85 to 84 full front suspension swap

[84AccordLX4dr]

I am brand new to this forum, so forgive me if I commit any faux pas'es (besides butchering french phrases).

I have a 1984 Accord LX 4 door that I Love dearly. The problem is that the driver's side hub is missing a lug stud that I cannot seem to find a replacement for, and the outer CV joint is toast. The front suspension is generally pretty worn out.

However, I have acquired a 1985 Accord 4 door that I am going to cannibalize for parts (AC condenser, newish tires, various trim pieces and bulbs, and most importantly, the entire front suspension).

My question to Y'all is: Will I be able to swap the front suspension over without any serious pain in my rear?

I am under the impression that I can just pull the entire subframe?, bolt everything back up, connect brake lines (& power steering if I swap the rack), and plug the drivelines into my current tranny.

Is this possible? If so, please shower me with tips, tricks and commandments to make it easier. I would be happy to hook people up with parts they need before I scrap the carcass, especially if they provide me with a play-by-play for my project.

I am also trying to compile a list of consumables that I will need for the swap. So far I have: Brake fluid, power steering fluid (Honda of course), and 10-40 oil for the transmotty.

Any help is greatly appreciated, and I look forward to perusing this forum in it's entirety once I am back on the road.

Thanks!

-Jeff

[offthahook]

Yes. I believe ALL 84's and 85's swap out parts. I think even the 3 and 4 doors and DX and LX would be identical for the suspension. I'm pretty sure. Should all just bolt right up. Now the grill and header panel are different on the 3 and 4 doors, but that shoudn't be an issue in your case.

[2ndGenGuy]

Funny thing, there is some guy in Olympia who I see all the time with an 84 or 85 sedan, but he put the hatch grille and header panel on it. It looks really wierd. Especially since the header panel is a different color.

[84AccordLX4dr]

2ndGenGuy-

It looks like the 85 donor car that I have is the same blue as your car, so if you need any misc. trim pieces, vent covers, etc... let me know. I think it even has the original factory floormats, but I don't know if they are gross or not.

I hate to see useable parts go to the crusher. I wish I could keep the car around as my personal U-Pull-It, but I don't have the space.

I have talked to a couple more people and it seems like my swap will work. Anyone who has any experience and could offer advice or shortcuts, let me know because work begins tomorrow!

-Jeff

[Ichiban]

I've seen some 84-85 accords that have two bolts holding the front crossmember to the frame rail, and some that flare out at the ends and have 4 bolts. The Se-i cars have different driveline and hub components.

[offthahook]

Man, I feel you on hating to see good stuff get crushed. I need a part like YESTERDAY, so I'll see if you think you could get it out to me quick. I'm adding FACTORY cruise to my S hatchback. This is an undertaking to say the very least. I have all my parts except the gas pedal and related cables. What I need is the gas pedal and EVERYTHING attached to it, uncut, from a car with OEM cruise. No biggie if you can't get to it right away, but I need it now. That's all we're really waiting on at this point. Let me know if you can pull it and ship it on the quick. Paypal is locked and loaded.

I think you're set on the front end swap. I've never done one, but it should be straightforward with the right tools. I can't think of any secrets or hidden type things that will give you major troubles, other than 22 year old steel fasteners!! I would look very closely at the coil springs and struts and use the better set (or replace if you want).

[2ndGenGuy]

Jeff,

How are the front door panels? I cut holes in mine for speakers, and I cut them too high, so the speaker grilles hit my dash when I shut the door. I'm currently running without speaker grilles and the speakers mounted on the door panel. It doesn't look too bad, but I'd like to get some nice door panels to replace these ones and probably go back to the stock look.

Your donor car is an LX I take it? So it's got the power lock switch and the power window switches? I don't necessarily need the switches, I can swap mine in, but a spare set would be cool.

If they're in good shape, let me know on the cost, and I can PayPal ya or something. Would you be able to post some good high-res pics by chance?

Thanks!

2ndGenGuy-
It looks like the 85 donor car that I have is the same blue as your car, so if you need any misc. trim pieces, vent covers, etc... let me know. I think it even has the original factory floormats, but I don't know if they are gross or not.
I hate to see useable parts go to the crusher. I wish I could keep the car around as my personal U-Pull-It, but I don't have the space.
I have talked to a couple more people and it seems like my swap will work. Anyone who has any experience and could offer advice or shortcuts, let me know because work begins tomorrow!
-Jeff

[84AccordLX4dr]

So, I decided that it wasn't worth it to swap the whole subframe, since I would have to take both exhausts down and the chances of taking off 6 rusty old nuts without breaking off a stud were very slim.

What I am doing now is swapping the control arm, steering knuckle and strut, including the brakes. It seems to be working well, the only hangup so far was the axle nuts, which I didn't even have to remove... Grrr...

Anyway, I may end up having time to pull the cruise control for you offthahook, and as far as the door panels for 2ndgenguy, the donor car is not the LX, so no switches. I don't think the non-LX panels would work, would they?

If you guys want stuff, quote me a fair price and I will get the ball rolling. I sell stuff on Ebay, so I am down with paypal and shipping and all that jazz.

I have decided that any extra time will be spent pulling things like the tranny (seemed pretty tight and mine grinds in 3rd...), the carb and the exhaust for spares.

Lovin it...

-Jeff

[2ndGenGuy]

Thanks for lettin me know, but yeah I'll need the LX door panels.

Thanks,

John

[offthahook]

Sounds tight. Maybe throw some pics. up so we can see the donor car. With me having a 3 door, it kinda limits what I can use off a 4 door. They're the same from the dash forward and the center console, but no go for the other stuff body wise. So far, a cat on this forum has hooked me up SOLID with hatch parts, with more to come at some point! Let me strain my brain and I will think of what I can use (that is easy to pull and ship). It's just hard to get parts for these whips anymore!! And you know the yard will crush your donor car quick because there are like 3 people who request parts from these old ACCORDS!

Here's a link to my 2G in progress...

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2166512

[84AccordLX4dr]

Well, the update is that I am going to keep the donor for a while. I spent the better part of 2 days dealing with control arm bushings. Blech.

The right bushing on the donor car was shot, as the center metal sleeve was seized to the bolt. (Yes, that means that I pulled a 1/2 inch sleeve through a 1/4 inch bolt hole. It's a parts car.) So I figured what the hell, I may as well replace both bushings.

Bad Idea.

I set to work on the left bushing from the donor car and after several hours of fighting with it, I removed it. This involved drilling out the rubber and very carefully hack sawing out the outer sleeve. With some clever thinking, I used a couple sockets of various sizes and a large bolt (oh yah and increasingly larger hammers) to install the new bushing. Oops, forgot to leave room for the center sleeve to come out the bottom... Squish.

By now it is 3:45pm on Saturday night on Memorial day weekend. I took the arm and the other bushing to a shop I used to pump gas at and had them press the ruined bushing out.

"But Wait" you say, "Don't you need that other bushing for the right control arm?" Nope. The ball joint was messed up on that one so I used the right arm from the good car instead, with the intact bushing.

Well, as the new bushing was being pressed in, I said to the mechanic who was going out of his way to help me out "Thanks a million man, you are a real lifesaver" just as the bushing GETS CRUSHED BY THE PRESS.

So, it is off to the parts warehouse that closed 5 minutes after I arrived. I did get in, but my parts didn't get pulled before the warehouse guys went home. I came back the next morning and was hooked up by an awesome guy named Wayne. He is the man if you ever go to the Napa warehouse store on Lombard. Anyway, the next few hours were spent with a combination of tap tap tapping away with the hammer on the cold (yep, put it in the freezer) bushing and a socket and then squeezing unmercifully with the vice (plus some large washers to keep from repeating my first performance).

The horrible part is that it turns out that I didn't need to replace any bushings at all.

Oh, and I killed the windshield trying to remove it from the donor car. Tip: do like the factory manual says (helps if you read it first) and poke a small hole, thread a piece of piano wire through the hole, attach handles, and saw through the glue.

The red car is back together though, and now all she needs is her toes straightened out. I even replaced all her belts. No more squealing!!!

The good news for you is that the donor car is still around for a while, cruise control and all. I will try to take some pics before I haul it off to my folks' back yard again.

[Ichiban]

From experience:

1. Front lower control arms are cheap. They come with a bushing already installed.

2. Use a zip cut (thin grinding wheel) to cut the bolt on each side of the control arm. Err on the side of caution and cut through the collar that is seized to the bolt, so you don't damage the bracket that it bolts to. Then, drill and easy-out the remaining bolt stub from the nut that is welded to the bracket. Replace the bolt with grade 12 (metric 10.9) hardware.

3. To remove the bushing from the end of the control arm (had to do this on the rear): Torch out the rubber completely, then using a die grinder or drill with a round burr, grind through the remaining sleeve in a line from one end of the bore to the other. Make sure you grind only through the sleeve, and not into the bore of the control arm. Once you have relieved enough material, you can use a cold chisel to tap out the remains of the sleeve. Heating and quenching sometimes helps too.

Clean up the bore with sandpaper and press in the new bushing, lubricating the bore first with silicone based grease.

Edit: I used 2 sockets and a vise to install the bushings, one socket to push the bushing in and the other socket to allow the other end of the bushing to poke out and not get squashed.