af_1132 : 1993 Accord LX

[af_1132]

I survived a week with students working on my car with me!

I seem to have an ironic affinity for working outside in the rain.



I now reveal my greatest blunder: a broken bolt in the rear main seal case/arch that I never properly dealt with. It is hard to see, but it is in the lowest left bolt hole of the four bolt holes to the left of the rear main seal.



It was only by divine providence that I did not destroy the bolt threads getting this thing out.



I also had this strange washer placed on just one of the studs for that rear main seal arch/case. I'm sure that, combined with a leaking rear main, the busted bolt, not using hondabond to seal, and the bent oil pan was what caused the oil leakage I could not stand.

The total job included a new rear main seal, proper installation of the arch/case, a new oil pan and gasket, installation of the ESP traction bar, and removal of one of the IAB plates (the one with butterflies).



After figuring out that my TPS was disconnected and realizing it's okay to have a few break lights out, I realized that I just LOVE THIS CAR MORE THAN EVER! I've got the tags coming so I can drive to the track for this season. I am super stoked!

[cb9love]

i just wanted to applaud you on taking the time to share your car knowledge with the students.


Broken bolts come with the territory of working on old cars. At least up didn't have to pull out the tap set or helicoils.

[af_1132]

i just wanted to applaud you on taking the time to share your car knowledge with the students.

Broken bolts come with the territory of working on old cars. At least up didn't have to pull out the tap set or helicoils.

Thank you. It was an exhausting week, and one day I had them working on their own cars. 11 kids were working on 10 different cars simultaneously, and I had to supervise it all while keeping on schedule with the CB! I finally feel rested.

I'm going to go out to the garage and test out Hondata Mobile for the S300 using the Bluetooth connection.

[af_1132]

I'm sorry, but all Hondata Mobile has on SDash is the fact that it can be connected to V.3 of the S300 via bluetooth. The Layout and customization does not compare:



SDash custom layout:



Come on SDash, get into the app store!

[af_1132]

I had the privilege of meeting and getting connected with Carlos (SanJoCaF22DrAcc) and Ryan (MonsterH22 or something like that) on Sunday. I made a great friend in Carlos that day and look forward to what we can cook up together in the future.





Get ready for a video of us lining up side by side at Sonoma Raceway at the end of the month! IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN!!!

[jdm92_accorn]

It's been a while since I've browsed the forum, it's great to see you diligently hard at work still. Im ready to see your 1/4 mile progress.

[af_1132]

Thanks for stopping by, my friend!

6 runs total, 4 of the 6 runs were 90 mph traps. I'm very excited about that, considering that we had 80 degree heat and too many high HP cars doing burnouts and spraying crap all over for those going around the water box. I'll post up once I get the images on Photobucket!

[jdm92_accorn]

have you been using the parking brake to assist in preloading the car for the launch?

[af_1132]

I thought about doing so, but not yet. I wanted to test the effects of the traction bar without using the parking brake to see the difference it made. I'm pretty sure I will have to thread lock some of those bolts because certain connections get loose on this bar without it. I will be incorporating the parking brake next time I head out there.

Here was the first and best run (on the left). I was the first out on the track in the morning:



The problems with traction were not so much at the line as between the line and the 60ft. I had to go through so much crap when going around the water box with all these sub 10 second big tire slick cars there that day. If I go to a bracket event like this again, I will have to replace the front studs and get the open-ended gorilla tuner lugs plus open ended racing lugs so I can run my M/T radials again and burn out.

I got this in the mail yesterday!

[Mike1357]

Nice! Part of me wishes I got an ESP traction bar. I may pony up for one of the buys in the future solely for the torque mount. Seeing your posts makes me want to go to the track.

[af_1132]

Thanks for stopping by. In my view, the ESP bar could really benefit from a center beam connecting it to the cross member below the rear mount. I definitely had plenty of wheel hop issues before 60 ft once the track got used by high horsepower big tire cars.

[Mike1357]

I'm still having wheel hop issues too. I was hoping an ESP bar would have better characteristics.

[jdm92_accorn]

If you're still having wheel-hop issues with a traction bar, then you need to add some caster and check alignment.

[af_1132]

I know the alignment is due for a freshening up. It has been over a year now! The toe is off slightly, and the caster was last set to OE specs when I had a 4-wheel laser alignment done. I'll do another one of those and tell Blacktrax to get the caster as even as possible (I remembered that!).

Also, my lateral filled mounts have small cracks in the filling. When I redo my mounts again, I will do whatever it takes to get solid mounts. I'm done with DIY this and that when it comes to mounts. It was fun to make them, but not fun to see cracks .

[af_1132]

Okay, finally got the ESP 3 point installed. The passenger side bracket did not line up at all, so quite a bit of drilling was required to extend the holes for the shock tower bolts. The cornering is quite different in the front with one of these things, but the best news is the dramatic reduction in wheel hop. However, now my traction bar is loose again, even after some thread locker on the radius rod and torque mount connections (just the bolts, NOT the rod ends). I don't mind the rattle, but I hate the "clunk" that comes when putting on the breaks.

The good news is that I have a laser alignment set up at Blacktrax for July 8th to work mostly on the caster and the crazy shaking above 75 mph, which reared it's ugly head after the traction bar was installed. Then, to Sonoma on the 13th to hopefully break into the 14's with prime conditions!