SSMAccord : 1992 Accord EX

[SSMAccord]

Second and Third Field Trip of 2021: The Tale of 2 Trackdays - Waterford Raceway


Missing out on the Gingerman track day, the next track day that my friend group had on the docket was Waterford Raceway. This track is local to Detroit so it wouldn't require any camping or overnight hotel stays. I was unfamiliar with the group hosting the trackday, but I was told that it was a bit more recreational than instructional. Luckily the team that hosted the Grattan day in May was also hosting an event the week before my planned track day. I figured I could do that event to get acclimated with the track and then be better prepared for the following week's event.

The first trackday, hosted by 3Ballsracing, was busy as I anticipated. They host a huge range of driver's and cars and have really good methods and instruction. Since I hadn't told anyone that I was attending, I didn't anticipate any of my personal friends being there; to my surprise a bunch of my friend's who weren't going to the second track day showed up at this one. It was a good coincidence seeing that the people who attended are really advanced track rats and I was able to get really good lessons and ride along experience. Some of the cars on hand were interesting to see and hear on track.

Superlite Cars SLC




Mark IV Supra




Lexus SC400 with Burly Man




Porsche 911 GT3




JJami97's EF Hatch




Micah's GS






I also managed to make some new friends who were all in my driving bracket; one is a Toyota employee who brought a TRD prepped enduro Corolla hatch and the other 2 guys drove up from Ohio. It was nice being able to compare lap times and technique with people driving cars closer to the CB in regards of power and capability.

Paddock 1




Paddock 2




End of Day






Coming off of the brake incident at Grattan, I am still very weary of having a second type of failure. I think I managed to figure out what happened by replicating the series of events in a controlled manner during this event. Having swapped out the banjo bolts, installed fresh washers, applying thread locker and safety wiring the parts I made sure to check the fittings after each session on track. After a few sessions the brake calipers themselves get really hot, which is normal, but the Spoon calipers seem to expand a bit due to the heat which causes the banjo bolts to weep and then slowly back out. While the calipers were still hot, I cut the safety wires and retorqued the banjo bolts, I was able to get about an additional 1/2 turn on the bolts and then safety wire them again. After that the calipers haven't had issue, in the future if I have to service the bolts I will torque them, bed the pads to heat up the calipers and then retorque them while hot to avoid disaster.

I am still getting comfortable driving the CB on track and haven't yet pushed it too far, I also would like to not crash, harm the engine or exhaust the limits of my driving abilities. By the end of 5 or 6 sessions I was at least comfortable with parts of the track. Coming out of turn 4 (Hill Top) and turn 7 (The Esses) were starting to feel pretty good. Turn 1 and 2 I need to figure out a bit and I think I am way slow through Paddock Curve. I am taking it pretty easy just getting acclimated to the track and the car in those conditions, so hopefully I will be able to get faster laps during future events. Turn 8 coming up to Start/Finish does expose the lack of baffling in the H22 oil pan as it is a longish, higher speed left hand turn, as I get to the end valve lift will kick in but I think a solution will have to be created to prevent the condition in the future. I was able to get the CB weighed at the event, it tipped the scales at 1328 kgs or 2926 lbs with roughly a half tank of fuel. Calculating in the missing fuel, the CB weighs somewhere around 2968 lbs. Kinda porky for a 90's Honda, but less than the official CB curb weight (2623 lbs.) that doesn't include fluids in the calculation. Considering that this weight is without the additional 175lbs that I add to the car, I will have to get the car corner balanced at some point just by looking at the values on the scale.

Scales




My fastest lap was a 1:26.43, the TRD Corolla managed a 1:24.5ish lap and JJami97 in his half caged EF hatch was at a consistent 1:19:4XX for comparison. Both of those drivers are very talented and have much more experience than I do, so they have given me some benchmarks to target in terms of lap times.


This is the video of just the fastest lap:

This is the complete session as it was also the fastest of the day. I think that if had been able to trail the S2000 for longer I could have improved my times a bit, but due to traffic I lost contact with him after a while. I will say that I out ran the red Focus here which was lapping faster than I did at Grattan, so perhaps some progress was made from the Grattan event.

6 Days Later...

So the second weekend was expected to just be a continuation of the weekend before, also that was not meant to be. Trackalicious hosted this event, I had not run with them before but they also host a really great event. There is a bit less red tape to their event, which is nice in someways. The elephant in the room however was the weather; in the morning the weather was grey and overcast which would turn into a pretty decent downpour during the driver's meeting. The first group out got about 3 laps in before a major crash happened that caused the track to be shutdown for the rest of the morning. A driver in a brand new C8 Corvette managed to have an incident at the end of the back straight and plowed into the tire wall and then stuck in trees beyond that.

That took a while to clean up which affected the track time for the day; given the weather and my apprehension with the grip level of the Dunlop StarSpec tires in the rain, I was ok to sit the event out and just do ride alongs. After a few ride along laps I worked up the courage to take the CB on track in the rain. The first session was in heavy rain and I called it quits after 3 laps, the amount of water and the way that it makes the car handle was nervewracking to say the least. As the amount of rainfall varied throughout the day, I managed to get in a few more sessions once of which was decent-ish. The area of most concern is actually where the Corvette had it's incident; coming on to the back straight turn 5 (Big Bend) had a dry patch situated between 2 very wet areas which causes a unnerving sensation before you get onto the straight. The latter part of the back straight has large areas of standing water that can cause some degree of hydroplaning, after experiencing that in the ride along and in the CB I was very cautious of wiping out there. Starting the day with a humbling off track crash, everyone drove with caution and no other incidents occurred.


Paddock 1




Paddock 2





The fastest wet lap in the CB was 1:55:3xx, a 30 second change from the dry time. My fastest ride along was in a C6 Corvette which lapped at 1:51:63, not too far from that time I guess. There was a newer Jetta GLI and a Fiesta ST that were lapping in the 1:45 - 1:48 region for reference.

Fastest Lap Video:

Full Session Video:

Getting to experience the track in 'ideal' conditions and in the wet was really interesting. The first day was very much about getting comfortable with the car and learning the track. The wet day kinda turned that dichotomy on it's ear; it was much more about finding a pace and trusting that there was some level of traction on the track surface, how that level of traction varied around the track versus how much rainfall was occurring during the sessions. I was nervous throughout most of it, but made the most of the experience.

I think there are a couple Track Days in the coming months, so hopefully I will be able to get more track time.

[SSMAccord]

Raf,
With the clunk, those were my same exact thoughts, as mine does the same.

For the bushings, I do not have any issues with the solid bushings causing 1st or 5th to pop out, granted I haven't tracked the car yet.


Also nice job on the safety wire, I use to deal with that stuff on the daily when I was enlisted. Curious where you secured the other end to? It looks like you have it more in a neutral position on the banjo bolts, which should be ok since there isn't really a load on that bolt. I would also loop the end back on itself where you cut it. You do that by simply clamping the end of the safety wire pliers on the tip of the end and roll it inward. This will prevent you from sticking your hand when you reach in or catching anything it comes in contact with.

The potential clunking from the traction bar setups is what keeps me from getting one.

The pop out issue was happening in traffic on the street, it wasn't frightening just very annoying as it made it sound like I suddenly wanted race someone. I would imagine that it could be dangerous in a hot track condition. I will try to revisit it since I still have to install the solid plate bushings.

Thanks for the insight, the safety wiring was pretty fun to learn. Thank to Adam Savage's YT channel I got a pretty good run down of how to do it. I did loop the ends back up, they are quite sharp as I learned lol. I was going to secure the other end to the braided hose where the banjo fitting is, but the head of the pliers wouldn't fit between the hose and the caliper body. The end is now attached to the lower brake tube on the caliper.

[Grumpys93]

Raf,
With the clunk, those were my same exact thoughts, as mine does the same.

For the bushings, I do not have any issues with the solid bushings causing 1st or 5th to pop out, granted I haven't tracked the car yet.


Also nice job on the safety wire, I use to deal with that stuff on the daily when I was enlisted. Curious where you secured the other end to? It looks like you have it more in a neutral position on the banjo bolts, which should be ok since there isn't really a load on that bolt. I would also loop the end back on itself where you cut it. You do that by simply clamping the end of the safety wire pliers on the tip of the end and roll it inward. This will prevent you from sticking your hand when you reach in or catching anything it comes in contact with.

[Raf99]

Ya, great idea on the go pro mount! I don't have a sunroof and sat there one day trying to figure out how?? how to mount the go pro. .... I gave up haha. So thanks for the idea

The shifting thing..... Ya. You could adjust the cables but ..... not sure that's the answer. I imagine Honda went with the rubber bushings to alleviate vibrations but also to have some softness for the shifting. This softness will obsorb any harsh back lash from torque too. Think about it, the engine moves when you rev it. The trans moves too and probably the shifter cables too (inside their cladding). But the shifter plate assembly is static to the body. Now...... maybe I'm exaggerating but I bet you if one had rock solid shifter bushings and soft engine mounts it would just pop out more.

The clunk. My clunk and what I thought you were describing is the ESP traction bar, where the radius rods ears go into the bar. There's metal on metal contact there and it only touches when you hit a severe angle. Mine does it when I am braking and going into a ...... gas station for example. The cars weight shifts and ya. Annoying. I tried putting rubber in there but it didn't work. Both sides do it and it can be loud enough that you thought something is broke I guess.

[SSMAccord]

I was on the waitlist for the Memorial Day track day at Gingerman. But a spot never materialized, oh well perhaps it was for the best.



Field Trip #2 Prep:

Following up from the last post...
The control arm swap and camber kit changeover was simple enough. The change does give about an inch more vertical clearance for the upper control arm. Access to the forward bolt for the camber adjustment is tight, but easier to access than the upper mount bolt for the SPC balljoint unit.



Onto the latest happenings:



Brake Parts

The remainder of the brake parts also arrived:

Safety Wire
Safety Wire Pliers
New Copper Washers



Hawk 600 Brake Fluid




Powerstop Track Day Brake Pads




Installation again was simple until it got to the safety wiring bit. Having never done this process before I had to watch a couple of Youtube videos to get acclimated. Getting the wires installed was only a few minutes of additional fiddling and a couple of tries to get it right.




All done and bled. The Power Stop Track Day pads are proving to be much quieter than the HP Plus pads. The safety wire seems to work as intended, at the next track day I'll be able to see if the issue is resolved.


Axle Replacement
Since the last track day caused the new driver's side axle to tear the boot and leak grease inside wheel it needed to get a new boot. I thought that would be simple, but dudnt actually go as expected. Getting the CV joint free from the shaft is a bit more intense that I thought it would be, so I figured that I would just order a new or refurbed unit from Rock Auto and be done with it. Unfortunately, the listings on Rock Auto aren't accurate. I ended up ordering 3 different driver's side axles only to receive 3 passenger side axles. Either quality control is low or the companies remanufacturing or making these axles don't know the passenger inner shafts are not the same driver's side vs passenger side. In the end I figured if I was ordering online it would be easier to order from Orielly and get it overnight and be able to return it immediately if it was wrong. Turns out they got it right. Problem solved.


*this axle hasn't been sitting in a warehouse for any number of years, now has it? lol



The 'Clunk'


I also have spent the last...7 or 8 weeks since Grattan tracking down the most annoying 'CLUNK' noise that began on the drive home from the Grattan track day. I have disassembled and reassembled various parts of the front suspension 2 or maybe 3 times a week trying to reproduce a sound that only occurs when the car is in motion. To little avail...

So far I have disassembled, reassembled or investigated:
Upper Control Arms
Lower Control Arms
Radius rods and bushings
Replaced the front steering knuckle
Replaced the front torque mount (which actually needed to be replaced)
Swapped in a spare coilover
Swapped in the old Odyssey knuckles
Disconnected the front sway bar, inspected the bushings
Inspected the brake calipers and rotors
Checked the subframe mounting bolts
Checked the rack and pinion mounting bolts
Checked or replaced tie rod ends

And still...the 'Clunk' persisted. I decided to investigate the rear engine mount which would be an odd failure considering it was replaced last year. In the process I removed the ESP strut bar as well; the engine mount and all of those bolts were at proper torque and the mount was in good condition. I reassembled it all and finally reached the point of "I suppose it hasn't hurt anything", figuring that the issue will reveal itself to me when it finally does break something. I also needed to bed the new brake pads that same night, so about 1am it was time to get that process done. Miraculously, the clunk was gone. It seems that the issue all this time were the 3rd mounting point bolts for the strut bar. The bolts must have worked themselves loose during the track day and allowed it to bang into the firewall. The clunk only happened in response in chassis flex which I cannot replicate when the car is on jackstands which made it impossible to find. UGH...



Rear Wheel Bearing Replacement

One of the rear hubs was making a noise prior to the Grattan track day and I figured now is a good of a time as any to replace it. Thanks to me doing this a few years ago and struggling to get the inner race off of the shaft during the process, I anti-seized the shaft upon reinstallation and this time the bearing came off with the bearing race intact.





FFC Shifter Bushing

In a strange situation, after the effort to get the FFC shifter bushings installed on the trans, I had to take this large bushing out. After installing this, it created a problem where the trans would consistenly pop out of 1st and 5th gear. After thinking that the MTEC springs were at fault due to the increased tension and removing them the problem remained, but resolved once I put the rubber bushing back in place here. Perhaps the cables need adjusting if I try to reinstall this? I dunno yet.





Track Pack

In an effort to have a single item to have to load and unload at the track, I perused me local Container Store and found this guy. It is large enough for the toolkit to fit inside along with other incidental items, met the height and width requirement to fit in the trunk with the battery box and floor jack.







Go Pro Mount

The videos from the Grattan track day were my first stab with the Go Pro. At that event I suction mounted to the sunroof glass which created an angle that looked down into the car instead of looking forward onto the track. The ideal location is mounted to the roll cage bar, but I don't have one of those...and I can't suction to the ceiling either. But I do have a dome light I can mount to, but the suction cup it too large to work there. Gathering a dome light lens from the salvage yard I was able fashion up this that allows the Go Pro to be located in a more rearward and lower location. I hope that the angle is better than before.

[SSMAccord]

Most of the parts meant to address the weak points that showed up during the track day have arrived.

Upper Control Arms. These came from Rockauto, the image indicated that these would have castle nuts and cotter pins but they showed up with nylock bolts. It was easy enough to drill provisions for cotter pins, but just added tedium. I already have the Moog camber adjustable anchors that these will mount to.




Security Wire Banjo Bolts. These should help prevent a sudden brake issue and also restore my confidence in the system, I have to order the security wire and security wire pliers to complete the install.




Remanufactured CV Axle. I am going to reboot the new CV axle at some point, but this will work for now. I will vent both of the outer CV boots to prevent ballooning in the future. (thanks to aventari for showing how to vent tube the joints)

[SSMAccord]

That was fun to watch for sure! I always wanted to try a day on a track, but I haven't looked into any tracks near me. On a side note, seeing all these 92-93 with the high rise armrest center console really makes me want to get one. Question though, How far forward does the arm rest go? Does it extend as far out as the one attached to the driver side seat?

Thanks. You definitely should, it really is a great way to enjoy the car that you've built!

I think the armrest is worthwhile addition. It is lower than the seat mounted armrest and sits further rearward. I usually am not using it while shifting, but it is nice to be able to lounge once in a steady cruise.

[SSMAccord]

Thanks. I enjoyed my morning coffee watching and reading this!

Thanks! It was an entertaining trip. I cant wait for the next outing, perhaps at the end of the month but most likely in July.

[Grumpys93]

That was fun to watch for sure! I always wanted to try a day on a track, but I haven't looked into any tracks near me. On a side note, seeing all these 92-93 with the high rise armrest center console really makes me want to get one. Question though, How far forward does the arm rest go? Does it extend as far out as the one attached to the driver side seat?

[Raf99]

Thanks. I enjoyed my morning coffee watching and reading this!

[SSMAccord]

First Field Trip of 2021: Grattan Raceway w/ 3Balls Racing


Since it looks like 2021 is slowly returning to a level of normalcy, a few friends and I decided to venture out to a springtime track event. Grattan is a smaller race course that is on the west side of the state near Grand Rapids. I had never driven on this track, I think my last track day was in 2016 and not in a CB so I was feeling very rusty and apprehensive considering the changes made to the car last year.


The first order of business was preparing the car; changing out the rear arms and putting the Hawk HP Plus track pads in was simple enough. When it came time to bed the pads the first issue showed up, under hard braking the rear of the car kept attempting to come around which was very unsettling. I initially thought that perhaps the larger rear brake rotors might be creating too much rear bias, a problem that would have easily enough to resolve by putting on the smaller rotors and matching brackets. After some brake bias calculations, it seemed unlikely that the brake bias was significantly rearward and not the source of my issue. After that idea was exhausted it occurred to me that I was running the rebound/compression settings on the dampers at full soft which was allowing all of the weight to shift off of the rear of the car under hard braking and causing the rear to behave uncontrollably. After adjusting the dampers to a stiffer setting up front and adjusting the rear toe arms to a toe-in setting the second round of brake bedding was infinitely easier to control and predict. I did the pre track day check list, found that the fan switch wiring was broken which was a pretty easy soldering fix. As a precaution, I installed new CV shafts since I hadn't serviced them since they were installed on the old CB. I also performed an oil change, and changed out the brake fluid for a higher temp DOT 4 fluid.

Grattan Entry



Grattan at Sunset



Cool Down between sessions






The day was going pretty well, I had one of my friends act as an instructor for my first 2 sessions and he was really helpful at helping me learn the track. On the 3rd session I ventured out alone, of course that session would turn out to be more eventful. After a pretty typical session of just feeling out the car and the track, as I entered a turn the brake pedal suddenly sank to the floor...uh oh. Luckily it was a pretty slow area of track and I was able to scrub off speed and limp back to the designated track exit. After that, incident I set about trying to find out what calamity had befallen my brake system. After a brief inspection, I found that the banjo bolt of the brake line had backed itself out of the front driver's side caliper, I managed to torque it back to spec and get it rebled. Out of caution I checked the passenger side caliper which was not as loose, it still needed to be re-torqued.

Brake Failure Lap

Brake Inspection




After that ordeal my driving confidence was kinda was dampened. But the 4th session was uneventful, but slower than I had been running earlier in the day. Same thing for the 5th and final session of the day. I trailed a Focus for a few laps, but my mind kept going back to the brake issue so I was driving a bit more cautiously. This is probably the fastest lap of that session, its somewhere around a 1:46 lap time. It was a decidedly average lap time for the group I was in, not the slowest but definitely not the fastest.

Immediately after that session was the free for all session, I hopped in with Micah to get some tips and watch him try to best his best time at the track. He is a probably the most experienced out of the crew I was traveling with and he managed to put down a lap time of 1:26 during this session which turned out to be his PB of the day.

For the most part the day was a success. We departed for a well earned dinner and adult beverages.

Wrap Up



Carnage Report:
Since the banjo bolts were loose and leaking again by the time I got home, I am going to get new banjo bolts and safety wire them in place.

I had been noticing the control arms contacting the inner fender prior to the track day, I am going to change from the SPC balljoint camber adjustment to normal UCAs with adjustable inner pivots. The SPC ball joints add to the overall height of the UCA by about an inch, getting that bit of travel back might be better and quieter.

While I was inspecting the banjo bolts, I noticed a thick stripe of grease on the back side of the driver's side brake duct. One of the new CV axles has a split in it and is already leaking. I will have to replace the boot or the axle...ugh.

I need to dial in some additional front camber, I was running almost no camber since the SPC units are also difficult to adjust on the fly. During the track day I zeroed out the rear toe setting which helped the car rotate mid corner.

I also need to experiment with mounting locations for the GoPro, mounting to the sunroof glass puts the rearview mirror in the middle of the shot which is not ideal. I will also experiment with not using image stabilization since it makes the video shift its angle around the track.

I am also going to investigate different (less annoying) front brake pads. The Hawk HP + worked well, but the screeching is unbearable. Also, the cooling ducts seemed to work out well.


The next track day is scheduled for May 29/30th at Gingerman Raceway. I am on the waitlist since I signed up late. That is a short window to get the proposed mods done, so if I don't make it to that event perhaps it is for the best.

[SSMAccord]

New SSM post, more notes to take for myself. Good stuff! Also, that last shot is looking seriously professional.

Thanks Raf99 and CyborgGT!

I really liked the shot as I was spying on my car in the morning.

Also, I am taking just as much notes from you guys.

[CyborgGT]

New SSM post, more notes to take for myself. Good stuff! Also, that last shot is looking seriously professional.

[Raf99]

Nice pics!

[SSMAccord]

Spring Updates: Since the weather is warming up, it is time for the CB to get some minor updates to keep the build going.


Hood Struts: This is one of those quality of life mods. I acquired these on Amazon and they arrived in a timely manner. The install is pretty straight forward and allows the prop rod to be removed from the engine bay. The issue is that with these installed and the hood closed the hood is raised 4-5mm above the fenders. I am not sure if the ball stud mount or the diameter of the struts are causing the issue. I am trying to find a way to retain the strut functionality and allow the hood to close properly.

Hood Strut 1:


Hood Strut 2:



FFC Shifter Bushings and Plate Bushings: Having previously used the FFC bushings on the shifter end of the mechanism, I wanted to upgrade to solid shifter bushings on the gearbox side of the cables as well. It also felt pertinent to upgrade the plate bushings to solid as well.

FFC Bushings:



MTEC Shift Springs: Since the FFC bushings were installed, I wanted to upgrade the remaining areas of the shift "feel". The shift springs were next on the list. A few CB7Tuners have used MTEC and had positive results so I decided to follow suit.

MTEC Shift Springs:



Hybrid Racing Detent Springs: To go along with the FFC and MTEC parts, uprated detent springs would round out the mods for the gearbox.

Hybrid Racing Detent Springs:



Rear Camber Kit 2.0: When I ordered the rear camber arms previously, I didn't know that there was a straight arm version and a bent arm version. I think the bent version is designed to prevent binding and interference with the rear knuckle. The change out was simple.

SPC Rear Upper Camber Kit:



Komfort Blinker / One touch signal: This is a kinda odd one. Driving the CB sometimes makes me into an unintentionally bad driver, case in point that I am accustomed to tapping the turn signal stalk to indicate a pass or turn and having the car blink 3 flashes for me as it does in my newer cars. That doesn't happen in the CB. Luckily VW makes a retrofit kit for some models of VW's like Passats and Golfs, I think there is also a version for older BMWs and MB's. The CB and VW turn / hazard light circuits are very similar and allows the One Touch Signal to be added to the CB. The install requires tapping into the 3 wires attached to the stalk and an ignition switched 12V and ground. You can also disable it by removing the box or unplugging the connection if you need to not have it. The system does flash the CB signal 4 times instead of three since I think the device is duty cycle based and the CB lights flash faster than a newer VW system does.

Komfort Blinker Harness:




Some Random Winter / Spring photos:

Snow Day 1:



Snow Day 2:



Sunlit Sunday Morning: