SE-i Floor Mats

[nfs480]

Hello, i'm new to the forums, got my '89 Accord SE-i a couple of years ago from my uncle who owned it since new. He didn't exactly take care of it though so i've been trying to fix it up. Anyway, when I got it all of the special SE-i floor mats were ruined and I had to throw them away. Ever since i've been using some cheap $3 Rubbermaid ones, but I would like to purchase those same original floormats again. If anyone out there is willing to sell or knows of a place where I can buy tan '89 SE-i Floormats (for a 4-door sedan if that matters) for a reasonable price than I would be very interested in purchasing them. Thanks.

(I plan to post pics of my SE-i soon but I just got it back from the shop earlier tonight and it's too dark to photograph. Will post some pics of the interior hopefully by tomorrow.)

[Hauntd ca3]

bout all i can suggest is to try ebay, junk yards or if you really keen your honda dealer.
or may be one of the other members might be able to help out.
How bout it guys and girls.
can we help a fellow 3 gee'er

[nfs480]

Yeah, I already tried ebay several times over the past couple of weeks. They never have what i'm looking for. I know I could probably get them from the dealer but I think they'd probably charge an arm and a leg for them. So i'm hoping to find some used ones in decent shape that I can get for a more reasonable price.

[snoopyloopy]

find someone who works for honda and get them to get some for you. probably your best bet if you want new oem ones since honda employees get a cool discount.

[nfs480]

Sounds possible, I don't know how i'd go about doing that however. In the meantime, these are some pics of my car currently:

[MessyHonda]

rust sucks...and the front seats are beat...i went to check out some seats but they wanted 240 each...

[2oodoor]

still it's an SE-I sedan... nice
are the SE-I floormats different than others?
some of these Lx a Lxi interiors have kept well, I see them in the JY in very good condition, mats too.

[nfs480]

The SE-I floormats actually have SE-I embroidered on them and that's why I want to obtain a set. As for those seats, I currently have some nice leather seat covers on them until I get the money necessary to replace them. As for the rust, i'm going to do some body work next year.

[w261w261]

Too bad about the seats. Pity is, all your uncle would have had to do was put some conditioner on the leather periodically, and they would have held up fine.

[nfs480]

Yeah, I was not at all impressed with the way he maintained that car. That rust was also all there from when I obtained it from him, i've managed to keep it from spreading for the time being. If anyone has any good ideas for reupholstery or new seats let me know. Everyone tells me not to put money into this car but I must say, it is a blast to drive and has, what is in my opinion, one of the greatest body styles ever.

[carotman]

fix the oil leaks

[nfs480]

lol, I actually already have an appointment with Honda on December 4th with my favorite mechanic to fix all those oil leaks. Also having him put some new engine mounts in to fix some vibration issues with the dash. Once that's all done there will be no mechanical issues whatsoever, just the body and interior.

[w261w261]

Sounds like you're taking the car to a Honda dealership? It's an expensive way to go. In any case, in all likelihood one of the leaks is coming from the oil filter housing. That housing has a figure-8 gasket on it, which may need to be ordered. You might ask them to order it in advance so the car won't be tied up overnight or more waiting for the part. While they're doing that, I would change the oil pressure switch and spring, not much for the parts, and the housing is going to be off anyway. Hopefully, the mechanic will know not to snap off one of the three bolts holding the housing onto the block, because if he does, there will be a big problem.

The mechanic will probably do this, but you might remind him that the surface of the oil filter mount where the oil filter seats can build up with crud, resulting in a leak. It's easy to clean it up if he remembers to do it. When you change your oil (if you do it yourself - recommended because then you can scope out the undercarriage at the same time), just wipe off the surface of the filter mount before screwing on the new filter. If there's a buildup, you can feel it with your finger...if it's been there for awhile, you can rub it off with a rag.

If you want to get a sense of what's leaking where, get some of those ramps from Autozone and put the front of the car up on them. Go underneath, and unbolt the plastic splash guard from under the engine. Take a couple of cans of Gunk engine cleaner and work over the engine from the top down (cover the distributor and coil), and on the bottom. You might have to do it a couple of times as there's probably a lot of oil all over everything. You definitely will have to take off the splash shield to see what's what. Make sure that the oil pan is actually leaking before the mechanic wades into the job, as it's not such an easy fix.

Since he's working in a Honda dealership, they'll use a Honda brand valve cover gasket I'm sure. If it's somewhere else, make sure they use a Honda gasket, some of the others leak.

I would ask the mechanic to take a look at the CV boots while he's under there. Also have him look at all the coolant hoses, including the little ones that go to the IACV and the fast idle valve. There's about 6 or 8 of them, and they tend to get ignored in favor of the big hoses. I'd throw in a new thermostat and a new coolant sensor (I think it's called the TA sensor, but don't remember exactly). Both of these will give you grief out of proportion to the cost of replacing them now.

Check the strut rod bushings. If there's rattling up front, it's usually them. The mechanic will know what and where they are. Flush the cooling system if it isn't nice and green. As a project of a couple of hours, you can take out the coolant recovery tank by removing the battery (which will give you an opportunity to clean up the terminals and the connectors), remove the battery tray, then take out the bottle and clean out the inside of all the rust. You can use something like "The Must for Rust" or pool tile cleaner or milkstone remover - anything with phosphoric acid in it. That way, you can see the level of fluids in the bottle and you won't risk running out of coolant, and warping the head. People tend to let that happen because they can't easily see the coolant level, first because it's way down there, and second because the bottle is dirty. Use Peak antifreeze btw, it's nice and green, as opposed to Prestone, which is yellow and is harder to see in the bottle.

Learn how to use the search function on this site, so you can get info that's been presented over years. Everything is on here, you just have to find it. Learn to bleed your cooling system, btw. Fluid management is a must in any old car. Get used to checking everything all the time....power steering fluid, brake fluid, and especially the oil and water.

I'm kind of going on here because you're a fellow SE-i owner, a new 3G owner, and because your uncle, if he let the interior turn to shit like that, probably didn't give much of a damn about the rest of the car either. Forget about fixing the leather, btw, it's too far gone. I had a couple of seat panels on my driver's seat replaced 3 years ago, and it was $500. Keep your eye out here, and you might get an interior out of a car that's being parted. Unfortunately, most of the leather in the 3G's is crap by now. You can in the meantime get some nice covers.

Good luck. The folks on this site will help you a lot. Kudo's on bringing back your car, it may not pay off monetarily, but you'll enjoy it immensely.

[Civic Accord Honda]

sweet ride
fix that cancer tho and get some seat covers to cover the rims untel u can get some better tan seats from the junk yard or get the seats redone

[nfs480]

Thanks for the information. So far i've had the same mechanic at Honda do everything on the car, he's a really cool guy (master mechanic there for 10 years) who knows what he's doing. He's already done the timing belt and water pump for me. They checked everything out and he's determined the oil is leaking from the oil pan gasket for sure, and possibly the main seal as well. (I had him look at it this past week, he also degreased the engine the week before that so he could get a better look at where it is coming from). He's already ordered the parts and when he gets back from his vacation at the beginning of December he's going to do all the work (said it would take about a day). I'm hoping to eventually save up enough money to just have the dealership reupholster the car using the original OEM stuff (I know it won't pay off monetarily, but this thing is a blast to drive).

I would do more of this stuff myself, but i'm new to the whole car thing (i'm only 18 and this is my first car) so I really don't have any experience fixing things, so I really don't trust myself with work as major as this. If you guys have any tips for where I may go to learn more about doing this stuff myself, I would greatly appreciate it.

[A18A]

damn ccar looks clean and shiny even with the rust lol

[w261w261]

< If you guys have any tips for where I may go to learn more about doing this stuff myself, I would greatly appreciate it >

That's easy. YOU'RE ALREADY HERE!

[nfs480]

Hahaha, nice.

Well, i'm not going to be able to afford body work until spring, and with the roads the way they are here in the winter (MN has lots of salt on the roads), what tips can you guys give me to help preserve it through the winter until I can afford to get work done?

[russiankid]

To prevent the rust from spreading till then i would sad all the rust away, spray that area with Duplicolor primer and find some what matching paint.

[w261w261]

To prevent the rust from spreading till then i would sad all the rust away, spray that area with Duplicolor primer and find some what matching paint.

Honda was really stupid about the rear wheel arches, and worse, they didn't do anything about it for years. Inexcusable IMO. The Europeans started using galvanized metal around early '80's.

The problem with the arches is that behind the lip is a slug of body filler, or whatever it is, that retains water and allows the metal to rust through. Even if you sand out what you've got, put rust-stopping stuff on it, and repaint, within a few weeks the rust will start coming through. The only solution is to cut out the whole arch, and weld in a replacement arch, which is available btw. Until you can do that, just go for the cosmetic treatment, it's superficial but better than seeing the rust come through.

However, there's deeper stuff at work here, and that is what might be happening to the rear wheel wells. You can't really see that until you take out the trunk liners. They come out kind of easily if you have the right implement, called a "panel removal tool." It's a forked thingy that an auto parts store can lead you to. You use it to pop out the plugs holding in the trunk panels. Don't try to use a screwdriver for this job...it can be made to work, but can be messy. Also, there's a screw kind of hidden behind the upholstery of the rear seatback on the shock tower. It's easier to get out than getting in, but make sure you remove it before lifting out the liner.

Once the liner is out, inspect the rear whell wells for rust coming through. You can get to the other side of them by taking off the rear wheel, and then removing the liner.

While you're in the trunk, notice the two clear plastic tubes, one on each side, that go down and out at the rear of the wheel wells. Those are the rear sunroof drains, and when they clog up the water pools in the ceiling of the car, splashing down your neck when you stop. Pull out the tubes and clean them out. If they're already blocked, have a coffee can ready so the schmutz doesn't drain into the trunk. Pull off the little one-way valves on the ends of the tubes and clear them out. Either throw away the valves or reinstall.

Do not worry about your lack of experience. Everyone starts from zero at some point. Many things are not difficult if you follow what people will explain to you on how to do it, you just have to want it. Since you're 18 and not rich yet, you should plan on doing this stuff yourself...a mechanic will charge you too much, and, in the case of say the rust in the fender well, will charge you a fortune to make it right.

You now own a 20 year old car. The only way you are going to keep it prospering is to do some of the work yourself. The sooner you start, the better you'll be at it. So welcome to the site, and jump in!

[nfs480]

Thanks for the information. Yeah for a while there I used to get water poured down my neck from that sunroof. But several months ago I had Honda fix it for me for about $80. Said that all 4 drainage holes were plugged and dropped the roof to clean it out. Any idea specifically what a body shop would charge for damage like that?

[AccordB20A]

rust around the guards really does suck, I pulled out half a road today from my up under my rear ones. Might clean those more often to rpeserve teh life of teh accord

[w261w261]

rust around the guards really does suck, I pulled out half a road today from my up under my rear ones. Might clean those more often to rpeserve teh life of teh accord

Oh yeah, I forgot about the trim pieces on the wheel arches, if that's what you mean. I took those suckers out years ago, all they do is trap shit for more rust.

[nfs480]

Well, I contacted Honda and it turns out the OEM floor mats are no longer available for the '89. So if any of you guys see tan se-i floor mats for a 4-door please let me know.

[frantik]

i think you're gonna have a tough time finding sei floormats but good luck :