james'99 1999 Accord Coupe EX-L F23A1 5MT

james'99

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James'99 Accord Coupe EX-L 4 Cylinder 5 Speed Manual

Current State:



Body:
'02 Coupe Bumper Swap
'02 Side Skirts
'02 "Mugen" (What the ad said, haha) Type Urethane Front lip
OEM Wing
OEM Half Nose Mask
Aftermarket "OEM" Fogs (autolightsbulbs.com)
OEM Wheels wrapped in Pirelli P4 tires

Engine / Performance:
Short Ram Intake
Big 3 Upgrade
NGK Platinum Plugs
EXEDY OEM Clutch

Suspension:
Megan Racing Strut Bar

Interior / ICE
01-02 Climate Control Swap
01-02 Coupe Headrests
Blue LED lit Interior (Don't do this if you actually need to read stuff, Haha!)
Sparco Speed Shift Knob
Wood Grain "Delete"

Near Future Upgrades:
Tanabe Drop Springs NF210
Bi-Xenon Retrofit OEM Housings with custom DRL wiring for OEM highbeam and eyelids

OEM Exhaust Tip
2002 OEM side skirts, on the way
2002 4 Cyl Coupe Alloy Wheels w/ Wheel Locks
Mount amplifier to back of seat in trunk on MDF making the subwoofer even more easily removed in a time of need of a trunk.
3M CF wrap shifter console, window switch bezels, and possibly climate controls.

Down, down the line:
Repair Leather Seats for "Typical" Accord Rips

Alright, so the story begins in November of 2012. Bought the car from a guy in North Brunswick, NJ. Appeared to have 104,000mi on the clock. Needed a clutch and a lot of body work. In any case, I thought I was off to a great start for $3,150.

First day, gross interior came out. Washed all carpets and plastics. Got it looking and smelling as nice as possible.









As you can see, the installer of the intake didn't have much of an idea what he was doing so my father and I fabricated a new mounting style I would later due to a design flaw that didn't account for torque from the motor loosening the mount and causing squeaking. I don't believe I have a picture but a mount will be later fabricated that goes right down to the tranny so the intake and the drive-train torque together.





Intake Bracket Rev. A

Following this was just all fluids flush, plugs, pcv valve, etc.

Christmas and Birthday rolled around. New Exedy OEM clutch. JVC KD-A735BT Headunit and GTO-938 rear deck speakers. Fronts had already been replaced. Clutch went in the day after Christmas after I killed what was left of the clutch practicing parallel parking Christmas day.

I didn't have my license. I was 17. Used the car as kind of a ploy on my mom to let me get a license because what's a car without a license?

January, took road test. Passed on a 5 speed! :party36:

Now let the real stuff begin.

Intentions for the car were '02 bumpers and OEM fogs, new trunk lid with OEM wing, new door to replace the one being held together with Bondo and a driver side fender.

2013 rolled through. Little mods were early. Didn't touch much. Soon would find out that my car was a victim of mileage fraud. Probably now has upwards of 200k+. On top of being mad, I was already to far in love with the car to let it go as my mom would have liked (She wanted to take the previous owner to court). I said screw it, Did vital maintenance. Replaced timing belt and water pump. Finishing out high school was expensive enough with prom and such but after, I picked up a Megan Racing strut bar that I installed on a fellow owners 6th gen that he later totaled that week. Off that car, I picked up misc. parts such as the gas tank thermistor to repair the indicator on the dash, interior LEDs, and other little stuff. Nothing big to see here.

Then, I picked up a windjammer off a buddy's car after he lost some hardware in the wind. Didn't care for how it looked on his 6th gen. Called Benevento. Sent new free hardware, no questions asked.



First day of college, driving to school, starts to rain, window motor starts to slip at the top. New window motor and regulator next day, $100.

Couple weeks later, my car is struck by a friend riding a 50cc dirt bike in the front driver side wheel well. Clearly, he had no idea how to ride. Long story to go with that but anyway, this is where body work begins.



This is what came of the strike after I did what I could.

I acquired a junkyard door and trunk lid with spoiler.









2014 rolls around. Blew my front speakers. Invested in a component system from kicker, bought a 10" kicker sub and tied it all together with a PDX-V9 amplifier. I plan to write this up more closely later as a lot of love went into it to make the wiring the best quality.

Cody, Got02Accord, built me Big 3 harnesses for my 4 cylinder in the same fashion he fabricated his for his V6 which you will find in the master DIY section. We will be writing up this Big 3 soon.



Soon acquired a fender.





Car went through a full paint correction with Cody.





Completed an 01-02 climate control swap.

Today, rolls around. 1/13/2015

Cody and I plan to swap cars for a bit. He asked that I do a tire rotation for him because his back hurt and he would swap my headlight lense for me.



We swap. Best quote ever from Cody.

"Hey, James. Where's the drive in this thing?"

I get to love the J30 for a bit while some other stuff is going on.


Cody's car




Little did I know a Cody, and a couple others, namely Tommy and Cathryn would be doing everything but the headlight lense for me.

Later, the car is returned to me. Boy, was I surprised.





02 bumper swap complete. I was stunned beyond belief.

Thank you Cody, Tommy and Cathryn. I appreciate the fact that you recognized me this holiday season and for my twentieth birthday as there couldn't have been a better gift (Until they told me a front lip and OEM fogs were on the way).

I had started ordering parts for it due to arrive this week. Clips and other misc. parts such as the correct license plate lights.

Anyway, this is a lot of it. I will continue to build a full modification list expand upon more as I know there is a lot more forgotten here and a lot more to be said.

Thanks a lot to those involved in making my car what it is. I love you all. This is the absolute best.

Fogs, emblem, and hood bra installed! Retrofit headlights by Got02Accord coming soon.



 
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Got02Accord

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Re: James' '99 Accord Coupe EX-L F23A1 5MT

Never did find drive. Found R for race mode though.

For those that don't know james, He is a incredible friend and a incredible person. Been through highs and lows and basically under appreciated by many. Tommy, Cathryn and I have all been helped an uncountable amount of times by James so we wanted to make the start of 2015 one he wouldn't forget. You will be seeing alot of threads this year from us as far as write ups and car meets!
 

james'99

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Re: James' '99 Accord Coupe EX-L F23A1 5MT

Thanks a lot Cody!

Definitely unforgettable. You lost my radio presets...

On a more serious note though Cody, there are very few like you in my life that do make what I try to do worth it and I thank you in the highest for being one of those few. Thanks a lot man. Here's to the future of our cars as this is still only the beginning of an incredible life-long friend/bro-ship.
 

puzzlemaster94

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Re: James' '99 Accord Coupe EX-L F23A1 5MT

Looks good, especially for low miles. Just fix it up and it will look great.
 

james'99

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Re: James' '99 Accord Coupe EX-L F23A1 5MT

Looks good, especially for low miles. Just fix it up and it will look great.

Thanks bud! Only wish the miles were low. Appeared low at first but further into the post, I mention that it was unfortunately a rolled back odometer which I found out probably 6 months after purchase. I was mad but it makes 195 psi of compression across the 4 cylinders so I'm happy.
 

puzzlemaster94

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Re: James' '99 Accord Coupe EX-L F23A1 5MT

^Oh, missed that part. My bad. At least you don't have to deal with a deathly autotragic.
 

james'99

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Very deathly. Haha! I love the car though and the mileage is what it is. Car isn't going anywhere and I'm never gonna get out what I put in so I'm just going to purely enjoy it.
 

Sil2DrV6

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Nice intro thread. Enjoyed reading it. Off to a good start so far...
+1.

I enjoyed it, too and thanks for sharing your stories. So happy to see SSM coupes together. :) Really wish you two were my neighbors, 'cause I don't get to see any 6gen SSM coupes in my area like you guys, who enjoy working on cars.
 

RedRyder

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Wow that’s quite the backstory on your car. It really sucks someone tried to screw you over with the false odometer but it sounds like you’ve made the most of it. Looks like the car is coming together, keep up the good work.
 
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