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DaX's N600 Restoration

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Old 01-26-2007, 07:42 AM
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Default DaX's N600 Restoration

THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN SOLD TO MOBOMAN

Well, I've been trying to keep up with this in MY GARAGE, but it's getting cumbersome, and I can't put up all the pictures in there. I also have a thread HERE on GasSavers.

I've been a Honda head for quite a few years, but my first love of cars came from classic car restoration, which began when I was 15 years old with a 1973 Porsche 914:


After restoring and driving that car for a few years as a poor high school / college student, I began wanting a vehicle that was more reliable and had parts that were easier to find, hence the search for a Honda began for me. I sold my 914 in 2001, which I sometimes regret, and purchased a Civic. From there it was downhill, I was swept in. Since then I have done countless motor swaps, upgrades, and even had a turbo Civic. I eventually blew my motor on the turbo Civic and downsized my stable to only a daily driver.

About two years ago I became interested in restoring classics again, and with my love for Honda, I decided to look into getting an N600. I bought my first N in 08/2006. Here are some pictures of the first N (AN600-1037981):


On the truck.


The car sat since 1991...very rusty. This one has the engine I think is in the best shape though.


Rusty trunk.


Messy interior.


Inner rocker/floor pan rust (driver's side)


The dash is mostly there.


This car has excellent glass.




She was born in June of '71.


Rear floorboards full of junk and nature.


As she sits now, finely tucked away in the back corner of the shop.


2"x12" home made dollies, now it's easy to move around.



Less than one month later, I sold my ED6 Civic and bought two more N's. I acutally picked up the next two from the guy I outbid on eBay for the first one - he's more into Z600's, and he was just going to use the N's for parts (lots of interchangeability). The yellow N (AN600-1036582) was in very bad shape (chassis wise) but had lots of good parts on it, so I stripped it down to nothing and sold off the bare chassis. We actually loaded the car into the bed of the guy's pickup truck by hand (sorry, no pictures of that). Here's a bunch of pictures of the yellow N:


I said it was rusty.


Getting stripped.


No interior.


It did have VERY good floorpans.


No inner rocker/floorpan rust on the driver's side.


Or on the passenger side.


Hideous rocker panel damage though.


Hole in the firewall.


What used to be a battery tray.


No engine, rusty front.




Rust behind the driver fender.


Driver side rocker panel rust.


Decent hood, but AN600-1037981's is better so I let the hood go with the car.


Gas filler area.


Best roof skin ever...wish I had cut that out and kept it now.


More rust.





Parts waiting to go into organized boxes.


This is where most of they yellow N now lives.

Here is the project log so far:

PROJECT LOG
************
08/13/2006 - Purchased AN600-1037981
09/04/2006 - Purchased AN600-1037502 and AN600-1036582
09/09/2006 - Began disassembly on AN600-1037502 and AN600-1036582; removed front bumpers, grilles, headlight assemblies, and some glass
09/11/2006 - Purchased four Kumho Power Star 758 Tires (145-80/R10)
09/12/2006 - Purchased DA sander, body filler, 80 grit paper, etch primer
09/25/2006 - Picked out four best wheels and had rotten tires dismounted
09/27/2006 - Sandblasted wheels
09/29/2006 - Painted & clear coated wheels
11/11/2006 - Disassembled AN600-1036582. All that remains to diassemble is front & rear suspension, some exterior trim, and the headliner.
12/05/2006 - AN600-1036582 is gone! I had to make a set of tools to remove the headliner, but it came out beautifully. Began work on AN600-1037502. I'm going to have to swap roof skins from AN600-1037981, because the filler was approx 1/4" thick in some places on the roof skin. This will push the need for a welder to near the front of my needs.
01/14/2007 - Worked on AN600-1037502 more. Gutted interior. Disassembled brakes at all four corners. Currently soaking wheel cylinders & calipers in water to loosen for disassembly. Once apart I will inspect for damage and re-sleeve if necessary.
01/15/2007 - Both calipers and one wheel cylinder freed up after 24 hours of soaking in water. The bores look to be in decent shape, but I am still going to send them to Miles Chappell for inspection and restoration if necessary.
01/22/2007 - Pulled wheel cylinders off AN600-1037981. I'm mailing all 6 wheel cylinders off to be inspected rebuilt. I received two sets of NOS breaker points in the mail today. Hope to pull the last two sets of calipers this week and have them rebuilt too.


Modified by DaX at 12:50 PM 3/20/2007
Old 01-26-2007, 09:16 AM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (DaX)

So here are pictures of the car to be restored (AN600-1037502):


The light green one will be restored.


Front emblem.


Some grills and bumper parts.


The front of the light green one before any work. The valance was pretty straight, and only has some surface rust (no thru rust).


A little bit of wire brushing and etch primer later.


I had my four best wheels sandblasted. This one didn't make it through the process. You can see the blasting tore a hole in the rim near the valve stem hole...there was a lot of pitting here anyhow.


Ruined wheel from the other side.


Brand new rubber. Kumho Power Star 758's - 145-80 R10


The three wheels that did make it through sandblasting. I just spray bombed them with some AutoZone wheel paint and then wheel clear coat. It's pretty close to the original color. I would have powder coated them, but I really want to score some mag wheels for this car, and in the meantime, the painted steelies will look fine. This picture is of the inside of the wheels.


A picture of the outside of the wheels.


Disaster! This is a flake of bondo about 3/8" thick! It came from the roof skin. It looks like the roof on this car got crushed in at some point. I'm not sure if I'm going to replace the panel or try to fix it yet. I've got to get a professional opinion from a good body friend of mine.


Chipping away the bondo.


As she sits now. More wire brushing took place on the front of the car.


Interior pre-strip.


Home made headliner removal tools. 0.040" stainless.


Nice clean floorplans post interior gutting.


Clean rear floor pans too.


Rear wheel cylinders off two of the three cars and a set of brake calipers off the light green one. I'm sending all my brake parts off to be inspected by Miles Chappell and having the best sets rebuilt if necessary.


Front driver fender removed...only minimal surface rust underneath.


Wavy roof skin. Yikes!


After soaking in water for 24 hours, one of the wheel cylinders came apart...it looks to be in pretty good shape!


The calipers I have already pulled off also freed up after 24 hours in water. Soaking frozen brake parts in water loosens them because Dot 3 and Dot 4 brake fluid absorb water. When the cars have sat for over a decade, the fluid crystallizes and hardens. Soaking in water rehydrates the fluid and allows the parts to be separated.

Tomorrow I hope to pull the calipers off the dark green one and off the powertrain from the yellow one so that I can get them to Miles.

Old 01-27-2007, 08:37 AM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (DaX)

Quite the undertaking, but in the end, when you have a new n600 rolling around it will be well worth it. Major props to you.
Old 01-27-2007, 02:39 PM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (veggiemaster)

WOW, quite a restoration. You must REALLY love Honda's!!

Good luck.

Giff
Old 01-28-2007, 08:50 PM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (DaX)

Great project...I will begin the same project also.

My project will not be a restoration project though and i was wondering if you know what kind of suspension conversion (as in wheels knuckles, shocks etc) there has been? Im not too fond of leaf spring suspension.....

anyways, i would love to see what kind of body parts you will be attempting to restore as in rusted out parts etc...

Best of luck with the build...I will love to see how it turns out.
Old 01-29-2007, 04:13 AM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (Supahr_Ed)

I was able to pull the remaining calipers off the cars this weekend. One front wheel stud on each side of the dark green car had to be ground off to remove the wheel, so it took me a while. I hope to knock the calipers out of their yokes and get them in the mail by Wednesday.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Supahr_Ed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Great project...I will begin the same project also.

My project will not be a restoration project though and i was wondering if you know what kind of suspension conversion (as in wheels knuckles, shocks etc) there has been? Im not too fond of leaf spring suspension.....

anyways, i would love to see what kind of body parts you will be attempting to restore as in rusted out parts etc...

Best of luck with the build...I will love to see how it turns out. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not very fond of leaf spring suspension either, but I haven't seen much else out there. Many people upgrade the rear struts though to ones from a VW Beetle to stiffen up the rear and really bring these cars alive. For THIS restoration, I'm going to leave the rear leaf springs there. I think it COULD be possible to fabricate a rear trailing arm suspension setup that attaches at the forward leaf spring pivots, but the arms and LCA's would have to be custom fabricated. Maybe I'll go this route if/when I build the N1000 RR.

As far as panels, I have 3 of just about everything. I purchased a set of NOS front fenders, so I have perfect fenders. I'll be picking out the best set of doors to work with, the best hood, and the best set of bumpers for chroming. Just like Civics, the rest of the panels are fixed to the car!

I'll try to put up some more pictures tonight from this weekend as well as panels.
Old 01-29-2007, 08:34 AM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration

nice project! good luck!
Old 01-29-2007, 04:06 PM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (01_CLtypeS)


One of the rotors from the N600 by my hand for size comparison.


A brake caliper still mounted in the yoke...this is one of my worse ones.


All four calipers I pulled this weekend.


Sticker on the inside of one of my NOS fenders.


NOS fender vs. what came on the car. It was worth it to me to buy these...I hate body work!


Another shot of the fenders.


The powertrain from the yellow N. It didn't have the jugs or the head on it when I bought it, but it was in the back seat. I just took a picture while pulling the calipers off the unit.


A side project I'm working on - Honda S600 lens reproduction.
Old 01-29-2007, 04:44 PM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (DaX)

[QUOTE=DaX]
One of the rotors from the N600 by my hand for size comparison.

The few times where 8 inches is not enough.

Just for reference...where are you able to find the NOS fenders...that saves a great amount of time!!!!
Old 01-29-2007, 06:30 PM
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nice restoration I like how it seems your going back to the roots of the cars that started it all im def going to keep a eye on it I want to restore one myself but can not seem to find one
Old 01-30-2007, 04:14 AM
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<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DeepInIt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice restoration I like how it seems your going back to the roots of the cars that started it all im def going to keep a eye on it I want to restore one myself but can not seem to find one</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you're serious about finding one, I can help you out. There are many for sale (both Z's and N's) in varying conditions all over the USA. There is a very nice running Z600 for sale right now for $5000, not sure exactly where. There's usually at least 1 or 2 good project 600's for sale on eBay at all times.
Old 01-30-2007, 07:52 AM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (Supahr_Ed)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Supahr_Ed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The few times where 8 inches is not enough.

Just for reference...where are you able to find the NOS fenders...that saves a great amount of time!!!! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, 8 inch rotors are scary. I rode in a guy's Z600 and we got up to about 75 MPH then braking, kind of scary.

I found the NOS fenders through a lead from a friend. I picked them up from http://www.littlecartrader.com. $300 as opposed to days of lamenting over unnecessary body work is well worth it to me!
Old 01-30-2007, 06:48 PM
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Helluva project there! Keep up the good work!
Old 02-01-2007, 05:20 AM
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Default Re: (B16CRXT)

Great project, can't wait to see the end result. Maybe one day we can both take our "600's" for a spin together.

Can you steal the roof skin off the green one for the restoration car, or is that car destined to be the N1000RR?

Old 02-01-2007, 05:52 AM
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Default Re: (smithenhiven)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by smithenhiven &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Great project, can't wait to see the end result. Maybe one day we can both take our "600's" for a spin together.

Can you steal the roof skin off the green one for the restoration car, or is that car destined to be the N1000RR?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'd love to meet up and cruise in our 600's together someday!

The green one will donate the roof skin if necessary - the floor pans are nearly completely rotten, and I highly doubt it will become the N1000RR. If anything, it would be a testbed platform for fabrication for the N1000RR. I'm hoping to get my friend to come down sometime in the next few weeks and diagnose the roof skin issue.
Old 02-01-2007, 11:35 AM
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wow. second "classic honda" thread i've seen today. makes me want to own a late 60's early 70's honda.. bad
Old 02-01-2007, 04:02 PM
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I was taking a second look at the pics and the whole floor looks great ive seen crx's with rusted floors they look mint I really wound love to get a classic honda but i got 2 projects going on at the moment taking up way to much space and a toll on the wallet im sure i will end up getting one after i finsh either project keep up the good work it will be all worth it in the end
Old 02-02-2007, 02:02 AM
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Default Re: (DeepInIt)

nice projecet
Old 02-03-2007, 11:14 AM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (DaX)

Are you willing to sell some of your extra parts? I'm restoring a 1971 an600 and I need a few things.
I need a turn signal bar
a left cammount
the wheel at the bottom of the top half of the engine the keeps the chain where it should be
and a couple other stupid things I think

Thanks,
David
Old 02-03-2007, 01:22 PM
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Sure David, I'm more than willing to sell off extra parts I have. I fully intend to do this so that I don't have a barn of parts lying around. The only reason I haven't yet, is I need to go through everything and pick out what I want to keep before I can decide what it is I want to sell.

What turn signal bar are you in need of? The actual switch that comes off the column?

What is a cammount?

Do you have the illustrated parts catalog? Perhaps you could look through that and give me a page # and part # and I can see if I have exactly what you need...
Old 02-03-2007, 09:54 PM
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If you guys cant help each other out with parts, maybe i can part with some stuff. Just let me know if you guys cant find something, maybe i can take it off the car I am trying to sell.
Old 02-04-2007, 06:25 AM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (DaX)

yes its the bar coming off the column, sorry. It is the entire switch unit which is part 1 on page 6-24.

part number for the cam holder is 14211-551-020 or 14201-568-670 on page1-9 of the parts catalog. I'll try and get a picture of mine, its bad and leaks oil.

I forgot to say nice 914


Modified by moboman at 10:26 PM 2/5/2007
Old 02-05-2007, 03:36 AM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (moboman)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by moboman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yes its the bar coming off the column, sorry. It is the entire switch unit which is part 1 on page 6-24.

part number for the cam holder is 14211-551-020 or 14201-568-670 on page1-9 of the parts catalog. I'll try and get a picture of mine, its bad and leaks oil.

I forgot to say nice 914


Modified by moboman at 11:52 PM 2/4/2007</TD></TR></TABLE>

My parts pile is at my father's house about 30 minutes away. Give me until later this week to get out there, see what I've got, take pictures, and get back to you. Thanks for the compliments on the 914, I really enjoyed that car. I don't have very many digital pictures of it, but I do have lots of stills.

In other news, this project is going to sit on the back burner for at least a month or two. I was in a small car accident last week and I'm pretty sure the insurance company is going to total out my ED3 Civic Sedan. In light of this, I had to go "new car shopping." Exciting news though - I bought a 1991 Honda Beat and will be picking it up in a week. I'm very excited to return to a mid-engine RWD car - and it's a Honda!
Old 02-05-2007, 04:31 AM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (DaX)

that red one on ebay? that thing looked awesome!
Old 02-05-2007, 04:51 AM
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Default Re: DaX's N600 Restoration (E-AT_me)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by E-AT_me &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that red one on ebay? that thing looked awesome!</TD></TR></TABLE>

That'd be the one.


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