GP02A0083's 89' black hatchback

[mtaylor]

Looks awesome, done any more work to her?

[89jdmaccord]

bump it up clean hatch man

[Hondamonster]

You should slam it and put it on prelude sawblades. I see that looking super nice.

[gp02a0083]

i actually really like mesh or the stock style sei rims on it, was thinking of getting the newer multi spoke honda wheels in 15 or 16 inch, but first things first, rear disk swap.

[gp02a0083]

Looks awesome, done any more work to her?

Just did a bit today.
Had a free weekend I got a few things done around the house and to the car. I replaced the fuel filter and cleaned up the fuel system and the ignition system being i was getting around 25mpg. Checked the plugs and re-gapped them and reset the distributor, now im getting around 30 average 50/50 highway town driving.

I decided to work on the front end and found another part i had hidden in my house.

The sides of the integra lip are about 3/4" too long on each side, i decided to keep the ends being that they work with the pre-facelift hatch bumper.



Im planning on mounting the lip with the original slide clips


If you know how to solder you can do this too, i bought a crummy $10 plastic welder from Harbor Freight. Practice on 2mm thick HDPE or LDPE to get the hang of it.


after cutting:


after careful planning the lip fits like a glove without bolts to the bumper


New project for the winter will involve making molds of this item and a bit of extra work. I might be able to make repo parts for coupes, sedan's and hatch's.

[obdriver6]

It always look cleaner with lip ends instead of just leaving them cut.

[gp02a0083]

I can't believe that its been over 2 year since i've posted in my thread. Well Life takes us down many paths, for me that path resulted in my father passing away January 2012 due to health issues. I haven't had time to do much work to my black hatch and it's been neglected other than basic maintenance. In the mean time i was able to get my father's tool box out of Strauss after they closed their doors only 3 months after he passed away. It's kinda symbolic that he worked for them for 30+ years and was their top mechanic and closed the doors shortly after he passed. I thought it was only fitting to only use his truck to move his tool box back to the home he built.







Just some of the tools he had in the box, I've clean it up a lot since then




I put these tools to good work on all of our vehicles we own. Just recently I was able to get some work done to my hatch.

[gp02a0083]

Just before Sandy hit us here in NJ I finished updating the suspension with bilstein Struts and new springs.


they looked really good compared to the olds cruddy OEM ones that were installed from the factory


however now with the new springs the ride height was increased. I'm ok with that being I frequently drive down dirt roads and will help during the snow season. (added cargo ones in the rear so i can haul some heavy stuff in the hatch, I've been able to transport a V-8 engine with my first hatch)


I managed to find a set of 2-dorr vent visors, wet sanded them and polished them up, also just before sandy i got my new C-1's and went 15" with kuhmo tires after i was pissed with every set of falken 912's and kept getting sidewall bubbles.

[gp02a0083]

About A month ago I needed to replace my exhaust that was rotted out, this also pushed me to get the rear disc swap done. I Had a sticky Drivers side caliper , so i replaced them all

got a lot of work to do.....


Paul from techna-fit in Indiana helped me out by extending the knuckle to caliper lines 1", this helped with it binding, making the flex line 2" longer would have been better.






After this picture was taken i replaced both upper control arms with the ball joints




onto replacing the Exhaust!!!!!! Picked everything up for a really good price, only spent a total of $300 for my Stainless steel 2.25" exhaust, Magnoflow Cat, Jones resonator, SS flanges, Flowmaster 50 series muffler and flex pipe. I did want to use the DC sports headders I have being i have two complete sets, however i needed to fix the EGR port as they were cracked on both. For the time being My friend and I modified the Stock 4-2-1 down pipe. We found a few little odd things with it, near the flex pipe there is a inner pipe that chokes it down a lot, this was removed to improve flow.


old stuff, the muffler pulled right off the car that's how rotted it was, it also sounded like a maraca




My buddy Justin helping me out with fabricating the exhaust


I'll post more pictures when I get home later

[Dr_Snooz]

The new brakes look awesome! Post some pics of the new exhaust installed.

[gp02a0083]

Crude , yet effective way to mock up the exhaust



Justin took his time tacking the exhaust, the hatch's have really weird bends due to the fact it travels under the sub frame area where the control arm connects to.


Took the exhaust back out to run some more weld beads, still gotta drop the exhaust again as we found a few little pin holes. In the picture is the 2.25" SS vibrant exhaust flange on the 2.25" Magnaflow Cat, SS2.25" pipe to a Jones 17" long resonator flipped in the direction to improve flow. It sounded really throaty before adding the flow-master 50 series muffler






So here is a side shot, the disc brakes look great behind my C-1's, the lowest part of the exhaust system can be seen there near the tire, no real way around it due to the subframe and control arms. Otherwise the exhaust tucked really nice almost as if it was meant to be there.


here's a video before the exhaust got finished up

[88lxi-shortram]

mine did the same thing. everything tucked except that final bend by the rear tire. im glad im not the only one like that lol

[gp02a0083]

yah i noticed the old muffler and even the stock replacement ones have that part of the pipe crushed a little bit to allow it to fit tight to the chassis. I'm not worried being my car isn't lowered and is actually raised up

[MessyHonda]

nice work. i wish i could say i had a tool box but someone stole mine out of my car. i can see you have put alot of time into your hatch. it looks clean.

[gp02a0083]

thanks, I always liked the 3rd gen hatches they just need a little bit of help. Now that im mostly done with getting everything updated, i can start getting some body work done for next spring.

[86hatch]

Not trying to jack your thread but if you were willing to part with that gorgeous black hatch I have a proposition in a for sale thread for you.
Thanks

[gp02a0083]

I would consider, but i need my reliable DD, my truck is a pig on gas and my olds is going through a rear end and heart transplant

[gp02a0083]

Fewer sections the better I say! here is a nice shot of the flex pipe stainless flange and cat.


Only one section of pipe was used to connect the down pipe to the flex pipe


here is the underside, the 2.25" pipe really fits up there nice with my new cat and resonator, looks almost factory! The underside of the chassis isn't all that bad for being a daily driven care in in NJ. Shortly after we welded on the factory bracket so I can use the factory mounting points.


Not the best photo here, but this is when the flowmaster muffler was being mocked up and positioned so we could put a few tack welds and remove the whole exhaust to clean up the welds and check for any leaks. It fit a little tight being the case is more rectangular than oval like the stock one.

[AccordB20A]

all the right mods have been done to this car. top work man

[gp02a0083]

thanks! only good work here being done!

[gp02a0083]

Well summer is here and so is the nasty summer heat. It gets really hot inside my hatch even with the light colored interior, so I looked in to seeing how the A/C system is working. A few years back I converted the A/C system to a Denso type and flushed all the lines and parts of the old mineral oil that was used with the older R-12 system with the keihin compressor. The conversion was successful, however as time goes by these old cars develop leaks and I had to "service" the A/C system again. I was very happy to find out that only the low pressure schrader valve was the issue and was not seating correctly due to my father's older quick chuck style connectors for the gauges. I got myself manual connectors so that I can contain the pressure at the port rather than just through the manifold gauges. I replaced both valves and evacuated the system pulling 30 inHG of vac for roughly an hour then charged with 28 Oz of R-134. Outside temps were nearly 90 degrees and my pressures were 45psi on the low side and 265psi on the high side, pretty good in my opinion. Tested the how well the system was working by placing a thermometer in the center vent with the fan on #3. I think i'll be nice and cool all summer!

[Dr_Snooz]

That's the perfect temp right there. Your high side pressure seems high to me though. You might be replacing your expansion valve soon.

[Hazwan]

A/c ftw!

[gp02a0083]

That's the perfect temp right there. Your high side pressure seems high to me though. You might be replacing your expansion valve soon.

I agree Snooz, it was a tad on the higher end, spec for 90F with a +50% RH on a day like that should be on the order of 250psi to 270psi on the high side for the 134A. The 45psi on the low side is the low end of the spec. Still I may end up replacing it next season even tho this car has been very well taken care of by me and the previous owner ( they only had dealership services), I think it will hold out for this summer. So far its been a few weeks and it's been behaving very well. In this case I like being rewarded with the fact I know things were done right and it works tip top!

[gp02a0083]

Well, last Sunday I purchased another hatchback to use in order to have my hatch fixed up. However this one is mainly going to be for parts and is a 88 DX with blue interior , carb'd. if anyone is looking for parts let me know