Raf99 : 1993 Accord EX

[Raf99]

You just be super dedicated; I mean really dedicated. I admire your dedication and persistence. I really do. Do you actually have a finish line for this thing, or will I get to be one of the lucky few who gets to indulge in a great ongoing-never-ending project?

Well I appreciate the kind comments! It means a lot on this forum too. I commented on your car in 2011 for the first time so we have both been around a while. And dedicated.... naa. Maybe I just need friends or a life haha.
I wish I could see myself through someone else eyes. But.... i don't. I don't consider myself dedicated though. I actually beat myself up for not being further along than I am. On a monthly basis (IE: I should know how to tune on S300 by now or weld an exhaust :P ). But I will also admit every other "car guy" I've met does not like getting their hands dirty. They enjoy car meets in the parking lot on the weekends and burn outs vs. working on a car in the garage (alone or with friends).

Final product. Yep there is a picture in my mind, but money and time may run out:

- 500HP (at least on a dyno sheet / 400HP will do)
- Shaved / painted bay (done)
- Carbon Fiber hood and trunk (may never happen. Will most likely never happen haha)
- Big brake upgrade (may happen)
- New paint all around (including lips, skirts, etc.)
- Proper LSD or even a sequential shifting unit)

These are big boy dreams. The little teenage goals were done long ago (JDM lights, nice stereo system, spoiler, interior swap..... ). So she's almost done... I guess. But shouldn't I own a skyline by now and be working on it

[CyborgGT]

Ah, the Skyline. I think about getting one, too, but then I remember that if it needs damn near anything it's probably going to be expensive and come with long wait times. Since Canada's more lax on imports, do you know if that kind of thing is well catered for up there? Simply maintaining JDM imports?

[Size9zombie]

Ah, the Skyline. I think about getting one, too, but then I remember that if it needs damn near _anything_ it's probably going to be expensive and come with long wait times. Since Canada's more lax on imports, do you know if that kind of thing is well catered for up there? Simply maintaining JDM imports?

You would think so, but parts for those cars are all over the place. The Nissan heratage program is constantly expanding too, and does include the Skyline. Enormous aftermarket support as well. To be honest, there is far more stuff available for Skylines than there is for our cars nowadays.

[Raf99]

Well, maybe different out West, but I'm on the east coast. Think Maine pretty much. There's a select few imports here. Always see this guy driving an RHD Impreza that looks cool and few skylines. & of course shipping parts always has to come from USA or cross seas. Duty/tax/import fees are stupid and exchange rate sucks. Ya'll got it easy down there on costs of things :P So if you see a skyline you pretty much pick your jaw up after it goes by. IE: That Driven car show I entered into (this page) you never see these cars out. Never knew they existed, even the red S2000 there that won over Sally. ha, story time ; My only time Sally got to meet a Skyline was behind it at a red light. Like... obvious modified skyline, I think I could fit my leg in it's exhaust. Light turned green, made Sally look like a little girl... lol. (pretty sure he was 800HP+). The rev up and launch + 2nd gear exhaust pop.... droooool. I launched 1st gear.... but after his pop he was gone and I was still spinning 1st haha. Made me realize that no matter how much $$$ I dump into Sally it will never come close to that car. Crazy! Just a whole other level of money, parts, modifications (super rare parts only found in Japan), tuning, .... everything quadruple the cost (IE: transmission rebuild). It's like part of me is jealous (I want to do that!), but part of me feels sorry for the guy as one slight breakage = Ug.

[Raf99]

Ya, this can of clear is amazing. Definitely pay for what you get type of thing. Spray pattern is amazing and great results. Not sure if there will be an orange peel but no worries there.

Sanded up to 3000grit.

[SSMAccord]

These turned out really nice!!!

[Straight Success]

Great job on bringing the early '90s quality manufacturing to 2021.

[Raf99]

They did turn out nice, but too bad the body of these can't look better.

As the saying goes, Looks good from a far, but far from good looking. The Chrome paint is good for touchups, but doesn't reflect. The corner piece I tried to make it as smooth as possible but meh. I could of filed it down and made it smoother but meh, It will do for now. Some of the chrome piece is just too pitted and rusted too. And the grey plastic of the housing is as clean as it will get. Used degreaser and still looks kind of ... brown / faded. All good though. OH. someone remind me why these won't work on my car, is it the bumper that's different or the grill?

[Raf99]

This would be the worse of the lights. There's no fixing the Chrome ripple, and not sure how to re-chrome these. A part of me wants to paint the Chrome part Acradian green

[Straight Success]

Sand it down with 600-1000 grit paper. Go to your local big box builder store, get a pint of liquid chrome paint, pour it in a 'busket' (My Suicide Kings folks understand), and dip away. Let it dry and cure with no runs, and voila.

[SSMAccord]

They did turn out nice, but too bad the body of these can't look better.

As the saying goes, Looks good from a far, but far from good looking. The Chrome paint is good for touchups, but doesn't reflect. The corner piece I tried to make it as smooth as possible but meh. I could of filed it down and made it smoother but meh, It will do for now. Some of the chrome piece is just too pitted and rusted too. And the grey plastic of the housing is as clean as it will get. Used degreaser and still looks kind of ... brown / faded. All good though. OH. someone remind me why these won't work on my car, is it the bumper that's different or the grill?

These will work on your car as is. The difference is where the feature line is in the clear lens. On the 90-91 the feature line is in the upper 1/3 of the lens and lines up with the top of the 90-91 grille. In a 92-93 the feature line is in the lower 2/3 and lines up with the center bar of the narrower 92-93 grille. This doesn’t affect how the lights attach or fit on the car.

If you decide to try to run a 90-91 grille you run into the bumper issue since the 90-91 grille is wider than a 92-93 grille. The 92-93 bumper has a plastic feature that accounts for the narrower grille. When you put a 90-91 grille on a 92-93 bumper the grille and plastic feature interfere with each other.

[Raf99]

Not sure how to quote two people anymore.. soo

StraightSuccess = I think the problem here is that I'd need a lot of Chrome paint to dip these. Like 5 gallons worth, which I'm guessing would be $200. But I'll look into it. First I'll have to find a crafts store, 2nd, see if they have this paint. 3rd, google... suicide kings. But thanks

SSMAccord = Not sure what the feature line is. I think the 90/91 bumper is missing the lip on the front / center / top portion. Between the headlights (looks in google). Ya it is. (I know there's a cb7 article somewhere about the diff). But as you mentioned the headlights are the same size? Soooo all should be good ?

Ohh, you're talking about the top of the headlights corner too i think...

(not my car)


90/91 bumper




something else i was messing with.... ( I'll purposely leave this pic dark). But.. not too sure yet... The bump stops on the doors mess up this type of theme. For those who never seen these, they are real VIS fenders, some old guy had in his dilapidated shed. Was shocked to see these & they were $40.

[SSMAccord]

These images do illustrate the difference. The feature line I mentioned is where the lenses "bend". I have illustrated the difference in the images. It is also easily seen if you compare a 90-91 corner light to a 92-93 light. But the lenses don't affect how grey plastic housing that mounts to the car. I do recall that the plastic mounting tabs may need some tweaking, but that would apply to all North American CBs.

[Straight Success]

I'll save you the trouble.

[Raf99]

Alright. OK. (and downloaded that movie)