in this photo) and is a perfect match for the part! You’ll have to wait until the car is back together to spot it!

Also paint stripped the Brake booster from it’s ugly, porous gold and gave it a fresh layer of black, should look good for the time being!

There also came the problem of the flywheel, it needed to be refinished, and with a spout of redneck engineering along with the urge to save a few bucks, the image below was a thing that really occurred, we took the wire wheel off one of grinder stands and got enough hardware together to build this non-concentric monstrosity. After a bit of sandblasting and some steel wool, we had a nice clean surface that should be able to withstand the insane amount of 62.23 horsepower this engine will be throwing at it. If it looks stupid, but works, it aint stupid.

The largest project of the weekend was tearing down the transmission for an inspection (check out that shiny flywheel! Success!)- and well, it was an adventure. After a bit of battle, it came apart!

And due to photo constraints (and lack of focus) we’ll just skip to the good stuff, and not show any of the teardown, and instead focus on hand grenade that was this trans. I believe I wrote about the dilemma we found while aiming to swap out the transmission, the lack of input bearing on the flywheel? Yes? Well we tore down the transmission and found the input shaft to have a bit more wobble than we liked, and a pretty silver slurry of junk down in the corners of the transmission, definitely some metal shavings and chunks. WELL, it turns out, the lack of the outer input shaft bearing put more stress on the inner main bearing than Honda intended in the 130K miles the junkyard car this trans came out of, and killed that bearing. There we seven ball bearings left over in what I can only assume the original 12+ that were originally in the bearing. At some point, it had started shooting those out into the rest of the gears and getting mauled, which was probably the reason that blue hatch was taken off the road originally, as I’m sure the transmission was making some awful noises with a rattling input shaft. Well anyways, we needed to pull out this toasted bearing to replace it with a good part, and so, after finding out our strongest bit didn’t even dent the out ring, we took the 7 bearings (back out of the trash), loaded them into place, then spaced them out evenly across the bearing races. Then, we took any hardware we could find, shoved them into the gaps to prevent the bearings from rolling, then took a drift and hammered on the main race, and like clockwork, the bearing popped out without issue. Absolutely HUGE win!! Saving that tip for the future for sure!

With the transmission gutted, the next step was to put it back together and plug it up (blue tape being used as a stand in gasket for those dying to know) and brought it over to a friend’s who very recently got his VAPOR BLASTER(!!!!!!!!!) up and running! What your seeing below is the result of a couple of hours of blasting, resulting in a part with a practically new, bare aluminum finish!! It looks AMAZING. Not at all like a cheap part that spent the better part of this century covered in mouse crap and dirt!

And, another angle, just to show off how good a job we did.

So it’s not functional and loaded with gears and shafts just yet, gotta wait for a new bearing to show up- but in the meantime, I’ll be restoring all the brackets, wiring, and (fingers crossed) zinc plating the hardware! Which would be SUPER sweet. But with that coming together, and intake manifold gaskets I need also coming in the mail soon, we should be on the uphill of reassembly very soon! Been having a ton of fun with this project!

[Dr_Snooz]

Oh it's so clean! Now if it blows up in the first 300 miles, you'll win the coveted Dr_Snooz award.

[Honda#1]

Actually, come to think of it, I actually recently got another things that uses tapes. It happens to be a 1987 Civic. 100% Out of the blue, but I am once again, overlaiden with Hondas. Did not see it coming. Allow me to regale you with this story, that’s all of literally one week old.
Last Sunday, I’m going through the Facebook bilge- same as ever- a while ago there’s this guy who made a post about selling an 87 Civic hatch, 1000 obo, says he’s moving and has to get rid of it. Don’t make too much of it. Well Sunday night comes around, says he’s moving out Thursday, car HAS to be gone before then, FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE. And well, I’ll be honest, the 3G Civic pages are about as active as this forum, there’s posts and activity, but no crazy rush, my comment, and one other guys make it to the post. I shoot him a message, tell him I’m into Hondas, send him some pictures of the car I’m supposed to be talking about in this thread, and we get to talking. To my amazement, the odometer reads 80K, the engine has been rebuilt (and still unfired at the time I’m writing this) and probably the straightest, most rust free Honda I’ve come to know. The catch? He’s three states south of me in Kentucky. So I call Wednesday off and make a trek down, bringing with me the wheels the Civic didn’t have and some tools. Grab a U haul once I’m in town, and pick it up. Can’t turn down a free car.
Attachment 10631
Attachment 10632
And MAN, I’ll be honest, for FREE, I couldn’t be more blown away, this car very much has come value, and it’s nuts that I own it. The haul near the end was brutal, but I made it back in one piece, and the car really is in incredible shape. It’s an auto, and the previous owner says he broke the front pump of the trans when he mated the motor together, so that’s what halted the cars progress. Understandable. The car came with everything that’s come off of it, and so after getting the front end loosely back together, it looks far more respectable (and yes, long term readers, I picked up those Si Hubcaps a couple years ago and had them on the car known as the B-Cord, and they’re coming out of storage yet again to look sweet on this car) and really complete the cardboard box that makes me love these cars
Attachment 10633
And if I haven’t mentioned it, the interior on this car is near spotless, featuring the 3 spoke steering wheel that I adore, factory radio and awesome brown on brown action, it’s in great shape, and only needs a few pieces of plastic and a few tears in the driver’s seat addressed to be practically new.
Attachment 10634
As it turns out, I have access to most of the plastic I need. Actually nearly everything I need to bring this car back to life. If you scroll up and back some, you might remember I laughingly put a 85 Civic front end on my Accord, and it turns out that the feces filled, mouse infested rusted wreck of a car that’s currently sitting in a junkyard is an absolute diamond in the rough. I made a list of everything that I’ve found that’s broken, scuffed or beat on the Tan Civic and went with my fists clenched and nose pinched last Sunday, and had a blast making a huge junkyard haul, this photo taken shortly after I had finished pulling perhaps the most crucial part from this blue hatch, the manual transmission.
Attachment 10635
That’s right- I’m manual swapping the Civic, which I think is a great idea, top to bottom. Now I’m sure you can tell by looking closely, but here’s what I pulled from the yard. Complete manual conversion (trans, flywheel, clutch ((buying a new one, don’t worry)), pedal cluster, cable, and shift linkage) optional rear mudflaps, optional passenger side rear view mirror, weatherstripping that was crumbling on the Tan car, A pillar trim- same story, two functional center dash vents (both toast on my car), new upper timing cover (one on my hatch was rattle canned gold), front bumper (tan hatch has some teeth missing, and both the turn signal lenses were toasted), and everything I need to convert it to the cooler-looking recessed headlight look of the pre-facelift car. Not totally necessary, but I think a nice thing. I’m so geeked at how much that was bad on my hatch was good on this car. I’m just too excited. And I should mention, all this, plus the new clutch that’s in the mail right now has only set me back 300 bucks. Really, really not bad all things considered, I can’t imagine trying to source all this otherwise, especially for that cheap!
Attachment 10639

WOW!! That's amazing!! Keep it up!

[B0CKS]

WOW!! That's amazing!! Keep it up!

Thank you!! I couldn't have said it better myself! I'm doing all I can!

- - - Updated - - -

Oh it's so clean! Now if it blows up in the first 300 miles, you'll win the coveted Dr_Snooz award.

Hahahaahahahaahahaa, I'll send you my address pre-emptively!

[B0CKS]

Yo! So how many eternities has it been? Seven? A thousand? (oh, almost literally a month.) Whoops. I still frequent around here, but never find the time to type! Maybe it has something to do with the moon phases? Stock market? Chinese New Year? Has the groundhog seen it’s shadow this year? I’m not sure. I should just post more.

Unfortunately, this is going to be more of the “Wrong” 3Gee- my Civic! Work has been going fairly steady on it, the goal is to have this (and my moped that’s been sitting for a year) both wrapped up by the end of this month- then I’m trying to schedule all of next Month as Accord readiness month, which is going to be the BIG PUSH to get everything done on the Accord before June! So much to do!!!

Going way back, let’s review what I’ve gotten done! I’ve got the manual pedal cluster in place, after a few install mistakes, I now know I have everything I need properly in place! And it looks great down there, even if you can’t see diddly.

Then, looking to the right side of this image, I’ve drilled the two necessary holes for the shift linkage, as well as made a simple closeout part for the auto shift cables! That’s nice to have wrapped up! The main hole here is still too large for the shift linkage, so I’ll have to devise some plan to close it out to prevent noise and water coming through there, but I’m sure I can figure something out!

A small detail here, but I’m proud- got the harmonic balancer through the powder setup, and then took some white pinstripe paint (that I bought for the Manaray refinishing project forever ago!) and marked up the timing marks! They pop so NICE.

And, hopping into transmission land here, it’s been a journey and half making everything work. I believed I mentioned it last post, but the main input shaft bearing was TOAST, so I had to get a new one- and oil seal for the shaft, which is always fun, because I love NOS Honda parts! Also, check out the four speed shift knob! It’s from an EF, not an EA, but hey, it looks sweet, so no problem!

Getting the replacement input shaft bearing in was amazingly easy, I threw it in the freezer for a few hours, and with one solid thunk from a rubber mallet, the bearing dropped right in. What was most likely the reason that blue Civic ended up in the junkyard has now been repaired! And good for another ~120000 miles? Sweeet!

So with that all fixed up, the next step was to get the trans together! A friend of mine wanted to get to know more about how physical transmissions work, and didn’t want to make an hour and a half drive from Detroit to Lansing, so we met in the middle at my apartment and assembled it there! I felt pretty cool for being fully prepared and actually grabbing all the tools we needed for the build, plus it’s always fun to get up to car s*** on carpet. Feels fancy.

And I’m sure this type of image is getting old, but the endless powdercoating never stops, here’s a handful of parts that went through the cycle!

This is a fun detail of the auto swap, the reverse light switch is triggered by the shift arm in the center console on auto cars, and on manual cars, it’s done by a button (seen below) at the end of the transmission. So I tore down the main engine harness, took a matching engine harness connector I had snipped out of the blue Civic, wired it in at the same place the rest of the engine connectors went, wrapped that all in sheathing, then cut a hole in an unused grommet and fed the wiring through there under the carpet. In short, I’m really proud with this perfectly OE appearance install- felt nice having everything blend in and work perfect! Still need a pinout for the auto shifter to wire it in at the console, but that’s just learning some colors!

[B0CKS]

After much contemplation and consideration, I’ve decided to go with a DeVac for the factory carb, something that’s always been just out of reach on my Accords, and even though the Civic Vacuum harness is very near complete, it’s an absolute monster- and there were a bunch of things that just weren’t quiiiiite there to be make for a clean install. So, goblet of wine, marble table, a screwdriver and some very helpful youtube videos and the carb was torn down pretty quick!

Next step now that the carb was prepped was join the trans with a new clutch, throwout bearing, “resurfaced” flywheel, and pressure plate! Looks good to me!

With all that done, it was time to drop the motor in! So, put on some nice, loud ambient tunes, cracked open the door with some nicer weather and patiently got in by myself! Had a great time!

The next step was the vacuum delete, I had already built and installed my blockoff plates, then ran the new four vacuum lines I needed, as well as plugged all the open ports on the carb, and with the air cleaner assembly back on, it still looks like a proper engine bay, and much less of a headache than the factory chaos!

But, in a cruel turn of events, we found a lot of slop in the shift linkage, turns out the ball joint found in the base of the transmission that connects the shift linkage to the selector forks didn’t seat properly, so, teardown is a go. (I’ve noticed that with every Civic I’ve owned, I’ve ended up doing this. The Beanis- a 99 EK had an axle issue that was at one point troubleshot by removing the trans, the 88 EF had a clutch cable issue that was resolved after a trans drop, and now this! I’m cursed.) We got it sorted as well as buttoned up a few other small issues we found, so it was worthwhile, but certainly a pain! We also learned that I’ve got brand new 88 CRX HF calipers on it, so the 87 pads I bought for the brakes were not useful.

But with all that knowledge and toil gained, we’ve got to the point of putting in the battery and giving it it’s first crank! The neutral safety switch is currently open, so no go for a startup, but I did get to see what the status of the lighting situation was- and well, we had 4 dead bulbs in it, the right passenger rear turn and running light was out, as well as the front left running light, and the right bumper-mounted turn was also dead. But we were happy to find a lack of wiring issues, there’s something funky with the turn signal/wiper stalk wiring, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a teardown gave that the life it needs! The interior lights all did what they should, same with the wipers (editors note- we also powdercoated the arms to be a fresh matte black, looks SO good!) and even the radio does everything we could ask of it! Not bad at all!

So there we go! Hopefully the next update includes a lot of photos of this thing outside of our driveway!



P.S. Been taking the downtime I find myself having outside of work, the barn, and a social life to take on a little side project of designing 4x100 wheels for no... particular purpose. Been having a blast with it, currently only got like 8 on the line, but shooting to make a portfolio of about 30 ish before some sort of big debut!

[Dr_Snooz]

Trans teardown mounted in the car. I think there's medication for that.

[ShiRen]

You start talking about vacuum deletes and I start howling and foaming at the mouth. The way god intended. My wife can't resist me when I crank my car over for 3 minutes on a moderately cool morning.

[Shane86]

Amazing build more updates lol

[B0CKS]

Trans teardown mounted in the car. I think there's medication for that.

Man I sure hope there is. Felt like a really exotic form of torture, way better than the everyday waterboarding and death by guillotine.

You start talking about vacuum deletes and I start howling and foaming at the mouth. The way god intended. My wife can't resist me when I crank my car over for 3 minutes on a moderately cool morning.

Lmaooooo, I'm hoping (like PLEASE) that the manual choke install has this sorted. But if not, ZUGZUGZUGZUGZUGZUGZUGZUGUZGZUGZUGZUGZUGZUGZUGZUGZU GZUGZUGZUGZUGZUGZUGZUGZUG

Amazing build more updates lol

Hahahaha, alright! Just finished up another draft! Here we go!

[B0CKS]

Hey! Definitely not to the point of constant Monday updates, but things have suddenly really ramped up suddenly for the Hondas!

Let’s talk Accord stuff first! There’s a lot of things I need to sort STAT for paint, so let’s find em out! The first (and admittedly, SUPER exciting) thing I’ve been working on is sorting out a supplier for all my 3D printing needs. The printer I have has chosen the life of being pretty darn unreliable, so I’ve decided to outsource the prints I need, so I can get them reliably, and for pretty reasonable prices! Saves me a lot of hassle, and to be honest, I don’t know how much time I want to spend troubleshooting printer issues on such a closing deadline! So, after reaching out in a handful of 3D printing groups I’m in, I’ve found a great guy with a rather massive printer, happy to print nearly anything I need! The spoiler I designed a while ago is Priority A- I’m going to be having it painted body color, and so I need to get it to the shop in time to be sprayed! I originally designed the part to be printed in five chunks so I could fit it in my printer, but found that with his in use, we only needed two. I originally designed a pretty cool key and lock system, but with these two parts I’ve decided to subsidize them for the use of two 12”+ long rods, mine will be printed to join the halves, but once I’m “producing” these spoilers to be sold, we can use 1/2” wood dowels instead!

So, I’ve still got plenty of work to do, I’d like to make an instruction booklet, design the clear vinyl quarter panel corner protectors, and build a series of kits to get these done, I’ll also be finishing the part myself, so that’ll take some time too! But the guy printing this kindly infused the center, and once that’s dry, we can ship it along with a bit of other printed stuff! Very, very excited for that!

But honestly, even though I’m freaking psyched about all that coming together, Sunday was certainly the highlight of the week- because I got to buy one very, very big tool that I’m more than excited to use. I had to wake up at 6 am, pack a Suburban full of junk, hook on a trailer with a couple friends and head 250 miles South. Why? Because in the middle of Shirley Indiana, I was getting a stellar deal on a never-been-used, DirectLift 3000 lbs capacity BODY ROTISSIRIE!!!!(!!!!!!!!!!!) And got to haul it all the way back up to Lansing. These normally retail for about 1200 new, and minus some dirt, and maybe a hundred in gas and food- buying it for 800 bucks was hands down the best deal I was going to find in the time we had to sort one. It’s a quality kit, and looks like it will be more than adequate for the shell of the Accord and a ’71 Pontiac Lemans later on down the line. Can’t believe this is actually happening, seemed like such an ethereal idea that’s actually falling into reality, just gotta keep on wrenching to get to the next stage!

Now the CIVIC, on the other hand, has been very upset about existing, although it’s been fun ironing out details and sorting out it’s final little issues before it can be a full on car again. Let’s start with some more basic stuff, the leaks! There were a couple small mistakes I made putting it together, one was a simple fuel leak, didn’t have a plug fully seated, and once I got that sorted, no more gas was pouring out from where it shouldn’t have! The other was a rather massive coolant leak, turns out the o-ring on the rear coolant tube was toast, so after a bit of a teardown, I got that repaired too! Yay. Also had to roll out the Accord to get the Civic in the bay, I love how much they aren’t the same.

I also finished my wiring on the manual trans swap- got both reverse lights wired, so that sorts out pretty much the final lighting issues I need to on the car! Whoo! I also looped the neutral safety switch, which allows me to start the car with ease- but that said, gotta lock in the habit of starting the car with clutch in!

The next issue was well- interesting. After those repairs, an 80 degree day came around, and I discovered that my car had morphed into an IED, the engine, intake and exhaust manifold had filled up with gas that it was literally brewing out the carb- which is BAD. Like VERY BAD. Because not only would that really easily hydrolock the motor, if there was any chance of spark, my car would most likely level a city block. Well, that’s a little dramatic, but I’d probably be dead, so same difference if you ask me. SO, had to figure that out, and after staring and a few phone calls, in my vacuum delete haze, I found a simple cap on the firewall plugging a random line. That line happened to be the gas tank vent tube, so with that plugged, the gas in the car expanded, pushed into the fuel line, and then lifted the float with all it’s pressure and flowed into the carb, and subsequently the motor, and in massive quantities. So I then drained all the oil (and gas that mixed) pulled the plugs and let them drain, added a new load of break in oil, cranked the motor (and unloaded a ton of gas from cylinder 3) then threw the plugs back in and wiped all the sweat from my forehead. Jeez. Interesting episode.

With that done, there’s still more carburetor chaos to go through, upon trying to start it, we found that the two o-rings at the top of the float point were toast, so fuel decided to start pouring out the top! Woo! We fit two o rings in to replace the dead ones, and then found that they were too large to fit the hole- after doing a really good job hand tightening it has hard was we could, so dangit. Had to the head to the junkyard yesterday and pick up a carb top to just swap out the whole chunk, so tomorrows task will be finding out that I’ve bought bought some junk, and need to wait another few weeks to find one that works lmao.

[B0CKS]

Okay, Im splitting this off into another post! Too geeked to not share, even though we still got work to do! I’ve been away from the barn quarantining to due to a possible Covid scare, but I’m fine! Right before this breakout, I was able to find a 3D SCANNING SERVICE! Ya know, FOR PARTS. Which is AWESOME! The main reason I was looking for one was for the hood scoop project, but more updates on that as we go. I wanted to do a trial run on two parts I’ve been wanting to get scanned for… well years at this point- and it’ll take some real eagle-eyed fans (well, I mean, anyone who reads this is probably in the know) who can recognize the parts I got 3d scanned.

If you guessed: very fragile two-piece armrest lower and a doorhandle bezel nested inside it, you’d be correct! Starting with the armrest, this is my community service, I’ve got the full, one piece part in my Accord already- so I won’t be needing this, but I’ve wanted a 3D printed solution to these since forever, so I’m happy I can finally get this data together. And, with a supplier for printing coming in right on time, that would let me outsource the part I dread most and make it a pretty easy thing to get these spread into our group. I should also mention that I don’t have an upper for this part, but the very kind member of the Facebook group, Robert Ettinger is shipping one he has, and letting me scan that- which I am eternally grateful for! Clearly the missing part of the puzzle. And as for the top and clip, I still have the chunks from the one I had that exploded, so I can reverse engineer those from there. One more note- if you look closely at the model vs the scan (scan is grey) You’ll notice some different angles and surfaces from one to the other, that’s because I’m optimizing this part so it’s as print friendly as possible- reducing the use of supports means it uses less material, which = less print time = lower costs! GOOD.

Then, the thing I’m more proud of than I should be? Is this second part. History lesson first- I bought component speakers like two years back and have been trying to figure out how to integrate the 1” component speakers for a long time. I designed answer A a long while back, with a separate, similarly styled bezel that mounts right in front of the door handle, which is clean, but still aftermarket. So- after a long conversation with my Dad like a year+ ago, here’s an idea we came up with:

Really straightforward, I know- but I needed to get the doorhandle into 3D if I wanted to make it work- and the ability to do that finally came around last Monday with 3D scanning! Once I got the bezel in data, I lined up my model for the tweeter surround, and worked on combining the two! I think the result is really pro- these two parts interlock around the tweeter- and then use the factory hole to mount, and a tab at the front to swedge into the door card, that should result in a nice, tight fit! I’ve left design clearance in the part so the dark gray part can be wrapped in fabric- ideally from the cloth found just right beneath it in location- the factory speaker cloth! This would allow for a rather factory looking part, of course, if you’re a fan of the more technical look of the plastic on its own, that can be done too!

Oh hey! And I’ve been designing more wheels. 15 down, 15 to go! It’s some work!

Alright that was all overdue, but I’m hopefully getting the Civic to run tonight, then going to California for some junkyarding. Toodles!

[Jinnai]

3D scanning? I'm very interested in replacing some parts that are completely destroyed by the sun. How might we go about getting a duplicate of the vent in the top of the door? There's a few other parts that just get obliterated.

Oh, also, I love the tweeter idea, it will look really smooth when put all together!

[Dr_Snooz]

It just keeps getting cooler! Thanks!

[B0CKS]

3D scanning? I'm very interested in replacing some parts that are completely destroyed by the sun. How might we go about getting a duplicate of the vent in the top of the door? There's a few other parts that just get obliterated.

Oh, also, I love the tweeter idea, it will look really smooth when put all together!

Oh snap! I was thinking about those! And probably the seatbelt surround too right? Maybe, they'd be a pain to sand, but I'll put it on the checklist of possible parts to make! I know Snooz also has an armful of parts he want's to see back in circulation, sooooooo...

It just keeps getting cooler! Thanks!

Thank YOU Snooz! Trying to nail down and freaking finish all the loose ideas that I've blathered about since forever!

[B0CKS]

Hey! Had a freaking whirlwind weekend, and we’re back with a few updates!

First off, I went to California last weekend! Friday afternoon to Tuesday, and had a fantastic time catching up and exploring the place I’d love to call home in the future! Pardon the corny photo of the us, but Angeles crest is crazy photogenic, too bad I mucked it up with my ugly mug on the left there. I’d love to share a ton of photos I took, but this blog is about Late 80’s Honda Accords, and the file count limit has me holding back.

But ANYWAYS. Let’s talk Accord! This post is gonna be a whole blend of the content and chaos going on, so this post is gonna be kinda ADD in direction, so you’ve been warned! The biggest item of the week is that my first batch of 3D printed parts came in! We’ll start with the speaker risers- the wedges you can see under the Carrozzerias on the rear package shelf there. I’ve talked about them before, but now they’re printed in durable and tough ABS, and fit to finally be a finished part! I got to give them a good sand last night and they’re really nice parts. There’s a few details I’d like to add to them, but it’s fairly subtle stuff. I think I’m going to add a period correct Pioneer logo to the front of each wedge to make it a more unique part, then lasercut a stainless steel spacer to place between the speaker and wedge to break that large front slab up some. Little stuff, but that’s the muck we’re rolling through right now.

The printed part is yet another iteration of the center console armrest pocket. This thing has been the multi-role space since forever, and well- I finally settled on this being its use. The two inputs there are the subwoofer control knob and the Bluetooth amp controller, letting me toggle between the Cockpit and Bluetooth input. I flocked the top (might need to do it again) to have it match the console and I think it gives it a really pro look for being a kinda simple form. Yeah?

And lastly, lets talk about the largest part- the spoiler! So while I’m freaking GEEKED to finally be seeing this, it looks like there wasn’t enough crown in the design to match the curvature of the trunk, so while this print was 250 bucks I’d love to get back, I think there may be one more round of surfacing before I’m truly happy with it. If you look close, you can see the ends want to bow away the car, which means this design is too flat. I’ve already updated the data and moved the corners 10mm forward (1cm just doesn’t sound like a worthy change, so 10mm it is lmao) and that should have it fixed. This part is freaking SOLID though, I’m super impressed with the print quality, but the fact that is just isn’t quiiiiiiiiite there is a real kick in the teeth.

And so that’s about it for physical updates on the Accord at the moment! In terms of digital work, I’ve been refining surfaces for the door handle/tweeter combo, it still needs some work to be called a finished part, I’ve got a few more wheel designs I’ve been poking on, and then there’s a (very) small part I’ve been meaning to hammer out since forever, so here it is. The PCV outlet going to the airbox. This little detail mounts below the cold air intake in the airbox, and is my engineered answer to the bung on the CAI arm that I deleted. I realize that this photo tells you all of nothing, but I’ll install it and clear up it’s purpose soon.

Now let’s talk Civic- it’s been inop since last week- we got it running decently this week and started the break in process, and then found it didn’t want to do any sort running the next morning. It’s still got the tank vent issue oddly enough, and so it’s been a bit of headache. I may just throw in the towel and let the pros handle it. We’ll see. But! On a brighter note, I got to go junkyarding in California and pick up some very nice Cali-grade bits for it. While the 86 that was at the yard was pretty trashed, it had exactly what I was looking for! The logo on the valve cover being one (look how NICE it looks!!) a very clean, factory 4 speed shift knob, and a rear-defrost button that DOESN’T stick. Not some crazy haul, but really nice to be getting the final lil things picked up.

Spiraling out some more, here’s some wheels that AREN’T for my car! I promised my best friend back in February that his birthday present would be a set of hard-to-find 1994 Beretta Z28 wheels for his Fiero, and every time a set popped up, they’d be a good price, but around 400 miles out of reach, so when a Beretta dropped into a yard only an hour and a half away, I had to jump on it! The tires were plenty toast, and were kindly removed by my friend who works at a dealership, and a new set of tread is currently in the mail, much to my excitement! They should be freaking SWEET, can’t wait to see how they look on his car. I’ve always loved the wheels and think they’ll be the perfect application for his factory+ build.

Also also, I just wanna gush about this- but my daily driver- a 2013 Sonic, is due for some maintenance, it’ll need a timing belt ASAP, a new strut, and some other junk, but that’s not important. What IS important a random link a friend of mine sent me the other week. ZZPerformance, a leader in aftermarket parts for the Sonic, Cruze, and other commuter grade Chevy’s was having a sale on body kits. Wait, sale isn’t the right word. My friend sent me a link that one of their body kits for the Sonic specifically was marked down from $280 USD to FREE. Let me reiterate, FREE. Just pick it up or pay for shipping. And well- ZZ is located in Grand Rapids, an hour and a half from me, and about ten minutes away from my brother. So! I placed an order, expecting to get punked the whole time. And well, against literally all of my expectations, look at this photo below. Freaking full on, GM Spec “Dusk” bodykit. It’s brand new, in perfect condition, and literally cost me no dollars. None. Zero. I have no idea how this happened, but I guess my DD is going to get a randomly sweet upgrade in the coming months. Or I could just sell it and shovel into the Accord moneypit instead. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

So. Yeah. Sorry for the split post into all the random nether regions of the barn, but hey, it’s what’s going on, and this youtube channel is always desperate for content, so I guess it’s just showbiz baby.

Also! Learning exactly from literally none of my mistakes that I was just talking about- we just finished our refresh on the 71 Custom Cruiser, tore out the block and trans, refreshed the whole interior and engine bay, anyone wanna see?

[Jinnai]

Wow, why can't I ever get a free body kit!? That's so cool...

For the 3D scanning of parts, if it helps, I can take the parts out of mine and send them to you, if you can get someone to scan them.

[B0CKS]

Wow, why can't I ever get a free body kit!? That's so cool...

For the 3D scanning of parts, if it helps, I can take the parts out of mine and send them to you, if you can get someone to scan them.

No stress! I've got more than my fair share of a hoard- I'm pretty sure I've got duplicates and then some of just about every interior part at this point. But I really appreciate the offer!! Thanks for being willing to help with getting parts reproduced!!

Man I know!! I'm still waiting for the catch!

[Jinnai]

Psh, it's purely mercenary I had two identical accords, one with tint and one without. The one without tint, all the plastic bits of the interior were trashed, turned to dust, and the one with tint they're okay for now, but I don't have a garage and I see the damage creeping in. They'll eventually need replaced at this rate.

[B0CKS]

Psh, it's purely mercenary I had two identical accords, one with tint and one without. The one without tint, all the plastic bits of the interior were trashed, turned to dust, and the one with tint they're okay for now, but I don't have a garage and I see the damage creeping in. They'll eventually need replaced at this rate.

Man! Kinda neat to see the science, it's surprising how that saved your interior parts. But yeah absolutely! The door handle bezel's I had are also doing the same thing, and there were quite a few chunks on the Civic that needed the same process, it's amazing how they just want to turn to dust.

And yeah! If there's demand, it's not too complex a part to make, so if I can muster the motivation, it's definitely in the realm of buildable!

[B0CKS]

Yo! Only been a minute, but I guess I got another 8 photos to upload- so let’s get through it!

The Civic finally got a wash- it’s been sitting outside since I got it, and being that we basically live in the woods and it’s late Spring it absolutely SNOWS pollen, and the thing had picked up a pretty solid coat of grim, so this was a much needed clean- and it looks EONS better than it had been. A polish would really liven it up, but still!

We also put some time and further thought into the Carrozzeria speaker wedges- and well, it let me to buy these two towers for literally only ten bucks. And yes- you probably noticed that that’s not exactly the most regular car part- but here’s the thing. I only needed one very small part from the towers.

And that was the badges at the top of the grille! The speaker wedges looking pretty slab-tastic when viewed from the front of car looking back, so I want to the break that wall-of-a-front-end up with some details, and after skimming though ebay (which had surprisingly thin pickings) we were able to only find one badge that fit the bill for having the correct logo, and in the correct size- but they only had one, and it was 15 bucks- which means a quick search for Pioneer speakers led me to score this pair of empty towers! I couldn’t be happier, and so I plucked the badges and mocked em up (check out that thumb!) And they’re perfect for what I’m looking for! This car sure leads me on weird adventures.

The next checklist item I needed to square up was the airbox- and step one was fixing a goof I made while designing the part. This thing has been through ~5 iterations of getting things to be a proper fit and design, and when I ordered the final part- I forgot to include the three necessary bolts to mount the box to the support arm. So I made a quick template that included the holes I needed and threw the box on the press to correct my goober.

So with that done, what I needed next was a big handful of rivnuts, while you’d think it’d make sense to have the whole thing welded up, it turns out I need to be able to crack open the box for assembly and service, as seen below. The dense amount of rivnuts makes the part look pretty uhhhh, metal- for lack of a better word, but function is certainly outweighing form in this department.

Pardon my disintegrating photo quality, my Iphone is kinda on his last legs, and a new phone isn’t in the scope for quite some time while the Accord is going to be sucking every spare penny out of my hands for a while. But anyways- this fuzzy photos shows the whole assembly in place and sealed- The next step will be marking up the hood for where the inlet hole goes, and finishing all the weather sealing for the top and edges of the box.

Last on this quick list of things I’ve been wanting to button up is correcting the bumper fitment by adding the second two of four quick release points to the Prelude bumper. I bored out the two factory mounting holes to fit the two buttons (see those red arrows?) So now there’s two buttons on the bottom, two mounted to a lasercut sheet on the top and the two slides in the corner, making for a firm mounting system that I’m quite happy with.

To see the real difference, and how necessary these points were, here’s a side by side of the bumper with just the two upper points holding it on (left) and a photo of all four points holding the bumper (right), which is a huge change from making this car go from slack jawed to tense. It needs a little bit of tweaking, as the passenger side corner is riding just a little higher than the driver, but the release buttons are adjustable, so I don’t doubt it’s a solvable problem. Really geeked about this little change, it’s been something I’ve been dreaming of fixing for months now, and I’m really glad to see how clean this install was. I’m also really excited about this system because it’s very easy to replicate, so if this bumper is one day biffed and needs to be replaced, I don’t need to spend lots of time using fancy locators to make a replacement bumper fit.

So yeah! Expect a lot of these future posts to be things we’ve seen before, just doing the final do-dads needed to make these systems functional.

[ShiRen]

Youre building a racecar after this right? I wan't to see this level of off the meds ADHD put towards a weird 300+hp, aggressively stanced, fat tired car with equal amounts of weird parts and overcomplication. I would take the baton, but I would probably have to live in my garage to keep myself focused and my wife would leave me.