98-1040 Rebuild begins...Take II

[coolhandluke]

They are kind of Apples to Oranges though. The only crossover piece would be the rear engine mount.

[coolhandluke]

Today was just like Christmas, too bad I'm busy studying for a midterm.

Parts that arrived today:
-Cobalt GT Sports Brake pads, Front/Rear (VPR Motorsports)
-01' ITR Engine harness (94rs-turbo)
-Edlebrock Performer-X Intake Manifold(BlueR)

I'l have pictures tomorrow morning for your viewing pleasure.

[coolhandluke]

Christmas in October:


01' ITR Harness(94rs-turbo)



Cobalt GT Sport Brake pads, Front/Rear(VPR Motorsports)



Edlebrock Performer-X Intake Manifold(BlueR)



AutoZone did not have the Rear brake rotors, so I will not be able to install those until the tomorrow. My weekend plans involve me removing the dash to so I can begin the tuck.

Chris(Aquafina) informed me today the MFactory items are stuck in customs, go figure. Tomorrow I will be ordering the final list of transmission items from Len at Son's Acura. The hopes are that by the end of next week the transmission will be complete, which will be nice to cross it off the list.

[coolhandluke]

Today was an expensive day:

-Ordered a used set of Hasport Motor mounts
-Order the OEM Honda pieces needed for my transmission from Son's Acura Parts
-Picked up Rear rotors

[coolhandluke]

10/11/08


So I finally made it to a Lowes to pickup some diamond cut blades for the dremel. My first point of attack: Left over parts from a front mount. Welded in, and not sealed.





Goodbye:



Semi-final product. POR 15 is going to be ordered today for the front end, and rear areas with rust.



Rear end rust:












Right side below the taillight:



Left side below the tail light:



I'm beginning to think this car has spent some time up North. I vaguely remember hearing one of the owners mentioning the car originated in New England. This would make sense. =( For those that have delt with rust, or POR 15 feel free to chime in. I may order a galloon(I need to lookup the price) and cover the entire rear section, underneath, and do the front end. When the car is painted down the road they can go over these areas.

I started a new project with the rear bumper. However, it doesn't seem my dremel of 2+ years was up for it. It started smoking. :crook: I'm going to check the manual and hope it needs some lubrication etc, it may already be trash. I noticed it running hot, figured it was semi normal.

*3x more views until 4,444 total views.

[Bbasso]

Even tho mine spent many years in the North It's never seen saltly roads and I still have the same But less type of rust on the bumper. I think it's where water collects when driving in the rain.
Can comment much on how so solve it tho...

[coolhandluke]

I think it could be much worse, but it does bother me. I'm going to spend some time tomorrow cleaning the areas shown along with the underside of the trunk area. I'm comparing products from Rust Bullet and POR 15, but dang these products are expensive. Both have two step products, one layer being very affective against rust and the second sealing it in with a layer than turns black. I'm researching on which will be the best for the car as a whole, and my wallet. I don't mind paying the money for the products, but if I don't need both processes I can save $50.

[coolhandluke]

I just placed an order from POR for their silver and black top coating. The silver is supposed to soak better into rusted metal and and black is a UV resistant top coat.

For those interested, here is the link.

[coolhandluke]

10/12/08

I removed the rear bumper to take a look at the body, and decided to do a little project. This is one project that I have wanted to do for quite some time. I first saw it by a member named NotSoJDMDan. I do not take credit for the idea, and this is actually the first step into this project. I make take it a step forward.

Before:



After:



Need help?



Some will like it, others won't. That's fine, this is something I wanted to do. This bumper is cracked, and in fair shape. Its functional for track, so given that this unit will eventually be replaced I see no reason not to try it now.


Anyone have experience removing the rear lower valence?

[Dave_B]

Looks like the project is going nicely!!!

Hope to see it at E9.

[coolhandluke]

Looks like the project is going nicely!!!

Hope to see it at E9.

You'l see it on track.


10/12/08 II

After reviewing the areas of concern, ie rust, I decided to remove the rear valance and tail lights. Here is what everything looked at:





Here are the valances, which have spots of rust.









And after some sanding:









Together:



After simple green:






Another area of concern, this is the left lower quarter panel:



Compare it to the right side:



It has me a bit, :crook:, since it appears the car made have had an accident. The inside of the trunk appears to be wrinkled. I'l have to get shots to post. We'l see.

POR 15 should arrive next weekend and I'l get these areas coated up. Still undecided on the front end. There are some other areas of concern with how the JDM radiator support is put in place. I have yet to get anyone with bodywork knowledge to look at the car. I guess I'l take some pictures and post. =)

[coolhandluke]

Continued...


Here are more shots of the trunk:






Shots of the gas cap:

*Overspray, rust



*Overspray

It is worth mentioning that the VIN is still intact inside the door, and the quarter does not sound like there is any bondo. Everything looks good on the service, which is why I was surprised to find what hid underneath.

Now the overspray could be from a repaint, but the spot of rust gives reasoning for something more. Maybe, maybe not.

[Bbasso]

Interesting...

[coolhandluke]

I'v been under the car a bit for brakes, and where I started to hang the exhaust. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Its odd, I sincerely hope it is purely cosmetic. The car has signs of repaint all over the body: respray on the interior, the trunk area has clearly been resprayed(notice the taillight gaskets?), rear quarter molding. The weird part is all these little areas with rust. My logic is that the paint is too thick in places and couldn't flex, which caused chipping.

[Doespike]

Even tho mine spent many years in the North It's never seen saltly roads and I still have the same But less type of rust on the bumper. I think it's where water collects when driving in the rain.
Can comment much on how so solve it tho...

Yeah, everything catches in that rear bumper/cover area...hence why my steel bumper has big rust holes through it.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m46/ ... 13copy.jpg

See hole you can stick yer hand through...
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m46/ ... 15copy.jpg

Sandbasted then sprayed heavily with rubberized undercoat.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m46/ ... 17copy.jpg

Making good progress mang

[coolhandluke]

Thanks for the motivation Joe. I just went out there and remove the bumper support. I cleaned it with SimpleGreen and then sanded everything down. After the sanding, I cleaned it again with SimpleGreen. Its ready for POR15 when it comes in Wednesday.

[get RIGHT]

Its looking good.

[coolhandluke]

10/14/08

Late last night Joe(Dosspike) helped me get the rear bumper off. I continued my cleaning/sanding work to prepare everything for the POR 15. I do not have any pictures of before, sorry. Just post prep.











In case you are wondering what my rear end looks like, here it is:



Kinda sad huh? All in due time.

[coolhandluke]

I think my photobucket account is about to be maxed out. The pictures have become very grainy. I may need to upgrade my account.

[coolhandluke]

10/19/08


POR has been applied:


















Everything put back together:



Brake booster flipped, New RS Prop valve installed, RS Lines installed, all brakes bleed:






Current bay, new(to me) hasports sitting in place:

[Dave_B]

you = need sand blaster.

Or at least rent one... makes the rust removal SO much easier. Bags o' sand = cheap too.

Looking great!

[D]

Brake booster flipped

For why?

[andyjt]

Brake booster flipped

For why?

For a Tucked engine bay....... Ive always flipped it because it essentially "hides it" and if he is using an edelbrock manifold the booster vacum ports are on the botom keeping it out of vision. essentially Making the engine bay cleaner.

[coolhandluke]

Andy is right on the money. The booster can be flipped, there is no change what so ever in performance etc. Its a mirrored piece, the only difference is that the vacuum nipple is out of sight rather than being on top. I scratch my head on why Honda didn't do that.

Sorry for the long pause without updates. Nothing has happened to the car. I was getting ready to place a large order through Len until his situation changed. I am holding off on placing that order to support him wherever he lands.

So what does this mean? My plans for engine assembly are no longer in December. I don't have a timeframe, I am taking things as they come. In the meantime, I am going to start on some other projects. The main one being the dash, and the wiring beneath. I'm going to remove the dash to finish my little "wire tuck" etc. At the same time I want to sort the wiring and make everything has clean as possible.

I may focus my efforts solely on wiring and security. The jdm headlight wiring in this car was a disaster. That is going to take some time to rewire (correctly) with multimeter to have everything setup. To do that, I will have to complete the under dash routing, wire tuck junk etc, so you can see where my logic is there. So that is where I'm at, comments and suggestions are always welcome.

[andyjt]

Your doing a great job on it. I cant wait to see it done.. Do you plan on tucking the rest of the engine harness as well?