The RamThis Accord Update Thread!!!

[88Accord-DX]

Shit, at that rate, you should be good to go next fall if sooner.

[RamThis]

Actually, the plan is to have it done by Xmas lol.

[2oodoor]

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!!

The factorys, Im sure Honda of America is doing this as well as other manufactors and bodyshops use a special epoxy glue gun that mixes when you pull the trigger, for glueing the braces on the inside of flat panels. No welding or tacking required. This glue is the real thing, Kent Automotive sells it . look Kent on the www.

[RamThis]

Yeah I had planned to use some body sealant/adhesive to pookie up around the roof cross braces, otherwise the roof will rattle and all kinds of crap. The welding I plan to do is where I cut the sections out and have to stitch them back together in my car.

That stuff you mentioned sounds like some good adhesive. I will keep it in mind if I ever do anything like this again, have it on hand before I start the project so I can just glue the panels in place first, and weld the ends up afterwards.

[RamThis]

Allright MORE stuff done.....

Could not get the car moved this weekend to TIG up the sunroof grafting. Oh well, next weekend I guess. So, I spent the day finishing up pulling my engine and starting to clean up my engine bay.












See that crappy old window trim, I got brand new trim to replace it!!!!




The worst dent on the car that I have to fix, other than the bodywork I have to do around the sunroof....






Engine Bay after being soaked with degreaser spray for a couple hours, and pressure washed with my 3500 PSI pressure washer. Still did not get rid of areas of this white film in places. So I soaked it down in some engine detailer, and I'll hook up the hot water and pressure wash it with hot water later.

[RamThis]

And, my Carpet came in!!!!!



Carotman was right on, the two small samples they sent me, vs a cutout of my old carpet. Ocean blue is the lighter square sample, it would have definitely been wrong.

[Legend_master]

WOW that looks clean, I absolutely cannot wait to see what that's going to look like when you are done. I hope you use those alloy wheels when it is all said and done. They will look much better then the hubs.

[RamThis]

I'm going to use the stockers for a while until I can get some nice aftermarket 15's. Really will suck though since I JUST put brand new tires all the way around, Toyo's, and bought new OEM style wheel covers. At least what I have will look super clean and OEM for now anyway. I really want some 5 point star rims of some design, not sure what yet. Thinking of a dark metallic grey with polished outer rim, I LOVE that look on the 3G's. Should look great on a monochrome Laurel Blue car too.

[MessyHonda]

wow what kind of degreaser did you use?....i wish i had a preasure washer....all i have is my thumb over the hose...lol

[MessyHonda]

I'm going to use the stockers for a while until I can get some nice aftermarket 15's. Really will suck though since I JUST put brand new tires all the way around, Toyo's, and bought new OEM style wheel covers. At least what I have will look super clean and OEM for now anyway. I really want some 5 point star rims of some design, not sure what yet. Thinking of a dark metallic grey with polished outer rim, I LOVE that look on the 3G's. Should look great on a monochrome Laurel Blue car too.

you are not going to transfer the front bigger lx-i brakes?...remember also do the sway bars.

[RamThis]

The degreaser I used was cheapo Awful Zone degreaser. Just soaked it down, let it set an hour or so, soaked it again, went and had dinner and such, then came back out and pressure washed it again. Not a spot of grease under there, you could almost eat off that frame!

As for the brakes, maybe when my car needs new pads in the front I will. I also just put brand new rotors and pads on the front end 13K miles ago LOL. I want to get some use out of the stuff I already put on new before I go "upgrading" LOL.

I did alot of this stuff not expecting to be restoring the car to near new condition. But, at the time, it HAD to have this stuff replaced anyway because I needed it running and safe. I also want to do a 2" drop with some new lowering coils and new struts but that will have to come later. I'm thinking next spring/summer I will have a suspension/brake/wheel frenzy........

[Pico]

I was showing my wife the pictures you have posted and she is very impressed,(we both are) with the quality of the work you have done.
for all the excellent work you are doing.

[RamThis]

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Pop!!!!!

I am hoping this car will turn out really, really clean when all is said and done. I never thought I'd be digging this deep into this car when I towed it home a couple years ago lol.

[RamThis]

Well, bodywork has started. Last night I took the car over to my friends house and we sured up everything. He told me that the stitch welds I did around the sunroof are all that a body tech ever does in that situation. So, hope he's right, cause it's getting bondo'ed over tomorrow. Woulda done it tonight but my tube of body filler from earlier this summer somehow hardened. That shit aint cheap either!!

Once I get the body repainted, I'll install the PGM-FI harness after I clean it up good and re-loom anything that needs it, and start re-installing the interor while I get started on the engine.

This stupid car is turning into one hell of a project!!!

I'll get some pics of the bodywork tomorrow.....

[Toneloc5145]

This is looking good. I wish I could do that to my car, but its my DD. I look forward to coming back here and seeing the progress you've made. Keep up the good work.

[87lxiaccord]

you're an inspiration man most people would just look for an lxi that's a lot of work you have done i feel like a lazy bum now and for the rims have you seen 88lxi68...those are really nice

[RamThis]

Thanks guys!

And do you have a pic of those rims? I'd like to see them. I'll search some too and see what I come up with.



I went and bought some short strand fiberglass filler for around the sunroof area, some finishing filler, and a fancy bondo board, which will be SOOO much nicer than having to cut a cardboard box flap off to mix up my bondo on LOL. I also got some body seam sealer to use on my roof spans to make the roof nice and solid and support it against the spanners while I re-establish the shape with some skim coats of filler. The welding warped it just a bit right around the seam, not bad, but it will take some filler about 1/16"-1/8" at most to bring up the low spots, and I hammered down the high spots to below surface a bit.

I also bought the paint today. 2 Quarts of Dupont ChromaBase Laurel Blue. They had two variations, one was a bit darker than the other. I chose the one that was a bit darker, and it was the exact same color code as mine anyway (after 17 years I think mine had just faded to a bit lighter blue)

I also moved my othe work bench and my big Snap-On box back from my buddy's shop where I was working, I now am unemployed, time to look for more work LOL. Maybe I will have time to get the majority of the paint done before I find another job though!!

Sorry havent taken any pics yet but I will get some up within the day......

[RamThis]

Allright, its picture time again amigos.

Today I did away with the pesky seams on the roof in the back. After some roughing of the surface with some 80 grit and a good cleaning out of the channels, they got filled with fiberglass filler, smoothed over, and blended in. Still just a tad more blending to do in order to make it perfect though, but it's damn close. Cool thing is I could see where they brazed the body together right in that spot from the factory. I always wondered what was under that paint right there.

I also deleted the antenna on top, good riddance. I'm going to be using an internal antenna of some sort, still looking around. Any suggestions?


Ok so here are the seams, cleaned and ready to be filled. I know, to do it "right" it should have been bridged and welded in with some metal, but I'm just trying to get this done so that's why I used the fiberglass filler, should resist cracking out really well. If not, oh well I'll do it again later lol. But I'm really confident this will hold for a long long time.





Filled and ready to shape





Here is the filler I used. This is also the base filler around the sunroof opening, to resist flex and cracking. This stuff is great for deeper fills, it's almost more of a resin and cut up fiberglass cloth than anything, so it makes a super strong base fill for the thick areas or places that will flex, and then you blend on top of that with your blending filler. Should be no chance of any filler cracking down the road (literally LOL)



Easy sanding blending filler...



And this is the product I used to seal between the roof cross supports and the roof skin itself. Due to the warpage in a few places, there were a few areas that would "oilcan", and needed support. I injected this between the skin and subframe of the roof, not only for support, but it also will adhere the subframe to the skin making it that much stronger. This modified roof is one solid mofo now. Will be easier to re-establish it's shape too with it supported right.



Oh and can't forget the paint!! 2 quarts ran about $170. Hoping that will cover the car and the extras I plan to paint.....



Fiberglass filler knocked down and shaped, ready for the blending filler....

[RamThis]

First layer of blending filler on the other side, blended in, but I can feel a slighty high spot still that needs to be blended around, so I will hit it again with a bit more filler in some strategic places and re-block it out, should make my work invisible (which is the key to good body work!)



And finally, say bye bye rooftop antenna!!! We welded in a patch over the hole, and it got covered with f'glass filler. It'll be blended in later as well....

[Pico]

Beautiful work as always RamThis.

[RamThis]

Just need lots more of it lol.

[87lxiaccord]

https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56097 86lxi68's pics

[MessyHonda]

yup starting to look good.....keep up the good work....i cant wait to see it painted

[BITESIZE]

I can appreciate the hard work you're doing, I've been block sanding and filling for a while now on my car and it takes alot of time! I can't wait to see your final projects outcome.

[RamThis]

https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56097 86lxi68's pics

Ok yeah I seen them before, those are nice rims. Not exactly what I'm looking for though, I like five spoke rims best, with a fatter spoke. But those would take a close second!