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I decided I would start a more general thread for this project. My previous thread (94 Accord H23A Vtec Swap Thread) has a ton of info and pics plus quite a bit of history on the car.
I picked up this car I think its 7-8 years ago. I was broke at the time and just needed something to get me to work. I spent at least a month looking for a Honda in my price range and after a ton of flake sellers and almost ending up in a civic I ended up with this car. 1994 EX coupe. Definitely a project car but it ran pretty decently. The car was at least 4 different colors, there was a toggle switch to start the car, purple 3 layers of tint, both bumpers were trashed and falling off. The exhaust was super loud, suspension was bent. There was definitely a laundry list of issues but it was $1500, I had the title and it drove. The first 3-4 months with the car were difficult, starters getting trashed, torsion bars coming loose and almost making me crash, old hack jobs of alarms causing the car not to start. But honestly.. the car got me through a good 2-3 years when I was struggling to keep rent paid.
Before I stopped driving the car it had 5 lug conversion, Acura TL rims, full skunk2 suspension, JDM h23vtec, m2s4 trans, aluminum radiator and tuned ECU. Plus a bunch of other bolt ons. The car was super quick and fun. I was working on installing a Tilt sunroof and working on a custom engine harness. Well the wire harness was the downfall of the car. I was daily driving a few other cars so the harness was not super urgent. I ended up picking up a prelude and honestly... what's better than an Accord with almost a full prelude conversion.. a prelude. lol. The prelude was a newer car with decent paint, factory color and once I was done tinkering with it super clean. I was driving that car and planning a 5 speed conversion. The harness for the accord never really ended up working and eventually I ended up pulling most of the parts from the Accord and dropping them into the Prelude.
The Accord is still in pretty good shape minus no engine. lol. I was going to sell the car but honestly for all of the money I have invested in the shell it was hard to part with.
The interior is super nice with Prelude black seats and Acura CL rear seats and all of the leather panels. The body is for the most part very straight. 5 Lug conversion still with stock prelude blades.
So where I am with the car now.
I plan to get it running on the stock engine, transmission and ecu.
One thing that always drove me crazy about the car is the fact that it was originally a red car, so red nasty engine bay. I cant possibly put an engine back into the car without first painting the bay. I chose a dark grey color that will pretty much go with any paint color. I am currently stripping down the engine bay and prepping it for paint. I'm working in a small tandem garage so it can be difficult to do any work on the sides of the car. The bay is close to stripped now, I got the driver fender off yesterday and the brake booster and throttle cable out today. pretty much all I have left now is to get the passenger fender off. Getting the booster out was a bit of a circus act and now my back is tweaked. lol. If I feel better later I may try to get the remaining 2 bolts off the fender, one near the bottom behind the door and the other covered by the side skirt. I should be able to get them out without removing anything else but there is a high chance the side skirt will end up eating the bolts, I worry about getting them out later.
here is a few pics from my progress last night. Ill be updating this thread whenever I get any work done on the car.
Feel free to ask any questions or chime in with any information or ideas that I may be missing.
Projects to come(this is a super budget build)
-Loop power steering. I'm just fed up with PS problems and garbage, I want to simplify. I had planned to use whatever lines I had laying around but I'm starting to think they are a larger diameter. I may order some fittings and make a simple loop.
-engine bay cleanup and paint. I don't plan to do any welding of the holes, this isn't a show car, I just want it to look decent. Paint matching the radiator support will be a nice update. If I find a good OEM support when I hit the pick your part I may pick that up and throw that in instead of the amazon replacement.
-P2U5 transmission. The original P2U5 was destroyed, one of the shafts seized up and didn't make for a good day. I disassembled that transmission and have most of the gears and syncros for it that were not damaged. I picked up another P2U5 with some possible syncro issues and I hope to piece together a transmission.
-F22 and transmission dropped into the car. I need a engine harness still but those are not uncommon at the pick your part.
-Pull the skunk2 rear suspension and replace with the kyb struts and lowering springs I have laying around. Its possible that I will end up putting the skunk stuff back on but for now I want to keep any good aftermarket parts I have off the car. I may end up selling it and they don't really add any value.
-Tilt sunroof. The current iteration of the roof I have in the car is a modified prelude roof with the stock glass. It sits perfectly and you cant tell its not stock from the outside but when you open the roof its a bit limited and scrapes on the roof of you go too far. I have a CL tilt roof that looks like almost a direct bolt in that I want to try. I need to get the roof figured out before I can finish paint.
-Paint cleanup. I started painting the car section by section since I had been replacing panels, both bumper covers have been replaced, one door, both fenders and the trunk lid. So I had been painting them on the way. I finally started painting the rest of the car but I stopped to finish the roof and never finished. 75% of the car has been painted and cleared but never got a wet sand, I left it rough so that there would be a little more room to work out and scratches or discoloration in the paint when I finally completed things. The paint should come out pretty decent. If I end up with mismatched panels I will most likely just end up doing another color and clear on the whole car, not a huge issue,
I cant think of much else at the moment. First thing is first, this car needs an engine and need to be mobile again. I need access to my garage again. a running car is much easier to sell as well.
Sorry no updates for a few days, threw my back out pulling the brake booster. Finally I'm totally motivated to get this damn thing done and in not physically able to do it. If anyone has a 94-95 Accord OBD1 engine harness let me know, I would like to have one before putting the engine in the car. If I go to pick your part I may end up with a lot more parts.. haha
I did a little bit of work, still recovering from pulling the brake booster. Got the other fender off, pulled the power steering lines and the passenger brake line. I think the bay just needs to be scrubbed and prepped so I can get some primer down. Ill just tape everything that's left off before I start spraying.
The power steering lines use a 14mm and a 17mm so the lines I have laying around are definitely not going to work. I was going to just order a loop kit for a civic and see if it would fit but $90-120 for 2 fittings and a short -6an line just does not sound reasonable. I'm going to see what I have laying around in the garage, maybe I can just throw something together.
I took a pic but it came out super blurry. maybe ill take a new one tomorrow.
Ok that didn't take long.
I found a compressor fitting in my toolbox.1/4". I'm not sure if its an exact fit but it feels good, threads in well. Ill use some monster thread tape to make sure things seal up well either way. Ill use the original 17mm fitting and save the tube just in case I change my mind later. I have some new vibrant hose that will fit perfectly. I think this will be the next thing I do just to avoid getting too much crap in the fluid. I did some reading and its definitely advised to use a breather/resvoir to keep the pressure and air in check but the recorded issues seem to be with track cars. Guess we will see if we have any issues, down the road.
The pictures may be a little misleading, those are the 2 I am going to use and not a matching set. The high pressure line connector seems to match up with the 1/4" connector.
Looped the power steering, went pretty smoothly. Filled the line with PS fluid, I could have made the hose shorter but I wanted some room to move around and a little extra fluid.
Made a ton of progress on the Engine bay paint. Started with some gunk engine degreaser, then followed up with purple power to remove the degreaser. After wiping it down making sure it was super clean I started sanding the rough spots then lightly sanding anywhere that was still shiny. I am sure I could have spend a few days just sanding things and prepping them but... this isn't that kind of car. Wiped everything back down with a damp rag to get all of the dust off then started taping. I got a little lazy and my back was starting to cramp up so I said f-it and covered some of the areas with a towel and some boxes.
Sprayed the primer and it looks pretty decent, honestly I was temped to just clear over the primer and be done. haha The paint I will be putting on will be darker so I'm thinking that maybe the primer color is better. Guess we will see, I'm committed to doing it so I'm going to follow through. I will have some overspray to clean off the rear sub frame but its not a huge deal. I'm waiting an hour before putting on the color.
Should I use Black nuts/bolts or yellow Zinc? I'm thinking that I'm not going to use the dress up washers and bolts and get some new 10mm bolts and shock/upper control arm nuts. I may still be just trying to put lipstick on a pig but since I need to replace them I may as well think it through.
I made some progress today. I cleaned up some of the over spray with some brake cleaner. I then started on the non-ABS brake install. I didn't really pay too much attention when I removed it so I was not exactly sure how everything was routed. I started with the rear brakes and they went right in with no issue, I then started mocking up the others and everything went in with no issue except the long passenger side line. I went ahead and attached both lines near the tires, no issues there. I went to install the last line, the passenger side and it wouldn't thread in. I had the backs installed completely but the other 3 were just loosely assembled. I had to remove everything and I spent a good 2 hours just getting the one installed. The first row of threads were cross threaded I guess and it took a ton of time to get it cleaned up and threaded in, If you have messed with these lines before you now how picky they can be about having the perfect angle. Once that one was installed the other 5 lines went in super easy. I used some monster thread tape just in case, last thing I want is brake fluid leaking after I just painted.
I also cleaned and resprayed the brake booster with some gloss black. I though about doing it in wrinkle black but it would have taken overnight to dry. I got that installed with 1 nut for now, I didn't want to destroy my back again. I looked at the old brake master and old one and they were pretty much identical. I used the one I got with the non-abs stuff since it was cleaner but I don't see why some of the threads said that the lines wont fit. It would have been fine. I will definitely bleed the brakes before putting the engine in just in case I have a leak.
I started bolting everything that I removed from the bay. Cleaning bolts with a wire brush to keep everything nice. I'm not sure what I am going t do about the wiring in the front. its crap but.. it does work so I may just try to hide it as much as possible. I also did a little touch up on the paint in a few spots, a few angles were thin.
I stopped with the wiper cover. I hate how it uses odd clips, its always been a mismatch on this car. I went ahead and pulled out my rivnut tool and looked for a size that works. I ended up deciding that I would drill out the holes a bit and use m5 rivnuts and I will order some black m5 button top bolts to match. As I was looking for the bolts I was thinking maybe ill just put the whole engine bay together with m6 black button top bolts. I have all of the bolts on my wishlist to order tomorrow once I get paid but I think ill swing by home depot tomorrow to see if they have what I need in stock. It will save a few days waiting for shipping.
Went to Home Depot and didn't really find anything I needed. I did verify that the upper shock mount bolts are m8-1.25 so I was able to order some new ones from amazon. The ones I have are total crap.
Ordered
22 m8-1.25 nuts. Black Guess ill have some extras.
50 m6x10mm Button head bolts Black
50 m6x12mm Button head bolts Black
100 m5x10mm Button head blots black. Guess ill have plenty of extras. These are for anywhere I need to use a rivnut to replace shitty clips
30 m6x12 Hex flange bolts Yellow Zinc Just in case I change my mind about the black button head bolts/
I also picked up a blox s2000 master cyl and SS braded line. I put the competition series blox master in my wifes car, with that cyl and a very heavy clutch its rough to drive. I'm going to swap out the competition one for the regular one and throw the competition one in the accord. It should be fine since the accord always had a very light pedal anyway. I have already installed one in this car and removed it to put in the Prelude so I know it will work well. I was a little concerned with the pedal placement the first time around but after playing with it in the Prelude I know it will be good. The braded line for the civic application is a little tight but it does fit. I didn't want to spend $60 on a SS line that has that silly banjo fitting. I got the blox kit off ebay for $75 and it has a slave. Not a bad deal. I needed to order one for my wifes car anyway so it works out that I can use the spare stuff for the accord and not spend any extra cash.
Next step at this point is cleaning up the garage a bit so I can clean/rebuild the transmission. My garage is completely stuffed at the moment. I need to get the H22a4 separated from the auto transmission and get it on the engine stand. I need to get the F22 out from under everything. It will be a few day project just getting everything cleaned up. I still need to make a trip to the pick your part for my wire harness. I wonder if its 50% off this weekend. better check that out.
Starting tomorrow its 40% off at pick your part for the holiday. Guess ill have to go tomorrow and look for the harness. I should really try to get the engine out as well so I can check to see if I need any bolts.
Got the Garage sorted out enough so I can work on the transmission. Got the F22 pulled out. Got the H22 disconnected from the Auto SS transmission and got it on the engine stand. Got some bins and got some of the transmissions stacked so they take up less room.
I didn't get any pics but I did make it out to pick your part yesterday. We found a good 95 accord with vtec and manual transmission so we took the time to pull the wiring harness. It was a bit of a pain but we got it all out, the only plug that ended up just breaking off was the oil pressure switch, I just couldn't get it loose with the manifold on and oil filter in.
Also picked up the front coolant elbow, I'm using the one from the F22 on the h23avtec just in case I want to add a coolant sensor up there. I also got the heater controls and radio/shifter console. Picked up a the vents and radio bezel for my wifes civic as well since she broke them with one of those dump phone mounts. Ended up costing me less than $50 for everything.
I will most likely start on the transmission tonight. I just need to get the darn thing torn down so I can inspect the synchros and gears. If anything needs replacing hopefully I have a spare from my old transmission. I got the clutch and pressure plate mounted up already so I'm ready to install the transmission, then the harness and get this darn thing dropped back in the car. I'm sure ill be missing some misc parts but I wont know until I get there.
I was looking at the new hardware I got and decided not to use the m5 bolts, ill just drill the holes a little bigger and use the same size m6/10mm bolts on everything to keep it simple. I ordered a second bag of the shorter ones and also some black oxide washers. It took me a few hours to find a decently sized washer. I don't know why its soo difficult, I have 3 sitting here on my desk attached to fender bolts but they don't come off, I have a whole drawer full of the perfect size attached to bolts but cannot order any unless I get like a box of 50,000. lol. I found some that were close so hopefully they do the trick. I don't really want to bolt anything on aside from the wiper motor cover but I want to have what I need when the time comes.
Yea I'm a hoarder for car parts and I'm always working on something.
Well I'm pretty irritated with the transmission at this point. I pulled the transmission apart and ended up replacing 2 of the synchros. I believe it was 1st and 2nd. I had the ones from my old transmission so I just changed them out. Everything started pretty smooth, I did install one of the gears upside down but it was pretty obvious when I tried sitting them back on the base. Everything looked pretty good so I cleaned the surfaces, put some Honda bond on and let it set for a few minutes. When I attempted to put the case on it would not sit all the way. Seemed like something was binding on the inside. I pulled it on and off at least 25 times, I tried tapping, wiggling, banging, hammering, jumping and finally just tightening the bolts. I finally gave up for the night, cleaned off all of the rtv and rage quit.
I did end up pulling the top bearing and putting it on the shaft. It did seem like the rear shaft spacing could have been off a bit, I checked everything and it looked fine, the bearing does not sit flush, I was looking at some pics and it looks like that may just be the way it is.
Tomorrow ill try dry fitting it and removing bits until I can narrow down where the issue is. Feeling pretty frustrated at the moment. Also... I totally should have completely cleaned the damn thing before working on it. I'm regretting it now.
I didn't really go into detail last night but when I replaced the 2nd gear synchro I also had to replace 2nd gear uhh... gear. My old transmission had a single cone second gear and synchro and the new one had the dual cone. I noticed that the m2S4 also had a dual cone. Does anyone have any input on how this may affect the transmission? Just to add, the shaft that this gear is on is definitely not the issue with the top case fitting. Its easy to tell since the snap ring still has room to move around and the nut on top sits correctly.
I guess I didn't realize this but I can pick up a 1-5 synchro kit for $150 for the Dual cone and $125 for the single cone. I guess I should just pony up and order the synchro's. Honestly.... mine don't look bad so I'm just going to put it together and see what happens. Ill order a kit for the M2S4 when I get around to it. The synchro sleeves seem like the big money. Ill see how things shift and go from there I guess.
Spent some time on the transmission. First I scrubbed the crap out of the cover and got all of the dirt and grime off it. Was not perfect, some discoloration in spots, I may... may paint it later. What a pain. Pulled the alignment pins and it wont fit. Pulled the top bearings off both shafts and it still wont fit. Pulled the shift forks and... bam fit right in. So I have been working backwards from that point. It looks like the sleeve on the case for the middle shift fork is a bit tweaked. I grabbed the nice clean cover for the M2S4 and tried that one but the bearing is still installed and I cannot get the cap off. . SO I grabbed my spare p2u5 case and get it pulled apart, I test fit that one and... still wont go. At this point I'm pretty frustrated. Maybe the shift forks just need to be in the bottom position. I tried to lower 5th gear and couldn't get it in gear. The synchro was stuck on the sleeve. I pulled it apart and inspected it, looks like 5th gear is a little beaten, looks like someone grinded the crap out of it. I looked to see if I have a spare but the one I had was good as far the teeth for the sleeve but its missing some teeth since it was from the grenaded trans.
I was looking online for a replacement gear but they all seem to be for HU transmissions and have one less tooth. That means I would have to order both gears and from the pics I cant really tell of they are any better than what I have. Its going to cost at least $60 and honestly I just don't want to wait for the gears to come.I think I'm just going to re-assemble it and see what happens. I'm going to use some assembly lube on things hoping it will be easier to align things on the shift forks.
I expect that 5th gear may have a bit of a grind, I swapped the synchro so maybe it will be fine, guess we will find out.
Transmission is together. I went ahead and slowly assembled things test fitting it after each piece and finally adding that ring back on the shift fork and installed the case. It was not totally smooth. I did use a little assembly lube on the outsides of the top bearings and shift forks in hopes they would slide in easier. I think the reason why my 5th gear synchro was stuck was because I put the hub in upside down, one side is deeper than the other and it was pressing the synchro tightly. When I did the final assembly I did struggle to get the case on all the way, there was a maybe 5mm gap all the way around, it felt like it was the top bearing not setting all the way, It seemed like it was all the way in tho. I ended up just putting the bolts in one at a time. At one point I heard a loud pop but it was just the snap ring. For a second I though I broke something. I'm not really sure how to test things. I started cleaning the lower portion of the case yesterday, hopefully I didn't screw up the RTV and have a leak. I put in a half shaft and started spinning it but didn't see the main shaft turn. I may need to install an axel and the shift linkage as well. I want to make sure to test things before connecting it to the engine.
I really want to get this darn thing up and running, Maybe I can get it outside before it rains again for a wash.
Spent about an hour and a half just wire brushing the transmission. I still want to hit it with some brake cleaner but its decent. Had to stop abruptly to deal with work, darn work always interrupting my car time. haha Here is how she sits at the moment. I was about the brake clean out the inside of the housing but didn't get to it yet
I made a mistake on the Upper shock mounts. I don't know how.... I was at home depot, I checked the size and thread pitch then checked the bins to see if they had any then immediately ordered. I guess I messed up the size within the 5 mins I was searching. Looks like the nuts are M10. I'm hoping they are 1.25 since I just ordered another $30 worth of nuts.... Starting to feel a little dumb. lol. I ordered some M10x1.25 yellow zinc nuts and some ARP 12point M10.1.25 Black Oxide bolts. I really want to use all black oxide hardware. Its really not a huge deal that I have extras, I work on enough crap where I will need them one day. Nice new bolts and nuts are really nice to have. I am going to be super disappointed if those nuts end up being 1.5 thread pitch. I was looking online a bit more and saw something called a spindle nut that was the same size and thread pitch but I didn't want to risk it, they may be aluminum and I wouldn't feel good about that.
Got my washers in as well so I can start using the rivnuts and installing some bits. I really need to get the engine dropped first but we will see, I may get the washer motor cover installed tomorrow just to see how the hardware looks.
Negative progress today. I started with a complete transmission.
I finished scrubbing it for a good hour. Then started testing the shifting.... Couldn't get the 5th gear fork to move. Also the ring on that shift fork was not in position so the fork was wobbly and I'm sure it wouldn't be able to stay in gear. Soooo.... I pulled the darn thing apart again.
The 5th gear synchro was completely seized again. I just don't get it.... I think the deep side of the hub faces up and not down. The synchros, hub, collar and gear fit nicely and move smoothly but once the rings are installed I cannot get the darn thing in gear or even on the synchro. Any ideas? I tested it with my old bits as well and its the same thing. I was considering that maybe its the sleeve being mushroomed out at the end but with both? I just don't know.
I'm going to look on ebay and see what it will cost to get some replacement bits but honestly I don't know what the problem is at this poin
I tried to get the shift fork ring sitting correctly in the case but it just was not happening, lots of hammering and prying did not resolve the situation. So I gave up on that case and started scrubbing my spare.. 2 hours later the other case was clean. At that point I was pooped and frustrated so I decided to paint both sides of the case really quick with some silver super high temp paint I had picked up. Ill try assembling it again this weekend and see if I have some better luck.
Found my throw out bearing so I have that. I tried fitting the VSS from the automatic transmission but it did not line up with the mount, the other 2 VSS sensor I have laying around have the tab snapped off. Guess I will need to order a VSS.
02-07-2018, 10:33 AM
94 Accord Coupe Project
. SO I grabbed my spare p2u5 case and get it pulled apart, I test fit that one and... still wont go. At this point I'm pretty frustrated. Maybe the shift forks just need to be in the bottom position. I tried to lower 5th gear and couldn't get it in gear. The synchro was stuck on the sleeve. I pulled it apart and inspected it, looks like 5th gear is a little beaten, looks like someone grinded the crap out of it. I looked to see if I have a spare but the one I had was good as far the teeth for the sleeve but its missing some teeth since it was from the grenaded trans.
