1986 Accord Aerodeck Advice Please.

[Summi]

hey guys

ive been on the forum a while now looking through threads as there was a chance i might get an accord that was in the family.

so the day has come and its been offered to me and i wanted to get a few bits of information before deciding to use it or not.

so the spec on the car - 1986 Honda Accord Aerodeck, 20l, A20A2 (carbed i think) the car is mint its got 25,000 original mileage and a service history that goes all the way back to the day of purchase. the car was my grand parents and although it has done about 20 miles in the last 15 years it has been serviced, MOTed and maintained at every service interval not just left to rot.

there is no rust at all and the car is in show room condition.

all things are looking good but i have previous experience with carbed engines as i had a 1.6 carbed honda engine in an integra and the thing drank fuel! my worry that the Aerodeck will be even more thirsty as its a 2.0l. i was wondering what i might expect from the A20A2 engine and whether it is worth using the car or if it will cost me more than i can afford.

Any help would be really useful and i will try and post some pics later.

Alex

P.S all the threads seem to load up back to front with the last post being on the top of the first page, how can i put things in the right order? thanks

[bryan6732]

At first, welcome to the board!
Where are you from?

If it's in showroom condition, I wouldn't let the chance go by..
There aren't too many of them left, certainly not without rust and that low mileage!

Gas mileage is a problem, but depends on your right foot!
If you're a little handy you can do the fuel injection swap (if you have all parts available at least). This is on my list as well.

I get 8 km/L (about 20 (US) MPG) out of my carbed on city driving, highway gets me to about 11 km/L (26 MPG)... But this is very dependable of all kinds of factors..

PS. User CP - Edit Options - Set Thread Display Mode to "linear - oldest first"

[Dr_Snooz]

I think most of our carb guys are getting in the high 30 mpgs highway. Some even break 40 on occasion. The FI cars typically get a little worse mileage because they were geared more for performance.

If it is in showroom condition, buy it, drain the fluids, wrap it in plastic and put it in a warehouse until it becomes valuable. If you drive it, don't expect it to be trouble free. A 20+ year old car is going to have a lot of issues. If the issues don't come from wear, they will come from decay. My guess is that you will be dealing with a lot of decayed rubber parts and possibly wiring problems. I don't like dealing with wiring problems myself, but they are surmountable.

[g.frost]

86 Garage queen cream puff with 25K original grandpa maintained miles? Be nice to it, take care and drive, drive, drive. You have a lot of make-up miles there. I put a few more miles on than grandpa. 28 mpg around town and 34+mpg highway, my most expensive maintenance is registration and insurance.

[obdriver6]

Like everyone here, you will have problems with a 20+ year old car but even with those problems you'll still fall in love with it. I would advice you to definitely TAKE IT! Its got 25k and is an aerodeck, what else do you want?

[bryan6732]

The FI cars typically get a little worse mileage because they were geared more for performance.

I thought carbed cars had shorter gears to cover the power difference with the FIs a little.
So that'd mean carbs usually drive in higher RPMs than FIs. Correct me if I'm wrong...

[g.frost]

You have all the service records, and it likely needs a good inspection before putting it on the road again. Old stale gas is no good. Transmission oil factory original? Replace with Honda MTF or my pref. Red Line MTL. Oil change? Clean and inspect all rubber boots and suspension parts, hoses. Soak em with 303 protectant or replace if cracked/leaking. Tires?
Belts? (timing belt original?)

[Dr_Snooz]

I thought carbed cars had shorter gears to cover the power difference with the FIs a little.
So that'd mean carbs usually drive in higher RPMs than FIs. Correct me if I'm wrong...

It's the reverse. The FIs run higher RPMs.

[bryan6732]

You have all the service records, and it likely needs a good inspection before putting it on the road again. Old stale gas is no good. Transmission oil factory original? Replace with Honda MTF or my pref. Red Line MTL. Oil change? Clean and inspect all rubber boots and suspension parts, hoses. Soak em with 303 protectant or replace if cracked/leaking. Tires?
Belts? (timing belt original?)

Indeed, it's still an old car but with some maintenance it will be almost as new.
Trust us, it's gonna be worth the money and effort!

It's the reverse. The FIs run higher RPMs.

So what you're saying is that the FIs have shorter gears..
Lol, always thought the opposite!

[Summi]

Thanks guys, i have had a think and as i will be getting the car for free i cant really say no. With fuel in the UK so expensive i might live to regret the decision but i think i will run the car and see how it goes.

like most of the comments thought the Aerodeck has grandad miles on it and has 25 years worth of service history even tho the milage is so low. every year it has had a main dealer service and MOT so its not like it has been neglected and left to rot.

i took some pics last time i was home and thought you might like to take a look at it. i cant believe how comfy it is! the only thing it does need is gas struts on the boot as they dont hold it up anymore, so if anyone knows where to get some from that would be good.

[bryan6732]

So MINT and for free!? If you wouldn't take it I'd jump on a plane and slap you to wake you up!
And yeah, good luck finding a more comfy and smooth car from that age (in the same class off course)!

[obdriver6]

Super clean status!!!

[Summi]

So im thinking of converting the car to fuel injection to hopefully get better MPG. anyone know how i might go about this and whether it will help saving a bit of fuel?

Also im still after the gas struts for the boot too if anyone has any ideas.

[bryan6732]

So im thinking of converting the car to fuel injection to hopefully get better MPG. anyone know how i might go about this and whether it will help saving a bit of fuel?

I'm about to do the carb to FI conversion myself, probably after winter.
What you need to take from the EFI engine is:

-Intake manifold complete with fuel rail etc
-Engine bay wiring harness
-ECU
-Fuel pump
-Fuel return line (right?)
-Distributor
-Exhaust manifold (not necessarily, but it is better)

I might have forgotten something...

This is the original How To thread, but the link doesn't seem to work anymore!

Converting a carb to FI is gonna be a bit more fuel efficient.
That is, if you keep the carbed engine's tranny.

[A18A]

I get 8 km/L (about 20 (US) MPG) out of my carbed on city driving, highway gets me to about 11 km/L (26 MPG)... But this is very dependable of all kinds of factors..

yay someone else who uses km/l to measure fuel mileage. everyone seems to use mpg or l/100km.

km/l ftw

/off topic