The Saga of Scarlet and the G23
01-08-2013, 06:54 PM
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The Saga of Scarlet and the G23
Hello to all, as my first post on this site I'm kicking it off in grand style. I want to fully document my newest project "Scarlet". I acquired this vehicle in July 2012 for $500. I have two main purposes for owning this car, fuel economy for a 120 mile round trip made 3-5 times a week, and as something fun to drive. Now first for the fuel economy, I'm comparing to my other vehicle which is a 2003 Avalanche that I've fu... I mean tinkered with until now it gets 13 miles around town and 16 mpg on the interstate downhill with the wind behind me. And I know there are plenty of cars with higher ratings in the "fun" category, but for $500 who could pass it up.
On to the car; Scarlet is a 98 Accord Coupe with a F23A1 (vtec) and a 5 speed manual transmission. Scarlet was about to be crushed by the previous disinterested owner and I saved her from damnation. The only thing I new was that the car had a locked up transmission and a P0420 catalyst efficiency code. The body was straight, the interior was in decent condition, and I've had a love affair with this body style (the coupe's only, something about the taillights and the angular shape of the body). I bought a junk yard 5speed for $250, the clutch that was already on the car looked ok so I kept it. Filled the new to me transmission with some penzoil synchromesh and went for my first drive.
The feeling of joy struck me as a smile pulling out of the shop in Scarlet for the first time. I'd secretly been pretending to drive a stick in my d/d (some other turd car we won't discuss) for some time. It had been a solid 2-3 years since I had a manual transmission and I missed it something fierce. I turned on the highway and got into it. Vibrations, terrible vibrations, smoke (from the tailpipe not the tires), the check engine light glowing bright, and I returned promptly to the shop to see what comes next.
I found that the check engine light was now on for a cylinder 3 misfire (p0303), cat efficiency (p0420), and now the vtec solenoid. I also ran it on the lift and determined the vibration to be coming from the cv axles ( I mean, they looked sketchy when we pulled the transmission out, but I didn't know they were really that bad and honestly I was trying to see what I could get away with). I ordered the axles and a catalytic converter, ran a BG products fuel and air induction system cleaning through the car and ran an engine oil flush and changed the oil. Then I drove the car 60 miles back home from work to show my mom and my brother my new acquire.
It drove decent on the interstate the pull from 70-90 was nice it held well on the sharper curves, I was pretty happy with the potential of this build. The cel came on 3/4 of the way home (I had the code reader with me) The vtec solenoid code had returned and the cat efficiency was pending. Over the next couple days when I had spare time at work I changed out both cv axles, went ahead and changed the sway bar end links and sway bar bushings at the same time (looked really sketchy, one bracket was missing). I replaced the vtec solenoid and screen gasket contraption. Then I went to replace the catalytic converter, when I removed the original unit it was gutted. When I say gutted I'm talking about the on purpose, jam something down the dam thing until the brick is completely gone, gutted. That answered part of the question about the excess smoke from the tailpipe and about the history/previous owner of the vehicle (it only had 105k miles when I got it) I installed a direct fit cat cleared the codes and drove the car home again. Finally no codes.
A few day later I took the vehicle down and had my state emissions inspected for my tag and passed with flying colors. Then I sat and began to ponder. I've always heard that test pipes increase horsepower, and all that sh.. I mean oil burning in the exhaust has to be clogging up my brand new cat. So I reinstalled the gutted cat. The cel came back on with the cat code so I pulled the old spark plug non-fouler + Mr. Drillbit x rear oxygen sensor = bye, bye check engine light.
A little bit further down the road the intake tube cracked and not being a big fan of duct tape in the engine compartment other than for a temp fix I called the dealer and they wanted $85 for the tube, I called advance auto parts and for $40 I could buy a spectre short ram intake, so I did. Now let me say this, Spectre makes ok stuff, I have one of their vehicle specific kits on my truck, it fits good, it works good, it's been on their for 3 years with no issues, maf codes, nothing. On this car I'd rather have a aem, injen, possibly k&n, but the budget couldn't hold it at that time. Now my hasty assembly and product selection did lead to problems. The mushroom style filter on the generic intake I bought rubbed on the a/c lines until I was without a/c in Georgia in late August (hell). The a/c remains unfixed at the time of this posting.
The engine was really smoking good by this time, it would blow smoke when you fired it up cold, and it would really smoke under heavy load. I'm talking about a 007 smoke screen anywhere over 4k rpm. It was embarrassing. And smelling/looking like Uncle Buck pulling up to your kids school or your friends house is definitely not the "in" thing. I hoped I had a pcv issue, went through the whole system and didn't find a single issue, I even put a breather on the valve cover. I hoped some magic miracle cure in a bottle could fix my engine, but after 6 different brands I gave up. As much as I wanted to deny it I had an engine issue and after diagnosing it with the guys at work the prognosis was bad. Oil control rings were shot, as were the valve stem seals. There was no way I'd waste my time pulling the head apart in the car for the seals if the rings were bad, and there's no way I'm pulling this obviously abused and most likely overheated (previous owner) motor out of this car until I squeeze after last bit of usefulness from it.
3 months after I purchased the car I lost cylinder #3 in almost the same spot my cel came back on the first time I drove the car home. I nursed it the last 15 miles home and pulled the plug hoping it was fouled with oil. By this time I was changing plugs every 2 weeks. I was buying oil by the case to feed this beast. I would go 60 miles per qt while getting 30 miles per gallon. It was a running joke at work, the gas money I saved over my previous car was spent in oil to feed this one. The plug wasn't fouled, the motor was toast. The following morning I rolled the dice, got ready for work and drove it 60 miles back to the shop. It made it all the way there, I was so proud of scarlet for not leaving me stranded in Atlanta in rush hour traffic.
I found a guy in town that sold JDM motors for reasonable prices ($600 including the core charge and a 6 mos warranty) and I picked up another F23 with low mileage, opted to pay the core charge and keep this first motor (project) and went about swapping the motors. By this time I new I was keeping this car for a while so I went on and installed a new exedy clutch kit and had the flywheel turned. The new to me motor dropped right in, I replaced all the worn/broken motor mounts, did a major tune-up (cap, rotor, plugs, wires,) coolant flush and thermostat, new belts and hoses. Ran everything for 500 miles (about a week) changed the oil and have been riding it out.
The Brakes started to vibrate pretty bad up front so I bough some rotors and a friend and coworker of my took them home and cross drilled them for me. (Btw if you're in the Atlanta area I'll hook you up, he does them on the cheap and the work is superb). Installed new brake hardware, pads, and the rotors up front.
Now I'm left with this old motor. My significant other and I split during all these things. I actually bought the car while she was out of town for a few weeks and she was pissed when she got home (can't drive a stick). So the extra motor sat in my friends garage for a while, then it sat outside for a while, then due to a septic tank issue causing a basement flood on new years day it got moved into my basement/shop area this past weekend.
For the longest time I've been thinking of a turbo build. Tear the motor down in my free time and build it back up to make a ~15psi daily driver. Then I started reading about G23's again and decided that's what I need to do. I was literally so excited about the idea that last night I couldn't sleep so I went into the basement at midnight and started tearing parts off the old motor. The head will be coming off tomorrow night (I brought home the wrong 12 point for the head bolts tonight, noob). I've talked to a guy that does the majority of our machine work and he believes he has a h22 head on the shelf that he would like to trade for my f23 head (more regular people fu.. I mean mess up 2.3 accords than ricers and their h22's in this area). I've been reading like a mad man and I'm getting serious about building a decent G23. Now that you know the back story follow along on this journey, I'll cover everything build/swap wise as well as anything else that comes up with the car in the meantime. Thanks for taking the time to read and thanks for welcoming me to your forum!
On to the car; Scarlet is a 98 Accord Coupe with a F23A1 (vtec) and a 5 speed manual transmission. Scarlet was about to be crushed by the previous disinterested owner and I saved her from damnation. The only thing I new was that the car had a locked up transmission and a P0420 catalyst efficiency code. The body was straight, the interior was in decent condition, and I've had a love affair with this body style (the coupe's only, something about the taillights and the angular shape of the body). I bought a junk yard 5speed for $250, the clutch that was already on the car looked ok so I kept it. Filled the new to me transmission with some penzoil synchromesh and went for my first drive.
The feeling of joy struck me as a smile pulling out of the shop in Scarlet for the first time. I'd secretly been pretending to drive a stick in my d/d (some other turd car we won't discuss) for some time. It had been a solid 2-3 years since I had a manual transmission and I missed it something fierce. I turned on the highway and got into it. Vibrations, terrible vibrations, smoke (from the tailpipe not the tires), the check engine light glowing bright, and I returned promptly to the shop to see what comes next.
I found that the check engine light was now on for a cylinder 3 misfire (p0303), cat efficiency (p0420), and now the vtec solenoid. I also ran it on the lift and determined the vibration to be coming from the cv axles ( I mean, they looked sketchy when we pulled the transmission out, but I didn't know they were really that bad and honestly I was trying to see what I could get away with). I ordered the axles and a catalytic converter, ran a BG products fuel and air induction system cleaning through the car and ran an engine oil flush and changed the oil. Then I drove the car 60 miles back home from work to show my mom and my brother my new acquire.
It drove decent on the interstate the pull from 70-90 was nice it held well on the sharper curves, I was pretty happy with the potential of this build. The cel came on 3/4 of the way home (I had the code reader with me) The vtec solenoid code had returned and the cat efficiency was pending. Over the next couple days when I had spare time at work I changed out both cv axles, went ahead and changed the sway bar end links and sway bar bushings at the same time (looked really sketchy, one bracket was missing). I replaced the vtec solenoid and screen gasket contraption. Then I went to replace the catalytic converter, when I removed the original unit it was gutted. When I say gutted I'm talking about the on purpose, jam something down the dam thing until the brick is completely gone, gutted. That answered part of the question about the excess smoke from the tailpipe and about the history/previous owner of the vehicle (it only had 105k miles when I got it) I installed a direct fit cat cleared the codes and drove the car home again. Finally no codes.
A few day later I took the vehicle down and had my state emissions inspected for my tag and passed with flying colors. Then I sat and began to ponder. I've always heard that test pipes increase horsepower, and all that sh.. I mean oil burning in the exhaust has to be clogging up my brand new cat. So I reinstalled the gutted cat. The cel came back on with the cat code so I pulled the old spark plug non-fouler + Mr. Drillbit x rear oxygen sensor = bye, bye check engine light.
A little bit further down the road the intake tube cracked and not being a big fan of duct tape in the engine compartment other than for a temp fix I called the dealer and they wanted $85 for the tube, I called advance auto parts and for $40 I could buy a spectre short ram intake, so I did. Now let me say this, Spectre makes ok stuff, I have one of their vehicle specific kits on my truck, it fits good, it works good, it's been on their for 3 years with no issues, maf codes, nothing. On this car I'd rather have a aem, injen, possibly k&n, but the budget couldn't hold it at that time. Now my hasty assembly and product selection did lead to problems. The mushroom style filter on the generic intake I bought rubbed on the a/c lines until I was without a/c in Georgia in late August (hell). The a/c remains unfixed at the time of this posting.
The engine was really smoking good by this time, it would blow smoke when you fired it up cold, and it would really smoke under heavy load. I'm talking about a 007 smoke screen anywhere over 4k rpm. It was embarrassing. And smelling/looking like Uncle Buck pulling up to your kids school or your friends house is definitely not the "in" thing. I hoped I had a pcv issue, went through the whole system and didn't find a single issue, I even put a breather on the valve cover. I hoped some magic miracle cure in a bottle could fix my engine, but after 6 different brands I gave up. As much as I wanted to deny it I had an engine issue and after diagnosing it with the guys at work the prognosis was bad. Oil control rings were shot, as were the valve stem seals. There was no way I'd waste my time pulling the head apart in the car for the seals if the rings were bad, and there's no way I'm pulling this obviously abused and most likely overheated (previous owner) motor out of this car until I squeeze after last bit of usefulness from it.
3 months after I purchased the car I lost cylinder #3 in almost the same spot my cel came back on the first time I drove the car home. I nursed it the last 15 miles home and pulled the plug hoping it was fouled with oil. By this time I was changing plugs every 2 weeks. I was buying oil by the case to feed this beast. I would go 60 miles per qt while getting 30 miles per gallon. It was a running joke at work, the gas money I saved over my previous car was spent in oil to feed this one. The plug wasn't fouled, the motor was toast. The following morning I rolled the dice, got ready for work and drove it 60 miles back to the shop. It made it all the way there, I was so proud of scarlet for not leaving me stranded in Atlanta in rush hour traffic.
I found a guy in town that sold JDM motors for reasonable prices ($600 including the core charge and a 6 mos warranty) and I picked up another F23 with low mileage, opted to pay the core charge and keep this first motor (project) and went about swapping the motors. By this time I new I was keeping this car for a while so I went on and installed a new exedy clutch kit and had the flywheel turned. The new to me motor dropped right in, I replaced all the worn/broken motor mounts, did a major tune-up (cap, rotor, plugs, wires,) coolant flush and thermostat, new belts and hoses. Ran everything for 500 miles (about a week) changed the oil and have been riding it out.
The Brakes started to vibrate pretty bad up front so I bough some rotors and a friend and coworker of my took them home and cross drilled them for me. (Btw if you're in the Atlanta area I'll hook you up, he does them on the cheap and the work is superb). Installed new brake hardware, pads, and the rotors up front.
Now I'm left with this old motor. My significant other and I split during all these things. I actually bought the car while she was out of town for a few weeks and she was pissed when she got home (can't drive a stick). So the extra motor sat in my friends garage for a while, then it sat outside for a while, then due to a septic tank issue causing a basement flood on new years day it got moved into my basement/shop area this past weekend.
For the longest time I've been thinking of a turbo build. Tear the motor down in my free time and build it back up to make a ~15psi daily driver. Then I started reading about G23's again and decided that's what I need to do. I was literally so excited about the idea that last night I couldn't sleep so I went into the basement at midnight and started tearing parts off the old motor. The head will be coming off tomorrow night (I brought home the wrong 12 point for the head bolts tonight, noob). I've talked to a guy that does the majority of our machine work and he believes he has a h22 head on the shelf that he would like to trade for my f23 head (more regular people fu.. I mean mess up 2.3 accords than ricers and their h22's in this area). I've been reading like a mad man and I'm getting serious about building a decent G23. Now that you know the back story follow along on this journey, I'll cover everything build/swap wise as well as anything else that comes up with the car in the meantime. Thanks for taking the time to read and thanks for welcoming me to your forum!
02-08-2013, 07:40 AM
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Re: The Saga of Scarlet and the G23
subscribed! im also in the prosses of building a g23 turbo.im stuck in piston and rod selections.f23 rods are so much money!! and people go back and fourth about the k20 pistons.
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