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

Rusty Accord

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Well, today I spent changing out the pressure side of the power steering line. Damn, I thought that the return side was a PIA, the pressure side is worse, in that you have to snake it around stuff just to get it to sit in the right place for it to bolt up. To get it in place, I fed the steering rack end of the line in place, then sent the upper part of the line up to the top of the engine. I worked both halfs from the middle, just above where the exhaust pipe sits. I'm glad I don't have a header on it, or it could have been worse. Once the bottom fitting was tight, it was just a matter of doing a little wiggling to get it to literally drop onto the pump. Figured I'd clean the res while I had the system open, and got the crap and dirty old (remaining) fluid out. Well worth doing. Also, I dropped the exhaust out from under it too. I did have 1 nut on the manifold give me a bunch of problems trying to get it off. The hot wrench did help, but it was still a PIA to get off.
Everyone remembers this; pretty crusty, and the muffler is still trying to rust thru in places (Michigan salt is tough on stainless steel).
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The old cat was a Bosal replacement, that was trying to rust out.
Well it's getting replaced with this;
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That's going on Wednesday, as the car is prepped for it at the moment.
 

Rusty Accord

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Ok, got it plumbed in place. Seems a shame, as that cat back exhaust is a work of art. Really hated to have to hide it under the car. Definitely sounds different. More like my son's '08 Civic Si 6 speed (that has an aftermarket exhaust system). It'll take a few days to get used to it, as it's a little louder in the upper ranges than what the old system was. We'll see if it really needed a cat, or just a downstream O2 sensor. Well, if the code comes back I'll just replace the sensor too, then I should be done under there. About the only thing I don't care for though, is the use of 2 - 7/16ths bolts to join the 2 middle pieces of pipe together. They seemed to be about a 1/4" too short. I may change them out with some slightly longer 3/8ths bolts, and use some nyloc nuts to lock them down. They're the only 2 that don't have any nyloc nuts on the system. I only say that, as that's what I used instead of the "regular" nuts that were included in the kits that I used to install it. I got the entire system from several suppliers, as I shopped around trying to get the best price on it. ;)
In looking thru the "exhaust review" thread, the price of the cat back part hasn't really gone up since 2008, and cat prices have also held steady, or slightly dropped since then as well. It was a little difficult to spend approximately 600 for an exhaust system, but being made out of stainless steel means it'll be around for a long long time. :) And the best part is that I shouldn't have to do anything to it for a very long time. :)
 

RedRyder

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Nice, reminds me of when I had my Magnaflow unboxed and laid out ready to go on. The V6 catback price has skyrocketed for some reason, I paid $430 or so for it and now it's twice that or more. Not sure why.

It will break in after a couple weeks, mine did anyway. And Magnaflows sound even better with time, good choice.
 

Rusty Accord

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Nice, reminds me of when I had my Magnaflow unboxed and laid out ready to go on. The V6 catback price has skyrocketed for some reason, I paid $430 or so for it and now it's twice that or more. Not sure why.

It will break in after a couple weeks, mine did anyway. And Magnaflows sound even better with time, good choice.

Yeah, I shopped around and got it for 487 shipped. Everyone else wanted 532 for it. I don't know about "break in", but it definitely sounds different from the full on stock unit I removed. But then I think the old cat was plugged or partly plugged, which would quiet it down some too (had a P0420 code).
 

Enne

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I recently put a new cat and Magnaflow muffler/Pace Setter headers on my Camaro. Sounds way better than before. I'm glad I went with Magnaflow. I'm sure you'll dig it on your Accord!

There is a bit of change in tone from the muffler after a while, I guess you could call it a break-in period. It was a little raspy right after install but that completely disappeared after a week or so.
 

Rusty Accord

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I recently put a new cat and Magnaflow muffler/Pace Setter headers on my Camaro. Sounds way better than before. I'm glad I went with Magnaflow. I'm sure you'll dig it on your Accord!

There is a bit of change in tone from the muffler after a while, I guess you could call it a break-in period. It was a little raspy right after install but that completely disappeared after a week or so.

Ok, I didn't know what I was looking for, but now I know it's a change in tone. Seems ok at the moment. I have been using it more lately though, so maybe it'll change and I'll be able to hear the difference. I was so used to the stock set up being so quiet, that this system seemed kind of loud at times. It's more throaty with the Magnaflow on it, and I can hear when I'm on the gas and when I'm not.
It's just a matter of getting used to it. On a side note, I've got a Magnaflow cat back on my 2006 Chevy pick up (with a V6), and I love the sound of it. :)
 

Rusty Accord

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Well, it's been a busy few days here, as I tore the front end out of the Rusty Accord. I'd been gathering the parts to do this job since the end of last month, and finally gathered up what I needed to be able to do it. I'd been hearing some noise up front (hub bearing noise) even before I put the snow tires on it. So, Sunday became the day to tear it apart, as it was still semi warm out (for Michigan it's kind of odd at this time of year). Anyway, First order of business was taking the brakes off, along with removing the big axle nut. Then all of the cotter pins were removed, so the nuts could be taken off (17mm). Next was removing the rotors. Needless to say the screws were rusted solid and had to be drilled out/off, then I had to literally beat the rotors off as they were rusted to the hubs. I wasn't too worried about the old rotors, as I had planned on replacing them (already had them here). Now that that stuff was done, I installed the hub puller and slide hammer tool. I worked that tool for over an hour and a half before the left hub finally came off. Then I moved over to the right side and spent 2 hours on it, and it didn't even budge. Needless to say that tool wasn't working, so I took it back. I had also broke 3 lug studs using that tool, so I won't ever use it again for this kind of work. I stopped by my local Advanced Auto (on my way back from the Zone) and ordered up 4 lug studs to replace those that got snapped off. Once I got back, I looked at the 1 I had off, and tried ti figure out what work to get the other one off, as I had some stuff sitting on the work bench I thought I could use. Then it hit me while looking around, I'll just make an improvised driver out of some odds and ends (see pics below) using a 1" to 3/4" bell reducer, since it fits inside the bearing, and a 3" piece of galvanized pipe slides thru the spines of the hub itself(keeping it aligned). Now I just needed something beefy to hit on. I found that in a sleeve out of an old bushing, and welded it into the 1 inch side of the reducer fitting (gotta love having some plumbing bits laying around). A couple of wacks with the hammer and out it came (less than 10 minutes). Next up was getting the big snap ring out/off. Once that was done it was onto the bearings. I used a "sleeve" I made, as the kit I bought (19 piece) the largest sleeve was 91mm OD, but the inside of it is 87mm, and the bearing is 88. D'oh. So I built 1 out of a 4" coupler and a 1/4 inch plate with a hole in the center of it. The arbor and some of the larger spacers were used, and it pulled those bearings out like a hot knife slices thru butter. At this point I cleaned up and called it a day, while figuring out what my next steps were to be. Needless to say my arms and in particular my right shoulder ( I'm still recovering from that damn torn rotator cuff) were hurting.
Here's some pics of were I stopped Sunday night.
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Monday I started out with knocking out the old lower ball joints. These were OE parts, in that there wasn't a snap ring used as a keeper/safety device. I then pressed them in using a tool I borrowed from a friend of mine. I borrowed it to press some bushings and lower ball joints in the Trans Am I'm working on, and just hadn't returned the tool yet, so I figured I'd use it to press in some lower ball joints on my Honda. Worked great for that. Next up was pressing in the hub bearings, which the tool I used for removing the the old bearings with a combination of spacers and the largest sleeve in the kit. They went in easier than they came out, as I froze them in my shop freezer/beer fridge. :) The snap rings went in easier than they came out as well, probably due to the light clean up I gave them. I followed this up with installing the hubs, to finish the spindle assemblies. Next up was removing the strut assembly, so I could replace both upper control arms. Once they were put back together, I installed the assembled spindles, and bolted them up using new cotter pins. Then I removed the tie rods, and replaced them with the new ones I had here. Next I cleaned up the caliper brackets and installed the new ceramic pads and new rotors. At this point, all I had left was putting the tires back on, which I did. Then I did a quick check of the toe in, and called it a day. Sorry I didn't get any pics from Monday's work, but I forgot to bring out my camera. Here's a pick of the left front with the car sitting outside this afternoon.
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I did have to reset the toe in, and I put it at 1/16th toe in, then took it for a road test. Man what a difference. No noise from up front, and everything feels nice and tight. At 233K, all of the old parts that I replaced were definitely showing their age.
Here's some pics of the tools I used for the hub bearing swap. Note some were fabricated, and the kit was bought.
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This is the driver I made up to drive the hub out of the hub bearing.
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These pics show the "sleeve" I made to remove the hub bearing.
Like I said above, the kit I bought didn't have a "sleeve" big enough for the bearing to go into.
I believe the 23 piece one has the larger "sleeve" (101mm OD) that would allow for bearing removal.
I got this kit off e-bay, and the cost of the 4" coupler was 18 bucks plus the plate and welding time.
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Rusty Accord

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I forgot to add this pic of the inside of the blue case.
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This is the bearing removal kit I used.
 

Enne

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Just saw that kit on Amazon. Been thinking about getting the front bearings done next spring/summer even though they're not problematic at this point.
 
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