CyborgGT : 1993 Accord EX wagon

[CyborgGT]

Rear facing seats are cool, a buddy of mine has a old Volvo 240 wagon with them.

When I was in early elementary school, my mom had an '80s Pontiac with a more substantial version of those seats. The seven of us packed into it and drove from California to South Dakota and back a few times, visiting family, before finally moving out there. The memories probably have a lot to do with my love for wagons. Mine might not have the comfy American sofa-seats, but I do hope to see the country in it.


I've never actually looked at the backside of a CB bumper. Interesting to see that they even have the lines for the round EDM fogs... and the side intersection lights (that what they're called?). Were the side lights even standard on any CBs?




I wasn't sure how best to approach this, so I decided to play it safe by drilling a bunch of dots to connect. I thought I was being extra safe by drilling a bit inside the given lines, but that later proved to be exactly as far as I ever wanted to go.








Lots of slow, careful filing later, and I couldn't be more proud of how nice my lines turned out. The '90/'91 harness I already had on hand needs a bit of work, and I'll get some edge trim to fill in the gap around the lenses.




Front end's turning out amazing, if I do say so myself! Looks aggressive, yet at the same time still pretty factory.




And finally, after literal years of on-and-off with the polishing, the intake manifold is finally done. It's far from perfect thanks to all the tight spaces, but I'm happy with it. Here it is after the final 10,000 grit sanding.




I went at it a bit with some polishing compound from a Harbor Freight kit, but it wasn't making much of a difference, so only the main visible surfaces on the tops of the plenum and runners were done before I gave it up. Here's yet more engine mock-up to see where I'm at parts-wise, and aside from a couple seals I want to replace, I don't appear to be missing anything.






I really liked this shot, so I put a cheesy filter on it.




I put the car back on stands to hunt down a metallic scraping I was getting. Turned out to just be the little clips in the calipers. Frustratingly, though, this driver wheel bearing has an insane amount of play. I don't know how I never noticed this, considering how many times I've had the wheels off. I got a bit into disassembly, but then stopped at this rounded-off bolt. I am so annoyed at having to maintain this stupid hub-over-rotor system. Since the brakes are good (if you ignore the massive lip on the rotor), my plan before now was to ride out what I've got, and then convert to ROH as soon as any maintenance came up. I'm tempted to add it to the list of pre-dyno tasks and do it now, but a simple bearing swap is cheap and I need to get this car on the road...

[Size9zombie]

Rear facing seats are cool, a buddy of mine has a old Volvo 240 wagon with them.

[Size9zombie]

[CyborgGT]

Went junkyard hunting today, and saw this Mercedes with a rear-facing third row. Something I'd love to do with the Accord, but I doubt it'd be legal since the car probably doesn't have the impact protection for people to be back there. I've always been a fan of a rear-facing third row, though.




Found a couple more valve covers to add to my collection. TR7 and 2nd gen Accord:




Also grabbed a sedan bumper that's probably in as good of condition as I can expect from a junkyard. I'll probably have this, the hood, and the mirrors painted together... debating whether to do it before dyno day.




Then I came home to find the cargo cover delivered. Thanks again for the tip, Size9zombie, it's in fantastic shape. I like that it's grey, too.

[Rilas]

Wasn't referring to the ATI being rare. More of a necessity if I can get another rare part, hopefully it works out and I'll post it up.

[CyborgGT]

Sorry I totally missed your response about the Innovative traction bar. They are just straight non angled radius rods.

Also I thought the ATI dampers lined up with the crank via the keyway? Is this not true? If so how do you correctly mount an ATI damper?

This is on my list of upgrades in the near future. If I can get my hands on something super rare....

Yeah, the ATI still uses the keyway. It just needs pressing on for that precision fit to best serve its purpose. If it slid right on and off like OEM, it wouldn't be 'perfectly' centered, causing its own minute vibration.


... super rare? The Fluidampr was discontinued, but these are still easy to get.

[Rilas]

Sorry I totally missed your response about the Innovative traction bar. They are just straight non angled radius rods.

Also I thought the ATI dampers lined up with the crank via the keyway? Is this not true? If so how do you correctly mount an ATI damper?

This is on my list of upgrades in the near future. If I can get my hands on something super rare....

[CyborgGT]

I grabbed the gray one, in a "I just got paid today" moment of weakness.

[Size9zombie]

You're welcome . I found another 1 in the back of a wagon at the junk yard today, I was so excited about scoring an h23a1 intake and tb I forgot to ask how much, but I am going back down there Saturday to snatch a black dash and will try to remember then. It is tan and doesn't look too bad. There may be others there too. I took a pic of it to upload, but I can't get it to work.

[CyborgGT]

I'm really needing a cargo privacy cover, but no luck yet.

https://www.partrequest.com/auto-par...h-224407498068

If you're still looking, here is one I just ran across while looking for some other stuff, maybe a little rough though. Might clean up well?

Wow, thank you! That looks about as good as I'd expect to find these days. Damn the timing, though, considering the price vs a junkyard find. I'll have to think on this one quick.

[Size9zombie]

[QUOTE=CyborgGT;n4977301]I'm really needing a cargo privacy cover, but no luck yet.QUOTE]

https://www.partrequest.com/auto-par...h-224407498068

If you're still looking, here is one I just ran across while looking for some other stuff, maybe a little rough though. Might clean up well?

[Size9zombie]

Very nice build thread going on here, I love wagons, maybe one day I'll run across a nice one and buy it. That engine turned out fantastic! You do clean work man.

[CyborgGT]

I assume these are much better at dampening vibrations than the stock pulley. Passenger comfort and engine reliability are priorities this go around. I've decided that even the urethane mounts will be tossed once the bay is painted and I get a factory 5-speed trans bracket welded in; the ESP torque strut will still be there to help with throttle response.

[Raf99]

Why a different dampener? ( just curious )

[CyborgGT]

Annoyingly, while ATI makes dampers for Hondas, they don't support proper installation of them. I got lucky on timing with a crank adapter that someone on IG made a small run of. Makes zero sense that ATI doesn't offer them, but at least I now have the full tool kit necessary for H and K (and F?) dampers.