VIPperformance

Hello fellow HT members, I just wanted to share a highlights of my 71 N600 Restoration. I bought this car in early spring of 2011. It was in very poor shape, disassembled, not running. But the good side was the car was very rust free and solid. Other than worn out paint and dings and dent here and there it was the best car I could find. I also got a 72 N600 around the same time with a much rougher body to aid in my restoration for parts, it’s turned out to be a good thing because a part hear and there you need will really hold up progress on reassembly of a car this age. I mostly work on late modal Honda’s at my shop in Portland OR, VIP Performance. To take on a project like this has really kept my focus, and tested my ability to find parts. A lot of time and detail go’s into an older project car like this. For example running a body harness back into the car takes hours, re-raping, cleaning, compared to just simply putting it back in.

I had a very simple plan with this car, assemble the car, make it run and drive, put some miles on it, take it apart and have it painted, reassemble!! So far this plan is working very well. I’m currently in the reassembly stage. The hard part has been finding all the little nik, nakes. A lot of parts are just not available, Ebay sadly is the only real source of parts. There are a few other parts suppliers, most are just about impossible to get a hold of.

Here’s some pic’s of the car and the progress, I will keep posting as I make progress!!

We rolled it in the trailer, no front susp. For front wheels!!



Out croosing down the road:









Keep an eye on my thread I will be posting more pic's very soon

VIPperformance

More pic's

This is how I found the car, sitting for very long time!!




The inside of the car was pretty ruff





I put the best of the best bumpers together





I got a bunch of extra parts from the guy with the D16 powerd N600



adding together the best of the best parts I made the inside of the car drivable



Sorry for the blurry pics, my camera was acting up at this time





We put it on the corner scales for fun!

VIPperformance

Then we took it all apart the end of September for paint



The painter was showing me how it light and easy it was to work with the little car







just about ready to paint at this point



I had the car painted the factory color blue





Inside and out I had the engine bay painted too

leteg98

Looking very nice, keep up the good work.

VIPperformance

Ohh I cant leave out the Dyno pulls! If you have it you mite as well use it. So I put the car on the dyno before disassembley and got a few base line pulls 28whp!! ya baby

http://youtu.be/TTOK4RCOjkI






Found some OEM NOS door and window seals for the N600 ( very hard to find ). They were still in good shape for being 40 years old.



Found a guy on ebay that sell pretty close to factory looking front and rear window seals, front one fit very well, then moved to the back to find the rear one to short, Im waiting back from the guy and hoping he will send a replacement



I cleaned up and install both door panels, got the headliner and rear seat back in





currently I'm working on the dash, taking the best parts from my old dash and installing them onto a dash from my parts car thats not cracked:




Here's the engine, not much to look at, The Honda N600 used a two cly air cooled 600cc engine. Most cars came with a 4sp like mine but they did offer an auto. The engine ran really well overall, I have a new timing chain as you can see in the pic, there was a little bit of raddled in the engine and I believe this engine has never had the chain replaced. I'm hoping a new chain takes care of the raddled.




I also getting the engine bay ready for re-installing of the engine, Getting all the rubber plugs, harness, mic parts back in place all takes time, I think if I was billing this a my shop hourly rate this would be the worlds most expensive Honda N600


Found a guy that replicates the factory stickers

StreetsideStig

What an awesome project! It's already looking great.

TPI San Antonio

yea looks sick!!!!!

TacticalSwag

I would love to daily that thing

-RedneckDave-

Amazing project dude.

Colin

iTrader: (1)

Looks great, I can't wait to see the finished product. I had a question about those replacement stickers... does that guy do all sorts of custom stuff or does he just have certain things available? Mind sharing the contact info?

mike93eh2

http://www.honda600carparts.com

billsey

Good job! Let me know if you'd like an S600C next... :-)

KandabashiDevil

Love the dyno numbers!

Great looking project

VIPperformance

I found them on Ebay, not sure if the seller makes them or if he got them from another person.




I have used them for parts, I got a replacement timing chain and some gaskets, very good seller and easy to deal with.


I have always thought a S600 would be a cool project, pm me with pic's.

VIPperformance

making more and more progress guys, got my girls camera so now I can take better pics. Kinda sad when I own several cameras and none can take a good pic!!



Can anyone tell me if this shoulder strap looks like its in the correct spot??





I'm also looking for one small plastic **** for the stereo, if anyone has one please PM me!!




I got lucky and found a very very nice N600 steering wheel, when I got the car it had a 3 spoke wheel like the z600.



found a almost perfect Honda emblem on Ebay this summer, really makes the car look factory fresh.




Just a few weeks ago I got a set of reproduction lights on ebay!!




also got new backup light light covers

mike93eh2

that is really nice...i wish mine was anywhere near that nice!

my 72 didnt come with seatbelts in the rear ?

here is another place for parts if you didnt know about them...they have almost everything...and i think all or most of the parts are new..kinda pricey though.

http://www.cmsnl.com/honda-a600_model14502/partslist/

NW Classic Honda

Wow impressed. In for the build.

VIPperformance

Thanks for the info!!!

VIPperformance

started with the under side this last weekend, I'm working on this car around running my shop so after hours or weekends are all about making headway on the car.


I do want to post a few pics of my parts car because without it I don't think I could have done this resto so smoothy!!


here's a few pics of the "parts car" when I got it, I will post a few current pics tomorrow in the daylight, currently the parts car reminds me of a turkey after thanksgiving because its been pick over bigtime!! parts that really came in handy from this car range from the un-cracked dash to the factory hub caps...books, factory manuals, bins of extra parts!! really saved me alot of time just having a car to pick and peck little parts here and there off. The parts car had one pretty big issue it had been smacked in the front end and also had a bunch of rust spots. My blue 600 was very rust free and had no sighs of any major damage.











Here's a few pics of the underside, I will post finished pics once I get it back on the lift.




look what I found under the fuel tank, yuck!!!




Im changing the leaf springs and fuel tank, the current leaf spring have one extra spring, not really sure why? maybe someone added it on?? either way it make the back of the car higher up and I would like to go just a bit lower than stock, but not too low!!

I cleaned and painted these parts in advance so the weekend job would go smoothly



The only fuel sending unit I had came out of the cars old fuel tank, The old tank had alot of rust thats why I got a replacement painted and ready. The sending unit was all seized and gunked up. but the float worked!! I was able to free it up my socking it in solvent. I hope the fuel gauge is functioning now!! I did test it will a DVOM and its resistance changes will movement.



Here's a before ride height



And... after




Still have a little bit of lining up to do on the grill, also waiting on sway bar bushings but I just love the look of these cars from the front!!!

mike93eh2

my fuel sender was also all siezed up and not working... in case yours doesnt work, autometer makes a sender that bolts right up to the stock fuel tank...

you could test yours before putting it all together..

StreetsideStig

Ha! Love the paint job on the parts car. So retro.

This thing looks beautiful!

SR.4G.EJ-Dave

This is really cool man. New lease on file for a cool ride

Geo4k

We get a lot of old rides here in New Mexico - no rust, the hot dry summers can tear up the paint and the interiors... so the bones stay good. I carry a camera with me for just in case.... got a early 60 Jag E Type several times. The guy drivrs it! +1 for him Had not yet see a 600 on the street yet, but I'm ready. great work on your car - we love it.

George

VIPperformance

Thanks for all the complements guys!!


Im working my way through this thing one little project at a time. My front seats were in very poor shape, no the worst in the world but not going to due in comparison to the rest of the car. I was lucky and found all original seat parts ( in good shape). Having them upholstered would have been very costly and I don't think it would be that original looking. The seat parts I found just needed some cleaning and painting.

this is the driver side seat when I started, you can see the back rest is all bent out of shape.


before and after cleaning pic side by side



ready to assemble back rests



test install into car, looking much better!!

mike93eh2

thats crazy you found a drivers side seat that isnt ripped!