Soon was yesterday.
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Alright. So, I have no idea what’s going on with the driveshaft. First it didn’t leak, then it did for a while, and now it doesn’t leak again. I haven’t done anything to it during this time. When I did find out that it was leaking, however, I got so pissed off that I bought a new car. Well, new for me at least. I present to you:
1998 Honda Accord 1.8 i S
Yeah.
It’s a Honda, and I like it! It has a nice, rev-happy engine, a suspension setup that strikes a good balance between sportiness and comfort and it’s in good condition. I’ve spotted only three small spots of rust: in front of the rear arches on both sides and behind the right-side front arch, under the mudflap.
It has 204kkm on the clock, which isn’t much… In Finland 
a set of good winter tires and a decent set of summer tires. I’m thinking of buying some nice (used) wheels for it, too, mostly for the looks.
It’s pretty mint on the inside, too. I have no idea what that… pad thing is on the dash and I don’t want to touch it. Maybe I’ll peel it off with a screwdriver or something. The sound system is pretty bad, even worse than in the Clio. Clio has two semi-high quality speakers though, this one has… two a bit shit ones. Someone has taken the rear speakers out, the bastard.
How much did it set me back? 1500€.
What about Clio, then? Well, I washed and waxed it and drove it in a warm garage that I rented. It can stay there and sleep through the winter. Maybe next summer I can get some work done on it since I have a better daily now.
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Nice purchase, hope it serves you well. Always liked that gen Accords.
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Hey my dudes and dudettes, been away for a while. Again.
Not much has happened, honestly. Clio is asleep, I’ll wake it up when spring comes properly. Accord is running magnificently, the only problem with it is an SRS problem and I have no idea whatsoever what the problem is. It just lit up one time when I started it up.
That aside, I have done something to the Accord. With some help from a friend we installed new front and rear coaxial speakers, making all music sound about 5x better.
Oh and when installing the front speakers I, being the ass I am, locked myself out of the car. Luckily the front doors weren’t closed shut properly, meaning that we could slip a metal bar and some electric wire with a noose on the end inside the car. Then we reverse-hung the lock knob.
We are damn good engineers.
Also I’m going to put some second-hand OZ’s on the Accord.
Got them for 400€ with a decent set of tires. Yes, there’s 4 of them. I’m not that dumb. These will have to wait until spring as well. There will be a pic when these are installed.
That’s really everything from the last 7 months. Woah. Very boring. Idk how to end this now. Maybe with a sentence which will end with the word poo.
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Alright, fuck me.
Been away. Was on a ship as a cadet for 2 months. Flew home today from Belgium. Haven’t got the OZ’s installed on the Accord. Have to stay in my suicide apartment for 2 weeks because of quarantine. I can’t even remember what my Clio looks like 
If you care, the route was Kokkola-Hamburg-Narvik-Bremen-Vysotsk-Ghent and we mostly hauled iron pellets and coal.
But not to worry, my friends! I have plans for Clio. Big plans. Plans that already taken shape in some small form. I won’t say too much now, you’ll know in a couple of weeks.
Honestly though I’m not sure if this plan’ll work, but i’ve already sunk quite a bit of money into it, so it better work! Otherwise I’ll be sad. And broke. But mostly just sad.
Here, have a picture of some stuff when we were going to the port of Bremen, just to prove I’m not bullshitting you:
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Nice to see that my old Clio is still alive! Sort of. Here’s a picture from 2009.
Btw. I think original gear ratio was perfect. Atleast when I had it, it was very lightly modified and 5th gear maxed around 215-220km/h @7200rpm. But it didnt feel stable at speeds over 200km/h.
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Oh, this was amazing to see, thank you!
And I have a treat for you today, oh yes. This is the big plan I mentioned:
An F7R. From a Mégane. Built for endurance racing and capable of pushing out a bit over 190hp. And I’m going to put this bad boy in the Clio 
Yeah. Cost me 1000€. This was a spare engine as well so there’s a chance it was never really raced.
So what does it have?
- High comp pistons
- Reworked cylinder head
- Vernier pulleys
- Aggressive cams
- Hydraulic valve lifters
What do I need to make it all work?
- New clutch and starter (starter doesn’t turn and makes smoke, no joke)
- Injectors
- Piggyback ECU
- Broadband lambda
- AFR meter wouldn’t hurt
- Something else what I probably forgot to put here
So basically just setting money on fire. To get it to really shine I also need a new exhaust manifold and take the whole thing to a tuner who actually knows how to set up an ecu.
I have no idea why I’m doing this to myself. It’s going to take a while.
Also OZ’s on the Accord, woo!
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Alright boyos, I have some news.
Not good news, not bad news, neutral news.
I have decided to postpone the engine swap, because it’s going to be a way bigger job than I had anticipated, I’m ill-prepared and my motivation is quite low atm.
The main problem is the way the engines handle the ignition. The f7r has coil packs on top of the engine which are simply connected to the ecu. The f7p has a distributor system. After reading many posts on several Renault forums and rigorously checking both engines I have come to the conclusion that there are 3 ways of doing the swap.
- Quickest, easiest way: Take the head off the f7p and put it on top of the f7r. No, really. Then the engine could run with the same electrics and stuff. the flywheel also has to be taken from the f7p for this to work. However, it would mean that the f7r’s rebuilt head would be wasted and I still most likely would need the piggyback and injectors to make it run properly!
- Rework the f7r’s head so that the exhaust cam can turn the distributor. This is the one where I say “haha, no”
- The way I want it to be done: Get a standalone ECU, wire and tune the fucker perfectly so that the engine runs smooth like a baby’s cheek
Fun times all around. I’ll prepare parts and stuff during the winter, probably. But for now, the project is shelved. However, I’m going to try to fix smaller stuff and take it inspected so I can have a summer car.
And seriously, I want to make this happen (fastest Clio 1 in Finland???) and so much of this project is just bolt-on (engine mounts, clutch, gearbox, cooling…) but the damn ignition is getting in my way.
Also the brakes on the Honda are behaving a bit weird so i’ll have to sort them out too.
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It’s been a while, again.
But a bunch of things have happened!
First of all, someone kicked/ran at/crashed into the Accord.
Bastards.
The insurance company told me to shove it, which is always nice. I still have no idea how the damage occurred or who did it. And of course it wasn’t me, perhaps I would have noticed a crash that leaves a dent that big. What makes this even more mysterious is that the car was parked in a yard in the middle of a field/woods, where not a lot people move around. On the upside, the damage is only cosmetic and can probably be mended even by me, whose bodywork repair skills are quite poor.
In much happier news I rented a garage with a friend, in which we can engage in all kinds of vehicular shenanigans. Now, I don’t have any pictures of it when it was empty, since those are all on my old phone which is very much dead. It’s dead because I might have dropped a brake caliper on it, oops. I do have some newer pictures though, but the layout isn’t quite as clear in those. I’ll drop these at the end of the post for those who are interested. I must say that while it isn’t perfect, it’s an absolute steal. We pay pennies compared to its location and space.
Anyways, the funny baguette car. It looks like this:
The rear looks like this (check out that baller fender flare):
And the engine looks like this:
Now, the plan is to fix the rust damage in the engine bay and repaint it properly. The engine will get all new gaskets, piston rings and main bearings, an overall condition check and a fresh coat of paint. At this moment it’s honestly looking pretty good especially considering the 370kkm mileage. The cylinders show almost no wear. The head hasn’t been checked yet. I’ll probably find something to ruin my day though. Lots of parts already have already been deemed to be in “this should have been replaced a few years ago” -condition, but most of them are common, cheap-ish parts. Some of these include the distributor, crank sealings and the timing belt assembly.
It must be mentioned that the process of taking the engine out of the chassis took two days of work. There always seemed to be something in the way and the worst offender was the exhaust manifold. Whatever we did, it did not budge. The bolts were so amazingly rusted shut that you wouldn’t believe. After we got the engine out, the manifold took almost two days to took off as well! I was so frustrated that I wanted to cut it off with an angle grinder. And the manifold weighs a TON. It’s as heavy if not heavier than a turbo+cast manifold, which is quite ridiculous.
There’s probably a lot more I could put here, after all it’s been almost 2 years after the last post. However, I want to get this out before I procrastinate on making a post for another year or so and there’s only a limited amount of stuff I can put here before it becomes too arduous to read.
Photos of the garage
Sorry for the blurriness, my phone’s wide lens is crappy
Entrance, hang-out area
Main garage
Primary workshop table
Back corner, secondary workshop table further ahead. The doorway leads to a small storage space.
It’s a controlled chaos.
See you in 2025 lol
7 Likes
Guys
GUYS
I’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake.
I’ve gotten into boating.
1980 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale
Oh no, my money! It disappeared in one fell swoop!
Yeah, umm. It’s a very old boi and I’m absolutely in love with it. It checks all the boxes of a summer car, such as:
- Vee Eit
- Rumblin’
- Absolute Unit
- Torque for days
- Runs and moves (rarity around these parts)
- Slight fixing required
Alright, let’s get to technicalities. It moves around with a bone-stock 5.0l (307cui Olds) V8 paired to a TH200 slushbox. Both seem reasonably happy to be alive, though the engine seems to run a bit rich and one of the exhaust manifold gaskets has given up, producing a “plat plat plat” sound under load. The engine has been swapped to the current one due to the fact that this specimen rolled out of the factory with the dreadful Olds diesel engine.
The paint and bodywork are not too pretty. On the bonnet there are large sections of clear coat peeling off. On the rear quarter panels and roof spots of black primer can be seen. The rust situation is good, there are some holes on the bottom (which is to be expected) but they’re small and easily reachable and I happen to know a welder who can fix them for a reasonable price. However, unlike 78%* of all the American cars here in Finland, the bodywork has not been kicked in by it’s previous owners.
*Not real data
The interior (no pictures because I’m a doofus) is in absolutely amazing condition. The upholstery is almost completely rip-free and hasn’t been stained. There are no cracks in plastic and no obvious color fade. It’s just great. And the seats make you think that you’re sitting on clouds.
Weirdly enough, the speedo is in kph. This is due to the fact that this car was originally sold here.
To-do list:
- Nicer wheels (cool steelies can be had for a bargain)
- Adjust carb
- Paint touch-ups and rust repair
- (Maybe) dual exhaust pipes with closeable sound… valve… thing
- (Maybe) lowering springs
- (Super maybe) tubular exhaust headers
So here we are. Another thing to distract me from building the Clio. Progress has been a bit slow, I’ve been working and the project has entered the electrics phase. Shudder. I’ve been combing through the electrics with a multimeter, chasing ghosts and soldering new wires where needed.
I did paint the engine block though. Looks nice.
No I don’t have pictures. Didn’t I already tell you that I’m a doofus?
Oh and I found out why Clio was running badly and super rich. The ground wire of the lambda sensor was cut.
FROM TWO DIFFERENT PLACES!
Oh and the garage got flooded because of surprise torrential rain and Clio’s ECU got filled with water. Opened it, dried it, now hoping that it still works. I think it does, if those 90s capacitors still had charge after a year of being unpowered they’re the absolute best capacitors I’ve ever seen. Opening the ECU also revealed a Superchips performance chip. So that’s cool.
Alright, I think I’ve rambled enough for one night. This is DJ Stryker Detsi, signing off.
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Perhaps another upgrade for both performance and driveability would be swapping the TH200 for a 700R4. Should be straightforward too.
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I have returned to haunt these lands.
Oh man, where to start? First off, I’m finally started assembling the Clio’s engine. This was achieved by being cured of “acute case of being poor” and purchasing some parts - piston rings, main and conrod bearings, thrust washers and a full gasket kit just to name a few. But tragedy struck right at the beginning. Turns out I had ordered the wrong thrust washers, as they were 0,1mm thicker than the stock ones. This meant that the crankshaft wouldn’t fit in the engine block, leaving me stumped right on the starting line. Now I’ll have to order new ones and some other parts that I forgot to order, because of course I did.
This didn’t stop me though. I started to inspect the cylinder head and valves and this led me to find out that some of the valves are quite leaky and could not hold even 1 bar of pressure. Thankfully we had a valve grinding set at the garage and the gasket set included gaskets for the valve stems. Off to work, then!
Haha, it wasn’t that easy.
Disassembly, grinding, inspecting the valve and fitting a new valve stem gasket were pretty straightforward. But the assembly wasn’t quite as easy. Thanks to the fact that the head comes from a somewhat high-powered N/A engine the valve springs are quite stiff. And I don’t have any valve compressing tools. Crap.
“But what if I just push so hard down on the spring that the thingies that keep the valve in place just go to their places?”
Well, that would break the table.
I mean it was some MDF crap anyway, but I decided to go to the bar after that. Next day I also bought a valve spring compressing tool.
Well, uh. Guess which one works better, a specialized tool designed to do this one job, or a clamp and a socket with a hole cut to its side?
(Christ, whan will I learn to keep my hands steady when taking pictures?)
The clamp hack, of course.
This is because the valve springs are located in these small recesses and the cylinder head is too thick for the compressor tool. I compress the spring with the clamp and put the bits in place with a screwdriver through the hole on the socket. This method may be is dangerous, so don’t do it, unless you want a socket hitting your head like a bullet.
Well, at least I can do it now. I’ve done 4 out of the total 16 as it is quite slow. The grinding takes quite a bit of time.
Randomly, I’ve also lost a new control arm. I remember having it and holding it in my hand and my friend remembers that I’ve showed it to him, so… Where is it? We’ve turned the whole garage upside down trying to find it and we just can’t. It’s not that small either. Maybe we hallucinated the whole damn thing.
As for the Honda, it’s… a car. It works. It’s a car. Is good. Nice. Good sound system. Good. Yes.
I’ll have to do a properly big brake job for it this summer though. It’ll get new discs, pads, slide pins and maybe even pistons, if it needs them. At the same time I can also change the wheel bearings to the front axle. Why? Well, replacing the brake discs to the front axle is quite a project, as seen on the MG-Rover forums.
Yep, it’s a Rover, don’t question it. I found this out only fairly recently.
Now, the Olds.
Holy crap, it just works. It doesn’t care about anything. It just goes. It’s also quite efficient in coverting fuel into smoke and noise. Going forward is secondary. Making rumbling noises (and a smile on my face) is the primary function of the engine.
Also, wheeeelzzz
They’re Olds Super Stocks on super old Radial T/A’s. They’re so old that the front tires don’t have a date of manufacture. That means they may be from the 90’s. The rear tires are made back in '07. I’m sure they’re fine.
You may also have spotted the funni Lexus hood ornament. We made it as a placeholder, because I want an actual hood ornament but they cost quite a lot just for a bit of plastic. I may have to 3d print a proper badge at school or something.
I bought some parts as well for it. New window seals for all the side windows to eliminate wind noise and a gasket set for the engine. Some other bits and bobs as well as they were pretty close to being free. Straight from the States, I might add.
And because I haven’t done it yet, sooooound cheeeeeck!
It usually runs better than that, but that’s what you’re getting now!
I also took some pictures of the interior and engine since I forgot to do that for the last post and some others to show off the wheels. I also found the car’s cousin at a car meet 
Looking at these now, I have come to a conclusion that I have no idea how to take pictures. It might be my phone, but it’s most likely me. Especially the engine and interior pics, yuck! But I guess you have to start somewhere…
Idk man, I guess that’s it. Progress is slow, as it always has been. Maybe it’s just part of the process. I’ll go to sleep now, it’s 2AM. Bye, I guess 
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