1991 Accord LX Race Car

[ukemike]

lol @ these vids.

1st vid - every time I see a car pass I lol at the mods. And I'm not sure why your hood scoops are facing backwards & stupid question, why are you driving so slow? new driver?
2nd vid - Nice!
3rd vid - no extra wide mirror?
4th vid - I heard him hit the rev limiter and in my head I was saying "that's a long time on the limiter haha" , then smoke appeared.

Not sure if you have a good video editor or not. But it would be cool to see the back and the front camera in one video. See who's coming and how they get around you.

All those are from other car's perspectives. Ours is the sliver and black #93 car. The 4th one is the only one that doesn't have our car in it. That car that blew up is the other cb7 we've seen recently. At thunderhill they blew up two f20b motors and got a total of maybe 6 laps. They must have listened to me because this time they had an f22a1 and lasted until middle of second day when that poor fellow forgot to shift and... kablooie! No motor, not even an f22, will withstand that sort of abuse for long.


I've uploaded most of our in car video, and will link to it later today after the last one is up.

[ukemike]

Me, Saturday. Started in 53rd place ended in 13th overall and leading B class
https://youtu.be/qnnVia-oCKA

Jason, Saturday. Started in 30th place ended in 11th and again in the lead in B class. The video ends first but his drive ended embarrassingly with a wheel off in the Carousel.
https://youtu.be/vx7De2vKgxg

Tedd, Sunday first stint. Car didn't handle well at all on the bigger old tires and wheels. Check out the 90+mph spin in turn 1 at about 34 minutes. We took a little front camber out after that and that helped a little. Though he nearly lost it again at 48:20:00
https://youtu.be/EgLVUvBirU8

And finally Dennis, Sunday. His stint ended when our clutch fork bent. It sucked but we got to pack up and leave early so at least my day ended at a reasonable time.
https://youtu.be/tpidNacCSfM

Too long did not watch? Here are the fastest laps we have on video
https://youtu.be/70RFSbZnZsw

[SSMAccord]

lol @ these vids.

1st vid - every time I see a car pass I lol at the mods. And I'm not sure why your hood scoops are facing backwards & stupid question, why are you driving so slow? new driver?
2nd vid - Nice!
3rd vid - no extra wide mirror?
4th vid - I heard him hit the rev limiter and in my head I was saying "that's a long time on the limiter haha" , then smoke appeared.

Not sure if you have a good video editor or not. But it would be cool to see the back and the front camera in one video. See who's coming and how they get around you.

I was also wondering why he was riding the rev limiter like that, it seems the universe answered him swiftly. I suppose that is a learning moment?

[ukemike]

I was also wondering why he was riding the rev limiter like that, it seems the universe answered him swiftly. I suppose that is a learning moment?

I didn't see them blow up their other 2 motors, both F20Bs, but I had just been assuming that a high strung motor like that was not meant for budget enduro, but now that I've seen what they can do with one of the toughest motors ever manufactured, I suspect user error could have been the cause of all three failures.

[Raf99]

I thought he was showing off for you

[z32 fairlady]

I'm thoroughly enjoying this thread. I appreciate all the technical details in here. These cars have come a long way since I've owned one.

[ukemike]

Finally got my son's gambler500 project car* out of the garage and went to move the accord back in, but, AAARRGH. It'll start but just barely idle and if I give it any throttle it stalls. So I had to get my son to tow the accord around the house back the the garage.

We've started taking it apart to get the trans out so we can look at what's wrong with the clutch. I believe that the arm is bent or the pivot failed. Anyway we know how to diagnose and fix that. The engine running badly is going to be a fiddly pain in the butt to figure out.


*my son has a 98 mustang v6 that he's going to enter in this summer's Gambler 500. It's been in the garage for a month while he installed a lift kit, which, of course, lead to many complications, not all of which are solved, but at least it's out of the garage.

[Raf99]

I think your car is a manual, sooo giving a little gas (in neutral) and it stalls shouldn't be a clutch issue. Sounds like a fuel delivery issue etc.

[ukemike]

I think your car is a manual, sooo giving a little gas (in neutral) and it stalls shouldn't be a clutch issue. Sounds like a fuel delivery issue etc.

Separate issues. Clutch does not fully disengage. That's what ended our last race a little early. Separate from that and starting after the clutch problem, the engine started running like crap.

[Raf99]

hmmm ya.. bend fork or no pressure in the line or bad throw out bearing. Could jack the front up off the ground if that helps you troubleshoot the engine issue too. Bet you wish this was a OBDII car eh :P

[ukemike]

It was the pivot point. It was broken right off.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dttCahzVTanEE5a77
Lucky I kept our old ruined transmission and just used the one from that. Having that other trans was also helpful because I put each bolt in the right place on the old one so that I could tell where each one went back in when I re-assembled it. That's useful since the bolts are multiple different lengths. I replaced the throwout bearing while I was in there. I also took off the clutch and inspected it. It looks good still so I put it back in. While putting the trans back in, which is one of my least favorite things to do, we broke off a sensor that is in the block right under the distributor. I looked it up and it is a temp sensor. I still have to replace that. It arrived in the mail yesterday.

While I had it out, which requires disassembling most of the front suspension, I replaced all the front bushings with Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings. I was able to do this thanks to my Christmas present, a Harbor Freight 12-ton shop press. Honestly this process was terrifying. Some of those stock bushings took all 12 tons and bit more to get moving. Here is a pic of me pressing in new studs in my new hub.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JrREvg1KEvDj19zY8

The hub was a totally different problem. When our wheel came off it really wrenched the studs and I suspect it made one of more of them a little loose in the hub. But it turns out I couldn't find a new hub or hub/bearing for the front for sale anywhere. So I had to get one from the picknpull. Our front knuckles are from a 99 Acura CL (for the larger brake disk diameter). So I found an appropriate CL in a nearby picknpull, BUT the car in question had security lugnuts. So I had to come back later ready to tackle that. I think I used a 21mm 12 point socket. I hammered it on there and used my battery impact gun and it came right off. Getting the nut out of the socket was a challenge. Anyway from there it was just a matter of getting the 36mm axle nut off which is always sketchy. I had my 30" breaker bar with a 4' jack handle over it standing on it and bouncing before it finally broke loose. After I got that I decided to replace the bearings on both hubs. So I got to make use of my press lots! When the bearings come off the hub it leaves a part of the bearing on the shaft. I had to cut a groove in it with my dremel and then use a cold chisel to hammer it off. I cleaned up the hubs with a wire wheel. Then I pressed on new bearings, and pressed in new studs. Now I have two new front hub/bearing assemblies in my knuckles that are nice and shiny new!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/XKdonQZf2gAoCnYLA

Like I said above, I replaced the bushings in the lower control arm and the ones on the radius arm in the front cross member. The one's in the control are were really stubborn. With my press I also got a kit from Jegs for making support jigs for the press, so you can support irregular parts at the right angle to use the press. It's fun but tricky to get right. I have a small welding table, also from HF, that kind of folds up. I placed it with the table in vertical position between me and the press so that if anything burst or shot out it would shield me a bit. Applying that much force to a part is scary, and it goes off like a gunshot when the bushing finally moves, then my wife or son runs up to the garage to see if I'm still alive. Anyway here are the lower control arms with the new urethane bushings.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HLYC2RPu47KWyEyL9

I could not replace the upper control arm bushings, since I have an aftermarket adjustable upper control arm that uses different sized bushings. But those are new and pretty dang stiff anyway (the rubber part is only about 3/8" thick), so I don't think they would make much of a difference.

Of course last night the mail delivered new upper spring mount bushings that I had forgotten I had ordered, AFTER I had completely reassembled the suspension on both sides. Sigh. Maybe later. Next I have to work on getting the engine running right again.

I'm gong to order new bushings for the rear suspension. My hope is that by reducing slop in the suspension we can run a little less static camber so we get more even front tire wear and a little better grip under acceleration.

Still todo:
Fix the bad running issue
improve the grounding
Rear bushings
ebay header?

[SSMAccord]

Good job on the LCAs. I have this same press and attempted this as well. I chickened out after reaching what I thought was more than enough pressure to remove those bushings, I also was fearful of something exploding from pressure and maiming me lol. The rear LCAs are significantly easier to do the same process to. I ended up having a machine shop do the removal on the front LCAs, installation was much easier though.

I like the support jig, I might have to acquire it for future projects.

[ukemike]

So last weekend was a productive one. When I got started on the suspension a few weeks back, the engine would barely run. I had to get my son to tow me up to the garage it was so bad. So the weekend before last I dove into the engine. My first thought was to check the spark and then look a the plugs. There was lots of oil in 3 of the spark plug holes. That seemed like as likely a cause as any. So I took out the plugs and unfortunately they were all black which suggest oil in the combustion chambers. After perusing the interwebs for a while I revisited the ErictheCarGuy video on the lower spark plug tube seals. I watched it a few times. Lucky I already had a complete set of head seals and gaskets on hand.

Honestly I was really afraid of this operation. I've avoided internal engine work. Even though I have a Delta 262 cam waiting for installation, I've been afraid I would screw it up. A while back I actually started working on the cylinder head from our old engine (the one that was in the 91). Somehow the shafts in the rocker arm assembly got out of wack and I could not get the bolts back in. Because I was afraid of this happening again, I took special care to make sure all the bolts stayed in this time. So I opened the valve cover and removed the rocker arm assembly (RAA). Sure enough the lower seals were hard and brittle but they came out cleanly. I replaced those. You may recall that I while ago I got a cam re-ground by Delta to their 262 profile. I figured since I was 80% of the way to the cam it was time to try. I marked the timing belt and cam gear then took a long break to worry about it before pushing the timing belt off the cam gear. Then I pulled the camshaft out. I reused the same cam gear and the locking key but went out and bought a new cam oil seal. I rubbed motor oil all over the camshaft and placed it back in the head. It took some effort to get the belt back on, and once I got it on I realized I hadn't bolted the cam gear back on. So I took it out, put the bolt in, and put it back in again. Of course while putting it in I bumped the distributer shaft and it spun a quarter turn. But was it CW or CCW? I check through the spark plug holes to find which cylinder were up. I took off the distributer cap and turned the rotor till it was pointing at what I guessed was the right ciylinder and then put the camshaft back in. It was either right or 180 deg off. Then I set about putting the RAA back on.

I'm sure all the old timers here know, but for any folks newer to the CB7, find Eric the Car Guy on youtube. He's a pro mechanic and he's done dozens of super helpful videos about our cars. Anyway I followed his advise and got it back on, tapped it into place with my new deadblow hammer, the torqued it down very slowly and gently. Next was adjusting the valves. Years ago I took a class on doing valve jobs on a 911. I tried it myself and succeeded except for one valve. Lucky my mechanic fixed it for me while he was replacing the clutch a few weeks later, but my failure at that also made me nervous here. I can say this with confidence. I do not enjoy adjusting the valves. Whoever was in there last overtorqued some things and at least one of those valve adjusters was super hard to break loose. I almost rounded the nut!!! Lucky the most important valves, the exhaust side, are easy to access. I must have made a dozen passes at it each valve until all felt about the same with the feeler guages. Eventually I decided to button it up. The PO had used a LOT of gasket sealant on the valve cover gasket and I spent an hour trying to gently get it all out, but little bits kept flying about and landing inside the cover where I couldn't find them. So I gave up and used the cover from our old engine. I used just a little dab of red rtv on the corners of the gasket and got it back on. With a terrible pit in my stomach I tied to start it up...

[ukemike]

And it fired right up and ran with the surging idle just like it always has. Why the surging idle? I don't know or care, it's a race car, I've never bothered to figure it out. I let it run for a while and I don't think I can hear any valve noise, so maybe I got it right, but now I am convinced that I'll end up with one or more burnt exhaust valves. I just cannot accept that I might have gotten this right. But anyway I thrilled that it runs again. Then I saw smoke coming out from under the exhaust manifold heat shield and it smelled like burned oil. Uh oh! I removed the heat shield and it looks like I spilled some oil while doing the head work. Whew!

Anyway my son has been nagging me to use the garage to do some work on his two cars. He needs to fix a window and fix the alignment on his 98 Disgustang off-roader so he can daily drive it while we work on the rear bushings of his 91 Volvo 240.wagon. So the Accord will sit for a week or two. I still have a todo list for the next race in May.

[ukemike]

Good job on the LCAs. I have this same press and attempted this as well. I chickened out after reaching what I thought was more than enough pressure to remove those bushings, I also was fearful of something exploding from pressure and maiming me lol. The rear LCAs are significantly easier to do the same process to. I ended up having a machine shop do the removal on the front LCAs, installation was much easier though.

I like the support jig, I might have to acquire it for future projects.

I know exactly what you mean. I have a HF folding welding table. I set the table top to vertical and stood it between me and the press. I figured that the thin plate of steel was likely to slow down any explody bits to non-lethal speeds. That gave me the confidence to succeed, and I've gone on to replace bushings on my son's volvo and his mustang. Each bushing presents is own challenges and terrors.