Alright guys I will be the first to admit when it comes to Honda I know absolutely nothing. I am a VW guy. I am here because my sister-in-law just purchased an 88 Accord LXi coupe, and odds are I will be the one doing some of the smaller repairs to it. I am also hoping to convince her to do some mild mods to it, after all why own a car without them.

I am not suggesting anything like the whole Fast and Furious crazy graphics and all that jazz. Just some bolt on engine mods (exhaust, intake, chip?) and of course some suspension tuning to match. My questions for you all is this...

1) Any obvious trouble points I should look for on this car? It's an 88 with 177K miles. So far seems to run strong, but I notice the clutch feels spongy, never driven a Honda before so this could be the norm.

2) What companies offer aftermarket tuning parts for this year Accord? Everything I have seen so far is for 90 and up.

3) Any specifics I should know about this vehicle? As I said before I know nothing about Honda currently. Engine specifics or anything like that would be great. All I know is it's a 2.0 pushing 122 stock HP and 122 stock lb/ft torque.

4) Any low cost DIY mods out there for these? I know with the VW there are quite a few little tricks to add small amounts of performance as well as styling touches.

I look forward to hearing your responses...

Ben

P.S.- I would also like to see some pictures of what is possible with this style Accord...

Thanks again


[Modified by azvento, 4:51 PM 2/23/2003]

 

welcome to honda tech. use the search feature.

 

LOL, that is funny for a couple different reasons.

 

Tried running a search for a 1988 Accord in both the current and archived threads and found nothing there, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

does the accord have sunroof? i had an 86 that leaked. id also check the axels as well. ohhh yea the famous winking headlights. on those models there is a clip that connects the motor to the arm of the flip up headlights, one day im sure she will go out to her car and it one headlight wont come up, if this should happen, go to your local honda dealership and tell them your situation. they will sell you a $2.50 part that fixes it. its some clip of some sort

other than that i dont know of anything else

 

glad you steped up in the world to a honda ... not that many people on this site have your generation accord if you really need help in it try this site http://www.3geez.com .. i am not a member of them and i am not trying to advertise for them so mods please give me a break..... but they can help you if we cant they are a dedicated site to your generation accord but anyways welcome to honda tech...

 

Luckily she has no sunroof in it. Thanks for the heads-up on the lights as well. As soon as I saw them I had a feeling they might cause me some problems...

 

Welcome to the Honda boat...

You shouldn't have to worry about all too many repairs.... 3rd gens last forever! lol Only thing to really worry about with the LX-i is the main relay (occasionally won't start in hot weather), and leaky fuel injectors (you'll see brown spots under them on the I.M.), and of course the leaky moonroofs on the sedans (coupes and hatches didn't get moonroofs). CV joints will probably need replacing around 200k, but that's a given for pretty much any FWD car. Just change the engine oil, tranny oil (10w-30 or Honda MTF -- I recommend the Honda stuff...it works great!), and keep the clutch cable adjusted to keep about 1 inch of freeplay in the pedal, and keep up with any other routine maintence and it will provide many many more miles of reliable service. Check out the miles on mine....all original and still running great!

 

There was one I should have asked...Probably would not have been good to change the oil and use 20W-50 like my VWs need. Also any recommendations on spark plugs? I know with my Corrado I had to use Bosch double plats to the tune of $12 per plug.

 

dont waste your money on bosch, get ngk or oem honda plugs

 

definitely won't put Bosch in the Accord...Was stating that the plugs I put in my Corrado were Bosch and cost me $12 each

 

yeah it was more of general advice.

 

Hey man...i use to be a VW guy...had Jetta GLI 16v...a west german build.

Some things particular to that honda accord vs. vw's...no real special tools needed, just be real careful if your working the engine bay not to lean on the radiator top. Unlike the vw's, there is really no place to lean & the top tank of the radiator is more exposed. They will leak if given a slight opportunity. The bonus though is no "phosphate-free" coolant needed though.

Another thing you should be careful of is the negative & positive cable assemblies off the battery. Honda's are alittle more flimsy than vw's and they like to snap very easily if you don't handle them gently.

Oh...the nice thing is that you can put away the allen wrench tools. There will be really no place (except maybe the intake assembly?) that you will need that 8mm rachet allen key tool. 95% of the Honda you can break down with a regular rachet set + a philips screwdriver.

Front brakes are just as easy as the vw's...two bolts...out. Wheel pattern is the same 4x100 on those cars as a 4-bolt VW so if you have a full-sized spare kicking it the garage, it will fit. Power steering fluid is honda-spec so use that stuff only....that's all i can think of!

Dude...I miss my Recaros....