All sounds good. I guess I need to do some picking to collect the bits necessary to do all this.

I am going to be relegated to maintenance for a while. At least until I get set up at my new shop, and am up and running g again. But as soon as I'm settled... it's on.

I have been driving the bomb since yesterday, and I have to report that it while it still has it's issues, the car is way better than it was. Even with the 85 hemi head messing with the compression, and the turbocharger I raided off the 84 8v. It actually boosts right to the end of the orange, although it really does not come on too strong in 1 and 2. Nothing seems to be leaking, and the motor actually sounds pretty smooth.

The transmission I put in is a little notchy in the cold, and seems to have some trouble going into 5th gear. After a conversation with Gary, I suspect the problem to be the shift linkage. I plan to loosen the clamp, and start fresh with the alignment procedure. It is possible something was a little off when I hooked it up in the first place. The shifter is rather vague, and when it is in 5th gear, it illuminates the back up lights. It also seems like the throws are longer into 1,2, and 5. I think this evidence supports the shifter linkage being wonky. Otherwise, once warm the box shifts nice, and seems to work well. Best of all... NO PINION WHINE! I plan to put a few hundred miles on this box before I drain it and fill it with MT 90.


I need a tan leather (89 tan) drivers seat. I could always find a serviceable pass seat, and try to put the skin on my driver side... I would really like to get the seat heater working too. They are nice to have on those sub freezing mornings.

I am still on the hunt for a rear louver for a sedan. I know they are rare, but with some luck I hope to stumble on one.


I guess now that it is running again, I can get back to some of the fun stuff, Like cutting springs, and trying to fake an old worn out paint job. And T5!

Notchy cold shifting could be the fluid that's in it. Trouble going into 5th and illuminating the reverse light when doing so could be the pin at the bottom of the shifter. Check your linkage alignment and also check the pin length against the spec in the Bently manual (it screws in/out to adjust). Then consider the new fluid.

when you aligned the shifter to the transmission did you utilize the alignment holes? In the older cars I think its 3rd gear?

Yeah I pinned it. I used a drill bit that might have been a little sloppy.

I believe the gear you need to be in is different depending on the year of the car, I am sure it is very close as is.


It just has motor oil in it now. I did not want to spend 50 bucks for flush fluid. I put cheap oil in it to wash out the dirt.

SwedeSport wrote:Yeah I pinned it. I used a drill bit that might have been a little sloppy.

I believe the gear you need to be in is different depending on the year of the car, I am sure it is very close as is.


It just has motor oil in it now. I did not want to spend 50 bucks for flush fluid. I put cheap oil in it to wash out the dirt.

flush fluid = kerosene. Drain your motor oil out, put 2 quarts of the cheapest motor oil you can find in and put a quart of kerosene in to top it off. Take the car for a short drive around the block shifting lightly through all the gears...less than a mile..no hard driving. Come back, drain the oil out, refill with Honda manual tranmission lube. should be good to go.

I bought a can of "Restore" years ago. Opened the can and it was essentially a quart of kerosene.

Why Honda fluid over Red line MT90? Price?

Price.

I RallyX'ed the sedan this past weekend. Ended up with a 1st place in Stock Front Wheel Drive.

The car held up to the punishment of 8 runs on the dirt "tough truck" track. The only casualty was the fuel level sender came apart and dropped into the tank.
I will swap in another one from the pile of parts I have lying around.

Swede, don't the rules preclude you from running in the stock division with the modifications you've made to the car, specifically the T5 swap?

The T5 swap is not yet hooked up and functioning, therefore it has no performance benefit. Until I actually get the car wired up and running on the T5 it is still running on the stock engine management.

The car is otherwise stock. Up until the beginning of the 2013 season, an aftermarket radio was enough to bump you out of stock. They have changed that.

Ran up to Gary's place on Friday. With the help of his lift, we managed to readjust the shift linkage. Much smoother operation than before. 5th gear engages much surer, but it is still a little crunchy going in.

I also developed a clunk in the front suspension. Looks like the tie rod ends are due for replacement. I think I'll put new rack boots on too. I'll pull the half shafts out to clean, reboot, and grease.

The fuel level transmitter shit the bed at the RallyX last weekend, and all the spares I have laying around are broken too. Unfortunately the senders seem to be NLA.

The clunk turned out to be a drivers side lower ball joint that I never tightened the last time I had it apart.

I ended up pulling both CV joints. Cleaned, greased, and rebooted them. I replaced all 4 ball joints while I was in there. And made sure I actually tightened stuff this time.

The Rack is leaking at the input shaft, so I am just going to get a rebuilt rack, and some new hoses for it. I already have new outer tie rod ends on the shelf.

I managed to get one of the fuel level senders working. It was a bit sticky from the gas varnish film. But freed up after driving it some. It's better than nothing.

I broke down and bought a new car stereo for it. The 1995 vintage Sony cassette head unit wasn't cutting it anymore. I ended up getting a Kenwood Blue Tooth CD player. It links up with my phone, so I can make and receive calls thru the stereo. It has a USB drive socket in the face, and with my 16 gig stick, I have a huge music library on it. It only has 25X4 line level output, but has a front, rear, and sub preamp output. It is amazing what you can get for 110 bucks anymore. I am going to use up some of my old stereo stuff in this car. I have a couple of amps that could go to good use in this. And I think I could upgrade the speakers a bit.

A buddy of mine has one of those carpet dash mats for sale. I think it will fit right in with the theme of this car.

I plan to score a CB radio, and antenna for this as well.


BTW I had forgotten how much fun it was to have the E-brake in the back.

Managed to get the sedan hunkered down a little bit this weekend.

SwedeSport wrote:Managed to get the sedan hunkered down a little bit this weekend.

And how did you hunker? Cut or spring swap?