Saving an Old Honda

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This restoration is about keeping the car as original as possible with period correct upgrades that add the 'cool' factor. The goal is to bring this 'Old Honda' back to it's former 'glory'. It is not about having a perfect show car. I drive the car in the spring, summer, and fall and store it when the weather turns nasty.

RoadKill and Roadkill Garage are my inspiration for this project. The motto for this project... Taking cars that nobody wants, reviving them, and in a way making them BAD ASS!

The purchase is out of the way...Let the restoration begin!

I am keeping the car stock with a few upgrades that would have been available in the 1980s.

June 2018: OE carburetor overall, installation of Weber 32/36, new plugs/wires/rotor/cap, new front brakes, and new oil pan gasket. (June 2018)

A friend helping to install a Weber 32/36 Carburetor.

Weber installation complete (June 2018)

Repairing and cleaning the driver side door molding. (June 2018)

Konig Rewinds and Hankook tires. (June 2018). These are similar to the Panasport wheels that are period correct.

June 29th, 2018: Finally got the car home and started working on upgrading the stereo and speakers. (This is not the SBox...)

Finished the car audio install.

• Kenwood KMM-BT518HD deck, Alpine Type-S SPS-410, Pioneer TSA1676R, Kenwood KSC-SW11 sub, and Memphis SRX300.4 amp

July 1st, 2018: Repaired driver side seat foam and upholstered the rear deck and pillars.

July 3rd, 2018:

• Interior: Upholstery and carpet cleaned

• Exterior: Cut - Polished - Waxed.

July 16th, 2018:

• Lowered using Ground Controls coil sleeves with Eibach springs

• Black plastic restoration

• Chrome polished

July 28th, 2018: 1st Road Trip

Took the car ,on its first long road trip, to Westport Washington. AC recharged, fluids topped off, and my best 'Mate' ready to go.

Great drive and good shakedown. No issues other than ran warmer than I like while cruising with AC on. I ordered a new radiator and will install in the coming weeks.

Decided to drain, flush, and clean behind the radiator before making the trip back to Portland. As I suspected, some of the channels are corroded so ordering a new radiator was the right call.

Week of Aug 6th, 2018. Installed new radiator, hoses, thermostat, and thermosensor. Car runs cool with no issues.

September 18th, 2018: Shawn and I did a compression check

In early October: I found a company (Maserati Compound) selling NOS vintage Marmitte Ansa resonator tips. Marmitte Ansa has changed hands and no longer makes the resonator tips. Maserati Compound purchased the remaining NOS according to their staff.

History of Marmitte Ansa

Last Week of October 2018:

Last drive to work before the winter work begins

First Week of November 2018:

The winter work begins...Took the car in for a little rust repair and rear quarter panel repair.

December 13th 2018:

Stopped by Gresham Collision Center on the way home from work. All painted and will hopefully be ready to pick up tomorrow!!

December 20th 2018:

Picked are up from Gresham Collision and drove to Pres-a-dent to have all of the dings / dents removed.

December 23rd, 2018:

Installed new semi-sealed H4 in preparation for the LED light upgrade. Keeping the stock look but upgraded safety.

Week of January 1st, 2019:

• Fixed leaking taillights

• Refreshed the Trunk

Week of January 1st, 2019:

I Restored the old trunk slats and Shawn and I installed the OE trunk rack.

January 12th, 2019:

• Shawn and I removed the dash

• Shawn repaired the HVAC system

January 13th, 2019:

I prepped and painted the blue dash.

February 9th, 2019

I followed the steps for priming, preparing, and spraying the blue dash. The end product looked great but never fully cured. Even after sitting in a warm room for a month the paint scratched off. I decided to install the old dash.

February 15th, 2019

Shawn and I installed the old dash back. We started installing new padding and carpet. Its going to take a few weekends to complete

Mid March, 2019

• Finished the Carpet install. Not an 'easy' tasks. Lots of measuring and cutting.

• Installed a near perfect dash from an 1982 Accord Hatch.

• Wired and installed the euro rear bumper and rear bumper side plastics

End of March, 2019:

Upgraded the rear drum brakes to disk breaks from a 86 Prelude. Purchased parts from a salvage yard but only ended up using the spindle, dust cover, and associated hardware. Ordered new wheel bearings, calipers, and pads.

April/Early May, 2019:

Installed a period correct 1981 Wood Steering wheel and custom shift knob.

Late September/October, 2019:

Its time to start working on the Honda again. I had a local machine shop build me a new complete engine.

• Block bored/honed

• .20 over pistons/rings

• Polished crank

• new seals and bearings

• Head ported polished, matched to the block, new valve seals and stiffer springs

Early October, 2019:

Started removing the engine.

Mid October, 2019:

Finished removing the engine and cleaning the engine bay.

Mid October, 2019:

I finally found two manual steering racks in a yard on the East Coast. $150 and a week later, two manual racks were delivered to my door.

These old Honda Accords are a trip! We knew the manual racks were a different size from the PS rack. What we didn't realize is that the cross member on the manual rack Accords are different. There was no easy way to make the manual rack fit. We decided to modified the PS rack by removing the seal on the rack. We did this to release air pressure that might build up when the rack is moving back and forth. We also removed the bottom section where the PS lines connect to the rack. We built a plate to cover this area. We then used high temp bearing grease to lubed the rack. We also had to modify the speed sensor since it was interconnected with the power steering.

End of October, 2019:

We finished the converting the PS rack, removed the front subframes and related suspension pieces, powerwashed the components, and gave them a coat of paint.

End of October, 2019:

Removed hubs, pressed out the wheel bearings, degreased, and painted. All in prep for the 'big brake' upgrade. Also painted the subframe.

End of October 31st, 2019:

Late UPS delivery last night (8pm). Super stoked to get these fitted and installed. Will have to do a little 'sleeving' but nothing too crazy.

Early November 2019

Spent the afternoon fabricating sleeves for the coilovers and reassembling the hubs with new bearings and seals.

Early November 2019

I decided to paint the valve cover and big brake calipers. The front subframe, control arms, hubs/knuckles, big brake upgrade, coilovers, and steering rack are all ready for installation. All of these components are either new or refreshed. The next two weeks are very busy so there probably won't be much progress. It's all starting to come together.

Early November 2019

After work today we installed the front coilovers, subframes, and control arms. The LX-I big brakes were to large and heavy so I ordered LX rotors, calipers and pads. Perfect fit and nice upgrade.

• OE: 1983 Rotor Size - Outside Diameter 9.094 Inch/231mm - OE Calipers

• Upgrade: 1986 Honda LX R0tor size- Outside Diameter 9.508 Inch/242mm - 1986 LX Calipers

Mid November - Mid December 2019

We picked up the engine from DnD and began the install.

The Specs are:

• Block bored .20 over

• New pistons, rings, and bearings

• Crank to spec and polished

• CVCC Head with custom cam grind

• New valves, seals, and stiffened valve springs

• Head ported/polished

• Lightened flywheel

• Stock manifold ported polished

• Weber 38 carb

Mid November - Mid December 2019

We prepared the engine, engine bay, and bits for install.

Mid November - Mid December 2019

We removed the exhaust and installed O2 bung for theair fuel gauge.

Mid November - Mid December

We installed the engine.

Video of startup: Click to Access

Mid November - Mid December 2019

Project complete!

• New engine, custom cam grind, and head work including stiffer valves.

• New suspension and subframe bushings, wheel bearings, hubs, and such

• Rebuilt steering rack

• Custom fit BC Coilovers on all 4 corners

• Upgraded front brakes to 3rd generation Accord

• Front and rear custom made strut braces

• Installed 02 bung and AF gauge

• Custom RamAir filter

• Other bits and pieces replaced as need.

Mid December 2019

Had the front end aligned and am now driving the car. The winter project is complete (Almost).

Mid February:

I had the car dyno tuned at VIP Performance Shop. I am getting 94 Wheel HP and 104 Wheel Torque. I am very happy with these specs seeing how the car made 75 horsepower at the crank stock USDM form.

May 2020:

Upholstry is finished and looks great!

June 2020:

It has been a wild 2 year journey with many high's and lows. In the end, it was all worth it! I am extremely pleased with how the 1983 Honda Accord turned out. Time to drive and enjoy.