EnjoyTheRideDC2

iTrader: (1)

Worse comes to worse, you can just run a hose from the connection at the water pipe to the heater outlet hose with a male/male hose mender to connect to.

JDM-EJ698

Lol! Yep def a good color. I am trying to rebuild mine as well. Its not as in depth as you are though! But great build so far!

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

hopefully it doesnt need as much work as mine does!

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

i might actually be looking at the wrong part. i need to go back and make sure i know what the heck it is i'm looking at.

JDM-EJ698

Nope that that much. Just a lot of small ding and dents all over. Thankfully no rust. Car runs strong with 180k on it. Not trying to thread jack but here are a couple pics. The Silver coupe is my DD.

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

spent a little more time this weekend with the car. and as always, i got some work done, and then found some more work that will need to be done. i started removing the fuel pipe for the feed and vent line when my drop light battery died. so i moved towards the engine bay and removed a few other items for a little more space.

i removed my power steering loop, temporarily relocated some coolant lines, and removed the abs unit from the fender well. the abs unit will be replaced with a new to me unit, and i plan to reinstall the power steering system for this rebuild.

before my light died, i noticed 2 compression fittings on some hard lines in the fuel/brake line area. i didnt get a chance to determine if they were on the fuel or the brake line though before my light went out. if they are on the fuel lines, no big deal because i have new lines for that. if they are on the brake line, well, now i have added something else to my list. ugh.

also, because i am a dork and stickers add hp



messy messy messy

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

i was thinking of a plan of attack to get some things done on the car this weekend, but now i have some questions. i have oem pre bent fuel feed and vent lines to replace the rusted and hacked ones on the car. removal will be easy because there is not much holding them together at this point. BUT...where the go up the firewall looks to be tricky. i unbolted everything from the firewall and its all loose, but am i going to have to remove the subrame to put in the new ones? i'm really not trying to kink these things with how much they cost.

if i do have to remove the subframe, i have never attempted anything like this before. can i lower it away from the motor and leave the motor in the car?

this all just occurred to me now as i try to plan my weekend wrenching lol

JDM-EJ698

Yea you will be able to drop the subframe without dropping the motor. just make sure the rear mount and unbolted. Good lcuk.

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

took the front suspension off the car yesterday so i can drop the subframe so i can address the brake lines and fuel lines. then while i have the extra room, i'll see what else i can do to move down the long list of stuff for the car.

I feel like i've already removed this suspension once before during this rebuild....blah!

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

this came out way easier than i expected. i do see it being an issue trying to line up the rack with the steering column, but i;ll cross that when i get to it. while i have this out, i'll clean it up and coat it when the black chassis saver like i did everything else. with this out, there is a lot of room to work on some other items i want to tackle so this wont be going back in the car in a hurry lol.

with the subframe and the rack out of the car like it is, is it easier to replace the tie rods like this or is it easier in the car? the outer ones are kinda meh...i think when i checked the inners i didnt notice any play. i may replace them still, especially if it is easier to do so like this.

also, i found a thread on a civic forum by accident when trying to figure out how to remove the subframe and i thought i would pass the information on here. apparently there is a ford green paint that is pretty close to cypress green pearl. close, but its a little lighter. i sprayed the bottom edge of the door just to see how it matches, i think i may buy a couple cans of this and rock the car like that rather than all primered up when i finish the body work. long ways away from that, but its good to know.

i tried taking as good of pics as i could, but the garage light wasnt showing the paint correctly i dont think. i sprayed over some of the orange rust killing primer stuff at the bottom of the door edge.











this whole bottom edge was all orange before

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

also forgot to mention, that rear motor mount came out in 2 pieces...added that to my list of parts i still need..

EnjoyTheRideDC2

iTrader: (1)

I guess that green is better than orange... Wonder how it looks using a silver coat before you spray the green?

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

that is a good point. i should spray a different base under the green. its definitely worth a shot. and i figure its gotta be better than rolling around in primer, orange rust killing primer, etc... lol

EnjoyTheRideDC2

iTrader: (1)

Anything close to color beats primer ANY day. LOL.

You planning on a full or partial respray of the car at some point? Did you ever figure out that rusted coolant pipe issue you had?

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

oh yeah, respray of the entire car is planned. actually, if my schedule went the way it was supposed to, the car was supposed to be on the road by now and a respray was going to happen 2016. now, i think i'm pushing the respray to 2017. i'd like to actually enjoy the car once it is road worthy before i start tearing into the paint issues. which is why i was so glad to find that little bit of information on the ford color green on that civic forum.

havent worked out that metal coolant line yet, i'll be getting back to that once i finish the hard lines under the car. then i'll move back up top and start replacing those hoses and figure something out for that metal coolant line.

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

I worked on the car a bit today and i took another look at that rusted metal line. its not nearly as bad as i thought. i got a light on it and inspected it pretty good, its all surface rust. i should be able to clean that up and put a coat of paint on it and be good to go.

next on my list is to timesert the block where the bracket that supports the driver's side axle mounts to and address the fuel and rear brake lines. looks like i'll have to make at least one new line.

that issue with the threads in the block for that bracket have been an issue with this car long before i sold it so now is a good time to address it properly.

sr20paisa

love deep jewel green, same color came out for the mk4 supra

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

let me first start out by saying i should be able to work all winter on the car this year. i have two kerosene heaters in the garage now, and with them both operating it was nice and toasty in the garage compared to outside. i'd estimate it at at least 60 degrees inside of the garage yesterday, while the outside was like 30 at best.

i started out yesterday by finishing up my headliner and reinstalling that back in the car. i dunno why i didnt take any pics, next time i'm in the garage i will. honestly, it could have been better, but it would have been way to much of a PITA to take back out, strip all the glue, get another piece of fabric, etc.... there is a couple of places the glue bled through, and there is a couple of places where the fabric got a little folded up and there is a crease, but it will do.

then i moved on to the fuel lines etc.. of the car. i replaced the fuel feed and return line, i need to make a new vent line. i also need to order the rear brake lines because i dont feel like dealing with them when they are available at the dealership.

i went to replace the rear motor mount and 2 of the 3 bolts came out, the other one just spun and spun. the welded neut on the back broke off in the subframe. awesome. so i removed the brace and the rack to get access to it. a rusted bolt on the frame broke off in the frame as well....double awesome.... so i cleaned up the metal and welded the nut back in place and sprayed it with some rustoleum black.

here is the stupid bolt that broke...i cant get it to budge. i think i'm going to have to cut it flush and drill it out. any other ideas?



rack removed, broken mount and new mount


and the fixed subframe ( i just now realized this is a pic of the backside of the repair lol)



so next on the list was the timesert those holes in the block where the axle support goes. they have been bad since probably 3 years before i sold the car last time. this is such a neat tool


during


and of course, this wouldnt be my project without something going wrong....
one would not thread any farther than this (look at the one on the right compared to the left)


any ideas on getting this guy out? it def wont go in any further, i'm not sure what happened. i did all 3 holes exactly the same. should i just get some vice grips on it or a pair of channel locks on it and try unthreading it?

also, not sure if this was left over drip from disconnecting something above, but it looked like i had an oil seep where the shifter plugs into the transmission. is there a seal in this area i should be worried about replacing? i check a few of the part diagrams and it was hard to tell which part went where.



last pic, i love how much room i have to work on this car with all of the junk out of the way. looking for some ideas in this area.

i would really love to be able to have this much room working on the motor, but i'm not sure how i can do this. here is a list of the main items i need to work on with the motor and transmission:

-timing belt, water pump
-front main seal
-skunk2 LMAs
-change clutch
-change flywheel
-replace rear main seal.
-change oil pan gasket

now this is in no particular order. how do i support the motor so i can do all of this work, or is it unrealistic? i do not have an engine lift, nor the room to work on with the garage door closed. there is so much freakin room to move and wrench, i would love to be able to get as much done as i can with all of this extra space. once the transmission is out though, there is only one mount holding up the motor. i cant put a jack stand and wood under the oil pan, because then i can get the oil pan out, and if i cant drop the pan i cant change the rear or front main, and so forth and there is my dilemma. i'm open to any ideas, i probably wont get a chance to get back in the garage and wrench on the car until Friday night.

couple of other things to note, i wired up the headunit for the car while i was in the house waiting for the garage to warm up, i put my gauges in my quad pod, and i ordered new MOOG inner tie rods to match the outers i already have. and i dont think i added a pic of these yet. i figured why not, whats another few $$$ into the build at this point lol just a few pieces i ordered when they were 25% off.

EnjoyTheRideDC2

iTrader: (1)

Probably something caught in the insert threads or the insert crossthreaded. Channel Locks or Vise Grips hopefully work.

That drip might just be residual fluid from the axle gasket. There's no other gasket that should leak from that general area.
I personally dont see it realistic to do that work with the engine hanging on 2 mounts. I would just support the oil pan with wood and a floor jack to do whatever work on the top end of the engine, then reinstall the trans and remaining mounts, then do the oil pan last. The work you're planning on doing doesn't require a whole lot of space to complete.

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

after taking a look further into the situation, i think you are right. that is the approach i'm going to take i think, after i get my new brake lines installed with the fuel lines i can put the subframe back in too and re-attach that rear mount.

EnjoyTheRideDC2

iTrader: (1)

If you just want more room underneath to work with, the engine/tranny assembly can be supported by the 2 upper mounts and lower torque mounts without the subframe in place.

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

true, but with the work i want to complete (or at least try to complete) at the same time, the tranny will be out. i've done the work before with the subframe in so i can do it again.

also, i re-did the time-sert's last night. 2 of them didnt seat all the way. i removed them, cleaned out the threads, double checked the depths and reinstalled them with no issues. they seat perfect now. so, cross that off the long long list....

heading to acura tomorrow to place an order. another $225+ order for parts...should be the last one. unless i run into something else, which seems to be the case with this rebuild lol

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

Update time!

nothing great and fantastic unfortunately. The theme for this weekend's work was RUST. i felt like i spent 90% of my time breaking bolts and having to drill them out of the car. so before i finish up the brake line installation, i need to order all new brake line clips.

i have all of coolant lines etc.. to replace all of those and all of the pieces i need to install the ITR oil cooler. i'm placing an order today to acura...again...ugh $$$$...to order all new brake line clips. once i get those pieces on hand, i can finish installing the fuel/brake lines and get the subframe back in the car. after that, its on like donkey kong with the motor work.

so i'm hoping for this weekend coming up that i can finish re-assembling the subframe and rack and get that ready to go, replace the plethora of coolant lines on this motor, and install the ITR oil cooler to the back of the block. that is the game plan as of right now.

as for work i did this weekend, not much beside breaking bolts and drilling them out. i'm still nursing my lower back to get back to 100% so my work this weekend was mainly cosmetic. i prepped my valve cover and painted it (no pics yet), and i prepped the engine bay to make it a little more respectable lol.

this is using that ford green color by the way.

here is some before pics to refresh memory:






after my rattle can job:

EnjoyTheRideDC2

iTrader: (1)

Not bad...Much better than before. Now I wonder what the valve cover looks like...

danteisme

iTrader: (2)

HAHAHA.....funny you mention the valve cover. i checked on it the other day and i think it got a little too cold before it cured all the way. i'll be redoing this when it gets warmer for longer. it was in the mid 60's during the day when i sprayed it but i think it dipped down into the 40's at night, and my stupid self forgot to bring it in the house from the garage. it looks pretty bad lol




This was with the wrinkle valve cover type paint.