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

RedRyder said:

Sorry about your luck, guessing they didn't leave a note. But it will look nice with the new paint!

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james'99 said:

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

Current State:



Body:
'02 Coupe Bumper Swap
'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

Down the line, 2015:
Paint - If full paint job, SSM with blue flake else it will just be bumpers and dent repair.
Body Side Moulding if I see fit
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!

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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rooky said:

That was hell of a story, but it was interesting plus those type of friends are a keeper.

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james'99 said:

Built a daytime running light harness today to use the oem high beam location for when I have the mini H1's installed. I ran the two bulbs in series to cut the power in half to them. They looked great! Relay 1 is triggered on by an add a fuse on the sprayer/sun roof relay fuse with a 2A fuse and relay 2 is triggered off by headlight on. Didn't hack any OEM wires. Only messed with extension wires going to my HID ballasts. Override toggle switch hidden under dash. A 7.5A fuse inline off relay 2 to supply from battery Will post picture asap.

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whitederic said:

Saw the video, I like it alot!!

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