Legendary nightmare: Emo Status. Dark Corners and Razor Blades (Titled by Dave)

[Oxer]

Ok, so I have had a fair bit of shit going on recently, the civic is just sitting there, I'm currently between jobs and my motivation level is at a bare minimum. What better way to be motivated then to get others feedback!


So I was between cars in mid '09 and needed to find something asap.. after a couple of hours looking and two days later I purchased this 1992 Honda Legend imported straight from Japan.




It had a few issues, needed Drive shafts, timing belt and water pump, and a general tidy up. It cost me $3,300AUD and i couldnt be happier. So after another $1k and all the general issues fixed, it was fine. I'd never had a car quite as lixurious as this before, so I enjoyed the smooth ride and excess power there with a squeeze of the throttle.

Of course, as al of us do, the itch of modifying became far to great to handle. It just so happened that a friend of mine had a set of pristine SSR Proffesors SP1 that he didnt have space for. Specs: 18x8et+49 front and 9et+37 rear.







Obviously I wasnt going to just slap them on and roll 4x4 spec, so the next thing I had to do was moar lows. But before I did, I tried on a wheel to see what I was working with, cause lets face it, the specs are weak as piss.





I could only be bothered trying the rears on the day

[Oxer]

So the time came for the lows... I couldnt afford to go all out and buy coilovers ( Id have to find them in the U.S or Japan, plus shipping etc) and springs were pretty much out of the question as no one here sells any for them. I couldnt cut the factory ones as they were a progressive spring front and rear, So what could I do? I went to a wrecking yard and took springs out of a completely different make and model, and made them work. The result:





About two days later I noticed my steering rack was leaking oil, nothing major, but another probled to add to the list. I also noticed that the wheel bearing noise, Which the car had all along, was a little louder.. Yep, just another thing added to the list...

So the time came for the fitment of wheels and tires... At this point in time (which was around 3 weeks ago) I was pretty much flat broke. Registration on the car had come up, and yeah, life is a beach. I called a mate and asked him to price up a set of tires for me that i could afford within my budget. I was after 205/40 for the 8"s and 225/40 for the 9's... A little conservative on the stretch side of things for my liking (see civic build) but I was sort of coasted into the idea.

He got back to me and said for $400 he can get the 225/40's, but could get 215/35 for the front.. The 205/40 were another $400, go figure.. Me wanting to just have the tires fitted I went for it. I knew I would be dissapointed with the outcome, but I just wanted to have the car looking half respectable. The outcome:







I also got a little bored and started making some bolt on boso pipes, nobody in Australia has any idea what it is, and for some reason, those that do never quite pull it off. Go big or go home is one of my favourite motto's...





No, they arent finished.

[Oxer]

So not happy with the front tires at all (wheelgapkills) I asked a few people to find me better sizes for decent prices. I then thought, "ok, now ill do the wheelbearings and reco the steering rack, and all will be hunkydori." (hunkidori is slang for sweet, or ok )

As my story is getting fairly long, Ill keep the end short and sweet. Two days ago temp gauge skyrocketed, I caught it straight away and didnt overheat the heads. After two days of diagnosing, a new thermostat and a lot of fucking around, blown head gaskets. Apparently quite common with this engine. Rang Honda to price up a gasket kit... $1400. and thats just for the kit.

So in conclusion,



To be continued.

[schroedin]

I love the boso pipes

[Atlantian]

How are you supporting the pipes? Or do they kinda flap around?

[Oxer]

Once they are finished, they'll sit tight on the factory tips.... I doubt they'll flap too much.. all trial and error...

[dvsmethodz]

Lookin good so far, sucks about the head gaskets though.

[CSBolger]

Never seen a front-drive car with the engine mounted longitudinally like that.

Looks promising. Shop around for better prices on the head gaskets, that sounds like a BS price.

[Oxer]

Theres no shopping to do... I can buy some $800 kit off ebay, but itscrappier quality. When it comes to parts like this, I prefer oem.. and since no body really builds bulletproof engines for these, I dont really have a better option. The price I was given was direct from Honda... so yeah.

Thanks for the kind words guys. Im gonna shop around for some prices on head rebuilds on monday. While they're off gonna give them a port polish and valve regrind.. also have to test them to make sure they arent warped or cracked... But I doubt they are..

[JawDropper]

Looks good man. The front fitment could def use some work and maybe more low too.

[Oxer]

I will be spacing the front and once I put some taller rubber on it the wheelgap should close up... Springs ftl, too much travel = no poke. I really want to bag it but I just cant afford it atm...

[Oxer]

Update

So last weekend we pulled the heads off... Some pics of the progress...





Had to disconnect the exhaust and bring the manifold off with the head since there is no room to do it in the bay. This meant using a jack. My jack no longer fits under the car, so my mate gave me a hand





Then it got dark so we started drinking...

[xBtony]

Hahaha this thread makes me lol. sucks about all the set backs but thats life. pipes are kinda cool. haha

[Oxer]

19/06/2010

So I got the heads back from being pressure tested, ported and rebuilt. I told them not to go too crazy with the ports, just to give them a general tidy up.





They also brought the compression up from 9.6 to 9.7... again, not too much since I dont want to trial and error to make x amount of disneywatts at the wheelzomg. So I started piecing the heads back together ready to go on..



Then it was time.. but just as i went to put the last piece on the head, I couldnt find the gasket anywhere! It appeared that the vrs gasket kit didnt make one for this one piece... So initiative kicked in...




Id like to thank Champion ignition for their fine craftsmenship in their cardboard box building.. Being a water fitting, and running low on silicone, initiative kicked in yet again...



This is where I'd like to thank Mike for teaching us that where there is a will, there is a way.

New gaskets:



Old ones:




ROOTED! haha.

The plan was to reassemble the motor in a day and get it running. It took a little longer then planned, but by god we drove that ish that night!

I dont have anymore photos because, well, we were busy and got ish done. The only photos I do have are these:




Overnight pakage from Japan. That box is now empty and everything is installed... Pics will come after this weekend where I'll re-debut the car at a gathering down here.. Untill then, Keep chasin' that Stance...

[randomquickness]

JP FTW hurry up with the pics!