Doh...bad parts week!!!

[phrenology]

This build has been nothing but a series of sharp pains in the ass this month. First off in an attempt to finally get my motor put back together PAECO gave me much grief after claiming they could make head studs for our A20 applications, gave me the run around for a week and half and then told me it would, "not be very cost effective". What the hell kind of answer is that? How do they know I wouldn't pay $500+ for headstuds or whatever they were asking??? (not that I would, but negative answers are a real good way to lose customers). I realise one-off machining costs can be brutal but you don't tell someone no after you publish a catalogue touting that you can make headstuds for any motor.

After ditching them on the studs and copper gasket because of time and money...I decided to go OEM for now. The Honda dealer tried to gouge me on new head bolts for $15 a piece !?!?!?! I checked with another and got them to meet the more realistic price of $9.75 a piece. Still haven't got them though.

I went to Advanced Auto to order new front and rear motor mounts...bad idea. They didn't have the Beck/Arnley parts that they listed on the web an pawned me off on the less expensive (made in India) Pioneer parts which they had to order anyway. I went back two days later and the stoner guy at the desk couldn't find the parts. Finally he found the front mount, after searching again he brough me a box with a big red X on it that was all crushed. From the box he produced something that resembled a motor mount but it was covered in mud, was crooked and had stripped threads on it. I told him I wasn't going to buy that and he got pissed off. After 10 minutes of dealing with the manager and hearing excuses they decided to order me another one.

The worst was when I found the head gasket that I had ordered from The Parts Bin was delivered after being pulled out from under an elephant. The box was smashed end to end and the gasket was bent in 3 spots and cracked everywhere. After calls to 3 different numbers, 4 emails and a chat online with customer service I think I have all this sussed out, but I'm still not sure how long the refund will take.

I really can't deal with all of this pure incompetence. I'll be glad when all the shit is behind me and I can drive down the street finally. Damn at this point I'd be glad to have that POS Es motor back, at least I'd still be driving down the street.

[NXRacer]

damn that sucks. but look at it this way, youre bad luck has gotta run out soone or later. good luck for everything in the future maing!

[phrenology]

damn that sucks. but look at it this way, youre bad luck has gotta run out soone or later. good luck for everything in the future maing!

The good news is at least I got the rear suspension reassembled and the car is back on some wheels. Hey 2 out 4 ain't bad at this rate. I managed to get the suspension set up nicely. I went with Koni orange adjustable strut inserts for the 84-85 Accord stuffed in the stock Showa strut housings. Man what a pain in the ass that was! About 2 hours of drilling and grinding per strut. After a week of dicking with my double coil drop suspension technique I finally settled on the less stable but easier to deal with single coil-over setup. At least with 84-85 Accord there's no camber to mess with (both a blessing and a limitation) I'll post picks of the drop once we get the engine settled in and the front suspesion/steering redesigned.

[SteveDX89]

Sounds you should have ordered that stuff from Majestic. Their discounted OEM parts are pretty much close to the shit at the auto parts store. It is a little more but you get OEM quality. Whenever I have the money, I get OEM parts.

[smufguy]

yeah either from magestic or torington honda is and should have been your first bet. Next thing now is that u never go to advance auto parts. go to autozone. People say they are the same shit, but if you look at the stock of both the stores, you will know the reason why the autozone one is higher. They do salvage now, which means they pull it off the junkyard for you. So its also cool. They pretty much have 95% of the stuff u need on a car, let alone order one for you if u need one.

SOrry to hear about your pain, but i guess with lack of considerate people around, life does seem frustrating.

[SteveDX89]

yeah either from magestic or torington honda is and should have been your first bet. Next thing now is that u never go to advance auto parts. go to autozone. People say they are the same shit, but if you look at the stock of both the stores, you will know the reason why the autozone one is higher. They do salvage now, which means they pull it off the junkyard for you. So its also cool. They pretty much have 95% of the stuff u need on a car, let alone order one for you if u need one.

SOrry to hear about your pain, but i guess with lack of considerate people around, life does seem frustrating.

I like Advance Auto better. They're usually a little cheaper and their website pwns Autozone's. Plus it's closer to my house.

[Vanilla Sky]

yeah, i can walk to advance in 5 minutes but autozone is a 15 minute drive

[truetune]

dood man props on your rear suspension set up, Ive heard it was a pain to do anything to the 2g suspension. sorry to hear the parts issues. I order parts from autopartsplace.com awesome prices and good service.

[phrenology]

dood man props on your rear suspension set up, Ive heard it was a pain to do anything to the 2g suspension. sorry to hear the parts issues. I order parts from autopartsplace.com awesome prices and good service.

Hey thanks guys for the tips. I just didn't need to deal with pick parts for motor mounts I told the jack-off at Advanced that if I wanted I used mount I have about 4 that are in better shape than the POS he showed me. All problems are resolved for now. Honda got my new heabolts and crank washers in, Parts Bin is sending out a new gasket and Advanced is holding my new mount. I will definately get pics up for you when we finally drop the motor. I still have some last minute preping and a few rust spots gotta be cut and rewelded. Luckily the battery shelve that's rusted will no longer house the battery after I stuff it in the back.

Yeah the rear suspension was a bit of a pain but it was worth the effort. The front is gonna be about 10X worse. We're gonna partially redesign the front steering and were going to retrofit the 3G suspension arms and strut towers in the 2G body but time is limited so front end mods will have to wait until the car is running first.