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Thread: My 1g Thread

  1. #1
    2ndGenGuy
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    My 1g Thread

    Well, I am finally starting to make progress again on the 1gee. So I decided to make one thread instead of 20 different threads for every little thing I do to my car. Going to start 1 thread, start it with a little history of the car, and go from there.

    Here is is when my friend and I picked it up May 5th 2006:




    My friend paid $250 for it. It was blowing white smoke, and my friend and I figured it just had a blown head gasket, as is typical with any CVCC car.

    So first thing we did was pull the head. Turns out that it had been sitting long enough and wearing weirdly, and had a ring groove in the top of the cylinder wall.



    My friend let it sit for a couple months, and he decided he'd let me have it for $100. I then decided it was time to rip out the motor and get things going.

    I took the engine block down to a machine shop, had them hot tank the motor. They also bored it out and made sure everything was good to go. They got me new pistons, and set them on the rods. I also bought a crank kit off of eBay.




    Well, as it turns out, the eBay crank kit is a fucking POS. Either it was never turned, or it was improperly turned. I checked the tolerances withe Plastigauge and it was all sorts of fucked up. Guess that's what I get for buying a $100 crank and bearing set from eBay.

    Meanwhile, I had traveled to Canada and picked up an EL cylinder head to go on the EK1 block. I took it down to a machine shop, and had them put in all new seals, valve grind, etc, etc. Turns out that the head was from an '83, and my block was from my '81. So they're completely wrong. Won't work, HARRACK! But it sure did look pretty!



    So between buying a house, moving, trying to keep the 2gee running, and tons of other shit, the car sat for another bunch of months, sitting in the rain, getting no love. I called a bunch of wrecking yards just north of the border to try and find a cylinder head from an '81. No luck for me.

    Until early last month. I finally decided FUCK IT, and that I needed to get this car in gear. I took the original EK1 cylinder head down to a machine shop. Well, wouldn't you fucking know, it turns out that it had a crack in it. Another setback.

    So I went the NEXT day and pulled a head off of an engine that I knew this dood had sitting out in his yard. It was gross and nasty and wasn't sure it would work.



    Lots of parts were fucked pretty bad. Some of the rocker arms were fucked. The valves were toast. So they took parts from both heads, the best from each, reground the cam, and made this:



    So 3 cylinder heads later, and 2 cranks, I'm finally getting things together. I took my original crank down to the machine shop last week, they're going to mic, grind, and order bearings for me. I should be getting it back tomorrow.

    I also spent all this weekend removing the interior and cleaning everything out. The rear seats are getting removed, thanks to a recent mouse debacle.



    So that's all for past history. Everything in the thread from this point will be pure progress! Watch out!
    Last edited by 2ndGenGuy; 10-08-2007 at 11:29 PM.



  2. #2
    3Geez Veteran A18A's Avatar
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    sexy :O that block is beautiful!

  3. #3
    2ndGenGuy
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Tonight, I took the carpets down to the local car wash. I hung them up on the "floor mat" hangars (hey, carpets are like floor mats, right?). They got a good soaking with Simple Green and a good thorough scrubbing. I then blasted them with the hot, soapy water from the pressure washer. Then did a high-pressure rinse. You should have seen the mud that came rolling out. It was nasty as hell.

    Well here's a sample of what the carpets looked like before:



    And here they are now! A little frayed around the edges, but they look spankin' good, and will get me by until I can afford a carpet kit.


  4. #4
    2.0Si User Hazwan's Avatar
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    looking good!

    1986 Honda Prelude build thread
    1981 Honda Accord (sold)

  5. #5
    3Geez Veteran MessyHonda's Avatar
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    nice work. i want to see it running tho.

    1989 Honda Accord LX-i
    B18c1 swap since 7/2011
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  6. #6
    2ndGenGuy
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by MessyHonda View Post
    nice work. i want to see it running tho.
    It's coming soon. Crank will be home in the next couple days. Then rebuilding bottom end will commence. Then I'll have a whole engine!!

  7. #7
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    That car looks super-clean. Was it from up in WA? If so, I'm surprised that it looks like there's no rust at all.

    Are remanufactured engines available for these cars? If so, why did you decide to DIY instead of getting a remanufactured?

    Are you going to try to keep the car stock, or modify it?

  8. #8
    2ndGenGuy
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by BotchedExperiment View Post
    That car looks super-clean. Was it from up in WA? If so, I'm surprised that it looks like there's no rust at all.

    Are remanufactured engines available for these cars? If so, why did you decide to DIY instead of getting a remanufactured?

    Are you going to try to keep the car stock, or modify it?
    I get the feeling that the car is from California or Arizona or something. It's not a Cali car because it didn't have the emissions stuff. It's very sun-faded. The vinyl on the seats was kinda crispy, and the plastic was faded to almost white! But yeah, the complete lack of rust tells me that it's not from around here, though rust isn't a HUGE problem here like it is on the east coast. It doesn't rain as much in the PNW as people say. In fact, had this car come from eastern Washington, this is probably exactly how it would have looked.

    There are some placed to get reman'd motors. I didn't wanna go that route, because quite honestly I don't trust other people's work completely. I would have taken the engine apart and checked the torque of the caps and the bearing clearances, and I figured it was just as easy to build it from the ground up. Plus, I've never done it before, and really wanted to learn how to do it.

    The car will stay mostly stock. Motor will be stock with a Weber carb installed. I'm installing some 2nd gen seats, just because I found them and they were freakin' clean, like brand new. And I'll be deleting the back seat, and building storage compartments for tools, since this will be my new Honda parts hauler.

  9. #9
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Self serve car wash pressure FTW!!

    Are you puttung a 5 speed in it? I assume you are since I have a couple of your old AT parts that you would need!

    I am not sure you can get an off the shelf motor already rebuilt for that car. Back in the day, I called Jasper and a few other places that had like 50 of every domestic motor already rebuilt and instock. ALL of those places said they could rebuild MY motor if I shipped it to them and it was like $2500. That was years ago. I would always just take an old motor (and another one for parts) to a local machine shop and have them assemble it. Takes a little longer, but well worth it. You guys will see how 2ndgenguy's engine bay will look and how reliable his car will be. He's doing it the right way and it will take a lot more time and a few more dollars, but it will freaking be tight!
    Last edited by offthahook; 10-09-2007 at 11:36 AM.

  10. #10
    LXi User 79cord's Avatar
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Good to see pictures to remind us how nice it looks.

    & a hatch can be amazingly useful for moving junk around in, in spite of its semi-stylish shape & high loading lip, -I've fitted a toploading washing machine in the back of mine -& shut the hatch !
    Always worth keeping some oversize carpet remnants back there to unfurl & protect the interior trims, & collect loose dirt & debris.

    Can't wait to see it running, though not as much as you no doubt
    Last edited by 79cord; 10-09-2007 at 01:41 PM.

  11. #11

    AccordB20A's Avatar
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    shes a minter. one shiny engine and its gunna be good when its going.

  12. #12
    2ndGenGuy
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Yeah, I'm putting a 5-speed in it. Nathan (xvok) came over and helped me sort it out. I'm missing some of the bushings (discontinued, no aftermarket that I can find) for the shift rod. I'll find something that will work in their place. Some washers and rubber hose might work. I guess it will be some trial and error for sure.

    I pulled the automatic pedal out. Damn thing is bolted on with like 15 bolts. Had to drop the steering column, which wasn't that big of a deal.

    I only had like an hour and a half to work on my car this evening. So I got the autotragic pedals out, and called it a night.

    Here are the manual pedals I pulled from a being-parted-out '81 LX.


    And here is my automatic pedal. The gas pedal stays in the car, which is nice.



    Oh yeah, and I got my crankshaft back from the shop! They cleanded it and micropolished it. $35 for the job, and they ordered me a set of "standard" bearings. I can't get the color-coded bearings, and they said these will work fine and are well within spec but the Honda color-coded bearings are just "tighter." I'm going to give it a shot, and see what the plastigauge tells me. He said it's either that, or grind the bearings down to 0.10mm undersize, and then you lose some of the factory hardening that he says is more important. I like what he told me, he seems to know his shit.



    So now I've got everything I need to build the motor. I'll start building it AGAIN next weekend when I've got two solid days off to concentrate on this thing and focus on getting it right.

  13. #13
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    You're totally missing out on the 2-speed hondamatic. There's nothing like going down a the interstate at 70 mph, the engine sounding like she's ready to blow, semi's flying by you like you're standing still, and thinking to yourself, "more rabbit, I need more rabbit."

  14. #14
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by BotchedExperiment View Post
    You're totally missing out on the 2-speed hondamatic. There's nothing like going down a the interstate at 70 mph, the engine sounding like she's ready to blow, semi's flying by you like you're standing still, and thinking to yourself, "more rabbit, I need more rabbit."
    How true is that! I think the 81's had a 3 speed AT, but maybe it was still only a 2 speed. In any case, cruising at 70MPH makes that car seems like it is maxed out.

    John, did you get a 5 speed tranny yet? I know you said Josh's was kinda rough. Just wondering if you got a servicable 5 speed yet. Man, sounds like your machine shop tech. is on point. Keep us posted!

  15. #15
    2ndGenGuy
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by offthahook View Post
    How true is that! I think the 81's had a 3 speed AT, but maybe it was still only a 2 speed. In any case, cruising at 70MPH makes that car seems like it is maxed out.

    John, did you get a 5 speed tranny yet? I know you said Josh's was kinda rough. Just wondering if you got a servicable 5 speed yet. Man, sounds like your machine shop tech. is on point. Keep us posted!
    No, I haven't found one yet. I'm broke for the month thanks to the new cylinder head and crank, and misc other things I've paid for. I don't want to go anywhere near the tranny that was out in his yard. If it looked anything like that engine, it was pretty trashed. I saw the outside of the case, and it looked like they'd pried the halfshafts out with a forklift. The case was mangled around the output shafts pretty bad. If the inside looked anything like the inside of that cylinder head I pulled, it would have been useless.

    I'm probably going to just search car-part.com and try and find one with like a 30-day warranty. Just long enough to make sure that it's good to go, and returnable if it's bad.

  16. #16
    LXi User 79cord's Avatar
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    At least the gearbox doesn't look to be as year sensitive as the shift linkage & EK head, should make it easier to find one! You've got the difficult bits already

  17. #17
    2ndGenGuy
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Removed the dash this weekend. There were mouse nests up inside of there. It smelled pretty bad too. Plus I decided that it would be a good time to replace the 26 year old heater core. I wouldn't want to do it any time other than now. It's amazing how much stuff you have to take apart just to get to the heater core. I wonder if the new ones are so bad. At least my Ford truck, it was only 3 bolts to pull and it was out!

    Oh yes, and please notice the 5-speed shifter in there. That's right, auto stick is gone! I rebuilt that thing, all the new rubber I could get, new bushings, regreased everything, cleaned it up and reinstalled it!





    Here's the HVAC system. Lots of little shit to take apart. I hope I'm not missing anything when I get it all together! Yikes!

    Last edited by 2ndGenGuy; 10-14-2007 at 07:14 PM.

  18. #18

    Cheeseburger's Avatar
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    awesome!

  19. #19
    2.0Si User Hazwan's Avatar
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Man, your dash looks relly nice and new!

    1986 Honda Prelude build thread
    1981 Honda Accord (sold)

  20. #20
    2ndGenGuy
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Hazwan View Post
    Man, your dash looks relly nice and new!
    It's actually a bit sun-faded and dirty. Just wait until I get it cleaned up and shiny though!

  21. #21
    3Geez Veteran Civic Accord Honda's Avatar
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Awesome thread

    1988 Honda Accord LX-i Coupe 123k miles.

  22. #22
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Your dash looks really good from what I can see. Good call on replacing that heater core right now as well. Man, you dig deep when you tackle a project. Really clean for a 26 year old car though.

  23. #23
    2ndGenGuy
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by offthahook View Post
    Your dash looks really good from what I can see. Good call on replacing that heater core right now as well. Man, you dig deep when you tackle a project. Really clean for a 26 year old car though.
    Yeah, I'm digging deep into this one. I hope I'm not going too far though. I'm gettin skurred now! I gotta wait on a heater core, and hope that I can put the HVAC back together proper-like!

  24. #24
    LX User redr2's Avatar
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    just reading back.....you definitely do not want to have the Honda cranks turned down as they are nitrided from the factory as a hardening process, they wear out real fast if its not re-hardened.

  25. #25
    2ndGenGuy
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    Re: My 1g Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by redr2 View Post
    just reading back.....you definitely do not want to have the Honda cranks turned down as they are nitrided from the factory as a hardening process, they wear out real fast if its not re-hardened.
    Right. My machinist said that they amount of turning they do isn't small enough to break through the hardened surface, since the nitriding penetrates into the metal. They said though, that it will definitely make it thinner and it is best to not turn it if at all possible.

    So it's not like it will explode, but it will wear quicker. You may only get 100k out of it instead of 200k possibly? I dunno exactly, but it will still last you some time.

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