Project: Dan's Birthday

**racerx** · 09-22-2005, 08:58 AM

well, as you may or may not know, it was Dan's birthday yesterday (invol.carslaughter).

here's a quick overview of what's transpired: I sold my gold 87 accord to him a while ago. after some learning, he was getting better, but decided to show off one night and wrecked the car... he had put new brakes, rotors, drums, callipers, pads, shoes, tires, carburator, etc, etc, etc on the car, trying to bring it up to like-new condition. so obviously, before we junked the car, we kept all the new parts.

additionally, he had a brand new engine and head ready to drop into the car when we had some time to do it. (see this thread for detailed pictures and info on the engine)

so, dan has all these new parts and no accord to put them on. well, my friend don and i decided to pick up Albert's coupe (pikespeak3G). We bought it, got some 3rd gen prelude wheels, and went to town.

we went into dan's garage while he and his dad were away, and pretty much stole the engine and head (which was under a tarp on the engine stand). in it's place we left my old B21A1 short block, so it wouldn't look like anything was missing.

we also took his new tires and traded them for something that would fit the 14" prelude wheels, so we got Firestone Indy 500 tires. we put a set of Don's old winter tires in their place, and no one noticed... So, we installed the engine and head, put the new wheels and tires on it, and shocked him for his b-day.

Alright. Enough chat, here's some pics: (Don has all the pictures of us installing the engine, so I'll have to get those later)

Car before we did anything to it. it smoked like crazy.

Picked these up at the junkyard for 14.99/each

Cleaning the wheels:

Wheel bubble bath

Interior, all cleaned up

Prelude wheels installed

All washed and waxed

**racerx** · 09-22-2005, 08:58 AM

Doesn't look like much... but that engine is in there!

Dan getting his gift:

**thegreatdane** · 09-22-2005, 09:31 AM

Haha sweet man, talk about having good friends!
Was he surprised?

**racerx** · 09-22-2005, 09:41 AM

hell yeah. and he almost fainted when he found out we did the motor swap already.

**b8er** · 09-22-2005, 12:25 PM

well happy late birthday to invol.carslaughter, gotta say that you guys are one of a kind friends, dont know many ppl who would do all of that, thats very awsome.

**frankie89** · 09-22-2005, 12:45 PM

now thats dedication to a friend...I hope he's happy..

**halxi** · 09-22-2005, 07:21 PM

Damn that thing looks soo clean!

How does it run, nice and strong i assume?

Now we really need to get another meet setup

Happy late birthday dan, glad youre enjoying your present! Keep us updated with pics!

EDIT:

Matt, you should help him repaint all the trim peices... the right way this time

**Deadhead** · 09-22-2005, 08:23 PM

woah.... that was some nice fast work you guys did, mad props to you guys for that.

Good to see that Dan got another 3g instead of that subaru he was planning on getting (last i heard that is)

Hey Dan, happy B-day and Try not to show it off like your last car :P

***carotman*** · 09-22-2005, 09:33 PM

That's really nice of you guys!!! You must be really close friends.

***A20A1*** · 09-22-2005, 09:35 PM

You guys are awesome.

**bobafett** · 09-23-2005, 06:22 PM

wow thats really cool! happy belated dan!

**racerx** · 09-26-2005, 06:42 AM

it's got plenty of low-end torque, but that's about all I know... I never revved it over 3K rpm's, and probably won't for the first 1000miles. I'll be sure to let everyone know how it feels after that time.

yeah, we're gonna do his trim (without overspraying this time... lol) and we're gonna paint his whole car on Ft. Carson. They have a painting booth where you just pay for the day (i think it's 10 bucks or something) and you can use their sand blaster, paint stripper, sander's, tape, painting booths, sprayers, etc...

he already has paint and clearcoat, so all we need is some time and primer.

but we're also gonna wait until he gets his kaminari kit to paint anything

**88accordhb** · 09-26-2005, 03:15 PM

wow! sweet coupe.

**racerx** · 09-29-2005, 07:56 PM

alright, here's the pics of us replacing the engine:
Up on the lift

connecting the electronic engine hoist

**racerx** · 09-29-2005, 07:56 PM

Up and away!

New engine

**halxi** · 09-29-2005, 08:01 PM

Hey thats the same lift we put my tranny in on

Sweet deal, about time you got pics the pics :P

Did everything go smooth?

EDIT: wait, nvm, thats on the other side of the shop... oops, lol

**racerx** · 09-29-2005, 08:08 PM

yeah, that was stall 13, and that engine hoist swings around to the stall next to it. makes getting an engine out a piece of cake.

everything was pretty good, except for a few small things. such as:
-Crank pulley's and bolts are different. Not sure if that's a year thing, or an A1vsA3 thing
-Some of the head studs for the in. and ex. manifolds were a PAIN to remove.
-There was no cam seal on the driver's side, so oil was puking out. oops.
-Taking out the top coolant line on the head is another PITA

**Deadhead** · 10-02-2005, 11:40 AM

What is this place?

Is this a business where you rent a stall for a day or something?

**halxi** · 10-02-2005, 03:54 PM

Its the autoshop on the airforce base in the springs

$4 an hour for a "stall" with a lift
$2 an hour for a floor stall

you get 10 chips and you can exchange each chip for A tool/socket set

**racerx** · 10-02-2005, 10:34 PM

it's $3 an hour for the lift.

their tools are usually really high quality too, and they have pretty much every tool you could ever want for. the guys there are usually pretty helpful too.

**halxi** · 10-03-2005, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by racerx

their tools are usually really high quality too, and they have pretty much every tool you could ever want for. the guys there are usually pretty helpful too.

all but one of them anyway...

**Pro_Mod_Accord** · 10-03-2005, 05:32 PM

Nice,,,,whish something like that was around here...would have helped me out a lot..

**Deadhead** · 10-03-2005, 05:53 PM

wow.... i wish i didn't have to travel all the way down there to get to it.... that would be amazing.

I kinda hate being way up north sometimes.

**halxi** · 10-03-2005, 06:06 PM

yea, you have to be in the same car with someone who has a military ID as well, to get on the base... that was really our biggest problem, sorting out all that stuff.

**superaccord** · 10-03-2005, 06:52 PM

That was really nice of you guys. Well, happy belated Birthday Dan. Wished that we could have all met up for mine. But we are planning another meet this month so its all good.