rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

So, my old boss and friend needed a car for his 17 year old daughter and he didn't want to go the "new" route for a kid that will likely not take care of it.

He paid me to do full maintenance on it, sound system, etc...was fun, had it parked in front of my place for a month and worked on it whenever I had some free time.

It was my neighbor's grandmother's car, had 59K original miles and a horrendous paintjob.

So, he got it painted...

Then I:
tints
new corner and turn lenses
new tails
coilover sleeves
hids
led everywhere
oil
tranny fluid
radiator hoses/fluid/thermostat
belts
spark plugs
air in tires
shin etsu all seals
replaced window regulators (rear)
wiper fluid-fixed hoses and added fluid
wiper blades
radio/speakers/sub
alarm installed-best buy

Right before selling it he had to have the brake booster and master changed.

It was a good time and I earned a few hundred bucks for my time researching/installing and getting him great deals.




Before:



After





Have coilovers but can't lower more, the front right axle doesn't like the angle when I lowered the front anymore...the rear is as high as it would go. Not bad for $48 shipped. Amazing how cheap things are for an older car.

pttl

Looks great. You should be on "wheeler dealers"

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Thanks man...yeah, I actually LOVE that show. I think I have enough years tinkering and fixing stuff for cheap to know, where to get things done for cheap, where to get em done right, where to NOT cut corners..and becasue of previous fails...projects that used to be an all day affair are now down to a few hours.

I did soldering on all connections, and my radio install, repairing door panels (fabric was falling off), speaker install and wiring for sub and cleaning everything up only took me 10 hours.

VQPower37

good work man ... the car looks really good, interesting thing ur boss asked u to do though

Ken1997TL

I love 4th generation Accords..

Great job!

Street Spirit

Did you charge him for putting air in the tires and installing new wiper blades?

Good work!

teranfon

Looks good!





Terry

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Thanks everyone...
After all was said and done, I probably put about 50 hours in between

Oh, forgot, valve cover gasket and cleaning/degreasing engine bay and painting valve cover.

I started at 250 for all my time. Then added 50 for doing the suspension work, and 40 for the valve cover gasket.

Yeah, met him at work, as a friend he's great, fun to have a beer with, as a boss, he's a micromanager and ALWAYS looks to see what he can get out of you. Nice guy, but I'm glad I don't work for him anymore...at least now it's on my terms.

Aman

Looks great, nice work. It's rare for someone to "restore" such a common car, but nice to see. Not a fan of the HIDs in halogen housings though.

ArthurL

iTrader: (4)

Nice work!

Moog-Type-S

I stopped reading at "tints"

mn2trance

Very nice! My fave gen Accord of all time.

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

Awesome job! Must be a great feeling seeing all your hard work culminate to that. Looks great!

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Well, for my own car, I would have done a few things differently, but my buddy is somewhat penny wise and pound foolish and is a 45 year old man listening to pitbull etc and trying to stay young and hip, so God bless him.

ha ha...thanks for all the comments, guys. Not like a serious restoration or anything, but I like taking something that's deteriorated and polishing it off and making it look nice again. I enjoy that...and I really believe that the devil is in the details...all those little things people sometimes overlook is why a car will look old or banged up as a whole.

J.

Moog: c'mon, there weren't THAT many more words after "tints" to finish reading the whole post.

HBaJ

That's awesome..how much did parts run you? My parents had a 92 CB7 in that color as well, loved that car.

Infamous425

suite, my parents had a 1990 accord. they sold it right before i learned to drive

Professor

Great Job! I had a 1993 Accord EX... same color but looked like the pre-version of your project. How did you salvage the interior? Mine had gray cloth. Also with 193K, I'd burn a quart of oil every other fill-up.

Professor

Also, you third brake light is failing in the pic.

Sarlacc

Nice job!


and TINT....TINT.....TINT

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

i loved that gen accord... they were so reliable...

TylerT

iTrader: (1)

Always a fan of the 4th Generation.

Nice Accord! It's amazing what a little cash and some elbow grease can accomplish!

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Thanks guys...TINT TINT TINT!!! I like that...
very reliable, there were some surprises, but mostly from people trying to swindle the old lady.

1) They didn't tighten the alternator properly so it wasn't charging and one belt was insanely noisy for the first 5 seconds.

2) There was oil in the spark plug chambers...AND some high temp silicone in around parts of the valve cover. My guess, they told her they replaced the gaskets and didn't.

3) and this is the MESSED up one...I went to change the oil, entire lower oil pan is covered in fresh oil. I mean, from all sides...I'm thinking "great, gonna have to redo this too"...then I thought, what if I retorque the bolts a little...I go to do it, and EVERY one is so loose I can tighten by hand. Except 1...the one that is hard to get the socket on. Some m'effer loosened them to make grandma worry about an oil leak.

4) Hood was missing a rubber stopper so replaced that, it used to not sit flush. Replaced the roof rain channels...the previous people had partially painted over it and around the sun roof visor SMH.

5) New H's obviously, found a site on ebay, 12 bucks shipped for both. Not the best quality, but get the job done.

Paint is actually Tango Red Pearl found on newer Honda's, my friend wanted Basque Red Pearl but painter said the darker burgundy on the new TSX's would clash too much with original jams and engine bay.

Interior was a gem save for the original driver side mat...I cut the rubbermaid one to fit and it's all good...used some spot remover on all the others and the seats etc were great. Door panels were flailing in the wind, nothing a little 3M adhesive and a hot glue gun couldn't fix. Thought about removing the fabric but the plastic underneath was slightly bluer and didn't match the rest of the door. It was also the gray cloth interior.

Sound system WAS a Honda tape player to which nobody knew the security code
Now,
Kenwood CD player with usb and 3.5mm jack on front
5 1/4's in the door Kenwood
6 by 9's in the rear, also Kenwood
Hifonics 400 watt RMS amp along with a wiring kit and a 12" kenwood matched sub in the box

Sonic Electronix all for under $400 shipped to my door. I was impressed with that.

He ended up owing me about $2000 for all parts, surprises, upgrades and bling.

Total:
$3000 for the car...he didn't bother to research or negotiate. Timing belt done, new alt and tires on the car already though.
$1200 paint
$2000 to me...so around

$6200 total.

Not bad to bring a classic back from possible eventual death.

Also, get this,
He doesn't dig the wheels but there are newer tires on it. He asks me to go on ebay and look around...he wants to keep same size rims to use same tires.
He wants some Rota slipstreams...
I already told him he needs to figure out that weird axle shake so that we can lower the front a little more so they won't look weird.

I also still need to install the left rear window regulator when it gets here (broke 2 days before giving it back to him)...
A subwoofer grill
A trunk spoiler, paint guy had leftovers and is painting for free...the OEM looking one though, don't worry.

J.

Legend2TL

Looks nice, the 4G was the classic Accord.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

My teeth cringed when I read that.

mcflyguy24

TINT

Also, very clean resto. I'd try to persuade him away from cheap rotas (they tend to crack easily), plus it will give the car a real ricer look.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

That's really good to know, thank you! I personally like the old back to future looking wheels. I think he should just keep those. Or maybe some EP wheels.

Didn't mean to include extraneous stuff, was just rattling off a bunch of things that I did or got done to the car at his request.

ThermonMermon

my buddy used to have a pristine low mile SE coupe. it was amazing - leather, power everything. that car alone made me a believe that the build quality of the 4th gen might of been the best for its time. the interior was almost on par with acura. as a matter of fact, the sedan version very much reminds me of the vigor.

here are some shots of the SE model:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...e&rdpage=thumb

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

pics are "x's" at work! Dang...
But I know what you mean, 93 is 10 year anniversary!!

I have to say, you are right, I'm very impressed with this car. It was actually really nice to drive around in it!

madcaps

iTrader: (1)

Great job!! 59k miles!?! Damn thats low, great find!

I certainly hope this girl knows what she has and takes care of it.

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

i had a 1992 Accord LX (DX in the States) before too! What an awesome car that was. The visibility was extremely good.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

That I will absolutely agree with, the car has ZERO blind spots!
I'm hoping she takes care of it too! But if it goes how it went with MY first car, I wouldn't count on it!