Wow, I would love to charge that much for work.

 

Seriously. I could shop around, but I’m tempted to try straightening the door myself. Worst that could happen is I screw it up and I need a new door anyway


The car has full interior again. Spent tonight cleaning up all the pieces and putting em back in. What a pain! The plastic parts are more scratched up than I remembered, but it still looks pretty good all cleaned up, which it’s never been.

Here are some pics of the progress.


Side pieces in


Cargo bins

 

How are you liking the 2MS and ACR flywheel?

 

It's been great. I've got easily 4-5K miles on it now, still holds power fine in 4th gear, and the engagement has gotten much smoother on starts than it was. Took about 1000 miles to fully break it in because I drive mostly highway.

 

Finally installed my new clutch cable tonight, and holy ****! I had no idea how bad my cable was. I thought the high pedal force was because of the clutch, but nope. It was my cable. The force is 1/2, maybe even 1/3 of what it was before, and its buttery smooth. No more waiting for the jerky clutch to catch and spin the tires every time.

Otherwise, still driving the car anytime it’s nice out. Running great, just still shakes at part throttle in 2nd and 3rd at low rpm. Planning to order raxles soon, but been trying to avoid spending any money for a little bit.

 

You ended up going with the Exedy cable? Good to know. Just curious if the piece where it comes out of the firewall on the engine side is metal or plastic? Way back in 2006 I bought an AutoZone one and it had plastic all over it and I wasn't happy. Luckily the dealership still had clutch cables back then so I returned the one I got from AZ and bought OEM. I'm still using that OEM cable in my EF that I put in 13 years ago (180k miles!). Going from a bad cable to a nice new one is night and day.

I feel you on trying not to spend $. I'm hoping to stop spending $ after my dyno session and buying any necessary parts to fix my sunroof (on my EG). Drive it and enjoy it!

 

Yeah it was supposedly Exedy (OEM) cable but I had to buy it off ebay. Was $70 well spent. It appears high quality, is metal through the firewall and at each end. The only plastic part is the adjustment **** thingy. Think that's pretty normal. Definitely night and day, it's taking some getting used to lol.

Yeah both my kids are finally out of daycare, trying to pay down credit cards and some things while I can (before our new kid is born in September). But still hoping to get some decent axles this year and a few other minor upgrades. Just not gonna go crazy with it like I have in the past. But everything is functional and it is very enjoyable to drive now so that's good.

 

I was telling you man, it makes all the difference

 

I finally have found a clean driver's side door and it is on it's way to me from SC via Greyhound. Only issue is the door is red, but the car needs paint anyway and getting one body panel to match with 30 year old paint is almost impossible.

I am probably getting the car painted over this next winter, if not vinyl wrapped. Still talking to some people and weighing the options. Any opinions on color? Keeping original white would be the safest bet, but I had some thoughts on dark grey metallic, gunmetal or even black. I'll be matching the exterior trim moldings to the body color as well.

 

I'm personally all for sticking with the original color. If you're changing it any, my vote would be Championship White, but again, that's my favorite color for a Honda. If you stick with a shade of white, you may be able to get away with not painting the bay/jambs/interior without it being too obvious. Once I get my car running like I want, I'm weighing having the exterior re-sprayed the original color. There is no clear left on the roof. But, I know body work/paint is a slippery slope, and I don't want to start feeling like it has to look too good, or I'll be out a few grand and worried about it getting scratched. I want my car to look good but be utilitarian. I'm fine with it being a "10 footer".

 

Yeah I hear ya. While I typically don't prefer white, I think I might feel guilty changing it from the original color The guy I am hoping to get to paint my car is very meticulous, I am sure he would do the jambs but I am not pulling the engine to do the bay right now. When/if I ever do pull the engine out, I'll refinish the bay either close to the exterior color or just flat black.

I'll be getting a good deal on the paint and body work, so just thinking why not go with a sweet metallic paint as long as it's getting done. I've still got some time to decide

Right now I am liking the idea of something similar to pewter grey metallic or blade silver.

 

As long as you paint all the jams I don't see why not paint it a new color Cars just look so trashy if you don't jam them.

I would recommend pulling the rear side glass, you can still get moldings for 35$ on ebay, and if yours are anything like mine they are trashed. I used SEM on all the moldings, so far the door moldings dont seem to really like the paint. Its still kinda wet/sticky feeling. I think if you're doing a custom color the best looking style I have seen is when people paint the upper trim, but leave the bottom trim black.

 

Yup

 

I've got coolant issues

First my IACV starting leaking again, where the little plate with the coolant ports attaches to the valve. I took that off and cleaned and resealed it again and it seems to have solved it for now, but I think I am just going to bypass the coolant lines from it and set all my idle values to 1000 so it holds steady (hopefully).

Then I noticed a puddle of coolant forming under the car while idling in my work parking lot today. Looked over the engine bay and couldn't see it dripping anywhere. It was right below the firewall on the passenger side. Then I pulled back the carpet and sure enough, my heater core is leaking It could be my fault for running it with no valve to control the flow. Not sure if the valve doubles as a restrictor and I was running too much coolant through it. But either way, now my only choice is to bypass it yet again.

Edit: was just looking it over and figuring how I can loop the heater lines before I leave work, and I found yet another leak. Except this one is fuel, dripping from the feed line going into my rail

One step forward and three steps back!

 

That's a bummer. I replaced the heater core in my EF a few years back...you have to take soooo much stuff out to get to it. It looks crazy when you have it all torn apart, but it really wasn't THAT bad I guess. Yeah, short term, just loop the line, but with you being up in MN, I imagine you're going to want heat at some point.

 

Yeah, this is why I hooked it up to begin with. I like to drive as much of the year as possible, as long as the roads are clear and it's above freezing in the morning. But I don't think I'll be wanting to tackle replacing the heater core any time soon

I was able to loop the line in the parking lot at work. Lost a lot of coolant, just filled it back up with distilled water and burped the system. Also I tightened down the end fittings on that fuel line and it doesn't seem to be leaking any more. Done and done

Now where was I.... oh yeah picking out paint colors :lol:

 

I was able to make it home yesterday, but the fuel line was wet again after driving, so I think its toast. Ordered the evil energy -6 fuel line kit in black, which I am kinda glad since I really wanted to replace all the ugly red and blue fittings in the engine bay anyway While I'm at it I can run a new line from the filter back to the tank, since they just have plain PTFE line (non-braided) running under the car, and the end fittings are attached to it with hose barbs and worm gear clamps. Not the greatest.

For now I removed the line and just ran my feed from the fuel pump straight to the rail. It will get me by a couple of days until I get the new line made, I have a newish strainer in the tank anyway.

Also yesterday I started noticing a good amount of oil smoke from the exhaust at idle so either my turbo seals are starting to go already, or the engine is getting worn out, possibly valve stem seals. I wouldn't be too surprised, since it has about 13,000 miles of hard driving since it was built.

 

That sucks, having that tap in wouldn't make a difference though, they just corrode over time. It's odd that it's leaking to the outside of the car though. Is it leaking into the interior, then draining out through a bung that you've removed?

 

Now that you mention it, I'm still not 100% sure how the coolant was getting to the outside. It may have been leaking right where the fittings go through the firewall though, allowing some to run in and some to run out. But now that I looped the line again it is no longer leaking anywhere

Pulling back the carpet I do not see any holes through the floor or rust or anything. Or haven't found it yet

 

Was doing some reading online about how people have used tire foam to clean their exterior black plastic bits. Figured I'd give it a go, pretty happy with the results. They looked so awful and faded before, now a nice and crisp black. Wish I had done this years ago.

 

"Back to black" can do wonders with worn looking trim.

Sucks to hear about all the issues you are having! Hopefully its not the engine, but if it is then you at least have an excuse to paint the bay with the car Your Garret turbo should last a hell of a lot longer then a year or two.

The CRX you posted above is the exact one I was thinking of so well done

 

Got the new fuel line from filter to rail made last night. Was my first time making a pressurized fuel line, and also first time working with the braided PTFE line which was a little different than what I've used before. Was pretty easy and turned out good, no leaks yet

And I have a fuel filter again yeeee

 

Got my DSS 2.9 axles installed today. I’m a little concerned with the length difference between these and the 90-93 Integra axles I’ve been running.

Its possible the Integra axles were too short and that’s part of the issue with them. But these things are at least a full inch longer when fully compressed. Does this seem right?

Also when installed the axle does not compress at all if I try to push it into the wheel hub. I emailed DSS about it but I’m sure they won’t respond until Monday at best. A little nervous to drive it, don’t want to damage anything if these axles are binding up.

 

I must not have had the DSS axles fully compressed. Once installed with the car on the ground, they were still able to compress into the wheel hub a little bit.

I drove with them today and finally, after 3 years of battling my vibration issues, my car vibrates no more!!! It is amazing to feel smooth power delivery at any speed and throttle position, I've gotten so used to the violent shaking. It also rolls more smoothly at all speeds even when off the throttle.

This is one of the biggest successes I've had since buying the car such a relief to finally have it figured out. Many times I just wanted to sell the car because of this. And with a new baby on the way, I wouldn't have much time to work on it for the next year or so.

 

Congrats on the fix, and congrats on the baby! I hope to get some DSS 2.9's for my car eventually....I've already got the kid.