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Rezz : 1992 Accord LX

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    Rezz : 1992 Accord LX

    I have spent the past 6 years or so just waiting for a 4th gen accord wagon to fall into my lap (one with lower miles and in decent shape anyways). Finally picked one up in December for $550! Yea, I had to rebuild the transmission computer, replace a few gaskets, and get rid of that dangerous roof rack (it literally pulled right off due to the bolts rusting), but hey, the car is in great shape, minus having needed a transmission. Way back when I used to be into Honda's a lot more (sort of a Mopar guy now), I kept wanting to find a cb9, but everyone kept telling me there were not any aftermarket parts or body styling yada yada... Well that's where spending a few years doing complete custom work comes in. I plan on overhauling the hell out of this. Everything from building my own projector/halo housings out of the stock ones (to keep the glass housing fronts, so I never have to worry about plastic fogging up) to custom fabricating suspension, custom fabricating interior, custom fabricating a body kit, oh... the list goes on. (I'll actually type the list now).

    ENGINE / EXHAUST:
    - Pacesetter Headers (to cat).
    - Fabricated exhaust (cat delete to muffler).
    - New rear main seal, oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, spark plug lower and upper seals, exhaust and intake manifold gaskets.
    - New distributor, wires, plugs.
    - New TPS (Throttle Position Sensor).
    - Self-rebuilt IAC (Idle Air Control) valve and FIT (Fast-Idle Thermal) valve
    - Valve adjustment self done.
    - Every hose, vacuum line, and main power or ground replaced.
    - All new motor mounts.
    - Internals checked in engine.
    - Newly rebuilt transmission.
    - New axle seals.
    - All new fluids, coolant flushed and filled, transmission thoroughly drained (not flushed) and filled, power steering drained while filled, brake drained while filled.
    - Self-rebuilt power steering pump along with all new lines and hoses.

    WHEELS / SUSPENSION:
    - Spec-D lowering springs.
    - Nitto Neo Gen 205/50/15XL's awaiting rim arrival.
    - ESM 001's awaiting purchase on 06/13/14

    BRAKES:
    - Stock

    EXTERIOR:
    - Aftermarket mirrors with red LED signals in glass.

    INTERIOR:
    - Integra white display clock.
    - Prelude (97-01) gauge cluster (currently being installed).

    FUTURE MODIFICATIONS:
    - Full glass roof.
    - Widebody rear.
    - Hopefully 4WS (4 Wheel Steering).
    - Complete audio system.
    - Headlight projector retrofit.
    - PAINT.
    - More...

    And Here starts the build... (bear in mind some of this precedes today)

    Purchased the CB9 mid December 2013.

    Update 02/23/14: bought a 1990 four door accord that was really a piece of work, but hey... It was only $375. Took the entire thing apart with my four year old. (Yes, she helps. Hell she knows her sockets, deep wells, wrenches, ball joints, control arms... You name it) I also had help from the mother of my children. Anyways, we just finished pulling the motor and tranny last night. It had a freshly rebuilt transmission. Now I know the last gear will be a little shorter than the wagon's but I'm not to concerned. I'll be keeping the original transmission to rebuild anyways. I'm using a lot of miscellaneous parts from it like the hood, the chrome trim, power steering fluid cap, yada yada... Oh and the headlights, so I have an extra set to make the retrofit projectors. I'm keeping the motor, power steering pump, alternator, ac condensor, axles etc for spare parts.

    I ended up getting rid of the motor... it was lucky to make it to my house lol.

    If no one minds... Could I just use this for my build thread? Or should I technically start a new one?

    Regardless... Here come pictures! Tons of em... I had more, but that is a long story :rock:

    TCU (Transmission Control Unit) Rebuild:

    Opened her up...



    separated the board from the metal housing by pushing through this connector and the screws...



    Burnt resistor due to failing capacitors...



    Can you barely see the leaking capacitors?



    Here are the replacements...



    ALL FINISHED!



    And now she shifts beautifully!

    Look at what you can fit in this awesome car.


    But that still wasn't enough... By the time is was all said and done I had the hoist, leveler and chains, my Pacesetter exhaust, two 1/8" steel wheel ramps, one four-ton jack, two two-ton jacks, lowering coil springs, two ~14x14x30 toolboxes, a tool bucket, all my fluids and then some. WAGON FTW!


    This is the donor car I picked up for $375. Had a freshly rebuilt transmission ripe for the picking, an extra set of headlight housings for my retrofit project as well as some other miscellaneous parts (like another AT TCU for repairing and selling). I made my money back parting bits and pieces out before scrapping it.




    Hooked up the hoist and disconnected everything...


    Finally pulled her up and out, but broke the main pulley doing so. (Oh well, I'll get more into that later.)






    Getting that transmission separated was a stubborn son'of'a...


    That heap of junk went to be smooshed down to the size of a microwave while I pulled this beauty in...


    Took some things off. (Had to use an air chisel to cut some of the exhaust because the bolts were so badly rusted and I was replacing it anyways.) And I simply removed the power steering pump and A/C compressor so I did not have to worry about recharging or the pump running dry.


    Hooked her up and started letting the hoist do the work... Only this time I'm not going up???






    DOWN! And it was much easier once you remove the front subframe. I didn't break anything or have hardly any clearancing issues.






    And here is the wagon's engine and transmission just begging me to fix it.


    On a side note, I had to run an addition vacuum line because the original rear motor mount was not vacuum actuated... Oddly, I thought only the manuals had the solid rear mounts. Nonetheless, a $5 coil of vacuum line did not break the bank.


    Removed the oil pan and you can see just how much it was leaking by the oil traces on the block. (I knew it was.)


    Cleaned it up, put on a Fel-Pro gasket (OF COURSE) with the appropriate sealant.


    With the engine out and the oil pan off, it's a damn good time to do the rear main seal, right? I know I sure do not want to do one with the motor still in the car. And look at all the oil in there as well...


    So I cleaned the mating surface of the block...


    Flipped over the plate to reveal more oil residue, of course...


    Popped out the old rear main seal, giving the plate a good cleaning.


    Popped in the new rear main seal (Fel-Pro again)


    And with the appropriate gasket and sealant for the plate gasket, I installed that. As well as making sure to add some marine grade grease to the rear main seal after cleaning the crank with steel wool.


    I wish someone knew of a way to avoid this but from what I have read... No one does. :/ Any Input would be nice but the cover is appropriately seated and everything. I don't suppose you could space ALL the pulleys so as not to misalign the belt drive?


    This is how you heat up your delivery food from the night before when you just don't feel like walking all the way into the kitchen


    I get her all bolted back in with all new hoses and lines for the AT (sorry the pictures have a lapse, the camera I was using for some of this stuff got smooshed lol) But look at that gorgeous PaceSetter Header! (Ignore the crap battery that came with the car...)


    One of the best things you can invest in when doing any sort of fluids really but particularly hard to reach ones like the transmission... Notice this one is full with no flow through the tube (The tube you can remove to add different length clear tubing and the blue connector is actually a variable valve. VERY MUCH SO WORTH THE MONEY)


    Then notice how you can see the fluid (ACTUAL APPROPRIATE HONDA ATF) in the hose... Nifty!


    Remove the valve cover to finish my second to last oil leak... Around the head and into the spark plug wells. (Distributor seal is the last leak.)


    Timing belt looks great! (A sticker on the core support said it was done 10k miles ago with the water pump but hey... It never hurts to make sure it's still working properly.)


    Then I installed a new starter, new distributor with an integrated coil pack, new wires, plugs, full sythetic oil change, full coolant flush with new heater core hoses, power steering fluid change, all new motor mounts, lowering springs and rubbers, sway bar end links, other hoses and vacuum lines and probably some other things I am forgetting. But just when I think it is one step from being finished... It's not. My exhaust seems to have a "test pipe" that is supposed to replace the catalytic converter, only... it doesn't...? So it's time for me to learn how to weld. (I literally just bought the welder and have never had a day of practice in my life. But after watching a couple YouTube videos and with some meticulous prep work, here is how my "cat delete pipe" turned out from start to finish, using old flanges from the exhaust I cut out of the car and appropriate gaskets and sealants.














    Now she's bolted in!


    I have to admit... This was my first ever engine pull or transmission pull. So when it came time to start her up, I was beyond nervous, and definitely second guessing myself. But at the same time, I know how OCD I am and how meticulous to detail I am. I turned her over and she fired right up! Of course the rpms fluctuated some until air was bled out of the coolant system via the nipple in the rear passenger side of the motor, but that was to be expected. And with the IAC and FITV that I rebuilt, she's running beautifully now.

    The lowering springs install, all new washers and nuts, etc... I had a broken coil which is the main reason I went with replacing the springs.







    Here was the clearance in the rear before...


    And the front and rear after...




    Bear in mind that was immediately after I put them in so they had not quite settled just yet. I'll take some pictures of the car here before long and include the latest "low".

    Any comments, questions or constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!

    Update 06/01/14: TIRES ARRIVED!



    A couple of photos of the car as-is so far.





    Update 06/03/14: Integra dash clock arrived!

    Plug and play install.



    This always bugged me. Even other people tend to notice it, which really means it is noticeable. So i went about looking into it... Lo and behold, it is really very simple to fix. That gap between the B-pillar (I was corrected) cover on the front doors and the actual door.

    Before:



    After:



    Not perfect, but it was the first go at it. I will follow up and finish later. I wrote a DIY on this as well.

    MORE TO COME!
    Last edited by Rezz; 06-04-2014, 01:37 PM.

    #2
    DIY!!! you definately got it done and its looking greatl Always a plus when you can look back at your work and be proud. Cant wait to see the future of it...
    Procrastination is a THIEF of time!!

    MY MRT

    http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=203992

    My First CB7

    http://www.cardomain.com/ride/705233/1990-honda-accord/


    Comment


      #3
      You want a DIY on swapping motors/transmissions and everything? Lol.

      Comment


        #4
        Good work! A lot to do but all worth it specially when doing it yourself. Looks good. Post future upgrades.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Rezz View Post
          You want a DIY on swapping motors/transmissions and everything? Lol.
          Heck yeah...lol
          Procrastination is a THIEF of time!!

          MY MRT

          http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=203992

          My First CB7

          http://www.cardomain.com/ride/705233/1990-honda-accord/


          Comment


            #6
            regarding the lower timing cover, and the hole that the belt made - there is supposed to be a rubber "washer" around the main acorn nut that is sticking out above the pulley... this washer is supposed to seal around the nut as well as hold the timing cover tight against the block so it doesn't bow outward. I can't tell from the pic, but it doesn't look like this rubber washer was installed.

            really nice work btw


            - 1993 Accord LX - White sedan (sold)
            - 1993 Accord EX - White sedan (wrecked)
            - 1991 Accord EX - White sedan (sold)
            - 1990 Accord EX - Grey sedan (sold)
            - 1993 Accord EX - White sedan (sold)
            - 1992 Accord EX - White coupe (sold)
            - 1993 Accord EX - Grey coupe (stolen)
            - 1993 Accord SE - Gold coupe (sold)
            Current cars:
            - 2005 Subaru Legacy GT Wagon - Daily driver
            - 2004 Chevrolet Express AWD - Camper conversion

            Comment

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