Rusty Accord's 99 Sedan LX F23A4 w/5speed (56K)

Rusty Accord

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Is that a lil self made rotisserie for the T/A ? Or a stand made to work around the body easier? Either way that is pretty sweet that you can use a engine stand and a lil engineering to make it work.

I see what you mean about the color not matching, but thankfully it is all there and not half eaten lol. If need be you could always have it re-stitched with the proper tan color, plenty of that to go around in the world thankfully and it would only be that little section you need, cuts down on the cost.
If you are worried about it matching, you can always scrub or steam (sometimes both lol)the interior to brighten it up to a newer finish, but from your pictures it already looks pretty good so hopefully it would not need a ton of effort.

Fingers crossed the weather gives you a break :waytogo:

The end closest to the door is an engine stand I borrowed from a buddy of mine. It's built way over kill, and he's had it at least 20 years now. It normally sits up higher yet when the casters are on it. I'll have to get you a pic of the other end, as it's got a gearbox with a crank handle to do the spinning. It just clears, as I've had rolled it over several times, just to make sure it cleared. But yes, it's home built, and not very little.

As for the rear seat back, I've got no problem with it not matching. It kinda goes with the 350 I paid for it theme. :) I might find a tan cover some day, if it starts to really bother me. It's not a show car, just trying to be a reliable daily driver once I get things fixed like I want them. Eventually I want to take it on a road trip, but I've burned 1 tank of gas in it (after I found the fuel tank leaking), so that's my immediate priority...get it fixed. While I'm in there sway bar bushings and end links will be replaced too (already have the MOOG brand here). The only real bonus on this car is the paint looks fairly decent. Yes it's got key scratches, and other scratches in the paint, but it's also got some rust in front of the wheel well arches (right behind the rear doors), and the lip above the license plate on the trunk, being the bad parts.
 
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Rusty Accord

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Well, time for a pic dump.
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Like Connie, I had to break out the sawzall, as there are no flanges on this exhaust (except for the muffler connection). Yes, that's the OE Honda muffler built out of stainless steel.
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Here's the top side of the muffler. You can see some holes and some nasty looking rust forming on it.
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Here I'm getting ready to drop the rear sub out. At this point, only the 4 main bolts are holding it in place.
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And now it's dropped.
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Another view of it dropped out.
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Top of the tank. Sure looks nasty, and yes, those are acorn shells on top. But you can see the coating Honda put on it is flaking off in spots, and bubbling in others.
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Here's a better look from the top. The tank and sub are now out from under the car. AS you can see, it's mostly rust and void of paint.
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Another angle of it all.
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First of a couple of shots of the underneath, really dirty and some rust. I'm thinking I might take a wire brush to this, and see if I can clean it up some. I know if I have to do any work under there I'll get an eye full of dirt.
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Some really nasy looking rust on the rear support beam. The pocket on the right has some too. can't really see the left side as it's got the emissions stuff in the way. Yes, the lines look rusty too, but I might try and leave them for now, as I've got a full plate around here without adding more work.
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Tank out of the sub, and you can see a wet spot on the wall above the seam.
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One of 2 wet spots on the seam.
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The other side rear seam leak. Just like Connie mentioned, seam leaks are common rust, and common spots for fuel tank leaks.
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And finally the bare frame ready to accept the new parts (old link ends are gone now (cut them off with a Metabo).

All in all it went fairly smooth, I followed Connie's tips, but I still had to completely disassemble the drum brakes to get the cables out. Unfortunately I did have 1 problem, and that was the left rear shock bolt (bottom bolt). It was welded/rusted to the bushing in the shock. No beating would free it, so out came the hot wrench, and it was sliced off. Not what I wanted to do, but there was no other choice. Rear shocks (not lowered) will get done this summer (moved up on the list) to fix it though, as the bushing is gone now. All the other bolts came out like they were supposed to. Connie, there's the 4 main bolts, a brake cable to bracket bolt (2), the shock thru bolt (2), the 3 hoses, and the brake lines. Plus drop the exhaust off the rubber hangers, and a sawzall (with a good blade). In my case I ran the tank down until the low fuel light came on, versus punching a hole in it. I still might do that though.

I started scrapping off the industrial rust, then I'm going to wire brush it and shoot some primer and paint on it so it might last a few more years. I'll work on prepping the tank with the sender and stuff, so it'll be ready to go together. I also want to knock some of the dirt off the bottom of the floor, as I can see that'll be a problem for me down the road. I only saw 1 compression fitting under there, but don't know if it was a supply line or a return, but someone fixed something under there.
Someday I might restore it (like Blazin did to that Acura), but I don't know if I'll go to his level of finish or not. I mostly build drivers, as I prefer to be able to get into something, put the key in it, and drive off for many hours.
I'll post up some more progress pics as I go along.
 

Blazinqwickly

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This is going to be your new best friend, ;)

http://www.por15.com/

Really good stuff man, I kid you not.

You are making really good headway with it, like you said at least you got a mild walk threw with connie having to do the same thing, so now you just need your shoulder to give you a break :)
 

Rusty Accord

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Well, I didn't get as far as I would have liked, but I did make some progress,
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This is about as clean as I'm going to get with this subframe. It's full of deep pits. I may look for another one some day, but for now I'm going to use it.
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Another shot of the subframe. This time looking at the other side of it.
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So, I shot it in some PPG epoxy primer, with a rattle can top coat (VHT). I hit it as much as I could, and dumped 2 layers on it.
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A shot of the left side. Figured I couldn't hurt it putting something on the rust.
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Right side got a coat too. I don't think it'll stay, but it'll look good until it's under the car again.
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Here's a shot for Blazin of the gear end of the home built rotisserie.
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Another shot of the gear end.
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Look at the dust. Man I gotta clean that up. That's the problem with dark cars in dusty places.
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Here's the new fuel tank. Just gotta strip the old tank of the parts I need to install on to it, then it can go into the subframe and back under the car where it belongs.
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Here's the end links and bushings.

I've still got the front to do, but it'll probably be after the weekend/rear subframe/tank job is done. Yeah, I'm not as fast as Connie is, but I didn't plan on doing it in a day either. At this point I don't have to mess with the lines. I did get under it and brush off some of the dirt. What I did find though, was the heat shields had about an inch of dust/dirt on them. I smacked it, and watched the dirt just fall off. Still need to do the rear bumper too, as the pockets are full of dirt. I bet if I took a wet rag I could take the remaining dust/dirt off the bottom. Right now it's just a very light layer, and rubbing your hand across it takes most of it off. It's actually a lot cleaner than it seems.
 

Rusty Accord

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This is going to be your new best friend, ;)

http://www.por15.com/

Really good stuff man, I kid you not.

You are making really good headway with it, like you said at least you got a mild walk threw with connie having to do the same thing, so now you just need your shoulder to give you a break :)

Actually I wish I had some Master Series, as that would work better than POR15 on it. I've used Por before, and I'm not impressed with it. Now Master Series, that's a different story. I used it on a buddies rusty truck frame a few years ago (it was just as pitted, and rusty from sitting in a field for 10 years), and only wire brushed it, then brush painted it on. It's help up great since then, and still looks as good as the day I did it. That sold me on it. He's still got the truck too, and he does drive it in our winters. If I had some here, I would have used it instead. :O
 

Rusty Accord

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So glad I don't have to worry about rust as much in my area. I feel for ya my friend :waytogo:

Yeah, it's just another thing those of us in the "salt belt" have to deal with. Like I said, I'll work with it for now, and look for a replacement unit in the future. I don't know how long it'll last, as it looked worse than it actually was (it's still pretty solid).
 

Blazinqwickly

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Thanks for the heads up about the Master series, I am always up for trying new products, only reason I suggested the por was the cars around here have held up nice with it, but then again your harsher climate might need something a lil different.
 

Rusty Accord

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Time for an update again as my regular computer decided it didn't want to play nice, and lost everything I had typed/was going to put into this thread tonight.First order of business was to remove the pump and tank vent off the old tank, and install them on the new tank (no pics of that).
2rzz5uq.jpg

Here's a side shot of the tank installed in the subframe.
e02yad.jpg

And this is more of a head on shot. Right after these 2 shots, I started plumbing it, and adding some parts.
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Here you can see the plumbing added, and if you squint hard, you can see the sway bar end link is in place, as I did the sway bar bushings with the sub flipped over. I tightened the lowers while I had it that way, then once righted tightened the upper part of the links.
20uxr3m.jpg

Here's the right side, and the link is clearly visible in this shot. I figured this was as good a time as any to install them. It was also right after this shot that my camera died (dead battery). So I put it on the charger, and kept working on the car. By the time it charged up, I had the sub moved under the car, and bolted in place.
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Here's a pic of the left side with it all bolted in place. The brakes still need to be assembled, but the cable is in place and bolted to the backing plate.
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Here's a shot of the rear from under the bumper cover. I should have done something with the hump on the body, but it slipped my mind. I'll see about tring to get something on the rust.
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Here's the right side, showing no brakes too, but it is bolted in place with it's cable attached as well. You can see the tank peeking out between the body and the subframe.

At this time, all I have left to do is reassemble the brakes, bleed them, re-hang the exhaust system and weld my sleeve on, put the rear tires back on, and fuel the car checking for leaks. I do want to toss a torque wrench on some of the bolts and make sure they're to spec though. All in all, a progressive day, and it's getting closer to being back on the ground.
 
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Blazinqwickly

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Time for an update again as my regular computer decided it didn't want to play nice, and lost everything I had typed/was going to put into this thread tonight.First order of business was to remove the pump and tank vent off the old tank, and install them on the new tank (no pics of that).
2rzz5uq.jpg

Here's a side shot of the tank installed in the subframe.
e02yad.jpg

And this is more of a head on shot. Right after these 2 shots, I started plumbing it, and adding some parts.
2h83h3n.jpg

Here you can see the plumbing added, and if you squint hard, you can see the sway bar end link is in place, as I did the sway bar bushings with the sub flipped over. I tightened the lowers while I had it that way, then once righted tightened the upper part of the links.
20uxr3m.jpg

Here's the right side, and the link is clearly visible in this shot. I figured this was as good a time as any to install them. It was also right after this shot that my camera died (dead battery). So I put it on the charger, and kept working on the car. By the time it charged up, I had the sub moved under the car, and bolted in place.
1z5rbxd.jpg

Here's a pic of the left side with it all bolted in place. The brakes still need to be assembled, but the cable is in place and bolted to the backing plate.
ao7xno.jpg

Here's a shot of the rear from under the bumper cover. I should have done something with the hump on the body, but it slipped my mind. I'll see about tring to get something on the rust.
smt7ad.jpg

Here's the right side, showing no brakes too, but it is bolted in place with it's cable attached as well. You can see the tank peeking out between the body and the subframe.

At this time, all I have left to do is reassemble the brakes, bleed them, re-hang the exhaust system and weld my sleeve on, put the rear tires back on, and fuel the car checking for leaks. I do want to toss a torque wrench on some of the bolts and make sure they're to spec though. All in all, a progressive day, and it's getting closer to being back on the ground.

You have been a busy man, looking good though and that rust does not stand a chance around you !
 
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