dylspil

boring stuff this time - refreshed all the floorpan and back seat area drain plugs with new seam sealer, and fitted some sheet metal blanking plates to various holes on the firewall that won't be used anymore. i would have rathered buy the oem blank grommet things but nothing like that comes cheap over here, and these will be easily removable if that's ever needed. also used the same method of covering/sealing holes to block a few holes that go into the frame rails, as i plan to run no carpet in the future and i know if i didnt do this now then i'll probably end up dropping stuff in there




did a final sand of the engine bay working up to 400 grit sandpaper before blowing away all the dust and wiping it all down, then applied fresh seam sealer over the factory joins and overlaps, and the blanking plates mentioned above. looking smoother and less noticeable than oem




waited overnight for the sealer to cure...

tim_adams85

Wow, this is looking really great. I did some similar work to my interior and engine bay this winter (pulled up sound deadening, shaved little unneeded spots here and there), but not nearly to the extent that you're doing it. Keep it up!

dylspil

thanks buddy, appreciate it!

dylspil

painted a few bits and pieces that will be going back in eventually




final wipe down of the engine bay, then sprayed the high-fill primer (ratio 3 primer:1 thinner). came out looking alright, however sprayed dry in some hard to reach places as the spray was flashing off by the time it hit the surface. after a couple coats of this all the ugly mismatched/sanded paint finish was gone and this was the result




here's the area where i repaired the hood hinge/windscreen cowl with the body parts test fitted back over the top. looking a lot better, should be just fine after priming and fitting/sealing the hood hinge back on.



almost caught all the way up to the car's current state now

dylspil

waited until the following day to sand back the high-fill primer. under the right light you could really see the scuff marks underneath so that had to be fixed up. made my way up to 400 grit sandpaper after a couple hours and all high spots were taken care of.
then used the compressor to blow all the dust out of the engine bay and the garage. gave it all a good wipe down and then mixed the primer-sealer (1:1.5 primer:thinner). laid it down in a few nice wet coats of increasing coverage - the thinner mix helped get to the hard to reach areas without flashing off before hitting the surface, ended up with a nice glossy finish that shouldn't require much more preparation before laying down the colour coat and clear

Smokinsax

looks great...the hard work is paying off.

dylspil

thanks! the results are worth the effort

dylspil

not much progress here as i'm back studying at uni.
engine is basically done except intake manifold and throttle body side of things. did the timing belt and button up all the covers a few weeks ago. currently the valve cover is just sitting on top to look pretty, as i will be test fitting the engine probably a few times and wouldnt want to ruin the finish if i painted it before then. still yet to put the distributor and vtec solenoid on, and i need to remember to check and adjust valve/rocker assembly clearances too





now a few small issues i've come across with some aftermarket parts as always.
firstly the LHS innovative engine mount. i didnt really have any other choice but to buy this one, as no other companies make aftermarket replacements for oem ef8 engine mounts but these guys. first pic shows the new mount partially installed, but unable to be tightened down any further because of the bolt on the right fouling on the mount itself, and the nut on the left is tightened down as far as the stud threads will let it. second pic shows it compared to the stock mount where you can see the right hand side bolt mates to the mount surface much higher up so clearance isnt an issue, and the left hand side bolt hole is through a much thicker plate which covers the unthreaded part of the stud. these are easy fixes but still annoying to have to do for the price i paid for these



and secondly the oil sandwich plate. the plate itself seems ok, but the adapter sleeve/threaded thing is too deep so will not allow the plate to be tightened down to the oem oil cooler. this would probably be fixed if i deleted the oil cooler but i'm going to try trimming the adapter part to try and retain the cooler.




i also went and bought a bunch of new parts that i've been wanting for a while because the USD/AUD exchange rate is better than it's been in the last year so now is a good time to buy - should be receiving all these in the next few weeks

ESP.net

Not true check out our website we offer EF8/9 SIR OEM replication polyurethane motor mounts. We also carry EF8/9 SIR Traction Bar System with Front Torque Mount Kit cable B
ESP

Explicit Speed Performance
Email: ExplicitSpeed360@aol.com

dylspil

thanks, i will keep this in mind if i decide to replace the innovative mounts.
just noticed from looking at the pics on your page it seems that the LHS engine mount seems to be of the same construction as the innovative mount - the mounting face is a flat plate of uniform thickness. i can see the mounting hardware for the front hole is included and seen inserted in your pic below, but the problem would be that the oem stud through the rear mount hole in my picture above would still require a ~10mm spacer to clear the unthreaded section of the oem stud. have any of your customers had issues with this previously?

dylspil

been a while since any major progress has been made because i've gone back to studying but i've picked up a few new bits and pieces.

bosch ev14 750cc injectors


2.5" intercooler


radiator


innovative traction bar


innovate air/fuel and dual function oil temp/pressure gauges (including sensors to fit oil sandwich plate

Bently_Coop

Looks like some good updates. Any more shots of the Radiator installed? Is that the EF specific version?

dylspil

thanks mate.
sorry couldnt help myself so i just sat the radiator there for a picture quickly haha, it hasnt been properly mocked up for installation yet. it is the EF specific version (skunk2 part number 349-05-1550) and it looks like it will allow use of the top oem mounting bracket that bolts to the headlight housing area, but i think it will probably require custom mount bracket/s for the bottom of the radiator

dylspil

onto the brake upgrade....

so the ef8 crx is supposed to have 262mm front brakes right, but a few years ago before i had the tools or ability to perform all work on the car myself i had a big rhs front wheel bearing issue. took it in to a local honda specialist mechanic who found that the wheel bearing failed so badly that it was eating away at the inside of the wheel hub, and that the whole hub setup would need to be replaced. i left it to the mechanics to source the new hub which took about a week for them to track down a matching lhs and rhs set from a wrecker in another state (the mechanic said they would just do both side wheel bearings at the same time and put both new hubs on for me). so a little problem had turned out to be pretty expensive but it was fixed and i was happy, and i kept my original working condition lhs hub setup as a spare.

a little while later as i was starting to get into doing my own mods and maintenance i realised that the new hubs and brakes that had been put on by the mechanic were only a 242mm setup, and that the mechanic must have just found any old crx parts and put them in thinking it was the same. to be honest i hadnt really noticed any performance difference in street driving but still, that sucks

so now a few years down the track and wanting a brake upgrade for the turbo setup i thought i should sort it all out. managed to find a da9 integra at a wrecker and picked up both front wheel hub setups, and a bb prelude to get bigger calipers from. all looked good other than the axles still being attached to the hubs, and i couldnt remove them on the spot since the car was off the ground and i only had hand tools available to use out in the wrecking yard. paid for all the parts and got told i could get a refund for the axles if i returned them so that was the plan since i wont need them.

brought the parts home and got the impact wrench out, first axle nut came right off, barely put the impact on it for a second. second axle nut would not move at all. soaked it in wd40, smashed it around with a hammer, applied heat to it, hammer again, tried the impact wrench again and still no movement at all. tried to wedge it flat and use a breaker bar on the nut with some leverage but still nothing. hammered it again just out of spite. left it sitting on the garage floor like this for a month or so.


came back to it and decided to try and cut the nut off or at least cut enough out of it to break it free from the hub face or the axle threads, whatever it was seized to. got the dremel with a small carbide grinding tool onto it and dug into the nut. to avoid ruining the threaded end of the axle i tried to use a hammer and chisel to break through the remaining thin section of the nut but still no luck. i had to grind through each side of the nut all the way down to the axle threads and still it wouldnt move. got the impact wrench out again and maxed out the compressor above the rating of the impact wrench... still no movement. gave it a bit more hammering, chiseling and grinding before trying one last time with the impact wrench which finally got it to come loose (still took 10 seconds of hard work from the impact to get it to come undone). here's how the nut and axle thread ended up - seems like a section of the thread had seized that badly to the nut that it had to break apart before coming loose. now i just have to see if i can return the axles without the wrecker realising one of the threads is ruined haha.


anyway here's how they sit at the moment waiting for 280mm rotors and new pads to arrive. i'll be doing new wheel bearings and balljoints too before it all goes back together

dylspil

probably not very interesting to anyone else on here but i thought i'd design and get some flanges made up for when i attempt to make myself a custom turbo manifold at some point in the future. from looking around on ebay it doesnt seem like i'd be able to buy a b-series exhaust manifold flange for less than $50, and i've got a whole bunch of parts getting made at the workshop at my university soon so hopefully i can slip these in with the rest and get some free flanges out of it.

sakasaku

Hell yeah man looks Great!

dylspil

thanks mate, coming along slowly. hoping to get some colour coat down on the engine bay in the next month or two

dylspil

quick progress update - just finished my mid-year exams so i'll be putting a lot of time into working on this over the next month or so before uni goes back.

got a few more parts on the way, but these just got delivered a few days ago. amphenol mil-c spec connectors to pass through the firewall for the majority of the engine harness wiring. got the cup-solder type contacts so i wouldnt have to buy a crimper for like $300.



over the break im planning on getting the engine bay painted in colour and clear, brush on sound deadening/fender liner, front crossmember, steering rack, suspension, and traction bar all cleaned up and installed, and some wiring work done. if i can get all of that done fast enough then i'd like to drop the engine in for a test fit and to help mock up the routing of the harness

Josip.

Your progress is so good! Crazy build.
Can't wait for more!

dylspil

thanks mate

dylspil

been spending way too much time cleaning up parts over the last few days, prepping all front suspension bits and a few other things for fresh paint. painted black yesterday, added to the growing pile of things ready to be put back on the car



started looking at mounting the amphenol firewall connector today, cutting a hole and drilling mounting holes for that until i broke my 2 smallest drill bits. have to go get some more tomorrow before i can finish that up. once that's done i'll prime the bare metal around the holes, then do a complete sand/scuff of the primer sealer on the engine bay.

maybe someone can help - is it recommended to paint the engine bay and then just bolt the hood hinges on top? because i was thinking about installing the hinges before paint, sealing them down along the edges and then painting them along with the rest of the engine bay as it looks more OEM. as long as they have been properly aligned would there be any issues with this?

austenjanzen

Can do it that way as well, but if it was me personally I would take them off and paint them seperately, you can always realign them later


All comes down to personal preference if you ask me

TheCheeseWedge

iTrader: (1)

Very cool build! That's awesome Explicit Speed/Innovative came through with a traction bar and mounts!
I had to make my own BITD. Are you upgrading to the Integra BB/MC? it was a tight fit on the RHD but does work.

dylspil

thanks a lot guys

i thought about getting a 1 inch MC for the bigger brakes but the ef8 already has a 15/16" MC so i'll see how it feels when it's all together. couldn't be bothered getting underneath the dash to pull that stuff out of the car at the wrecking yard when i picked up the brake parts

dylspil

few things were delivered in the last couple days

3 bar map sensor


brake rotors


tie rods and ball joints


steering rack boots and some new generic heater hose to be used for the oem oil cooler lines


picked up some new drill bits today, also had a look for some mounting screws for the amphenol plug but i havent been able to find any bolts or screws small enough (bought some 1/8" bolts which are a bit too large, i'd need 1/16" to pass through). i think at this stage once i've organised all the interior wiring i'll just rivet the connector through the firewall