He is excited. 89k miles, repainted, has aftermarket headlights and one of the bulbs is dimmer and one angel eye is out (I couldn't find them online but they look like the E39 BMW's headlights a bit), ivory interior we are working on. Aftermarket wheels that are decent.

F22B2 with automatic.

Power locks don't work and the center roof light either. Going to check fuses first. Any ideas if the fuses are good.

Has a nice Kenwood stereo and pioneer speakers.

Slight oil leak under the distributor. Need to figure that out. It needed an A/C compressor which he had replaced.

I just found the dealer installed leather kit on ebay for $400 new in box. It's going to be black now like he wants. The door panels up front were already black, not sure on the rear yet. I need to find the rear package tray/or spray it. Just want it to look nice.

Going to probably help him with LEDs inside and replace some trim.

 

Wow, a '95 with 89k miles, great find! Good luck with it.

Three years ago I bought a '99 EX that now has 177k on it. Like your son's, I do believe mine was repainted. There's no clear coat peeling at all which seems to be common on Hondas that are 20+ years old.

 

The leak at the distributor is most likely the distributor itself, there is an o-ring that leaks there. Open the cap and you should see the leak coming from inside. Pretty simply replacement.

Nice to see one of these with such low miles, should keep him moving for years.

Did the same with my oldest, 1999 Accord for her. Power locks were the same, just had to replace 3 of the 4 and it was good to go.

 

Yesterday the locks all worked once or twice he said. I am thinking something is wiring or switch related. He has been driving the heck out of it so once he gets to a stopping point we can sit and troubleshoot.

 

The locks could also just be "sorta" working. I would replace one and see if that is the issue or if it's something else. Like I said, when I got mine, 3 locks didn't work. In all three cases, the locks were dead. Again similar behavior, they would click and once in a while work, but I wasn't going to keep trying to take them out and work again, the front ones are annoying to do as you have to do it mostly blind or with a camera to see what's in there.

 

Looks like you got a great deal. Re the dizzy leak, I've dealt with that a few times over the years. There are two distributor seals which can leak, but sometimes it can also be the valve cover gasket around the distributor area. Worth doing those and changing the PCV valve (the purolator one is fine from my experience) at the same time.

Overall it is a very good car and will last practically forever, particularly if it is a manual transmission. Just try to get your son to resist the urge to mod it to the heavens. Having done a lot of mods to mine, honestly, if I had to do it over the only things I would spend the money on are brake upgrades (rear disc swap, better rotors, better pads, stainless lines) and polyurethane suspension bushings. The amount of money I spent on intake, header, exhaust, cam, etc really wasn't worth it given my budget.

 

It came modified by it's last short term owner. It's an Automatic. CAI, Cat-delete, cat back exhaust with GREDDY muffler, 15" wheels, some aftermarket headlights, partial Ivory to Black interior swap (door panels, headliner, carpet. I have the dealer installed leather kit for him). If I can find a cheap header I will probably do that to finish up the exhaust mods.

I have NGK plugs, the dist rotor, cap and seals, NGK wires coming. Planning on fluid flushes as well.

When up for it I plan on helping him with a lowering kit and some KYB Gr-2 or the like, larger disc brake and rear disc conversion, and whatever that needs to be serviced figure out if an upgrade makes sense like bushings and such.


I am trying to find the black interior parts but that is proving hard and sometimes expensive. I may look into refinishing everything.

 

Re a cheap header, I actually found the best value for headers was the old DNX (dynomax) 4-2-1 for that model. The DNX is one of the few that had a 2.5" collector vs the usual 2" (such as the well known DC Sports etc). I paid maybe $110 for the DNX header, and it's been on the car for 10 years without a problem. At the time I sprayed it with the DEI exhaust spray before putting it on. Has helped to prevent rust etc.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-38004

Not sure if they still even make them to be honest.

Re the auto, if ever changing the trans fluid use the genuine Honda DW, Hondas generally don't like aftermarket transmission (or power steering) fluid.

Re brakes, I never felt the need to upsize the brake rotors since the car has plenty stopping power for my non-track purposes. Good pads like the stop-tech street pad makes a huge difference though, and the stop tech (or any other reputable brand) stainless brake lines make a difference too. Re rear swap I got the parts for mine cheap (about $160 total) so I went ahead and did it.

Finally re spark plugs, if you going in there or pulling the valve cover you will want to change the spark plug tube seals/O rings.

Re lowering, where I live the roads are not really smooth enough to lower the accord any more, but a cheap easy away to lower is always to lower sidewall profile. It sharpens up the handling. I went from 205/60/15 to 205/55/15, but you can maybe look into a 50 profile if you want to lower it for cheap. I'm currently using these in 55. Great in the wet, ok in the dry


https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=Ecsta+PS31&part num=05VR5PS31V2&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=y es

 

He has new but generic tires. Once they are toast I will upgrade him to probably something from Cooper's RS3 line up. I had them on my commuters and they are great. I run the Michelin SS usually but now upgraded to PS4s (255/30R20 and 285/25R20)...it's a Cadillac CTS VSport not a Honda

S. Florida has smooth roads fortunately.

That DNX header I found spoke about but cannot find it. $100 is much better than the $400 options out there. I found a $55 one online that looks similar but I expect it to be crap. The rest of his exhaust is done. I want to tackle under the hood and spray his valve cover, clean the bay up and get some new hoses, lines and wires. Even with only 89k it's 26 years old.

 

Building or adding to the above post:

1 - Stoptech brake pads also - work great.
2 - Personally, I've found the biggest improvements with the this era car was to do the upper and lower control arms, along with tie rod ends, endlinks, and control bushings. Yes, it's a lot of work, and you can try to throw in upgrades, but straightforward (and less expensive) stock parts make the car handle like new again. Only then would I attempt lowering it, or do that as part of the lowering process. Otherwise I think you are going to discover all kinds of alignment and driving issues like a shaking steering wheel if you don't.
3 - For transmission fluid I use MaxLife on these transmissions and it's been great. Otherwise OEM. Maxlife is cheapest in WallyMart I believe
4 - For tires for your son, I would suggest Michelins, they are great in wet and dry, I would suggest this is one area to never skimp, there is only a few inches of rubber between a car and the road, everything depends on that rubber.
5 - As mentioned above, replace the valve cover and spark plug holes with new gaskets.

 

Love the stoptech pads on a street car. Getting ready to go CTS-V3 Brakes on my VSport and along with all the calipers I picked up the Z26 pads.

I am ready to tackle the undercarriage. That is more straight forward.

The Cooper RS3s and RS3-G1 were very good in the rain. Being in S. Florida that is a big deal. My Michelin SS were over 2x price at times. This is my first go at PS4s, but they are incredible.

On spot check the valve cover was dry inside the plug holes. That said I am planning on pulling it (probably have to buy a used one since the kid is driving all the time now) and repainting it or maybe getting it powder coated (I have some people that have done a ton of powder coating on my cars through the years).

I am still waiting for all the maintenance records. The car was only owned by two people, with the first 75% of it's life. At near the end of 2018 it only had 63k of it's 89k miles on it. By the end of 2020 only 81k of them.

 

Sounds like you definitely know your way around a spanner or two, so not too worried about you handling the work yourself.

Re the tyres, I recommended the Kumho since they are a decent mid-priced value option, figured since this car is a bit of a value build it will be in keeping. Can't go wrong with Cooper either way, or anything from Continental as well. I lived in Tampa for a few years so I know how those sudden deluges can be, that's why I had the Continental DWS on my Volvo specifically cause it was great in standing water (as is those Kumhos I linked earlier).

If you decide to redo all the suspension bushings, I've used both the Prothane and Energy Suspension bushings but I preferred the fitment of Prothane, plus the Prothane kit comes with all the rear bushings as well as the fronts. You'd find that polyurethane control arm.and away bar bushings make a huge difference to handling and (for me anyway) tends to keep alignment better.

If doing to rear disc swap, it'll involve some undercarriage work to get the parking brake/E brake/handbrake cables into the cab. I had to drop my exhaust piping and some of the exhaust heat shield to get to the cable entry point.
Re brake lines, it's more of a pedal feel thing, but I'll change them anyway considering it is 25+ year old rubber hoses your son's life could depend on.

Re the header, hoenstly a $50 header isn't always a bad option if you can do the work yourself. It is relatively easy to change (as well as the exhaust manifold gasket) so if you don't mind wrenching every few years it should be fine.

Might sound strange, but you may also want to install some sort of GPS tracker on the car. These things are still commonly stolen, and it is also good to see what your son if getting up to in terms of speed. In my younger stupider days I used to drive the accord up to 120mph plus , and when I think back it terrifies me to think how dangerous that was. With that said, check the clips that hold the wheel arch/fender liner to the body, mine failed at speed and nearly caused an accident (20 year old plastic strikes again). I trust screws more than I do plastic.

 

He is actually a very safe driver. I worry about theft though as I also heard people still steal them. I found a DC Sports header for him.

For the bushings is there a write up online? Will I need to torch things out and press them in or is it all serviceable with regular tools?

I have done quite a few projects in my day:
1966 Mustang GT
1997 GTI VR6
1996 Saturn SC2 Classic
1998 240SX SE

 

Bushings should all press out with little issue. Just pressed some in the other day for the front, with the right press it took 5 min.

Cheapest tracker is going to be something like this:

15 bucks a month

 

Lovely list of builds there! Especially that 66 'stang.

Re the suspension bushings, most of them you can get by with a press to get the bushings in or out, but it really depends on the condition of your stock bushings. I would say get the suspension bushings checked first (or jack up and look yourself) and see what condition they and the ball joints are in. For some of my c-arm bushings my mechanic had to burn them out, but he was very oldskool, so this was probably the easiest way for him. He used his shop press to get the new bushings in there though. I have no regrets about going Polyurethane over Rubber, as it lasts longer and feels better (for me).

For the ball joints, some of the Moog joints are rebranded 555 Sankei (Japanese) ball joints, and these are the ones you want! They are excellent and last ages, but I can't say if all are, or some are etc.

Re the DC header, prepare to join the army of persons with scraped underside of the header if you drop the car and ever have to cross speedbumps etc lol.

Out of curiousity, you looked into tuning the vehicle/does the vehicle include some sort of piggyback or ECU to bring out the best of the intake, header and exhaust? Not saying you need to, just wondering.

 

Probably going to look into tunes for him once all the maintenance and car is sorted out. I am doing a major tune on my twin turbo Cadillac CTS now (HP Tuners MPVI2) should be in low 11's to high 10's. What are the best methods for the F22B2 engine?

Is there a better header or is that the way it is? I am thinking of getting him something like the H&R's on AGX struts later on or the Tein Advance Z. Both are going to need me to buy the strut tops/mounts which they are probably due. I think those are like 1.5-2" drops.

 

That's interesting, I'm doing a tune on one of my cars wtih HP Tuners and slowly programming a neighbors LS1 transplant into a truck for an upcoming race using Holley's Terminator Max instead of the OEM ECU.

I would presume you would use something like KTuner to tune the car. However, and hopefully you will respect the opinion, there is little to nothing to be gained on this engine NA. Adding exhaust, headers, etc will produce nothing for you but noise, not horsepower. This is not an engine being held back, it's already about as efficient as you will get. Unless you are going to add a turbo you won't see any Return on Investment. Also, again, unlike your Caddy, the car will not handle any serious upgrade, the tranny will break with any substantial gain. I just want you to be aware this engine and platform is simply not one for "hotrodding" in terms of horsepower. Not that you can't drop $10K into reinforcing items, upgrading and rebuilding tranny, forged pisstons, etc. but it's not like American Muscle cars where we can put an intake/exhaust and see 25 horses gained. You might see 1 horse gain with this platform. And its also not like a turbo car where you can up the boost or swap turbos, or anything like that.

Lower it, increase the handling a bit, make it look nice, but other than adding a small turbo and maybe 50 horses (which is all I would safely suggest) I wouldn't bother with expecting much in the way of horsepower gains.

Again, just an opinion, much like you I have other cars with a lot more power and mods on popular platforms, this isn't one of them. You'd have much more luck and support with a Civic than an Accord any day.

With that said, sounds like your son is going to like whatever you do, and it will become a very personalized vehicle for him.

 

I get it. I don't expect huge gains at all, he just thinks it's all cool. Handling will be next after the interior and engine maintenance is sorted out. Still waiting on the previous shops to send the records over.

As far as tuning the F22B2, I am out of my element. I will look into KTuner and if he decides to fund a turbo setup I can help.

 

Cool, Like I said, I didn't want to offend. Sometimes new people come on and want to argue about horsepower and things, and that's not what I am trying to do at all. I simply don't want people to waste money in that direction, but I totally get "it's cool" to have headers and such.

My daughters drives a 99 Civic. She thought it was about as uncool as could be. I asked her what could she want to make it cool. She said the reason the car was junk was it didn't have bluetooth and so she couldn't play her spotify. I asked if that was it. It was. Ordered from Crutchfield a new Kenwood with apple play, spotify, pandora, Alexa, and hands free. Installed that one afternoon, and now my daughter thinks she is driving a Tesla and this is now the coolest car in the world.

As a "car guy" all I can do is shake my head, but I get it, this is what is important in her world, not mine. In this case, waaaaaaay cheaper for me than almost any other mod! She now shows her friends her "cool" car....which they all agree with her and wish they had it in their cars . I did not think I could create such jealousy with $100 stereo and a 22 year old Civic

 

HAHAH I totally get it. He has some stickers now on the windshield and mirror hangers, it's his car and his experience. I can only encourage him to learn more. He likes his Kenwood, but he has an Android model so no 'iphone integration'. It plays over BT though.

 

Tuning has been shown to improve performance on these engines, the question of course is if it improves it enough to justify the expense. Tuning with the auto presents its own set of challenges, but the easiest way it used to be done was by using a "piggyback" system such as a aPEXI SAFC II to "trick" the ecu into giving the right amount of fuel for the amount of airflow you actually have. I actually had a VAFC II (same as SAFC but with a vtec function included) that I got on craigslist and planned to put on the car, but never got around to it. Eventually decided a manual swap and a chipped p28/p08 ECU would have been the better bet for me.

Hondata S300 was one of the most popular ways to tune about a decade ago, and KTuner has a great rep also.

My take is this, if you can get it tuned for a reasonable price, why not, but there are plenty other areas worth spending the money on first.

 

agreed, there is a lot of stuff that would be more beneficial for the money like suspension, better brake pads at the minimum, finishing up his black interior conversion.

 

Many years ago, when I raced a car on SCCA tracks, I learned that a proper set of tires would do more to reduce lap times than adding a lot of engine mods. And make the car more reliable as well.

 

Same with driving lessons. My son just wants to have fun. It may not be so much faster, but it sounds it.

I never scrimp on tires. One of the upgrades I want to do is his, but they are new (Aspen Touring 205/60R15s).