The RamThis Accord Update Thread!!!

[RamThis]

Well, got both rear side mounts made and measured out, and cut the rear sub-structure mount from the donor car, fit in my car perfectly with no other cutting or adjustments, man did I feel good!!

I borrowed a small 110 MIG welder from my buddy. He told me the tank had enough gas to do at least what I was going to be doing. I got the two nuts welded on the backside of the brackets I made, and ran out of gas. Damnit. So, Im screwed tonight. Had hoped to weld in the back brackets tonight, mock up the rest using the sunroof as an "oklahoma blueprint" and make the rest of my mounts, and possibly have the hole cut tonight in the roof. Well, without being able to sure up the rear mounts, I cant do anything else now. Bummer.

Guess I gotta wait till tomorrow night after I get the tank filled so I can weld up the back mounts and continue on....

A couple or so pics to come later.....

[RamThis]

Ok, it's pix-o-rama night!!
Got ALOT done with the sunroof conversion. I realized too late I had been going about this all wrong, but was able to save some work tonight after I figured out how I should have done this in the first place. Oh well, live and learn huh.
I started by cutting the substructure in a way that It would fit past the body of the car inside if I were to pull it straight down. I used the forward edges of the front cross pillar as guides as to where to cut those webs, and the two holes for the sunvisor clip screws gave me a reference point for the middle web's line. After I cut it and left it still attached to the skin around the sunroof opening, I then made a compass and marked an even 1" line around the opening on the roof skin. I then cut through the roof skin only. Using a pneumatic scraper, I released the adhesive between the skin past the cutout part, and the substructure I had cut loose earlier. The unit came out as a whole piece! I used the template that I made of the location of the original hole to mark and cut a location hole in my car, and once I get the substructure aligned, I will cut the hole an inch bigger so the two skins will butt up to eachother, not overlap, because overlapping the skins would mean the sunroof would be recessed a bit and we dont want that. So, the point Im at now is, measure all the attach points, cut my roof out an inch bigger to facilitate the skins, tack weld it in with the little MIG welder, then put the sunroof in for a test fitting and make sure nothing binds. If all goes well, I will then load the car on a trailer, take it to a friend's house, and we will TIG the whole thing up really, really solid. Once that's done, it's paint and body time baby!!!! Yeah!!
Anyways, heres the pix of what I have done so far....

[RamThis]

The Gaping hole in the donor car lol....

[BITESIZE]

Looks good, and a damn lot of worky! SWEET!

[Listen2myBASS]

thats my one wanna-do to-do...what did u use to cut the hole?

[RamThis]

thats my one wanna-do to-do...what did u use to cut the hole?

A 90* Pneumatic Die Grinder with a 3" cutoff wheel. Makes alot of noise and dust/sparks, but it's about the most precise, cleanest cut you can make.

Had I been smart, I woulda cut the WHOLE understructure out as one piece, instead of messing with trying to make my own rear mounts. Hindsight is 20/20 they say.....

Knowing what I know now, I think I could do the swap in a couple evenings.

[RamThis]

Allright, another big milestone in the Honda!! The sunroof is OFFICIALLY IN!! All the welding is not done and what not, but it fits, opens, and closes perfect. I now have one of the few LX models with a sunroof!!! Kick Ass!!

Now I gotta get it to my friends house this weekend to TIG it all up solid, then I can do the body work. Until then, I will continue with the LXI swap. WooHoo!!!










And to make today all that much better, about two or three minutes after I crawled out of the car from bolting the sunroof in and closing it the first time, the FedEx truck showed up, with my new front and rear window trim!!

[Legend_master]

You paid a pretty penny for that window trim dident you? As for the sunroof, all I can say is WOW thats fucking awsome. Make sure to run the drain plugs properly so you dont get any water dumping in the car.

[BITESIZE]

Neato, now for lots of bondo and fiberglassn!

[RamThis]

You paid a pretty penny for that window trim dident you? As for the sunroof, all I can say is WOW thats fucking awsome. Make sure to run the drain plugs properly so you dont get any water dumping in the car.

Nah it wasnt that much, about $160 for the upper front, all the rear trim, upper rear corner piece clips, and all the black pop in clips for the cowl cover.

Yep, that's on the list too, going to pull the drain lines and duckbills out of the donor car and put them in mine.

[2oodoor]

youve done this type of work before I hope, its a little more delicate than splitting tractors,, lol
and foresight is very important. your a brave fer shure.... I hope you can keep up with all the bolts, diff lengths and crap like that.... and warning, large projects where your making major changes in more than one area can get very frustrating and getting burned out is risky... stay focused, keep your eyeon the ball.

[RamThis]

Nope this is my first time tearing down a car this far. And, my first time cutting and welding body panels. But I'm a fast learner and a self-teacher on most of what I do. I can watch it done and usually have most of it figured out and learn as I go with my own project until I master it. What better car to hone my skills on than a 17 year old import huh LOL.

But yeah, burnout is always a possibility. That's why the thing sat for about 10 months after I initially got it running, because the timing belt slipped a few teeth when I was test starting it, and it pissed me off so bad that I didnt even touch the car for nearly a year LOL. But for some reason, this project is different. I dont dread going out to work on it, I enjoy it. Hope it stays that way lol.

[BITESIZE]

Ramthis = supastaw!

[88Accord-DX]

Nice, you putting a bead between the tacks or filling it in?

[Cheeseburger]

sick bro! cant wait till its all done!

[Pico]

That is some FANTASTIC work you did there RamThis

[MessyHonda]

That is some FANTASTIC work you did there RamThis

pico lets do it on my dx...LOL

[forrest89sei]

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!

I think we have a Future AOM here!

[Pico]

pico lets do it on my dx...LOL

Ummmmm Ya Know that just doesnt sound right if ya read over a couple of times. lol j/k
But Ya we take the one out of my donor car and drive over to RamThis house and see if he will install it for us

[Cheeseburger]

Ummmmm Ya Know that just doesnt sound right if ya read over a couple of times. lol j/k
But Ya we take the one out of my donor car and drive over to RamThis house and see if he will install it for us

lol..... i love the moon roofs

[MessyHonda]

Ummmmm Ya Know that just doesnt sound right if ya read over a couple of times. lol j/k
But Ya we take the one out of my donor car and drive over to RamThis house and see if he will install it for us

LOL you are dirty.....no more porn watching...lol yeah...lets just UPS RamThis...overnight....should cost less than a airplane ticket.

[RamThis]

At least cut some holes in the box for me.....


Yeah, the rest of the seam will get welded up, just not going to do it with the wire welder. You cant leave the open gap like that anyway, it will flex and any filler you put in there will crack and chip out and all kinds of crap lol. I just have it stitched together to hold it steady for the final TIG'ing, then I get to use some Fibre-Fill and some fine grain skim coat to finalize the shape, then alot of block sanding and buildup primer.

I sincerely hope after all this work, once it's all done, SOMEONE nominates me for AOM LOL. Though it doesnt matter, I'm doing this just because I enjoy it and want a nice newer looking car but dont have the money for a new car, so I'll make the blue wonder as new as I can!!

[BITESIZE]

You will be AOM sometime down the ride...
























































Maybe in 5 years.

[MessyHonda]

You will be AOM sometime down the ride...
Maybe in 5 years.

dont be mean.....maybe 2 or 3...lol

[RamThis]

Ye of little faith. I can have it done in a year and a half LMAO.