owequitit : 1990 Accord EX

[owequitit]

Here are a couple of swap pics...

Just a few car porn teaser shots.





These are of the engine bay pre-cleaning. If you look closely in one of the shots, you can see the rust from the battery that leaked...



This is the engine that I have flogged endlessly, and still it refused to hiccup or burn a drop of oil. The tranny also never let me down. I am really going to miss it, at least until I start the car again!



Here you can see that the rust under the battery tray has been fixed, and repainted. I had to repaint a portion of the front crossmember also. I also have a little bit of overspray to clean up.



Here is a pic of the engine bay post cleaning. I just used Simple Green and soapy water, as it was mostly dust and sand. You can also see the rear mount insert by Prothane. Ironically, it is actually the rear insert for a CD5 which apparently uses the same rear mount as our LX/DX. I don't think it specified a trim level. Anyway, it is VERY hard and solid. It is more like plastic than urethane. Hopefully, it won't vibrate. They left just a smidge of a gap around the mount, so it isn't fully "engaged." Hopefully, that will allow it to move enough to not vibrate, but nothing else.

The front Energy Suspension insert is much softer, but also much tighter in the mount.

I now have 4 new mounts and 2 inserts, so hopefully, they will last awhile.



This is just a general overview shot of the front end. You can see some of the appearance changes that have been made since the last photo shoot.



And there she is in her new home. There was a little bit of surface rust in some key areas on the block. Nothing major or detrimental, but enough to make me think that maybe this engine lived near salt at somepoint in time.

All in all it cleaned up really well though.

It really isn't different from any other swap, except that the no weld method is slightly less common, and it is in MY car.

The engine sits perfectly, although a little lower than the weld method, and it did require some "persuasion", but that was mostly due to the brand new mounts.

The header did not arrive in time to wrap it up before I had to come back home, but it should be there in a few days.

I will keep everyone posted.

[owequitit]

I just decided to order a new steel braided clutch line, and a set of Earls stainless brake lines. Hopefully, that will help improve the feel a little bit, and the old ones probably needed replaced anyway.

[ray ray]

ahhhhhh very nice as always, a great attention to detail. looks good man i cant wait to see her again.


























and then spank her in the new cb7.lol.j/k

[almostJDM]

nice ride mang very clean i like your attention to detail.... i have one question does the engine tilt back twords the driver a bit? thanks and keep it up

[growguy]

sweet cb! its even better now with the h22. also diggin the white grill (reminds me of my old accord) good work

[goodfellayung'n]

its lookin good

[owequitit]

nice ride mang very clean i like your attention to detail.... i have one question does the engine tilt back twords the driver a bit? thanks and keep it up

Thanks for the compliment. It gets hard to be detail oriented and still drive the car as much as I do.

Yes, the engine tilts towards the rear slightly to help with weight distribution and packaging. I believe the angle is 12-14 degrees.

[owequitit]

sweet cb! its even better now with the h22. also diggin the white grill (reminds me of my old accord) good work

Thanks!

Can't say that the VR-4 doesn't look awesome too LOL!

[owequitit]

its lookin good

Thanks!


UPDATE:

I finally received the rest of the stuff that I need to get the car running.

I don't have the clutch or brake lines yet, so I will put those on down the road. I have some other brake work I am going to do in the near future anyway, so the system will have to be drained and bled then too.

Received the header, but I haven't been able to get the 2.5" cat welded to match.

I am hoping the DC Sports Accord downpipe will bolt on for now, and then I will just switch the downpipe once I get the cat welded.

I have to drive home to finish the car this weekend, and hopefully, it will be all buttoned up by Saturday.

There is a meet in Phoenix on Sunday that I really want to attend, so I am hoping I can actually get it done. We shall see.

[cp[mike]]

wow i missed these pictures. very nice scott, very very clean.

glad to hear your input on the no-weld method. sure it takes persuasion and it isnt technically perfect, but it sure beats cutting and welding, if you dont have the tools or ability.

i like the front end much more now.

btw which braided clutch line were you planning on buying? ive never seen a 90-93 accord one for sale, and the 92-01 prelude ones dont fit, as the compression fitting on the one end is too small. perhaps a 5th gen accord one would work, but i have a feeling its going to end up being the same as a prelude one. makes me wish a prelude line was used to convert this car to 5spd, just like my old sedan had... i would have been able to use a SS clutch line. i guess ill just have to get a full braided line from cylinder to cylinder. what do you plan on doing?

keep up the great work!!!

[owequitit]

wow i missed these pictures. very nice scott, very very clean.

glad to hear your input on the no-weld method. sure it takes persuasion and it isnt technically perfect, but it sure beats cutting and welding, if you dont have the tools or ability.

i like the front end much more now.

btw which braided clutch line were you planning on buying? ive never seen a 90-93 accord one for sale, and the 92-01 prelude ones dont fit, as the compression fitting on the one end is too small. perhaps a 5th gen accord one would work, but i have a feeling its going to end up being the same as a prelude one. makes me wish a prelude line was used to convert this car to 5spd, just like my old sedan had... i would have been able to use a SS clutch line. i guess ill just have to get a full braided line from cylinder to cylinder. what do you plan on doing?

keep up the great work!!!

I wondered that too, but I figured I would try it. Now that I know, we will see. I have an ecclectic collection of parts, so maybe I will get lucky, but I doubt it.

If it doesn't work, I will figure something else out. I will either get the stuff to make my own, or I will try and find another one that fits. I am sure Honda must have had something that was interchangeable.

We will see. It isn't a big deal though, because I am sure I can sell it for what I paid, or even return it.

One of those detail issues I wasn't sure about, so figured I would take an educated guess. I haven't dealt with them before, because it is the kind of thing people don't normally want to upgrade because it isn't an obvious upgrade.

Thanks for the compliments on the front end.

It severely needs a wash. It is brown in person LOL!

I also need to tweak the grill a little bit to get it to line up with the bumper just right. Just one of those things where I need the time and motivation.

[cp[mike]]

if u havent bought one yet, want to buy mine? still brand new with fittings/copper washers

[owequitit]

if u havent bought one yet, want to buy mine? still brand new with fittings/copper washers

No I already bought it LOL!

Also, just something I was going to mention about the no weld method.

I am going to have to go check it out now that the mounts have been in for 2 weeks. It may have settled into the correct spot.

One thing I was absolutely meticulous about was checking the geometry again, based on our previous discussions.

As far as front to back, it is sitting perfectly straight and in the correct position.

I checked the rear mount which was replaced, and it has a centerline that is the same as the old rearmount, as well as a fore aft location that is the same, so that shouldn't affect the side to side location.

The driver's side mount is the same on both, as is the dogbone. The dogbone isn't EXACTLY the same with the rubber, but the dimensions are intergchangeable.

So the only two mounting variable are the Prelude tranny mount, and the inserts.

I am thinking maybe it was the inserts that made a difference, because they were pretty stiff and being brand new they really didn't need more stiffness.

Hopefully, everything is situated now, and I think I was being a little paranoid anyway.

I will check it again.

I was also going to mention that Ray's (the good Dr's old car) new Accord was built with the no weld method, and he is still using the stock rear auto mount.

Because all of the engines are oriented the same, and because the tranny/rear brackets all use the same mounting points, I am pretty sure it is just important to have the corresponding bracket for the respective tranny mount, so that the mounting locations are all the same.

I am going to look more in depth at Ray's car when I have a chance.

[owequitit]

Well I took some measurements.

The tranny mount was indeed causing the alignment issue.

Without modification to the framerail bracket, the engine sits about 1/4" too far to the driver side. It does not effect front to back alignment though.

It is actually close enough that you CAN get the tranny mount bolt in, but it requires substantial leverage.

Since I am using the spacer's on the driver side to lower the engine, I need to move the bolt hole about 1/2" toward the frame rail, and then about 1/4" up. That will allow the mount to be put on with no resistance.

It will also locate the engine exactly correctly.

I went back and checked one of the other no weld cars I did, and it is sitting a little too far to the left too. It is so close that it is very hard to eyeball, unless you look at the correct reference point (like pulley clearance).

He has put 50,000+ hard miles on the car without so much as a hiccup, so it isn't something that is going to cause mechanical stress apparently.

I am going to move the hole, mostly because it is a detail thing, but also because it makes it much easier to get the belts on. Since my inserts don't allow the nose of the engine to drop down, I need the little bit of extra framerail clearance.

It should make doing a timing belt interesting, but I will wory about that when the time comes.

Also, interestingly, the 2 lower halfs of the DC Sports headers are interchangeable. The upper to lower flange is identical, so the 2.5" collector will bolt right up to the F22 primaries, if anyone decides to do so. The H series 2.5" collector is about 5/8" shorter than the Accord lower half though, which is standard anyway.

As far as the collector, it is 2.5" O.D. which translates into about 2.35" Inner diameter. Luckily for me, the exhaust system is 60MM inner diameter which translates to 2.33" inner diameter. There won't actually be enough of a mismatch with the piping size to worry about, luckily.

The engine is cranking normally, but I only got to that point right before I had to come back home, so I will have it running this weekend.

Once it is up and running, and I get it tuned up correclty, I am going to get the 2.5" cat welded and head down to the dyno in Phoenix.

That will give me an idea of what I have to work with, and a baseline #.

It will also give me some idea of what the difference is between a standard DC H series header, and the DC header with 2.5" collector. Hopefully it will be at least a few HP. Unfortunately, I don't have a stock manifold to test it against. Past dyno tests have shown the 2" collector DC to be good for about 4-5HP over stock, so I will just have to assume that.

After looking at the collector, I was surprised to see the amount of welding flash left over. I know DC Sports isn't the king of the hill, but there is quite a bit more flash than in my F series header from what I remember. At least the collectors are decent length and merge smoothly, which is probably more important anyway. This is only temporary though, as I have already started to hatch the first of my build plans. Eventually, an SMSP, RMF, or something similar will be in the works.

First on the list will be tuning.

Then I will probably work on the exhaust track, then cams, and then I will figure something out with the IM.

Everything else will proceed from there since I will probably be old and gray by the time I get that done. LOL!

The VTEC brakes are a little different than what everyone else seems to have encountered.

I am thinking it is because it is a 1990. They seem to have slightly different brake lines based on what all the companies that make lines for them say. They specifically list 1991-1993, or 1992-1993.

Anyway, the fitting for the brake caliper has just a slightly larger diameter than the support channel that it is supposed to sit in. I haven't received my stainless lines yet, so I am hoping that they will fit without modification.

We will see.

That is where it stands so far. I will keep the thread updated.

I have also gone back and rearranged the "future plans" section to reflect the chronological timeline in which they should be accomplished.

[cp[mike]]

nice updates scott. pics?

and youve supported my findings about the no-weld 5spd conversion. unfortunately we arent lucky enough to be able to drill a new hole in the tranny mount bracket, like the 5th gen accord people can. when retaining power steering, it makes the belt awefully close to the side of the bay, close enough that in some cases the belt may slightly rub one of the creases near the mount bracket. it was fixed by making some modifications to the tranny mount, and also loosening and readjusting the rest of the mounts.

looking forward to seeing this thing complete!

btw how accurate are your 1/2" and 1/4" measurements? this is what i had come up with based on my own measurements, but its hard to be too accurate with a ruler and tape measure. the adjustment distance should be the same as the difference in the new drill location on the 5th gens. either way, a prelude mount with the center sleeve moved to this location would make it just about drop right in:

[img]http://www.****.com/pics/conversionmount.jpg[/img]