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So big thanks to @TheHondaMahker for making me realize I should probably start a thread to keep a record of my build (FYI: it wont be updated often but it will be updated as money comes and goes). Ive done maintenance work and repairs on cars and bikes for years now but I never really did a "full build", so this is kind of my test for that. There's a lot I don't know and I want to use this platform for trial and error, and do everything possible from wrench to paint to refinishing the interior. That being said I am MORE than welcoming to any tips, tricks, resources, criticism, etc. I still have a few years till I can legally import my dream car (CL2 AWD Accord Wagon SiR) so I think this is the perfect project to keep me distracted till then
To start I purchased a 94 wagon from a family man who bought it from the original owner. It has 129K original miles on it (non V-TEC F series motor) and I literally have a full stack of paperwork from when it was first purchased until the day I acquired it. That being said it definitely saw use. It's in kind of rough shape, but seemed to have decent guts (and an even better price). As it stands right now the work Ive done already is replacing all the yellowed light housings with clears (which I somehow got lucky and was able to find the FULL clear taillights from a place in Europe), swapped the hood/front bumper/grille for the 96-97 style as it was dented up anyway (but I kept the 94 lip), added some non-US OEM Stanley fog lights, and some DC2 rims. Currently I'm collecting parts to do a complete front suspension rebuild and just waiting on my Ground Control shocks to show up. I'm also going to do a rotor over hub conversion at the same time, I wasn't able to find any new hubs so I pulled some from an Acura CL in a yard and I'm ordering new studs (I have spacers on to fit the rims and not sure if Ill need longer studs or not after the conversion). After that I have plans to do the rear suspension, redo all the doors, try and get my hands on some power folding mirrors, and get a mid wing deck spoiler.
Someone backed into my original "frost" headlights, so I ended up replacing them with the clears from japan. It was an amazing difference in terms of the quality of the optics, much much better beam focus etc on the clears.
Re those rims, they are worth a lot, so please put some sort of wheel locking nut or something to secure it.
For suspension, i found the prothane polyurethane bushing kit really firmed things up for me, tightened up everything, and fitment was better than the energy suspension equivalent
Looks good my friend, those all around clears really make it stick out. I tried to find some junkyard find CL hubs myself but to no avail. So I bought two news ones (hub and bearing together) from eBay, and they have taken me on a couple longer vacations with no issue. I gave a review in them, here is the link https://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Wheel...-127632-2357-0
I do not know for sure if these will fit the wagon, but they fit my sedan just fine. I also do not know of any auto parts store (I.E Autozone, Oreily’s) that sells them. So I was kind of forced to buy these.
@TheHondaMahker Thank you! Are those hubs the 4 or 5 lug pattern? I would definitely rather buy new but I don't plan on doing the 5-bolt conversion (it's an LX so I have rear drums and don't plan on doing the disc conversion anytime soon haha)
also @nicolaselias that's a great idea actually, do you have any recs on security lugs? I started looking into it briefly but only came across some junk
4 lug pattern, haha I don't plan on doing a 5 lug conversion either, so we are in the same boat there. However, someday I hope to have the time and money to do the disc conversion, there are some awesome detailed instructions out here on the forums.
To throw my own two cents into the mix, my new gunmetal lug nut set came with locks when I bought them. A good new set of lugs might be a nice touch as well.
also @nicolaselias that's a great idea actually, do you have any recs on security lugs? I started looking into it briefly but only came across some junk
Can't recommend specifically for this vehicle as my accord rides on the stock 15" cheapo wheels lol. For my toyota 4wd, I use the gorilla locking lug set, but not sure if they make it in the specific size for the honda
So I had a whole post with a Waggy update but my Internet is a PoS (Spectrum) and erased it. So I'm just gonna do a quick one instead. Got the suspension / psint started, did the RoH conversion, but im having an issue with the upper ball joint spinning! if anyone has any tips they would be much appreciated! heres where im at as of today:
Do you mean the nut holding it onto the knuckle? Or the ball joint itself not coming out? I cannot tell in the picture if the boot is seated properly, did you install it yourself or did it come with the upper control arm?
Onto to a more polished note, the body underbelly and frame looks mint!
It actually was a seating issue with the upper ball joint! It came with the upper control arm. It wasnt seating into the knuckle, I had tried jacking it up but it still wouldn't seat, literally had to wrap a ratchet strap around the upper and lower and cinch it to lock it down haha.
It's all set now, just need to get a new torque wrench that hits 180 ft lbs for the axle nut. Then ima paint the wheels (Matte Gold I'm thinkin) and keep going with the Matte Black as I put the panels back on. I'm going to paint the calipers too eventually but I'm gonna wait until I do a whole flush and rebuild of the brake system!
I'm glad y'all like the paint! As it turns out though I hate painting/body work haha. I assumed this already but had to confirm, so moving forward I'm gonna scrap the plans for that and focus on the mechanics/tweaks/maintenance stuff. That being said I finally got the front end back together and I'm pretty stoked about it! I got the jack stuck because I didn't realize how low it would drop the front lmao:
Adding a photo of the rear for comparison:
I just got new window regulators for the front driver/passenger doors I'm going to try and get installed today (driver side busted so i figured ill replace both), then I'm going to turn my focus to the rear suspension and get a whole alignment eventually once thats done. Also have to fix the classic "stuck antenna" which every old car has haha
It's moving along though and I'm definitely learning which to me is what this project is about
@nicolaselias Thanks dude! I was thinking about it initially but I think Im just gonna keep the drums on it and rebuild them when I rebuild the suspension.
I had way bigger plans and was actually looking into gathering parts for an AWD conversion (hella money as everything would have to be custom but I love wagons and don't want to trade for a hatch haha) but in doing that I came across the JDM CL2 AWD Accord wagon. I figure long term it will be cheaper / more reliable for me to import one once they hit the 25 year mark (like 4 or 5 more years) so for now I'm just using this as like a trail and error car, earn everything I can and keep it running until the time comes to check the JP market
Back at it again today dropping the whole rear suspension. I figured if the fronts done might as well do the back and get a full alignment for errythang all at once. Also getting a better idea of how I'm gonna handle the whole build. But here's where I'm at now:
Gonna black the inner walls with de-greaser and clean/sand/prep for paint. Just gonna hit it with the satin black like I did with the front while I wait for parts. However now that it's all apart and I have to order a bunch of stuff I'm actually considering doing the rear caliper swap. I don't mind doing the work but I'm definitely going to have to do a cost analysis first to see what the total is for each
@nicolaselias do you happen to have a parts list of what you needed to get for your conversion? do I have to drop the whole rear bracketing or what am I able to reuse? Also is there any sketchy stuff I should be aware of haha. Any tips, tricks, details would be greatly appreciated!
When I did the rear drum to disc conversion, (on a 4dr sedan) I went to the wreckers/junkyard/used parts place and got two rear "sprindles". Those were the entire knuckle with decent condition rotors, calipers, even pads already on from the equivalent generation accord with rear discs. Even the wheel bearings were in good shape (and are still good 11 years later!), and it came with the handbrake cables already attached. I can't remember if mine came with the trailing arm though, I don't think my rear knuckles came with the trailing arm, but some do. If not, re-use yours
I had already bought aftermarket rotors, pads etc but didn't even bother swapping them on, since the ones I got were in such good shape.
The only "external" part i bought was the well discussed 4040 brake proportioning valve from a non-abs integra (93). My vehicle didn't have ABS so this wasn't a problem for me at all. There are a lot of threads about this, and the value in swapping the prop valve. It supposedly sends more brake force to the rear to compensate for the move from drums to discs. I didn't drive with the discs before swapping prop valve so I can't say how much of a difference it makes. Point to note is that it was definitely more available back then (circa 2010) when I paid maybe $45 for it. I hear they go for $100 online now and they are OLD parts.
Points to note, on mine, the rear drum setup used one brake hose per axle in the rear, but there are actually two hoses per rear axle on the disc setup, so I put on new lines since I didn't want to re-use the old rubber hoses in the back. I got the techna-fit 6 line kit for this since it worked out quite a bit cheaper than goodridge
HARDEST part of the swap itself was changing out the handbrake cables. Honda handbrake cables actually enter the cab below the rear seats, so we had to
1. Drop the exhaust midpipe,
2. Remove the exhaust heat shield, which had never been taken off before, so that was a pain
3. Remove rear seats to send the new handbrake cables through,
4. Remove the centre console to get the cables to the handbrake itself
The handbrake was BY FAR the hardest part of the entire proces.
Re the wagon versus sedan brakes, I THINK the rears are the same, just the fronts on the wagons are a bit better
@nicolaselias Dude this is great info! I was gonna get new parts (I've actually been able to source cheap old stock stuff on eBay) but I definitely have a few wreck yards around me I pull from for stuff that's too much, like window regulators for one.
I assume most of the parts are the same except that knuckle. Also I don't have ABS (LX edition) so hopefully shouldn't be an issue for me either, I was actually talking about the proportioning valve today cause I wasn't sure if it would be an issue or not so that's good to know. But as long as everything bolts to the same place think I might just go ahead and do the conversion, I was planning on switching over to SS Braided lines and rebuild the booster/master anyway so sounds like a perfect time to knock it all out. Hopefully those aren't my famous last words!
Ill keep this thread updated about what happens though haha
One thing to note. The sedan rear caliper came with a 34mm piston. The wagon had a 38mm piston. When I upgraded my front brakes I wanted a little more braking force on the rear so I changed calipers. I found that not all wagons in the salvage yard have the correct 38mm calipers. Over the years mechanics may have replaced them with 34mm ones because they didn't know any better or because that was all that was available. I went to a Honda salvage yard and was unable to find the right ones. Wagons had limited availability, and the ones they pulled for me were 34mm. I brought calipers (the measuring kind) with me, so I didn't get stuck with the wrong ones. I finally found that some Acuras have the same ones as the wagon so I was able to use those. As a note, I eventually ended up with 313mm rotors from a Honda Pilot and an adapter kit for mounting the 38mm calipers. Works great.
What I can say re the rear swap to disc is that the car nose didn't dive as much under heavy braking since the back was doing more of the actual braking duties than when it was on drum. For regular cruising etc I doubt it'll make much difference, but I used to drive the hell out of my poor accord a few years back. Every bit of braking helped lol. Re rotors, blanks are honestly fine, I just went with slotted because they were reasonable for the pair of brembo back then.
Re the brake lines, it adjusts pedal feel a bit, but not sure if it worth the cost for that purpose alone. For me, it is more about the safety of changing over 25+ year old rubber. I do it on all my older vehicles that I buy used.
The Goodridge 6 line kit costs a bit more than the HN-1110 techna-fit. People also used to use Russel and you MIGHT be able to find stop-tech (centric) etc.
I've used all of the above brands and haven't had issues with each to be honest.
Finally re prop valve, if you can find one at the junkyard then you are good to go. It should be stamped 4040 like this
@Fitz Williams That is GREAT information. I have a set a measuring calipers I’ll be sure to bring with me!
@angrysmileyface also good to know! Gives me a place to start my search just in case. I always try to make a list of comparable vehicle parts before I hit the wreckers just in case haha
@nicolaselias For sure, that sounds like a sound investment! The 2 things I never skimp on even during budget builds are brakes and tires. We all
love to go fast but stopping is the important part haha. And thank you for the valve info! It’s one good thing about being in SoCal, there’s a lotta yards and a lotto options cause everything stays relatively clean and rust free, definitely gonna get this on the list for my next pickin trip
Another note on the front brakes. I wanted something more than stock and ended up with 300mm rotors. The Accord caliper is good, and I am not sure what I did made it any better, but maybe it helped. I swapped the caliper to the NSX ones. I also bought a set of 2-piston Acura Legend ones, which are much the same as the NSX except they are designed so that when they are properly mounted on an Accord, the bleeder screw in pointing down on the bottom of the caliper. So, you would either have to swap sites and have the large/small piston arrangement backward, or unbolt the caliper and tilt it backwards to bleed it. Well, you don't bleed the caliper that often, so it is an option. But the NSX ones mount like the Accords and I went with them. I also have a set of the Acura aluminum 4-piston calipers and an adapter kit. I had planned to swap to these, but the wheel-to-caliper clearance with my wheels it too close to suit me. And the NSX setup does everything I could want so I left it alone. And I should add that with all this swapping, I am using 17" wheels. The setup might work with 16" ones. Don't know. Probably depends on the wheel. But 15" wheels are definitely out. And the price of NSX calipers continues to go up but the Accura 4-piston ones gets a little cheaper. Availability, I suppose.
12-02-2021, 03:48 PM
1994 Accord Wagon Build
