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Valve cover looks awesome! Nice to see you still keeping up the CL, I definitely have a list of stuff I need to do to mine, but she still starts and runs like a clock every time
You should post up your progress once you get around to it. It'd be nice to see some more activity here in the 1G forums.
It's been a busy couple of months for me, but I finally got started on the transmission swap. A couple of weeks ago I jacked the car up and started removing the axles and intermediate shaft, and then began disconnecting the battery, starter, shift linkage, clutch line and various wires.
I had all my parts staged, but I'm finding more things to replace the further that I dig into it.
For one, the front motor mount was torn. I don't know if it was already like that, or if it happened when it twisted as I removed the bolt that connects it to the engine bracket. I'm finding so many nuts and bolts that are seized. It's really been a nightmare. In many cases when I can reach a bolt with my high torque 1/2" impact, the bolt won't budge. I end up having to use a 25" breaker with various combinations of socket extensions and universal joints.
The front motor mounts are no longer available from Honda, so I had to get an aftermarket version from Rock Auto.
I fought with the bolt that holds the radius arm to subframe for about an hour. It was so rusted that the impact couldn't get it to turn. I had to resort to the breaker bar again to get it started, then I switched to a regular 1/2" ratchet and proceeded to repeatedly tighten and then loosen the nut until it finally worked itself off. Even doing it by hand caused the nut and socket to become extremely hot once it was all done.
I eventually got the transmission out of the car on Sunday with only one minor mistake. I thought that I had everything disconnected from the transmission, but it turns out that I forgot to remove the VSS plug. When lowering the trans, it pulled the wires tight and they eventually popped out if the plug. I think they can be reinserted, but I'm going to make a trip to the junk yard this week to remove the VSS harness from one of the cars on their lot. Partly so that I can see in which order the wires are arranged, and also so that I have a spare harness in case mine in unsalvageable.
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I'm ordering all new bolts for the motor mount brackets and various suspension parts that were severely corroded. All of these replacement bolts are starting to get expensive, so I'm seriously considering the purchase of a DIY zinc plating kit from Caswell.
There is supposed to be a heatwave all this week with temperatures reaching upwards of 102° tomorrow. I might try removing the clutch and flywheel one evening if it's not too unbearable. Otherwise I'll start stripping some of the rusty old engine mount brackets this week so that I can paint or powder coat them before installing the new transmission.
So last week I attempted to remove the old pressure plate, clutch and flywheel. My collection of 12 point sockets is quite limited and only consists of a random assortment of chrome unbranded sockets that my dad had given to me years ago. I put the 10 mm socket onto my small 3/8" impact gun to remove the pressure plate and it immediately cracked the socket on the first bolt. I didn't realize what had happened, so I continued to try breaking the bolt free with a few more attempts until I finally noticed that the socket was spinning freely on the head of the bolt.
Luckily the socket sort of spread itself open so it didn't completely demolish the head of the fastener. I placed an order for a set of proper 12 point impact sockets and was still able to remove the bolt without much trouble. I've added new replacement bolts to my long list of hardware that I'm replacing.
The rear main seal wasn't leaking too terribly bad in comparison to the oil pan.
The oil pan is leaking from all sides, so I've started spraying the header nuts with penetrating fluid in preparation for this weekend. The plan is to replace the rear main seal followed by dropping the header and oil pan so that it can be cleaned and resealed. It looks like this motor doesn't require an oil pan gasket and is only sealed with Hondabond, so I picked up a fresh tube at the dealership today along with some transmission fluid.
The header and cross member were removed to drop the oil pan. Since there was some access to the block, I tried to clean off the oil and dirt build up that has collected over the years. There's still a little more cleaning to do around the exhaust ports, which I'll get to this week. I'm half tempted to remove the alternator and a/c compressor so that the brackets can be cleaned and powder coated. I might just do that at some point once the transmission is on.
The oil pan was removed so that it can be cleaned and resealed.
I pulled the right side cover plate which contains the rear main seal. I figured that while I was in here, I might as well clean and reseal the cover to catch it before it leaks like everything else.
Replacing the seal was a bit tricky, but I think that I replaced it properly with the correct clearance. I lost some grease when sliding it over the end of the crankshaft. I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing. The seal appears to be fully seated around the crank. Before installing the transmission, I think I might start the engine and let it idle for a while to see if it leaks.
In other news, more fresh new hardware has arrived. It's a random assortment of nuts and bolts for the motor mounts, plus some replacement hardware for the suspension and shift cables. There's a few other items that should be available for pick up at the dealership this week.
The new rear motor mount is in. Getting the old one out was a battle. I couldn't imagine trying to do it with the transmission in the car. From what I've read, most guys remove the top half of the intake manifold to gain access. It almost got to that point, but I managed to break the bolts loose with an interesting combination of socket extensions, a universal joint, a big breaker bar and an engine hoist to pull the engine forward. One of the bolts nearly rounded off in the process. The old motor mount wasn't in bad shape, but I'm glad that I decided to do this now.
New motor mount.
I've spent several hours sanding down various brackets that have rusted and then powder coated them. Here are some of the items from this past week. There are others from a different batch that aren't pictured.
The VSS connector has been repaired. I pulled one from a wrecked Accord at the junk yard and spliced it into the CL.
I also got my toolbox hutch over the July 4th weekend. This thing was heavy and cumbersome, but I managed to get it on there.
I think I'm ready to install the new clutch and transmission, so hopefully I can start on that this coming weekend. I'm sanding down the header to make it look a little nicer. I might try to take it to a local exhaust repair shop to see if they beat out the dents that I put in it from dragging it on the ground all those years ago.
I replaced the clutch and flywheel a couple of weeks ago and that all went together smoothly. A scrap piece of aluminum bar stock was used to lock the flywheel while the bolts were torqued.
I ran into a snag when I started to prep the transmission for the install. The pilot bearing that Rock Auto send me for this Exedy clutch kit was wrong. I didn't realize it until I had both the old bearing and new bearing side by side. It was a completely different style and had a smaller inner diameter.
It took about a week to receive the correct pilot bearing, so in the meantime I did a little more cleaning and removed the alternator and A/C compressor brackets for powder coating.
I'm nearly finished with sanding the header. There's just a few inches left around the O2 sensor that still needs to be done.
It looks like this weekend I'll get the transmission on. Fingers crossed there's no more setbacks.
So a couple of weeks ago I finally got the transmission into the car. It all went pretty smoothly except for having to reroute the soft clutch line a couple of times and re-bleed the system.
The transmission seems to shift alright from what I can tell. I can engage all 5 gears and reverse, but it feels very notchy. Once I put some fluid in the trans, I'll try it again and reevaluate.
I did find one bolt hole on the back of the trans which was stripped. It's one of the holes around the diff that bolts to the t-bracket/motor mount. Unfortunately, it was literally the last bolt that I was going to torque down when I noticed it. I contemplated attempting to repair the threads with a Heli-Coil kit that I purchased on Amazon, but the location seemed like it was too confined for the repair to be successful. Plus the steel t-bracket is in the way, which would make it a whole lot more difficult.
I chased what was left of the threads with a tap. Then I installed a new bolt with blue thread locker. I was able to torque the bolt down to 35 ft-lbs before it started to slip. I'm going to leave it as-is for now. If I have to remove the transmission again for some reason, I'll properly repair the threads with the insert kit.
The a/c compressor and alternator have been reinstalled with a new serpentine belt. The intermediate shaft is back in place along with the header. The crossmember was showing a lot of surface rust. Especially on the drivers side because of all of the brake fluid that spilled during the ABS repair last year. I sanded down most of the surface rust and picked up the last two cans of VHT epoxy black paint within a 50 mile radius. The crossmember actually turned out really good. It has a similar gloss level to that of the OEM paint.
This week I intend to clean up the radius arms by sanding and powder coating. I picked up an M12x1.25 mm die to chase the threads and hopefully remove all of the rust that's accumulated. The intake tube has been stripped and is prepped for powder coating. I also need to find a way to bore out the through-hole in the front torque mount. The hole in this aftermarket mount is slightly undersized, which won't allow the bolt to pass all the way through it. Hopefully I can get these few items done this week and clean up the starter motor before Saturday. Then it's just a matter of reinstalling the axles, adding fluids and taking it for it's first test drive.
I love how meticulous you are.
If you were able to chase, why not tap a size bigger? just slightly bigger or even SAE so you don't need to drill.
Originally Posted by rockstar143
or wrap the threads in teflon tape then try to get 35 again...
Those are all good points and I did consider just tapping to the next larger size. I think part of me was in a hurry to get the car back on the road, and I didn't think that I could repair it to my own satisfaction. There are 3 other M12 bolts all in close proximity to the one that stripped which hold the bracket to the transmission. I figured that having the 4th one under-torqued wouldn't be a major issue for a street car. It turns out that I'm going to have the opportunity to repair it correctly after all since the new rear main seal is leaking.
I started the car a few times when it was still on jack stands and allowed it heat up until the fans kicked on. I had to make some adjustments to the serpentine belt since it was squealing quite badly. All the while I'm checking under the car for leaks. Everything looked bone dry. I put fluid in the transmission, bolted the suspension back together and lowered the car to the ground for the first time since June 4th. While still sitting in the garage, I rowed through the gears a few times. Everything felt smooth and normal. I put it into first, let out the clutch and allowed it to inch forward. Then the same thing with reverse. The clutch and transmission all felt good, so I pulled it out into the gravel driveway and checked under the car again for leaks. It still looked good.
I took a quick trip around the neighborhood, never getting above 2nd gear, and then pulled into our main driveway to wait for my wife to grab the puppy so that we could make a 10 minute drive into town to pick up a few things at the store. I kept checking under the car while still idling in the driveway and there were no signs of leaks. We made our trip into town and the transmission shifted smoothly into all gears. The speedometer was working correctly, so it was a relief to see that there was no hidden damage to the wires. We got back home and I backed the car into the garage. I took one more quick look under the car and found a good 3" diameter puddle of oil directly below where the engine block mates to the transmission.
I jacked the car up and crawled under to get a better look. It's definitely the rear main seal. I pulled the inspection cover off of the transmission and found 2 big streaks of oil running down from where the flywheel bolts to the crank.
I guess the good news is that I can probably remove the transmission and replace the seal in a weekend, but I don't know if I can do a better job at making the seal seat correctly. I really took my time and made sure that it was evenly seated and had the proper clearance. I suppose this time around I'll purchase the appropriate seal driver from Honda for $100 and hope that this does the trick.
The garage is what sold me on this place. I have some plans for it, but there are a few issues with the house that need to be addressed before I can start on that.
I was able to find a little time over the Labor Day weekend to pull the transmission. So it appears to me that oil pan was leaking, not the rear main seal.
With as bad as the leak has been, I expected to see an oil trail coming from the seal, but it all looked dry to me. Below the lip of the oil pan is the only place where it looked wet.
After inspecting it a bit closer, I could see the gap where it looked like the oil was leaking from.
The backside of the flywheel also seemed to indicate that the oil was leaking from somewhere away from the seal since it was mostly dry at the center where it bolts to the crank. If the seal were leaking, I would have expected to see oil covering the entire surface of the flywheel.
When I was stripping the old Hondabond from the oil pan, that's when I noticed it definitely didn't seal in that one corner. When I applied the Hondabond, I used a hard plastic spatula to smear it around. You can still see the "brush" strokes left behind.
So it turns out that I didn't have to pull the transmission to make this repair, but at least with the transmission off, I can inspect that area more closely when the oil pan is reinstalled. It kinda sucks that I spent ~$150 on the seal driver kit from Honda and the new rear main seal. Hopefully the dealership will allow returns on these items.
Tonight I plan to install the Heli-Coil into that one hole that was stripped on the transmission so it's good to know that that problem will be taken care of. I had to buy a new brake caliper bracket since the threads were stripped. The bracket should be ready for pickup this week. I also have all new caliper bolts on their way from Honda.
Last night I noticed that the radiator is leaking. It wasn't like that when I put the car back together a few weeks ago. I suppose it's good to discover that now since it will be fairly easy to replace with header and crossmember removed.
Dude, I was replacing the slave on my TL and leaned on the radiator top hose neck a little and did the same shit.
Rockauto has the denso for cheap usually.
LOVE the discovery that the rear main is okay.
And "HOPE" they take it back? No. They will take it back it is unopened and can be put back into inventory.
I never let an establishment push me around, tell them you would like the number to corporate complaints if they deny the return.
They'll budge.
Did you follow the bolt pattern tightening sequence? Looks almost like you went outside in and it kinda propped the center up.
Also, isn't Hondabond for more permanent installs on certain things like the inner workings of the intake mani etc...wouldn't black rtv
have been good enough for this seal? Also, is there no rubber gasket that goes there normally? I'm speaking out of ignorance so take
it with a grain of salt.
I ended us just buying another CSF branded radiator from Rock Auto. They have an all aluminum version available for $200 which has a 60% thicker core. I'd like to have one of those or the Mishimoto variation, but I'm just trying to get this car drivable again before the Classic Honda's at the Dragon meetup the weekend of October 8th and 9th. The product info for the aluminum radiators state that it's a drop-in replacement, but in some of the reviews that I've read, guys have had to rig up adapters to fit the OEM fans. Or in some cases, they've had to use slim fans due the thicker core. I didn't want to risk losing any more time working through fitment issues.
I think you're right. The dealership will probably take back the seal driver if it's unopened. The 76 x 80 mm attachment was a "special order" item according to the emails that I've received, which has delayed the shipment of the parts by a few weeks. Maybe worst case, they'll charge a restocking fee.
As for the oil pan, I did tighten the bolts in the sequence outlined in the service manual. The only thing that I did differently was that I tightened the bolts in two steps instead of three. First pass at 5 ft/lbs and then again at 10 ft/lbs.
Apparently, Hondabond alone is the correct method to seal the oil pan on this particular engine. I've done some research on this and found that the older 92-96 H22 motors used steel oil pan with a full gasket in combination with Hondabond. The later gen H22's (97-01) used an aluminum oil pan with only a "half moon" rubber gasket that slides into a channel under the rear main seal. The H23 VTEC motor uses the same steel oil pan and oil pickup tube as the F23 motors. These motors don't have any gasket at all and are only sealed with Hondabond.
When I took the oil pan off the first time, there was a slight struggle to break the seal, but it came free rather easily. I suppose because the sealant was so old. When I took the pan off the second time, it was a hell of a fight. I ended up slipping a long paint scraper between the oil pan and block and then slipped it along the sealing surfaces by beating on it with a hammer. I left some light scars in the block where I initially was trying to pry on it with a small scraper tool.
This week I've been on the hunt for a 25T caliper bracket from the 3.0 CL, which has been a lot more trouble than I expected. Rock Auto doesn't have one currently available, so I went to Auto Zone who was able to get one shipped from a nearby store. The bracket arrived, but it's stamped 23T. I took it back and explained the problem. There was a lot of questions from the guys behind the counter and they seem skeptical that there's an issue with this caliper bracket. We agreed to order a bracket for a 2.2 CL, which should be a marked 23T so that we can compare it against the one that I've already received. The 2.2 CL and 3.0 CL have different part numbers in their system, so if this bracket is the same as the one that I've already received, this will prove that I initially received the wrong part. This doesn't exactly help me with repairing my brakes any quicker so today I'm making a trip to the local Pull-A-Part to hopefully grab a bracket from the only 3.0 CL that they have on the lot. If the brakes are already gone, I'll start looking for other cars that have the 25T bracket like the 94-97 V6 Accord, Accord wagon or the 4th gen Prelude VTEC (highly unlikely).
I ended us just buying another CSF branded radiator from Rock Auto. They have an all aluminum version available for $200 which has a 60% thicker core. I'd like to have one of those or the Mishimoto variation, but I'm just trying to get this car drivable again before the Classic Honda's at the Dragon meetup the weekend of October 8th and 9th. The product info for the aluminum radiators state that it's a drop-in replacement, but in some of the reviews that I've read, guys have had to rig up adapters to fit the OEM fans. Or in some cases, they've had to use slim fans due the thicker core. I didn't want to risk losing any more time working through fitment issues.
This brought back memories when I installed my CL-S6 (discontinued) CSF #3011 aluminum radiator back in 2007. IIRC'ly, the bottom fan mounts were accurately in place; however, I had to fab-up four straight brackets to fasten the upper fan mounts to the radiator.
A little closer view. IIRC'ly, I went to the hardware store and found some narrow metal stock and cut it to size and
hooked it up with four small nuts & bolts.
As you can see, from this particular radiator, it sits taller. I was worried the hood would not shut, though, I got
lucky with little room to spare.
Yikes, that's a tight fit. It looks like the supercharger ate up a bit of room too. Maybe some day I'll swap the radiator for a nice aluminum one. This 4 cylinder engine bay isn't nearly as cramped as the 2nd gen.
Well my radiator showed up super fast. I think I ordered it Friday morning and it arrived at 10:00 AM on Saturday. I was just packing up the car to head back to the junkyard again when the FedEx truck pulled into the driveway. The trip that I made to the junkyard on Friday was a bust. I packed light with just a breaker bar and a small bag to carry a couple of ratchets, along with some 14 mm and 17 mm sockets to remove the brake caliper brackets from the 3.0CL that they had on the lot. While walking up to the car I noticed that the front wheels were still on it and I didn't pack a 19 mm socket to remove the lug nuts.
Saturday it was pouring rain on and off most of the morning. This time I packed extra sockets and an impact wrench just in case. It felt super sketchy rolling around under this car in gravel mixed with shards of rusted metal, in the rain, while fighting to remove the caliper bolts. I think like most junk yards, the cars here are propped up on old steel wheels so they sort of shift back to front when you have to apply a bit of force to break things loose.
I ended up taking both front caliper brackets so that I have a spare one. This 3.0CL had new brake pads on it, and while the calipers looked kinda rough on the outside, they seemed to slide nicely on the brackets so I think I got a good set. Across the isle from the CL was 94-97 Accord sedan. I checked it out and noticed that the someone removed the condenser fan to get at the a/c compressor. It was just sitting on top of the engine. The fan looked like it was in a lot better shape than the one on my car, so I grabbed it too. I think I did alright for ~$50 altogether.
Sunday I resealed the oil pan. A bit of extra Hondabond was added to that area where the pan curved under the main seal. Once it was on, I tried to smear the sealant across the two joining surfaces where it leaked last time. It probably won't do anything to help seal the pan, but I felt better after doing it.
Once the pan was on, I removed the old radiator.
I can't seem to find where it was leaking from. The bottom tank wasn't wet anymore, but I did notice that the condenser showed signs of a leak in nearly the same spot. Now I don't which one was actually leaking. Since I'm this far in, I may as well just replace the damn condenser too. $67 for a new Denso condenser from Rock Auto. I stopped at the Honda dealer today to pick up the o-rings along with another bottle of power steering fluid and trans fluid.
Here's the old fan compared to the "new" one after it has been cleaned.
Just came across this thread and skimmed the pics.
Popping the hood and seeing a bluetop dohc is always nice.
I've converted f23 6ga's to h22/h23/j32/j35 over the years.
Did you do the balance shaft delete?
This motor still has the balance shaft and auto belt tensioner. I didn't have plans to race it or drive it hard since it was my daily driver at the time, so it was kept mostly stock aside from a few bolt on's. This engine is due for a timing belt, so I may also convert it to a manual tensioner at the same time.
I've got a bit of a progress update. Over the weekend I put the transmission back into the car and removed the front bumper to access the condenser a little easier. This also allowed me to finally change out the hoses to the leaky power steering cooler.
The new condenser is really going to help clean up the front end of the car. It made such a difference that I felt that I needed to repaint the horns and some other miscellaneous brackets which are visible through the lower bumper grill.
When I had the A/C system recharged last year, the tech that worked on the car said that the compressor was working, but it looked like it was on barrowed time. I could see that there was oil seeping from the compressor, so again, there was no better time to replace it than now. The system already had to be opened up to change the condenser, so it just made sense to replace the compressor too. After removing the old compressor, I turned it upside down to see how much oil was left in it and only a few drops came out. It should have 4 or 5 ounces of oil, so it's unlikely that it would have lasted much longer like that.
The "new" junkyard brake caliper bracket is on with new slide pins. The fresh power coat on the bracket really shows how worn and weathered the coating is on the caliper. Hopefully this winter I'll get around to rebuilding all four calipers.
The last time that I had the car running, I had a problem where the radiator fan would stay on for 30 minutes to an hour after the engine was shut off. There's nothing wrong with the fan relay, but from what I understand, the only other components that control the fan timer is the temperature switch and the module behind the glove box. I pulled a few temp switches from the 5th gen Accord's at the junkyard, as well as a timer module from an Accord with half as many miles as my car. I've already swapped the timer module, so next up I plan to test the temp switches using the boiling water/continuity check method outlined in the service manual. Once this is done, I'll refill the cooling system and the car should be ready to get back on the road.
I refilled the cooling system over the weekend and tried to thoroughly bleed out all of the air by raising the front end of the car, turning the HVAC system to max heat (interior fans off) and holding the revs to ~2k RPM.
The radiator fans are turning on and off when they should, however I still have a problem with the one radiator fan running when the engine is off. The fan relay and timer module have been ruled out, leaving only the temp switch on the water neck to still be replaced. I tried to test the switch per the instructions in the service manual. It says that you can use either water or oil to perform the test, but I've found that water doesn't work very well. The switch should change state just above 100° C, but I can't seem to get the water above 98° C on my kitchen stove. I've thought about trying oil instead while using the cooktop on my powder coating oven. I'll try to get around to it this week.
The good news is that I've driven the car roughly 150 miles with no oil leak. It started with just short drives around home, and then yesterday I drove 45 miles to work and 45 miles home with no leaks.
So far the car is running really good. The clutch and gear changes are smooth, and best of all, this transmission does in fact have a taller 5th gear. There was some conflicting information on the internet regarding the ratio of 5th gear. Some sites showed that it was taller in the T2T4, while other showed that it was the same as the as the 4th gen Prelude Si transmission that I had been using all this time. It makes 70 mph highway cruising so much more tolerable. Rather than the revs hanging at 3,900 RPM, it's now down to about 3,100 or 3,200 RPM. That slight change makes a big difference during a long commute.
Today I had new Yokahama Advan tires installed on the front wheels. Tomorrow I have an alignment scheduled in the morning. There's just one last thing left to do before the Tail of the Dragon meet next weekend, and that's getting the A/C system recharged. It's supposed to rain the later part of this week, and I'd hate to make a mess of the engine bay after spending so much time cleaning it. I'm going to try to schedule an appointment next week if there's a few days with clear weather.
Nice work. I know what you mean about the gearing. My commuter prelude used to have a p2a8 mated to h23a vtec. But, it lacked power in 3rd and 4th. Recently changed to an m2b4 lsd had laying around. Its more fun to drive, but the mileage definitely suffers. Regularly cruising at 3700rpm see about 4-5mpg less.
oh and why not just swap to a mishimoto fan switch? they're not too expensive.
Thanks guys, I think the car is mechanically in pretty good shape. The front end feels tight and responsive with far fewer squeaks and rattles when going over bumps. I think at some point I may need to replace the steering rack, but it's not enough of a concern right now for me to do anything about it.
The wheel alignment made a big difference. Before the alignment, you could see that the front wheels had a lot of positive toe just by looking at it, which destroyed that last set of tires in only about 6k miles.
The A/C system was recharged on Tuesday, so now that's taken care of. The only mechanical repair left to do other than the steering rack is the rear struts. I still can't seem to get new struts from Function & Form. Their CS rep couldn't tell me if they would be getting more of them in. I check their website periodically, but they never show in stock. I think I'll have to start shopping around for a completely different coilover setup.
Originally Posted by 619rcr
Nice work. I know what you mean about the gearing. My commuter prelude used to have a p2a8 mated to h23a vtec. But, it lacked power in 3rd and 4th. Recently changed to an m2b4 lsd had laying around. Its more fun to drive, but the mileage definitely suffers. Regularly cruising at 3700rpm see about 4-5mpg less.
oh and why not just swap to a mishimoto fan switch? they're not too expensive.
The M2B4 transmissions have become exceedingly rare. I don't remember seeing a single one pop up when I was shopping around. Hopefully I'll see an increase in MPG. I've already put one tank of gas through the car, but it averaged out to be 26 MPG, which was normal for me with the old transmission. It's probably because I had the car idling a lot when I was sorting out the cooling system. This next tank should be a bit better.
As for the fan switch, I ended up swapping mine out for one that I snagged from a lower mileage Accord from the junkyard. That immediately fixed the problem. The fan hasn't stayed on once since the switch was replaced.
The M2B4 transmissions have become exceedingly rare. I don't remember seeing a single one pop up when I was shopping around. Hopefully I'll see an increase in MPG. I've already put one tank of gas through the car, but it averaged out to be 26 MPG, which was normal for me with the old transmission. It's probably because I had the car idling a lot when I was sorting out the cooling system. This next tank should be a bit better.
Yeah idling and running ac makes a difference. With the p2a8, saw anywhere from 27-31mpg depending on whether I was running the AC and how much city vs hwy use.
I can believe the m2b4 is rare these days. Picked mine up from an 93 SIR prelude in Japan, in the mid 2000s. Crazy to think its almost 30 yrs old.
Gen X or Millennial? I sort of feel like we're in that overlapping grey area depending on who's defining the age groups.
I haven't had much to report these past several weeks. I did make the trip out to the Classic Honda's meet and we had a good time. We missed the big car show on Saturday due to a wedding, but we were able to spend all day Sunday at the dragon. Apparently an 8th or 9th gen Civic had a mechanical failure while making a pass, which sent the car over the side of the mountain. There were some reports online that the driver was uninjured, which was good to hear. Then in a separate incident, a motorcycle also went off the road resulting in another lane closure.
We waited too long to make our lodging reservations so all of the hotels that we looked at were sold out. Instead we found an Airbnb single room cabin (converted shed?) that was pretty cozy. It had a nice hot tub on the porch and a nearby fire pit that we made use of.
I asked the wife to drive separately in our support vehicle in case something went wrong with the CL. She had the trunk loaded down with a jack, jack stands and a bunch of tools.
The CL made the trip without much trouble aside from a couple of minor mechanical issues.
1. One of the exhaust hangers broke on my first trip through the dragon, which caused a loud and embarrassing rattle every time I went through a left hand turn.
2. I discovered that the steering wheel would shake quite badly under moderate or hard acceleration.
Prior to the trip I had been very easy on the throttle while breaking in the new clutch. I hit the 500 mile mark right as we arrived at the event and then began doing harder pulls. The vibration feels a lot like a wheel that's out of balance, but in my experience an out of balance wheel will show itself at a specific speed. In this case, I can feel it an any gear only under moderate or hard acceleration. It's the worst between 2.5k and 5k RPM, then it starts to fade away as I'm approaching redline. I think it could be one of a few things causing the issue, but I haven't had much time to work on the car.
1. Out of Balance Wheel - I had new tires put on my front wheels recently and I had asked the shop to only put the weights on the inside of the wheel. I know from experience that this usually makes it harder for the technician to balance. I've already rotated the tires from front to rear and it has made a noticeable difference. The vibration is now less severe and also less frequent, which I found odd. I can feel it less in the steering wheel and more in the body of the car.
2. Bad Replacement Axle - There's a new GSP branded axle on the passenger side, which might not be very well balanced. I can probably rule this out by putting the old axle back onto the car when I have time.
3. Motor Mounts Not Torqued Properly - I didn't see anything in the service manual about torqueing the motor mounts in a specific sequence, but I did stumble across a torque sequence for the Prelude while searching online. The rear motor mount is such a pain to access that I really hope that this isn't the cause.
Earlier in the month there was a chain of car dealerships which held a "cars and caffeine" event. One of which was an Acura dealership. It was a decent turnout for a cold and cloudy day. They allowed a few cars to pull into the showroom for a photo op.
The neighboring Porsche dealership had an RWB 911 show up.
That Porsche, wow...
very cool.
I had to go do Ian restoration stuff otherwise I would have been at the dragon with the S2K.
I heard all about that trip, looks like it was amazing.
On your prior update I saw about the compressor replacement...I think the OZ of oil is throughout the system and not
stagnant in the compressor itself. You're supposed to dump and measure what came out so you only put back what you
took out since the rest of the oil could be throughout. Did you do the dryer also? I learned a ton about hvac when replacing
everything on the 96 Yukon.
I think you're right. The oil flows through the whole system. When I spoke to the guy to who recharged my AC, he had asked if there was oil in the new compressor. I told him that I dumped it out, measured it and then poured it back in. It was roughly 5 ounces if I remember correctly. He thought that there might be too much oil in the system, but it shouldn't hurt anything. The old compressor was leaking oil around the seams where the compressor housing comes together, so it was probably low on oil to begin with.
I had asked the guy prior to installing the compressor and condenser if I would need a new dryer. He said that I would only need one if the AC line was open for several days or if there was a significant change in humidity during that period while the system was open. When I swapped the compressor, the AC system was open for maybe 2 hours max. I've ran the AC a few times since it's been recharged. It blows cold, but the outside temps were probably in the high 60's during that time. I'll have to wait until it starts warming up again to really test it out.
This AC stuff is witchcraft to me. The only time that I've really messed with it in the past was when I was stripping it from a car to make a couple extra horsepower.
Well put it this way, the dryer is a basically a tube with dessicant in it...you run your refrigerant through it and it kinda grabs and holds any moisture in the system. If you ever had a freon leak where you lost the freon in the system,
technically it was no longer pressurized and avoiding the atmosphere air in it. Realistically, it's likely fine to leave it alone but my buddy that I trust told me if you have the system apart anyway, dryer should be done with compressor.
That said, I created a NIGHTMARE for myself with my 96 Yukon by touching the dryer that was seized to the evap coil that is buried in the dash...that led to doing condenser and changing it ALL. when in reality it could have
JUST been a damn compressor swap.
So yeah, if you didn't, don't worry about it...I was just told that on those humid days there's a chance the air blowing out won't be as dry and crisp if you have a saturated dryer.
Another minor update... The starter went bad last week. Leaving work one evening, I turned the key and it didn't crank. On the second attempt it did start, so I didn't think too much of it. I made a stop on the way home and when I tried to start it this time, I could only hear the starter solenoid clicking, but no crank. I tried maybe a dozen times, but all I would get was the click. I had guessed that the brushes wore out, so I grabbed a 1/2" ratchet from the trunk and banged on the starter a few times. The next time I turned the key it did start, but it was turning the motor over very slowly. I drove it home from there and parked it.
The T2T4 transmission shipped to me with a starter still on it. I had it tested at an auto parts store and it passed, so I thought I'd just swap this one onto the car. It wasn't until I removed my old starter that I realized that it was different. The starter on the T2T4 looks very similar, but the connection for the ground cable is turned 90 degrees, and the drive pinion appears to be positioned differently on the shaft. It might have worked, but rather than mess with it, I just bought a remanufactured Denso starter.
I bought a welder around new years it showed up last week. I've never welded before, but have always wanted to learn. This one is multi-process so it will do MIG, stick and both AC and DC TIG. I still need to pick up a welding cart, a couple of gas cylinders and build or buy a work bench.
After nearly two years of waiting, the rear struts for my coilovers were finally available for purchase. They've been out of stock since April of 2021 when I tried to buy both the fronts and rears together. I've been checking the Function and Form website periodically since then and one day last week they were showing in stock. It must have been the only set, because the Type 2's are out of stock again.
On Sunday I started prepping by removing the rear coilovers and began tearing them down. The struts have been blown since I started working on the car a few years ago, but it looks as though the right rear recently began leaking.
The coilovers were torn down and degreased with kerosene. I still need to hit them with some soap and water to remove the residue.
Then the lower strut mounts were stripped for powder coating later this week.
The new struts are expected to arrive tomorrow. It's supposed to be a rainy week, but I'm going to try to finish the powder coating one night if there's a break in the weather. Hopefully I can get them installed before the weekend.
Thanks, it will be nice to finally have the suspension squared away. I started to consider switching to a different setup like the one from Fortune Auto. It seems to be popular right now, but damn they're expensive. It looks like the basic coilover kit is nearly $2k with shipping.
I keep pushing off the body work, but I think I need to set that am my next priority. I'll weight my options of PDR plus rust repair in the quarter panels versus having the entire repainted.
04-11-2022, 01:16 PM
It started with just short drives around home, and then yesterday I drove 45 miles to work and 45 miles home with no leaks.
