87 LXi Hatch Shaved Molding & Repaint

[niles]

So the rest of the molding shave went pretty quick after the bondo cured

I put on a thin coat of glaze to smooth things out. I will probably revisit the crucial areas like the wheel wells and the panel edges to get them looking as good as possible, since that is what my eyes immediately gravitate to when looking at it.

With the primer still wet I could look down the panel and it looks smother that I thought it was gonna be. Probably thanks to the 1/4 sheet sander I bought and taking my time sanding down.

[niles]

Found some rear mudflaps at the parts yard while looking for some brackets for bullard123. Pretty psyched - turns out the rear flaps seem to fit on all 3Gee bumpers. I have not researched it, but I have an 87 hatch, pulled the flaps from an 88 hatch and they were identical to the flaps on a sedan that I saw at the yard as well.

[Civic Accord Honda]

That came out looking great you did a fantastic job. And yeah bondo is a bitch until you get used to it

[niles]

That came out looking great you did a fantastic job. And yeah bondo is a bitch until you get used to it

Thanks Civic Accord Honda! It was a hard weeks worth of work. After edging up a few spots, the fun begins: Picking a color scheme!!

[derolph]

Would like to see a few full pics of the car when you've got this all done. Curious to see how it looks with this appearance modification.

[niles]

Would like to see a few full pics of the car when you've got this all done. Curious to see how it looks with this appearance modification.

Absolutely! I will continue to post pictures but probably won't take any glamor shots until the paint is on. Right now it's not too photogenic on account of the primer contrast.

[Dr_Snooz]

Looking good!

[lostforawhile]

Found some rear mudflaps at the parts yard while looking for some brackets for bullard123. Pretty psyched - turns out the rear flaps seem to fit on all 3Gee bumpers. I have not researched it, but I have an 87 hatch, pulled the flaps from an 88 hatch and they were identical to the flaps on a sedan that I saw at the yard as well.

you found rear mudflaps? i have yet to see a rear mudflap for a hatch, the bumpers are different then any of the other models

[Legend_master]

you found rear mudflaps? i have yet to see a rear mudflap for a hatch, the bumpers are different then any of the other models

I've got rear mudflaps on my hatch.

[niles]

I haven't mounted the rear flaps yet (did a rust treatment on them), I will mount them today after work. I was surprised because I have rarely seen hatches with flaps. After I mount them up and it all goes well, I will probably return to the yard and pull all the flaps to list on the Trading Post because I know there are people out there looking for them.

[gp02a0083]

i've got rear mudflaps on my hatch.

x2

[niles]

So the mud flaps I ended up grabbing off another car are a little more than half an inch longer than my bumper but the holes line up. I must've pulled them off of a sedan or something.

I thought that 88 and up had a different bumper style. I know the front bumper changed for sure. I like the 88+ more anyway, maybe I will grab some bumpers next time I'm at the parts yard.

Looks like 87, 88, and 89 all had the same rear bumper...

OEM Part # Front
87 LXi Hatch = 71101-SE4-A10ZZ
88 LXi Hatch = 71101-SE0-940ZZ
89 LXi Hatch = 71101-SE0-940ZZ

OEM Part # Rear
87 LXi Hatch = 71501-SE0-941ZZ
88 LXi Hatch = 71501-SE0-941ZZ
89 LXi Hatch = 71501-SE0-941ZZ

And it looks like they are interchangeable, the 88 and 89 front bumper part number is no longer available and replaced by the 87 part number. And rock auto has the same part numbers for all three years. Damn, they only want $40 for the brand new front bumper too - too bad shipping is over $100.

[niles]

So mini-update...

I got a Xenon body kit that I will putting on this weekend. Thanks Maka_RTH!

After that I will do a little more detailing and then paint!

[niles]

Also, I know it has been stated on here before but saying it again never hurts -

About the Xenon bodykit fitting on the hatchback (mine is an 87 LXi):

Side Skirts -
Fit Perfectly

Front Bumper Cover -
Fits Facelift Bumper that comes on 88/89 accords. The 86/87 has a pre-facelift bumper and the turn signals don't perfectly line up. Some body work will need to be done if you want it to be seamless. Or get a 88/89 bumper, they bolt right on the 86/87 with no problem from what I read.

Rear Bumper Cover -
Does not fit a hatchback. The hatch bumper is about 2 inches shorter on the sides than other accords and Xenon bumper cover needs to be modified to fit. I am quite excited to try out this plastic welding technique used by auto repair shops.

Can't wait to get my hands dirty!

[niles]

Here's some pictures

Thanks again maka_RTH for the bodykit! Xenon kits are real high quality. And it will fit well once I get the 88 front bumper put on, picked it up today.

Side skirt mock-up. I think it will look real sleek with the shaved molding.

Turn signal example. The 87 is smaller and further out than the 88. Also the middle part where the license plate is attached on the 87 is taller than the 88.

This is the forest green pearl that I am using for the undercoat. Topcoat will be blue ghost pearl.

Sorry for the small pictures. I am saving my picture space for when the car is finished.

[niles]

Body Kit is on! Vid: Xenon body kit & shaved molding - YouTube

[Dr_Snooz]

That is a very clean install. Looks really good.

[niles]

I had to cut almost 4 inches off the back bumper cover to get it to fit. Polyurethane is a little tricky to work with... if you pause the video at 0:14 you can see the seam, I still have to pretty it up a little

[niles]

Sunday I painted my car with plastidip. It turned out AMAZING! I spent a lot of hours on getting the right colors/mixtures. I bought thick standard plastidip and thinned it myself 50/50 with Xylene because it saves a lot of money. I bought my pigments from paintwithpearl.com (strongly reccomended)

Here is what I did...

First:
1) Added ~4 fluid ounces of Jet Black Metal Flake to 1 Gallon of Xylene. Added about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of Blue Ghost Pear to give what I call "Midnight Blue" effect. Looked so cool I almost stopped there when painting lol.
2) Heavily blended with a drill mixer
3) Mixed in 1 Gallon of standard UN-thinned plastidip (looked like rubber cement)
4) Heavily blended with a drill mixer

[niles]

The 2 Gallons of basecoat got 6 coats of this color on my car and looked amazing. I regretfully proceeded with the rest of the job...

Second:
1) Added 2 Gallons of plastidip Glossifier. It is pre-thinned from the factory.
2) Added the entire 25 gram bag of Forest Green Candy Pearl
3) Heavily blended with a drill mixer.
4) Added about 1/3 to 1/2 quart of thinner to eliminate "spider web" problem with the sprayer

This also got 6 coats. Be careful with the Glossifier it is almost like water and drips show VERY well due to the pearl. (ask me how I know)

Try to peel the masking while the dip is still wet if you are thinking of doing this to your car.

[niles]

PICTURES!
A shot of the midnight blue, barely has a blue hue. I wish the sun was out when I took this pic so you could see the flake better. But dont worry, the flake makes the forest green pop like crazy. Almost looks like frost.

I will take some glamour shots soon...

[A18A]

i love the xenon kit on these cars <3

[bullard123]

Wow not bad niles! Props to you for doing all the work yourself. The shave came out clean. Is that color Monterrey green? Oh and thanks again for my brackets!

[niles]

Glad the brackets worked out! The color is forest green pearl from paintwithpearl.com

Next on the list, WHEELS!

Here are some photobuckets:









And a before-shot. Reminds me of a car from Road Warrior lol

[stat1K]

man this is the first time looking at this. looks super good. shaving moldings isn't really my thing but overall i do like the car :thumbsup: