steelbluesleepR : 1990 Accord LX

[steelbluesleepR]

i got all the pieces shiney, but i though i wasn't getting enough contrast on the piece, so i painted the butterfly plate (now sans butterflies) and the end plate for the fuel rail with red metalcast. i know you're thinking, "Red?" but i have been doing several little details, including my stainless washers in metalcast red, and i assure you it looks damn good

the plate, washers, and bolts drying after being painted:


the fuel rail end-plate:


and the IM mocked up back together:



with that all cleaned up, i decided to tear into the engine. first i took the plenum off (look at those tiny runners!)

then the runners. looks like i found the problem!


the intake manifold had cracked on each side and the corners had fallen off, including about half of the two coolant lines on the passenger side of the IM!

since i do not have an h23 throttle body, (and need to find one, anyone have one i could buy?) i decided to take my time and clean up a bunch of stuff under the hood. i started with wire-wheeling the doohickey that attaches to the fuel rail (return line?):

then i pulled the clutch reservoir bracket and the hood latch off because they were filthy:



in that last picture, you can kind-of make out the painted hex-cap bolts and stainless washers. the bolts, especially the ones holding the fenders on, were rusting terribly, so i hit the bolts with satin-black rustoleum, and the washers with red metalcast. i think the look turned out awesome


thats just about all for now, i should have some more updates this week when i get back into the shop and clean some more. hopefully i'll get the throttle body and get it running! the transmission and the front of the block/head are on the chopping block for some heavy scrubbing, so stay tuned...

[steelbluesleepR]

long, pic heavy update.

to fix the leaking-coolant issue, i got bisi's thermal barrier intake manifold gasket, and also picked up an h23 manifold and short-ram intake from a friend. with my order, bisi also sent some stickers and a liscense plate surround.


first off, i flushed out all the nasty-ass bars-leak out of the radiator and the engine. when i went into "limp mode" to get it back from arkansas, i took out the thermostat, so that was as easy as taking the top and bottom radiator hoses off and running a garden hose through them. you can see the mess from the bars-leak spewing out of the rad-cap that was left loose so as to not build pressure.


i then pulled my car back into the shop and got to work cleaning up the new manifold. i used a few different wire-brush attachments on my drill, and got it shining on the outside:

the inside needed some work, though. a lot of carbon had built up over the years, and the former owner tried to bore it out a little bit with a dremel, so i did my best to smooth out the runners with the wire attachments, then i sprayed 2 cans of carb/choke cleaner in the runners and the EGR port (i chose not to drill/tap the runner ports because i am planning on blocking off EGR and some other unneeded accessories). here is the before:

and after:

[steelbluesleepR]

hurry up and replace that lip man. its urkin my nerves thats its taking a little bit away from your car.


your making think about getting into the car show circuit once i get it painted. i would try it now but my car aint all that good looking yet. lol.

i know exactly what you mean man, but there are several things that take away from the exterior of my car. there is that, the wavyness of the eyelids, the scratched and smashed passenger side door mouldings from where i hit a light pole that i never got fixed, and a few other things. most of the stuff isnt really that visible, but i know its there and i hate it. seeing it like that really hurts, but i am putting all of that off because each problem is going to be fixed with a mod, not just a fix. i am trying to find a 95 legend coupe lip like Ikayto has to replace my cd5. either that or a greddy, but i doubt i will spring for that with all the wildlife on the roads around me.

as far as showing, definately get into it. it kicks your ass into high gear with the mods, and it is a hell of a lot of fun if you go with a group of friends. make sure you always bring plenty of water and sunscreen to every show, and an easy-up awning and bag chairs are REALLY nice when you have them.

[Shadow1]

hurry up and replace that lip man. its urkin my nerves thats its taking a little bit away from your car.


your making think about getting into the car show circuit once i get it painted. i would try it now but my car aint all that good looking yet. lol.

[mndude07]

If you get the chance, before you put that H23 IM on, drill out the egr ports and tap and plug them...you'll likely see a huge difference on your milage...I did at least.

I can't wait to see/hear that exhaust.

[steelbluesleepR]

i didnt really relocate the filter, just the battery. as far as noticing the difference, my car is running weird right now. i really need to get the valves adjusted and see if that fixes at least one issue.

anyway, i finally got the greddy evo exhaust on (had to have a friend make me a test pipe that was shorter than stock and had a different cat-flange so it would fit the cd5 exhaust), and it sounds amazing. its noticable at cruising speed, and makes a mean growl when i want it to, but its just barely louder than stock when i dont beat on it.

now the bad stuff. i went to bentonville AR this weekend for a car show, and my car blew the intake manifold gasket and my car lost all of its coolant. luckily i caught it in time, but had to leave my car at a walmart overnight and ride with my friends the rest of the way.

my car is down for the time being , but i just ordered a bisimoto intake manifold heat shield gasket, and i am getting an h23 intake manifold and short-ram intake from a friend, so i should be up and running this weekend.

[mndude07]

Did you notice any difference moving the air filter location?

[steelbluesleepR]

Only reason you didn't win was because of the damn LS1!

that's exactly right, actually! the car was nothing to look at, stock interior and exterior, but is was mainly an old school muscle-car, hot-rod, and classic car show, so everyone was biased towards the american muscle! this prelude in my car club got third place. it has custom green "shag" interior and air-ride (both of which i helped him with!):

Nice rims...look alot like this :

Same brand?

mine are motegi mr-8's, those dont have motegi center caps, so i dont know if they are the same or not. very similar though.

[kouzie]

Nice rims...look alot like this :



Same brand?

[JoshM]

and the 2nd place trophy i won in the import class (6 other cars in my class, i got beat by an 89 bmw 5-series with a chevy ls1 v8!)

Only reason you didn't win was because of the damn LS1!

[steelbluesleepR]

update time!
my engine bay looks COMPLETELY different, did a LOT of work on it over the summer. it isnt done yet by a long shot, but it looks way better than it did.
here's a before shot taken earlier this year:

now here's what it looks like:


since my last update, i deleted a/c, shaved and polished the valve cover, heat-wrapped and installed a new header (ebay special), bought a new battery and relocated it to the trunk with 0-guage wire, replaced the coolant overflow tank with a jagermeister bottle (best mod in the world), deleted all unnecessary brackets and what-not, painted the vlave cover washers metalcast red, and installed some hot-topic-special armbands around the clutch, brake, and p/s resevoirs, black around p/s and brake, and a "Domo" around the clutch. i also bought a greddy evo 1 exhaust, but it is for a 95 accord, so everything matches up except for the cat-flange. i am waiting on a friend to weld me up a new test-pipe with the correct flange and it will be on the car!
now on with some pics:
my car at a car show about 2 months ago (friend's picture):

and the 2nd place trophy i won in the import class (6 other cars in my class, i got beat by an 89 bmw 5-series with a chevy ls1 v8!)

installed the header then went to another show (no trophy at this one )

powered by Jager!




cheesy pic my mom took:

and this past saturday after i got done relocating the battery:

domo!

and one last picture:


thanks for looking, exhaust and pics from another show will be up after this weekend.

[steelbluesleepR]

it looks like you worked some more shine on that valve cover since i've last seen it. later.

its even different now! its completely shaved and polished, jsut have to get a couple of the light scratches out. took all the lettering, the logo, and all the standoffs off of it.

until the update, i am going to give one hint for the rest of the mods; one is made by Greddy.

[TypeG]

it looks like you worked some more shine on that valve cover since i've last seen it. later.

[steelbluesleepR]

i've got a BIG update coming very soon, just waiting on a few more parts. been deleting more stuff, installing more stuff, and buying rare stuff

[Shadow1]

im loving those rims man. mainly because i have the same set but i painted mine bronze, polished the lip and are 16's nice car tho man.