Rilas : 1993 Accord SE

[Rilas]

The first pipe had to be extended maybe 3-4 inches. To reach the connecting pipe lower. You can't see this as pipe #1 crosses behind the other 3. He used a slightly smaller diameter pipe to do this. Eventually I'm going to buy some matching pipe and correct this, just low on the list for now. Other than that it was just 5 hours of labor at the exhaust shop. My guy had to test fit and tact weld stuff then remove the header, and weld a little and let it cool. Repeat the process till done. He didn't want to warp the flange so it took quite a bit of time. Also I don't know if I have a picture of it but this leads into a Vibrant 18" or 24" resonator, which then leads to the cat back. I'm going to pull my 2.25" stainless steel MagnaFlow cat back off the sedan this weekend and get it swapped over. That will complete the exhaust for awhile. Eventually I'm going to buy the KTeller 3" stainless steel kit and add another resonator to it possibly.

Here in a few hours I'm going to find out about registration. Just waiting for the DMV in the courthouse to open. I work for the county so it's only a couple blocks away.

[apalileo]

Well done Rilas! Everything is so tidy! Glad to hear it's on the road!

[Rilas]

Lol close to being on the road. Both cars are currently under the knife. Almost done swapping the front passenger side control arms, knuckles and all things bolted to them, calipers, shocks, and axles. Then it's the drivers side, then the rear. I have to get them wrapped up tonight because I have an alignment appointment in the morning. I just came inside because dinner could be here anytime. So since the cars are under the knife that means that I got the registration and all that crap done today . Insurance will be on it tomorrow. The DMV was stupid busy today so I didn't have time to call them before 5.

[Rilas]

So it's been a long day and I'm dead tired. But a lot of good things happened. I got all the suspension related items swapped between the sedan and coupe. Made it to the alignment appointment only slightly late. So I had one hiccup doing the suspension. One of the bolts on the rear driver side upper control arm cross threaded. I'll run the tap down it tomorrow and clean that up. On the same control that has the cross threaded bolt, the tech couldn't get one of the locking nuts to break loose so it's not quite at the desired camber I was shooting for. I'll break it loose and turn it a touch, which should bring me a bit closer to what I was aiming for. Anyway enough rambling for a few, on with the show!

Lola on the street! (Yes the tow hitch will be coming off in the next few days.)


Rear Wheel


Side View


Tomorrow morning, I need to get the cat back from the sedan onto the coupe, as well as rebleeding the brakes, and fixing the cross threaded bolt. I had some brakes on the way to the tire shop, but not a lot. I was rushed to get everything together and make the appointment. Then I'm going to take it for a couple hour drive to make sure she's up to snuff for the road trip. I have no doubts, as it's run well over 20+ hours without issues, but that's not the same as having load on the engine.

Few things I forgot to mention. I ordered the ShaySpec shifter plate bushings. They are installed and alone make a huge difference in the feel of the shifter. Also I ordered the Cheddas Auto shifter bushings almost 3 weeks ago and still haven't received them. I'm hoping they come in, in the next few days, if not oh well.

Small punch list:
-Exhaust Swap
-Intake Swap
-Battery Setup Swap
-Finish Wagon Storage Compartment
-Fix Radio? (I doubt this will happen before this trip. But I think we will be fine with other ways to produce music and what not.)
-Bleed Brakes
-Fix Cross Threaded Bolt
-Remove Tow Hitch
-Possibly wire power to front drivers seat

I still need to screw down the center console but I'm just kind of waiting in limbo for the shifter bushings to arrive.

[Rilas]

I spent some time working on some of my outstanding issues yesterday. While it doesn't seem like a lot, a decent amount of time went into it.

-Exhaust is swapped
-Tow hitch is removed (This thing probably weighs about 30 lbs.)
-Brakes are bled and now work as they should
-Fixed the cross threaded bolt. (This was a bitch. The bolt broke on the way out. I had no intention of trying to drill it out. So I cut a small hole in the body on the inside of the trunk. Cut the welded nut off. Ground it flat. Reinstalled the control arm and bolted it down. With everything torqued I welded the nut into place. This still took about 1.5 hours but was still easier than trying to get the bolt out of the nut without damaging the threads.)

At least the list is getting smaller. Tonight hopefully I'll get the battery and the intake swapped between the two cars. I did take it out on a short drive last night about 30 minutes each direction. So with the same exact suspension setup Lola rides so much smoother than my sedan did. I have no idea why but it was just so much nicer to ride in. Also with the exhaust swap the in cabin sound is actually totally acceptable while just cruising around. It's been 7 months or so since I've had this header installed on anything, and it was so leaky that it was louder. Now that it's all sealed up it's just wonderful. I still do need to tie it to the back of the block with a hanger. Tomorrow after work it's going to the exhaust shop. It needs the rear 3 hangers extended just slightly as the exhaust is firmly pulled up against the ST rear sway bar the same as Mike1357's was. So at certain rpm's this is causing some vibrations in the body. While they are extending those I'm just going to have them add the hanger to tie onto the bracket that bolts to the back of the block. This will still allow me to get it in and out as one solid piece. Anyway enough rambling for now.

[apalileo]

Bit by bit it's coming along beautifully!

[Chrisnick]

Very nice progress! I want some shifter plate bushings...

[Rilas]

Thanks guys! It's been a long journey, but it's totally been worth it already.

I haven't managed to get the battery or the intake's swapped yet. As I've been putting the sedan back together. I didn't want to leave it outside on jack stands, so I've been working on getting it all back together. I wrapped that up last night, and started working on the battery. I managed to get the battery box installed in the trunk of Lola. Tonight I'm going to finish this up and I think I'm calling it done for this trip.

I stopped in at the exhaust shop last night and fixed it pressing against the rear ST sway bar. It's so much better now. No extra vibrations from the exhaust in the cabin. Still vibration from the damn motor mounts. I'm hoping by the end of this trip they will have broken in a little bit and don't vibrate the body as much. Honestly it's not as bad as I might be making it sound, I just prefer it to not have much more vibration than stock.

[Rilas]

Alright so time for me to stop being lazy. I've been home for over a week from the NWPAC meet, it was a rough week so I haven't had a chance to post on here. Anyway I went with the GF and we had a great time. I'm down to go to one of these again. Lola did fantastic, I had no issues out of here that weren't quickly fixed. Somehow the traction bar managed to come a bit loose. Had her tightened back up in 5 minutes at a rest stop. Also did a few other minor odds and ends with her at my mom's farm before going to the meet. Otherwise though there were no problems with her.

NWPAC Camp Area


All the Cars Lined Up


Lola


Favorite Wheels (I can't remember who these belonged to but I really loved them on the CB7.)


I have more pictures of the cars lined up in sections. Just wasn't sure how much to post in here. If you guys would like to see them, I'll post them up.

[Rilas]

On Friday I picked up the H22A1 from the machine shop. I started slowly putting it together over the long weekend. I've only manged to get most of the bottom end put together. I forgot to order the o-ring for the girdle so I couldn't fully assemble the bottom end, as I have to take the girdle off again to replace the o-ring.

H22A1 Iron Cylinder Sleeves 1 (Yes this was all cleaned after the pictures were taken and before assembly.)


H22A1 Iron Cylinder Sleeves 2


H22A1 with Crankshaft Installed


H22A1 Rods with Type S Pistons with Final Weight (Only half a gram difference between all the pistons from Nippon Racing. Not too bad, almost as good as OEM.)


Slowly but surely she is going together. Once I get the last few o-rings ordered up, then it's time to start knocking the last big items off the list. Timing belt, water pump, idler bearings, lost motion assemblies, I'm sure there are a few other things but those are the big ones I can think of.

[Rilas]

Yesterday I managed to get the pistons into the block. I had to re-seat 3 of them, as I wasn't happy where the ring gaps ended up once in the block. But now I'm happy with how everything has turned out so far.

H22A1 with Pistons


Lola with Battery Relocation and AEM V2


Battery Relocation and Wagon Storage Compartment


I'm still slowly plugging away at some different small odds and ends with the car. But for the time being I'm actually trying to just enjoy it. I've swapped in the Prothane rear motor mount inserts. I can say it definitely does help with the engine movement it's added persistent vibrations to the body. Soon I'm going to order the Prelude rear motor mount and the Energy Suspension inserts and try that out. I have a feeling I'm going to end up with a stock rear motor mount and possibly the Innovative traction bar front torque mount. It sounds like there might possibly be a summer meet for the NWPAC in August sometime, so that is my deadline to have the H22A1 in the car and the motor mounts situated. Hopefully I can get a few of the other projects knocked off the list before then as well. But like I said at this point I want to enjoy the car instead of working on it, in most of my spare time.

[excalibur02]

Great work Will! Definitely a good looking SE. Any plans for the transmission?

[apalileo]

Rilas, your attention to detail is admirable! I have that same need to offset the ring gaps whenever I've rebuilt mine or even helped friends rebuild! It's coming along beautifully as usual!

[Rilas]

Great work Will! Definitely a good looking SE. Any plans for the transmission?

I'm not totally sure on the plans for the transmission yet. As of right now it has an M2S4 H23A1 transmission. I feel that first gear isn't quite long enough and 5th is definitely too short. No matter what transmission eventually ends up in the car it will have a F23 5th gear. I think for the time being though I'm going to get a set of carbon syncros, MFactory differential and a F23 5th gear and stuff all that into this case for now. Along with any other worn out items. I think that may be the focus for the winter. As this is now a summer time only car, as that will give me a few months to get all the work done.

[Rilas]

Rilas, your attention to detail is admirable! I have that same need to offset the ring gaps whenever I've rebuilt mine or even helped friends rebuild! It's coming along beautifully as usual!

Thanks again man! Also not only do I have the need to do it, Honda's service manual insists that you must. If you hadn't noticed in one of the pictures, I printed out the relevant service manual pages to have on hand that I could get messy. Honda wants all the ring gaps offset 45* from the thrust surfaces. So while I do have the attention for detail, this engine will be reassembled to Honda's specs and their procedures. This engine needs to last the same 200-300k that it would have from the factory, if not longer since I threw out the worthless FRM sleeves.