My First Honda

[87ccord]

So, I was born and raised in a house where, 60-70's era MoPar's are considered legendary, MoPar or No Car is our household motto, and the only cars I remember us owning that weren't MoPars, were Nissans, and those are quite scarce around here now a days. And to this day, I still find most of this to be true. I've done my research, and spent many many hours working on products from the big three, and I personally still prefer MoPars. But, my father having most of his experience rooted in big gas guzzling v-8 monsters, saw fit that me, a child of 16 at the time, should continue in his footsteps.
But muscle cars, and lifted trucks didn't earn a reputation for getting bad gas mileage for no reason. Being 18 now, and struggling to make the improvements to my car and truck I want, and afford to drive I went in search of something economical to offset the cost of fueling up, maintaining, and building and improving my car and truck. My friend decided to give me his trusty 87 accord, which, I will admit is in less that favorable condition, but I wasn't looking for a beauty queen to parade around in. Just. Gas. Mileage. It had a blown head gasket, and we all new it. and the electrical, and vacuum gear were so severely mangled (every vacuum line cut...) I didn't think I could repair them, I wouldn't know where to start, not having any honda related experience. The odometer read 276,000, it was a blue 4 door dx 5 speed. I started looking for a new motor, lo and behold craigslist brought me another blue 4 door dx automatic, 187K, for $150, good motor, bad tranny. Fine with me, I didn't want an automatic =P


My Progress thus far:
-Engines and transmissions out of both cars
-Transmissions removed from both engines
-Flywheel, clutch assembly, and manual transmission reattached to good engine
-MT wiring harness attached to previously AT-equipped engine
-Replaced broke parts on good motor with good parts from bad motor (I broke some things while pulling the good motor)
-Tomorrow, I hope to have the engine and tranny in the new car, and begin reconnecting everything.


I know I should replace all kinds of seals, the clutch, and other stuff, but being so short on cash, I just need it on the road, I'm only into it $200 so far, and I've not found anything to be as complicated as I first thought. I will have time and hopefully more money (saved by not spending so much on gas) to do the appropriate replacements and repairs to make the car as reliable and long lasting as I possibly can.


This is my first post, and I didn't realize how excessively long it was till now =S

I'm pretty happy to finally get into working on newer cars and I've wanted to learn for a long time, if my dad had his way, honda and toyota wouldn't exist, gas would be free, and v-8's would be the only engines ever made.


So, I'm hoping the engine goes in and runs like it oughta, but I figure I'll probably forget something tomorrow or thursday, in which case, you'll see another post from me asking how to fix some crazy problem with my luck.
I've found this site to be extremely helpful, and confidence building, as I'm doing this all by myself in school, with a 15 year old chiltons book as a guide.
Having two of every part helps too =P
-Derek

[A18A]

cool stuff, welcome to the board. nice first post

[Oldblueaccord]

Well sounds like your on your way. you ll find that Honda puts alot of engineering into there cars. I to have serveral Chrysler V-8 cars and my International Scout has a 440 atm.

You will find that Honda's dont not carry parts over year to year like the domestics do so make sure your parts match up.

I would throw a new clutch disc in it at the very least while its out I dont think there more the 35$. Maybe check the timing belt to if you can get the front pulley bolt off.

Biggest deal is the carbs just suck to work on fuel injection is excellant on these car for the year.


wp

[dacantu]

welcome. we're here to help with any questions you have.

and seriously, great first post I dnt think ive ever seen a new member write such a detailed post

[87ccord]

Well guys, I have some good news =))) I got the engine in, everything hooked up, bolted down, and topped off last thursday. Poured a little fuel in the carb, rechecked everything, and hopped in the car, barely tapped the ignition and she purred to life! Very very motivating and rewarding moment I must say. I was all smiles the rest of the day!

I did a quick seafoaming, $30 filled it the rest of the way, and I started enjoying my new honda. I had left the top torque strap looking engine mount off while waiting for parts, and that made my front lower motor mount break, making for a bumpy, annoying ride that made me cringe feeling the engine toss and turn in the bay. Got that fixed yesterday. I've driven it 226 miles since thursday, and my tanks almost empty, I haven't been babying it necessarily, but to me that seems pretty low even for hot rodding it around town with friends in tow.

Issues I need Help with
The pedal assembly seems to stick every couple times I drive it, and usually it goes away after a few minutes driving, I don't know whether to try and lube the pedal assembly or just loosen the throttle cable a hair but usually kicking the pedal back toward me with my toe behind it makes it come back down. It hasn't done it for 2 days now though, so I'm thinking the moisture in the car got to the assembly as it looks pretty oxidized, and through use has loosened back up.

It Idles at about 1100Rpms most of the time, and every now and then it'll purr along at 900. I've been told 750-800 is more suited to manual transmissions but I'm hesitant to make adjustments till I change the plugs, cap, wires, and rotor. Also, during initial startup and warmup, it is hesitant to start, and then it'll Idle at 900rpms with quite a shake for about a minute or two and then it ramps up to about 2800 rpms and smooths out. How high is too high for warmup, and how to I adjust it to a lower level if this is too high? I've been told that's normal... It seems like 1700 would be closer to sane, but like I said, my background is in V-8's and these honda's seem to run quite a bit hotter and faster than most v-8's.

When my friend owned the car, I just remember being surprised by it's power. It flat out hauled ass. Bone Stock. This thing is a little less than inspirational when the go pedal is jammed to the floor. I figured it was timing so i adjusted the timing sorta by ear as I was in a hurry, I'm guessing it's previous setting was as far advanced or retarded as they can be. I had no power after 4000rpms, just noise. So I placed it at the other extreme to see what kinda reaction I got, it seemed the power had found it's way to the 4000-redline range instead of idle-4000. So I placed it somewhere in the middle, without getting the timing light out. Runs better, but still lacking in power. The plug wires are due for a change, as are the cap and rotor, and while I'm at it I will buy some new plugs, just to freshen things up.


And one thing I'm sorta concerned about is that this motor was previously attached to an automatic, the carburetor had an extra vacuum accessory that mounted below the coil on the passenger side fender. I changed the wiring harness on the engine to the manual one, as I no longer had the provisions to plug this vacuum device in electrically. So I took the two vacuum lines off, (both labeled #20 I believe) and connected them to each other.

Oldblueaccord, My dad has a 440 scout II aswell, fun to cruise around in the summer with the top off =P

I'll post some pictures of my car in the next few days, It's cleaned up pretty well I must say =P
It's no longer just a beater with a heater
Thanks everyone for the kind words and encouragement!
-Derek

[Nio]

welcome welcome.

[87ccord]

Ohhh, and I basically have a whole cars worth of spare parts that I'd be willing to part with!! I can and will ship the smaller stuff! Interior, exterior, I've got mostly everything and if someone doesn't buy it, it's all going to scrap.

Some other minor issues I wanna fix are that the clutch safety switch doesn't work, and the car can be started in any gear.
The recirculate button for the air controls doesn't work at all, the A/C button works, and the 2nd fan kicks on when pressed but the compressor does not turn at all, like it's clutch isn't engaging. Any tips on where to start with these problems would be greatly appreciated as well!

-Derek