SSMAccord : 1992 Accord EX

[Straight Success]

Oh, and BTW, my track day cherry was popped at Mid-Ohio many moons ago.

[Chrisnick]

Hey just wanted to check in here! I'm beanstune on IG. As far as your pop out goes due to that solid bushing- its because the bushing itself is designed to flex from the factory, and the "good" bushings have a spherical bearing in them to allow for said flex. After running a few different brands in a couple different cars, I can say, without a doubt, the Hybrid Racing ones (for an RSX) are the best I've ran. The big bushing MUST have a spherical in it to allow for the movement as the cable extends through its range of motion.

[Mike1357]

The car looks absolutely amazing bud. Also one of my favorite exhausts for our cars. I still have mine, but one of the resonators decided to come apart and start rattling. After that it was time to go 3". I also think those Spoon calipers look right at home on your car.

Seeing all these track pictures is reminding me of the time I saw an H swapped CB win the Honda Challenge finals at Road Atlanta. Our cars also seem to really excel at general autoX events. If you put the car in a class, not so much. I've gone to a few autoX events in my area and put Corvettes and Mustangs to shame there.

[SSMAccord]

The car looks absolutely amazing bud. Also one of my favorite exhausts for our cars. I still have mine, but one of the resonators decided to come apart and start rattling. After that it was time to go 3". I also think those Spoon calipers look right at home on your car.

Seeing all these track pictures is reminding me of the time I saw an H swapped CB win the Honda Challenge finals at Road Atlanta. Our cars also seem to really excel at general autoX events. If you put the car in a class, not so much. I've gone to a few autoX events in my area and put Corvettes and Mustangs to shame there.

Thanks! It is a bit of a work in progress. I think that there is also an exhaust tweak coming sooner or later for the car. I haven't ventured into AutoX yet, the CB seems like it would be an excellent fit for that kind of activity. Your posts from previous AutoX events were definitely an inspiration as I was figuring out what I wanted to do with my own car. I wonder if that CB you saw at RA was WagonSpec? I think he runs Honda Challenge in that region and is quite competitive.

Hey just wanted to check in here! I'm beanstune on IG. As far as your pop out goes due to that solid bushing- its because the bushing itself is designed to flex from the factory, and the "good" bushings have a spherical bearing in them to allow for said flex. After running a few different brands in a couple different cars, I can say, without a doubt, the Hybrid Racing ones (for an RSX) are the best I've ran. The big bushing MUST have a spherical in it to allow for the movement as the cable extends through its range of motion.

Thanks for the tip! These bushings did solve my pop out issue.

I think I was aware of you here and on HondaSociety (RIP?) but stumbled upon you on IG. Your projects are always interesting.

[SSMAccord]

Annnddddd we're back.

A Fall Evening


In the fall of 2021 as the weather started to cool off and the Accord season was winding down I noticed that the car would leak a tiny amount of coolant when I was using the heat. It took a while to locate the source of it; the heater valve hose looked to be leaking. No biggee, replace that and all is fine. Except it wasn't, the car would still leak a bit...it seemed to be the heater valve leaking. That is easy enough to replace, despite having to drain the coolant again, ugh. Valve replaced all should be well, except again it wasn't? It seems like the heater core is might be blocked and it only leaks when the heat is in use, there is heat out of the vents so maybe the heater core needs to be unclogged or replaced...more to come on that as I don't want to take the dash back out of the car.

Water Valves (maybe the little chunk of the old valve is in the heater core?)



Somehow this process also caused the IACV to spontaneously fail which made cold starts a bit of a hassle. But after swapping for a used one all seems to be well with that now.

Later in the fall I managed to lose the keys to the daily driver and had to drive the Accord for a few days until I replaced the keys. Coolant leak was manageable, tires were kinda frozen because of the temps. As I had to drive this car for a couple of weeks, I noticed that it was still breaking its rear wheel studs. I realized this as the passenger side only had 2 lugnuts remaining. Perhaps the chinesium that these are made out of is just low quality? Anyhow, I decided to replace them with ARP units and have not had a break since.

Late Fall Misty Night


ARP Wheel Studs



The last time that I did drive the car it managed to run out of gas, it was particularly frustrating as I was like 1000ft from my driveway. I had already decided that I was going to replace the fuel pump during the winter anyhow, this just served as confirmation of that notion. Luckily that meant that the gas tank would be pretty empty when I decided to do the change.

So let's tear into that...I decided to go with a Deaschewerks DW200 fuel pump, which is virtually the same as a Walbro pump as near as I can tell. Though the DW product doesn't have a CB specific application, so I just got a fuel sock from RockAuto. I also got a Holley Hydramat as an experiment, a failed experiment but an experiment non the less.

Fuel Pump Components



The first realization was that I shouldn't have reversed the car into the garage for the winter, my bad. Getting the car high enough to drop the tank and able to be removed from under the car was interesting...but I was able to immediately realize why the car ran out of gas without indicating that it was low on fuel, the tank is dented beneath the fuel pickup area from someone previously servicing the fuel pump. As evidenced by the condition fuel pump once I cracked open the tank given that it is a replacement pump. A minor bit of modification to the rubber seat was necessary for the DW pump to fit like stock, there was not a way to successfully mount the Hydramat at this time so I just used a replacement sock. I might revisit that in the future, especially since I think the tank has to be replaced due to the dent in the underside.

CB in garage


Fuel Tank 1


Fuel Tank 2


Fuel Tank 3




I did do the fuel access mod (shout out to Grumpy, Cyborg, Rilas and all of the CB forefathers who pioneered this mod.) I might have to enlarge this as I think I cut it conservatively small trying to preserve that plastic clip for the trunk floor. I also closed the pump access off with a EK Civic cover. *peep the first attempt at locating the rivnuts for the cover. Fail.*

Fuel Access 1


Fuel Access 2


Cover


Cover 2


Cover 3



The fuel filler neck was also very rusty and seemed to be letting vapors escape and needed to be replaced, RockAuto to the rescue again. The replacement fit adequately, but it is slightly irregular compared to the OEM part requiring the brackets to be tweaked a bit before it fit. Reinstallation of the tank itself was pretty tricky, the brackets for the Progress bar impede the lowering and raising the tank.

Fuel Filler Neck



Following up on the shifter bushings install from last year, the suggestion from Chrisnick/ @ beanstune to use the Hybrid Racing RSX bushing worked out well. The install was easy enough, the feel is better and no more gear pop outs!

Hybrid Racing RSX Bushing



Some random projects that got resolved...solved........addressed? Something, anyhow.
After trying several different axle nuts on the 5 lug rear hubs, it seems that Honed Developments created a thinner axle nut that can actually be staked in place with the 5 lug hub installed. Other than being on backorder for a while, this was pretty simple as an install and it seemed to work as intended.


I also got a set of their steering rack bushings meant for an EG Civic, according to the OEM part numbers between an EG and the CB, these should fit. I haven't had time (or desire) to undertake the task of installing these yet.

Honed Development Parts



I also had a "swing and a miss". The 30 year old wiper motor is kinda sluggish, RockAuto to the rescue. I installed it, it was fairly straight forward. But it doesn't play well with the intermittent function and freezes halfway on the return stroke 100% of the time. Needless to say, I had to put the old motor back in. Oh well, maybe I'll try that again someday.

Wiper Motors

[Raf99]

Yaa, never go chinese with suspension, tires, brake components is my belief. and you are pretty much doing the worse extraction on a cb7 with that gas tank. Looks good though!

[owequitit]

I'm definitely watching your thread. You seem to be walking many of the same paths I am about to now that I have the car back in a place where I can work on it. Age is getting tough, but you are most resourceful.

Car looks amazing by the way. I am very inspired by it.

[SSMAccord]

Yaa, never go chinese with suspension, tires, brake components is my belief. and you are pretty much doing the worse extraction on a cb7 with that gas tank. Looks good though!

It truly was a dreadful experience. I will do it the other direction the next time I attempt this lol.

I'm definitely watching your thread. You seem to be walking many of the same paths I am about to now that I have the car back in a place where I can work on it. Age is getting tough, but you are most resourceful.

Car looks amazing by the way. I am very inspired by it.

Thank you. It is very much still a work in progress, but hopefully I am in the refinement/tweaking phase instead of major changes and mods.

[SSMAccord]

More winter projects

Sometime last year I noticed that the tach was behaving oddly, replacing the ICM didn't change the behavior and the car wasn't missing or reacting to the jumpy RPM readings so I figured that the wiring or the tach itself were at fault. Having time to tear the dash the dash apart allowed me to track down what the issue was and how to fix it. Turns out one of the mounting/circuit screws was loose and causing the gauge to behave erratically, especially over rough pavement or bumpy roads. Problem solved.

Loose Gauge Screw


While I was fixing that issue, I wanted to tackle an idea that I had given some thought to previously, but was never able to fully resolve. My daily driver and lots of modern cars have gauges that are illuminated during the day for visibility. When driving the CB I found that I missed that feature and wanted to add that feature. I could have the gauges move to a constant 12V circuit, which would have them at maximum brightness at all times and give up the ability to have them on the dimmer circuit at nighttime, that would not be ideal. Having some free time and some relays laying around from various other projects I decided that using a SIngle Pole 5 Terminal relay would allow the gauge lights to switch grounds and facilitate the gauges being on without the dimmer circuit being active and also switch to the dimmer circuit once the switch for running or headlamps was activated. For the 12V source, I just tapped into one of the Option ports in the fuse box that some of the other optional features was already using.

The result is that the gauges turn on @ full brightness when the Ignition is in the 'Run' position, they switch to the normal interior dimmer circuit ground once the light switch is active. The gauges do not turn on if the ignition is off and the light switch is active however.

Gauges Illuminated


Diagram



I never really was happy with resolution to the brake failure/fluid issue from the Grattan track day. The security wire was peace of mind, but never quite sat right with the problem. I could never figure out how the banjo bolts would have loosened and failed in the ways that they did. Helping a friend with his car and discussing rotors and paint, it occured to me that the VHT high temp paint that I used on the rotors was rated for 900 degrees and looking at the front rotors from the incident was completely blistered and discolored while the rear rotors were visually unaffected. I surmised that the banjo bolts had not infact loosened, but the front brakes actually overheated and caused the calipers to expand and allow fluid to escape the threads. This is also exacerbated by the fact that the 28mm TSX rotors don't permit the use of shims on the pads when the pads are new, which would help mitigate heat from the pads soaking into the rotors.

I wanted to resolve the issue to make sure that the car was ultimately safe during any future HPD events and restore my confindence/peace of mind around the issue. The criteria for the solution needed to be cost effective, add additional heat capacity for the front brakes, shift some workload to rear of the car to even out the balance to hopefully have even distribution of heat/workload front to rear. Looking at the stock CB brake setup, it uses symmetric 10.2" rotors on all four corners, my current setup was 11.8" front and 11.1" rear which maybe was too much of an imbalance? That is odd to me however, as many cars are modified with a very similar setup and have no issue.

Adding heat capacity to the front meant larger rotors, the readily available option for the Spoon Monoblock calipers is a 13" setup from Ballade Sports. For the rear brakes it took a creative mish-mash of parts; there is a Fastbrakes 13" rear setup for newer 08-17 Accord/TSX and looking at the measurements for the newer Accord rear rotors, any rotor that fit those vehicles would also fit the rear of the CB as they share common overall rotor height. Fastbrakes also makes a 12" kit for the CB, which would provide the necessary bracket that, after some tweaking, can be paired with the CM1 Hybrid caliper bracket to create a 13" rear setup for the CB chassis. The front is also a mish-mash, the Ballade kit uses rotors that have the shallower S2K height and aren't really ideal for FWD Honda chassis' unless you are running a Brembo caliper. The Ballade kit is also designed in a way that hangs a significant amount of brake pad over the edge of rotor which kinda removes some friction surface/heat transfer area. I used their kit as a reference to have parts made that fit the brake pads within the friction area of the rotors. Using Bremboparts.com I was able to find a rotor that measured 330mm diameter x 47mm height with a 28mm thickness. Being that it is from a relatively mundane car, the rotors are cheap.

Getting everything installed was pretty simple considering the amount digital research that gone into the preparation. The only unforeseen issue was interference between the rear caliper bracket and protrusion in the rear rotor that forms the inner drum. Removing a bit of material (about 1.5mm) from the caliper bracket along the scribe line from the interference solved that issue. The Fastbrakes kit did advise that by relocating the rear bracket the parking brake cable mounting needs to be physically adjusted rearward to prevent the parking brakes becoming engaged during events of suspension compression. I did fabricate little brackets to move cable mounts that are in the trailing arms rearward and tested the setup to make sure that everything was free throughout the full suspension travel arc. There is an increase in unsprung weight that came along with this change, each of the front rotors adds 5lbs each, the rear rotors added 3lbs-ish each as well.

Finishing up this project only required new brake fluid, a pad bedding session and a venue to see if a.) the brake balance wasn't wonky and b.) if even heat distribution has been achieved.


Rotor Comparison



Ballade Sports Rotor vs Mercedes Rotor



Height Comparison S2K vs CB



Caliper Adapter Comparison



Front Rotor Installed, Wheel Mounted



Rear Rotor Installed



Rear Rotor Installed, Wheel Mounted



Front Brake Post Bedding Process



Rear Brake Post Bedding Process



Hawk Brake Fluid

[NH-503P-3]

Looks good man. Those spoon calipers definitely make the room for the larger rotor where the RL’s will not lol. I’ve got the RL’s with the 12.8 rotor up front and 12.3 in the rear with a modified Fast Brakes bracket. RSX type s master & booster with a 40/40 prop valve. The best and most controlled braking I’ve had on my coupe. It’s really a noticeable difference. Your setup should be great on the track.
I didn’t know about the brembo website for rotor size and application measurements. I’ll be studying that some more. I’m thinking of running 18’s on my wagon with 6 piston brembos from maybe a ctsv and at least 14” rotors. Mainly for the eye candy though.

[CyborgGT]

Random/off-topic, but I've got interior design plans for the wagon on my mind lately and yours is inspiring. Couple things: First, is your dash bezel painted or polished? I know the automotive journalists like to rag on "piano black" interiors in new cars today because they get dirty so easily and I tend to agree with them on that, but I can't deny it's adding a nice modern flair to your interior, and adding some 'life' to your dash. I'm really liking it here, I might have to do that.

Second: is the airbag on your steering wheel hooked up and (at least assumed) functioning? I remember looking into getting an ITR wheel for my RSX, and reading about Honda changing their airbag style at some point in the early/mid '00s - something about multi-stage circuitry or something like that, and bags from different eras not being so easily compatible. Anyway, I'm torn between wanting a removable aftermarket wheel for security, and one of these old Momo SRS wheels for the OEM look & safety, but if the airbag can't be wired up properly it'll make my choice easier.

[SSMAccord]

Looks good man. Those spoon calipers definitely make the room for the larger rotor where the RL’s will not lol. I’ve got the RL’s with the 12.8 rotor up front and 12.3 in the rear with a modified Fast Brakes bracket. RSX type s master & booster with a 40/40 prop valve. The best and most controlled braking I’ve had on my coupe. It’s really a noticeable difference. Your setup should be great on the track.
I didn’t know about the brembo website for rotor size and application measurements. I’ll be studying that some more. I’m thinking of running 18’s on my wagon with 6 piston brembos from maybe a ctsv and at least 14” rotors. Mainly for the eye candy though.

Thanks!

The relatively small form factor of the spoon calipers is helpful in every place except pad surface area. This is probably the largest that will fit without going to an 18" wheel, which I have no need or plan to do. The setup has proven to be quite adequate so far. The 40/40 prop valve seems to be ok with this setup as well, but given the piston displacement versus a stock CB system there is still more front bias because of the front calipers.

The setup does fill the inside of the wheel for an aesthetic factor as well. lol

Hmmmm...I have not researched radial mount 6 piston setups, but I know that many of the newer Brembo calipers mount that way and a custom adapter bracket is easy enough to create in CAD.

[SSMAccord]

Random/off-topic, but I've got interior design plans for the wagon on my mind lately and yours is inspiring. Couple things: First, is your dash bezel painted or polished? I know the automotive journalists like to rag on "piano black" interiors in new cars today because they get dirty so easily and I tend to agree with them on that, but I can't deny it's adding a nice modern flair to your interior, and adding some 'life' to your dash. I'm really liking it here, I might have to do that.

Second: is the airbag on your steering wheel hooked up and (at least assumed) functioning? I remember looking into getting an ITR wheel for my RSX, and reading about Honda changing their airbag style at some point in the early/mid '00s - something about multi-stage circuitry or something like that, and bags from different eras not being so easily compatible. Anyway, I'm torn between wanting a removable aftermarket wheel for security, and one of these old Momo SRS wheels for the OEM look & safety, but if the airbag can't be wired up properly it'll make my choice easier.

Thanks, the Aero-R is quite inspiring too!

The dash bezel is painted, black with a couple of coats of 2k clear and then carefully wetsanded/polished. I did have a polished plastic version, but it never was a truly deep or high luster finish when compared to the paint version. If you are doing this I would highly recommend the 2K can clearcoat as it much glossier and durable than the Duplicolor canned clearcoat.

Piano Black is always a topic of contention in newer cars because to sheer amount of it being used in certain vehicles and the locations that it is being used in are typically high touch points. In the CB that dash bezel is mostly a retention/closeout device for the buttons and HVAC vents, as such I don't touch that part frequently so there are typically no smudges or whatnot. My buttons are also clearcoated and polished and still they don't have smudges/dust on them.

The airbag in my steering wheel is not functioning, the airbag is the same generation as the CB bag in terms of being a single stage deployment. The airbag is present and integral to the hornpad in a way, but because of international shipping and such an inflator is typically not allowed to be shipped because it is classified as an explosive. Because of this there is no inflator in my wheel.

[owequitit]

Hey, are you using your P-Spec shift boot? If so, I was wondering if yours was also cut not quite long enough. Mine works it way loose because it is too short and uneven. It was one of the first ones, so I don't know if he changed it or not for later ones, or where yours was in the run? Overall, I love the boot, but it just doesn't function the way it should, so I may use the ring and make a new one.

[SSMAccord]

Hey, are you using your P-Spec shift boot? If so, I was wondering if yours was also cut not quite long enough. Mine works it way loose because it is too short and uneven. It was one of the first ones, so I don't know if he changed it or not for later ones, or where yours was in the run? Overall, I love the boot, but it just doesn't function the way it should, so I may use the ring and make a new one.

My shifter was part of a group buy at some point, probably 2005 or so. The shift boot wasn't too short, but it would be taut in certain gear position. The original P Spec boot eventually wore out, I used it as a template to make a replacement boot. I did add an extra 1-1.5 inches to the pattern to allow more play in the shift boot overall.