CyborgGT : 1993 Accord EX wagon

[SSMAccord]

This looks good. Have you considered having the Aero R badge metallized? You could have that done and then paint or mask/paint the R red.

On the new grille part you could also mask that bezel on the front logo to preserve the chrome and then paint the rest.

[CyborgGT]

I do want the emblems done in metal at some point (probably when the car's painted). Need to find a place that can do it, though. Masking off the emblem ring is what I did, it's just that the existing chrome was in pretty bad shape, so I stripped and painted. A new upper grille piece will mean pristine chrome, though.

[CyborgGT]

Good god, I hope this is the last time I touch a rattle can on this build. (*ED. - nope, still have the custom intake)

I love polished tips, but I don't like it when the body of a muffler is super visible, so I scuffed it up with 600# and sprayed it with VHT low gloss black engine enamel. Made sure to leave part of the inlet pipe bare for the welder, of course. That's just the reflection where the tips expand, by the way. I'm very meticulous with my masking, which is immediately after the welds.

[CyborgGT]

I was going to make a DIY, before I noticed that there are already several, so here's my full grille process...

Started with a new emblem found on eBay.




Rubbed off the adhesive.




Sanded off the original black paint with 1200#. In hindsight, I was being too cautious about scratches showing up in the end result, noticed when I was later putting down the final black backer that it wasn't wanting to stick in a tiny spot, and would recommend 1000 for a better 'key' for the paint to grab onto.






Sprayed a few coats of R81 Milano Red - thanks for the tip, SSMAccord. In the second shot, you can see what I mean about the paint not wanting to stick in one tiny spot. Fortunately it didn't seem to impact the final product.






Finished off with some black to eliminate most of the transparency of the red in direct light.

To stick it back onto the grille while making it (hopefully) possible to remove later without breaking the emblem, I used a minimal amount of double-sided Duck Tape, and then in the center where there's a hole in the grille for you to poke something through and push on the emblem itself, I stuck a tiny square of 3M's exterior molding tape to act as a protective cushion and prevent a screwdriver or something from scratching the paint.




Disassembled the body and cut out the parts I didn't want.




Sanded smooth the rough edges.




This photo's a bit out of sequence of actual events, but you get the idea: I got generous with the body filler and then once again sanded it smooth. There's no natural stress being put on the grille, so filler is plenty strong for this application.




Stripped the chrome pieces, sanded, and paint-matched Seattle Silver.




Missed some photos here, but the body was painted semi-gloss black, the ring around the H, since it was in rough shape to begin with, was painted Spaz Stix Mirror Chrome, and everything was reassembled. Future plan is to get a brand new upper chrome piece and retain the stock chrome for a better finish and real road durability - the rest of it still painted Seattle Silver, of course.




Mesh from the gardening center at Wal-Mart was cut to size and precise fitment. When I made one of these grilles for my old sedan I used the more common 'wavy' mesh pattern from Home Depot, but this time I wanted to try this square design.




Painted with some old brake caliper satin black I had laying around and hot-glued in place.




I am now the proud owner of a very rare, and very genuine 1993 Honda Accord Type R, haha.

The new hub rings finally came in. They don't grab the hub as well as I was hoping, but it's an improvement and at least reach the hub to center the lug holes at all...




And finally a half-decent exterior shot in my tight confines, because I didn't feel like starting the car up and pulling it outside . I believe I'm just left with the power folding mirrors to wire up, but since that's more money into pins, a fancy crimp tool, and a paint match (not DIY), I'm waiting to first get my engine back from the machine shops... still. My goal was to have this swapped and tuned in time to drive it to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb this year, so maybe it's a good thing the event's been pushed to the end of August, assuming spectators are allowed.

[Daheavyking]

So love the progress on the wagon!! Can't wait to get mine up and running!!

[CyborgGT]

So love the progress on the wagon!! Can't wait to get mine up and running!!

No time like the present, if you've got as much alone time as most people these days!


Prelude shifter assemblies must be more popular than I thought, because this took three or four manual Prelude appearances to find. It pays to assemble everything before you take it up to the counter, too: $15 for "shift linkage." Score. Anyone know if the cable bushings from a more popular car are compatible with these? I'd like to upgrade, but the options are all Civic/Integra/K-series. *ED. - never mind, I forgot about Cheddas Auto. Got those on order.

[CyborgGT]

Went back to the same yard first thing this morning because I got the notification that they got an RL in last night. Bad luck on the calipers, though. One knuckle was completely gone from whatever accident the car was in, and while the other caliper was still there, I spaced and forgot my disposable 12pt sockets and sledge to deal with wheel locks. Ah well, brake upgrade is a long way off anyway.

The trip wasn't a complete waste, though, as they also got a BB6 in. Nabbed the gauge cluster w/pigtails, as well as the bezel, hoping I can make a clean install with some cutting and molding to the CB bezel. Just need to figure out how to correct the mileage.




But the best news of all is that I should finally be picking up my engine from the machine shops on Monday. I called local Heads by Drew a couple days ago and he says, "this is your week." He's been all sorts of backed up, and told me about some Subaru heads that just set him back. He's got an awesome reputation locally, though, so he's worth the wait. There's still the chance that something could come up with my head (the intake manifold surface had some gouging that needs sorted), but fingers crossed. PFI, who has my block, is unfortunately a bit of a pain to deal with. Seems the only contact is email, which they're slow to respond to, or to go down there in person. I was told they have my block back from their machinist, though. Just a re-sleeve and crank polish. I've slowed down the spending because I need to take a step back and double-check my budget; pay for the machine work first, then get back to the manual conversion, which still needs a handful of parts.

[SSMAccord]

Excellent work on the grille DIY and the muffler.

And those Prelude parts are a good score. Those are becoming a rarity these days.

[CyborgGT]

^ I'm thinking that muffler paint will end up sizzling off, but we'll see.


I knew too much good was happening to me lately; I just don't have that kind of luck. I found a video that showed how to free-wheel the odometer to quickly set it wherever I wanted, which said the metal pin simply popped out of the plastic retainer... my retainer broke on both ends.

Before I broke it, I found that I could use a precision/jewelry screwdriver to turn a gear (the black one to the right of the 9 in the photo below) and slowly increase the mileage mile by single mile. Seeing as how I had something like 80,000 miles to add to this odometer to make it correct to my chassis, that was going to take ages, so I tried doing it the 'easy' way and fucked it all up. Maybe I can get it back together and superglue the plastic to hold it in place, but my hopes aren't high. At least this cluster only cost me $30, but as with the 4th gen shifters, clusters are always gone from 5th gens in the yards. Anyone have BB6 electrical schematics to be able to tell if the automatic's speedometer is interchangeable with the manual's? I'm not sure I want to keep spending money on these when my long-term goal is for an expensive custom cluster.




At least Monday is bringing me good news...

[Fleetw00d]

The trip wasn't a complete waste, though, as they also got a BB6 in. Nabbed the gauge cluster w/pigtails, as well as the bezel, hoping I can make a clean install with some cutting and molding to the CB bezel. Just need to figure out how to correct the mileage.

I have disassembled CB clusters; the odometer can be removed and replaced. You might be able to take the odometer out of your cluster and install it in the BB6 cluster.

[CyborgGT]

Only the number wheel itself might swap over, because the trip meter on the BB6 cluster is above the odometer rather than next to it, so all of the plastics behind the gauge face are designed around that structure. If I could disassemble the BB6 gauge enough to remove that wheel, I could adjust its own numbers anyway, and I can't disassemble it that far because at least in my case the needles are not wanting to come off - if I pull any harder than I've already tried, I know something's going to break. I assume that's a legal characteristic. Removing the needles, and then the gauge face, is the only way to get to most of the screws to disassemble the thing. Since mine's already broken, I'll try hunting for one more BB6 cluster, hope it's super high in mileage, and then just binge-watch the entire Star Wars series while I absentmindedly spin that gear by hand.

[Rilas]

Why not buy a cheap screw driver from Harbor Freight, cut the handle off. Insert it into the chuck on your drill and set it low speed and just let it spin the numbers up? Save your wrist and probably a ton of time. Just trying to help a fellow out.

[CyborgGT]

I didn't think about putting that much effort into a drill technique - what, running a Phillips head parallel to a gear and holding it up to the teeth? Worth trying if I end up with another cluster.

[Rilas]

I'm not exactly sure what or how your trying to turn it as I don't have one to look at in front of me. But even if it takes 10 minutes or something to get the setup right it might save hours in the long run.

[SSMAccord]

This may or may not be helpful. I have a spare working BB6 speedometer that I can contribute. The mileage is 151,868.

Things that are not so helpful:
The plastic trip mechanism arm is broken at the end, but it just snaps outs and you can snap the arm from the unit you already have in its place, also the amber color has been removed so if you plan to remain with the stock BB6 illumination color it definitely wont work.