183 replies to this topic

[greasemonkeyreborne 5x1g's]

HOLO Danny and Zack, hope alls going well w you guys..



so last time I did a major maintenance was at 177k. Now at 228. Only parts on this car that aren't honda are the brake pads and the radio and exhaust pipes.

Pulled plugs and looked exceptionally good, checked gap and stuck them back in service.

Pulled rotor and cap. Lightly sanded arc debris. Dizzy shaft had no play whatsoever. Odd since I've heard these motors eat dizzys.

Pulled rear hubs for the first time. Surprisingly, the hub seals were in good shape for 27yrs. I compared to NOS for dimensions and pliability. Couldn't fit a piece a paper between the bearing and the seal, so left them in service. Tightened down the 32mm nut and zero play when I'd wiggle the tire. I was expecting issues here.

Looked at the front bearings and misdiagnosed the loose wheel bearing to be the top of the strut bushing clanking back and forth. When I hold the strut and wiggle the tire at twelve o'clock, I could get movement. So my front bearings are good for now. I'll save the toyos for the next car.

Pulled the valve cover and I must have adjusted the valves .001" under bc they were all about .001" over, so no adjustment needed on this round. I stopped adjusting valve 15k per honda and have been doing them at 60k.

Timing belt teeth look great and no seapage from water pump. I think there's 65-70 k on those parts.

W the high mileage, I figured I'd post the major,unusual things and it's holding up better that I expected. I looked over a ton of other stuff as well. Point of this car was never to have it perfect, but to keep it reliable.

I'll start carrying master cylinder and brake booster rebuild kits on these trips as well. I can't believe these parts are still original.

Fuel filter was replaced 2002ish. Survived sitting in stale gas for four years and still going strong. Once I figure the fuel line replacement plan, I'll do it after that to capture any loose crap. I'm curious to cut one open to check out what in there.

At the moment, the only time bomb I'm aware of is the rusted fuel line.

Fired her up tonight and she went of first turn. I prime the pump 10x before I turned the motor however. Love these cars!

Ready to pack the gear.

Storing these cars long term always gives me issues w brakes. The rear cylinders In Particular. I opened them up. Sanded down the pistons and barrel w 400 grit and put back on service. One piston jammed from too much varnish. When I designed seals back in the day, sanding steel or plastic w 400 or better was all that was needed for a proper surface finish for dynamic or static seals.

Got a rattle in the muffler, I might replace that as well

[greasemonkeyreborne 5x1g's]

registered, insured and completed state inspection today. ran her up the highway about 50 miles. all feels good. rattle is annoying at idle. replacing muffler in the morning.

guy at inspection station offered to buy it. kinda the same story, he owned one as well in the past and wouldn't mind picking up one again.

all these years I had the rear drum adjuster springs backwards. no wonder my rear brakes never worked well. the parking brake feels as it should now. all these years I just put the springs on the same way they were when I got the car. checked a pix in helms and couldn't believe it

[greasemonkeyreborne 5x1g's]

clocked 2560, od total 226700. purred like a kitten the whole way

typical red eye express. about 18 hours straight. slept 30 minutes in the front seat on the way up, and 4 hours on the way back.

saw 2 overturned 18wheelers. a third had just caught fire at 3am in MO. the entire cab was shooting flames 15-20 feet, and most of the trailer was engulfed. people were there helping out, so I shot through the HEAT zone in the far lane as the emergency vehicles were arriving to close off the highway.

looked like I burned about 1/3 quart oil. judging the fact my valves didn't need adjustment after 60k, I think this motor is going to last me a long time.

had to slam on the brakes 3 times to avoid deer collisions. all in michigan of course. all at night. one was about an 8 point walking across the concrete line it was ice. at night, so I slammed and swerved into the next lane to avoid him. the next closest were two doe in single file. so I see the first, slam and start heading into the next lane, then I notice the second one, so still braking, I missed here ass by 3 feet.

great trip. loved the woods as usual. got double the amount of pats per day than ever before. so a great season. 8 total.

saw a 2nd gen and a 4g hatchie. other than that, I was the oldest car on the road self propelled and not on a trailer.

fueled up in Sherman and the gas attendant told me he hade an accord that be just put an h22 in. so we chatted a few minutes. I drive through the night, so not much opportunity to bump into other honda lovers. upper michigan are most pick ups. got weird looks from them. nice to filler up on 25 bucks!


I just uncovered a problem and hour ago and I know when it happened. I was driving a backwoods 2 track and drove the side of the bowl to avoid the deepest water. I must have hit a stump or rock on the high side and heard a loud bang. got back on pavement later for road test and all seemed fine. drove out the driveway and heard a metallic thunk. so the bolt holding the front sway ar to the lca gave way at the bottom and popped out. the bold appears to have more rust than normal on it where the rubber bushing fell off. ill know more when I take it apart. so this is the kind of fatigue failure I've been worried about. I drove the remaining 1250 miles home and I couldn't feel it.

interesting that my steering wheel shimmy is gone. it didn't shimmy all the time, but as I'd do a curve on the freeway, it was like the wheels would get out of sync and the steering wheel would wobble for a short period of time, then go away and come back every so often. not severe, just enough to let you know it's there. I reversed the rear tires and did the pay hard bar. I always thought it was from the front end, not the rear. weird, but gone. drove very smootheeeee.

oil change, bath and replace front sway bolts/bushings and off to the deer trip next month. we have 4 doe permits this year. should be an active hunt

more to come

[greasemonkeyreborne 5x1g's]

updated parts, tool carry list

nos alt
nos starter
nos igniter
nos fuel pump
nos coil pack
nos ignition switch
nos main relay
nos alt belt
nos fuel filter
nos water pump
nos timing belt
nos wheel bearing
used fuel injector spark pack
nos fuel injectors,seals
light bulbs,fuses

2 jacks and wood blocks
duct tape
coat hanger
alligator clips and 3 feet wire to perform spark test
side angle Phillips driver to replace igniter
hose clamps and sheet epdm rubber to seal vac,fuel,rad hoses in event of leaks
usual metric sockets, wrenches
screw drivers,pliers channels, adjustable a, etc...
hammer,crow bar
oil and water
fluke meter
helms
rags,wet wipes

[greasemonkeyreborne 5x1g's]

I replaced the 12mm suspension bolt assy connecting the front swaybar to the lower control arm. I suppose since the bolt was not very large, it must not take on as much force as I suspected. there was corrosion on the bottom side of the bolt where the rubber bushing contacted the bolt body. and appeared to be some wear from the rubber contacting the metal. had some experience in the FAL lab back in the day. for kicks, I'm going to check the bolt fracture under a magnifying glass.

obviously not a show stopper in this case. these are the sudden fatigue failures I'm concerned about as our cars age

[greasemonkeyreborne 5x1g's]

I ended up replacing the swaybar bolt on the other side as well. so the bolt rusted significantly where the bottom bushings wrapped around the bolts. I guess the years of salted northern roads just settled here as well as the moisture holding in place by the rubber. both bolts were significantly reduced in diameter. I'd guess a cross section reduction of 40%.

the second one I replaced today had signs appearing the bolt was going to push through the bottom bushing. the thin washer molded to the bushing was yielding.

oil changed, fueled up and ready to booogie.

let you know how round two goes

[greasemonkeyreborne 5x1g's]

forgot to post, but second 2500 mile trip went well. shot 3 deer this time.

I drove through Indiana after a snowy, ice storm. bridges were sheet ice and lots of ice spots on the road. safe driving speed for me was 45-50. lots of cars passing me. I couldn't keep pace w them. I could feel the car slipping. then I noticed several cars I the ditch. then I realized they were still in the cars and were getting out. I'm talking about 10 cars. the temp was too cold for the salt to work. it was 3am. I pulled off, slept at a gas station and waited for the sun to warm the road.

glad I did.

see ya next year

I have pix, but had a terrible time on the gallery trying to post.

[greasemonkeyreborne 5x1g's]

2015 road tripping updates.

Unfortunately, my father has cancer. I don't have much time w him. so old Betsy was pulled out of hibernation last month for the first of many trips to come this year.

fired up on first key turn... no fluids leaking.... hottailed it back to michigan. clocked another 2450 miles wo issue


it felt different this year driving back. first summer trip in since before 2004. only other cars I saw the were older than mine were a few beat up pickups, and some classic 50-60's cars driving to a weekend show. so the odd thing is I'm noticing the age gap now. not really seeing cars from the 90's anymore either. seeing a lot more new econo cars comparable in length to the crx, but they're all taller and I can't even see around the newer compacts.

got no crx love the entire trip. then I'm in my home town fueling before storage and a guy at the next pump had an 86 si back in the day. then went to the car wash and a guy just moved here from Chicago and he had an 87si back in the day. good conversations....

heading back monthly starting October. let you know how she holds up.

drove as it normally does. no issues

[badpenny]

Sorry to hear Dave.

Sent from my SGH-T999L using Tapatalk

[SHOGUNOVDDRK]

Greasemonkey, my condolences on your father. I bet he has a lot of fight in him -- go hard.

[greasemonkeyreborne 5x1g's]

order of life stuff. thnx for the thoughts. he's in a good mental place. and I think the rest of the family is as well.

so fired her up last night. removed the passenger seat as usual and loading her up.

the battery was weak on the august trip. got abou 6.5 yrs out of the last honda battery. picked up another Honda bat. lots of variation in price. 85-156.00. i just don't like aftermarket batteries. seems like to much corrosion on the terminals and aftermarket terminals seem to be smaller. then auto zone wants you to cut the harness and install the their battery connectors...

anyway, I'll drop a trip report when I get back. got the picture problem fixed. so I should be able to post stuff if anything worth while shows up

plan on nov, dec, jan, feb trips as well.

it's just not a trip home wo my college beater

2400 miles down, 7500 more til years end

[greasemonkeyreborne 5x1g's]

finished the 4th trip over the new years. she's at 240300 now. so I think 11k for the year.

so the treatment for my father are preventing the cancer from growing. good news. so more trips to come this spring and summer!

got pulled over by an Oklahoma trooper in a small town speed trap doing 4 mph over the limit on trip number 2. first thing I said to him laughingly if I was being profiled in the car. presented my concealed license and told him the guns on board and locations. he put me in the front seat of his car while he did the background check. sent me on my way w a warning. I try not to exceed 4 over the limit. the cops always seem to stare me down. I think they view the car as easy white trash target.

was running an errand on the loop around Dallas and a cop slowed down and followed me for 5 minutes. I purposely went 5 under the speed limit. then I dropped to 10 under and he finally passed me. I'm sure he was checking his computer.

my 12 yr old tires were finally wearing down. I replaced 2 and the car drove significantly better! improved my highway grip, smoothness and tracking. I'll replace the back two in the spring. appears the common names like Goodyear, Firestone,... no longer make the 14r85's anymore. all I could find were off brands. so I ordered toyos since they were make in Japan. I don't think they were anything special performance wise.

on one trip, I grabbed the door handle closest to the mirror to close the door, and the plastic broke leaving the Phillips head screw in the door. my seatbelt stopped retracting smoothly and needs replacement. the light went out my my climate control heater lever so I can't read the def, vent, hi/lo sigh s at night. but my fenders and header is still in place. I tried to bolt down to secure better and the plastic on the tabs just broke away. I've gotta get fiberglass panels ASAP.

mechanically, the car performed excellent.

mud boggin down forested two tracks. when I later go to the highway it vibrated like hell. like my cousin vin i.e., I had mudd in my tyres. found a car wash and as good as new.

no deer this year. lots of bird though. good time w my folks!

got redirected around Saint Louis due to Mississippi flooding.

oh, saw a red 86/87 si crx dec 23 heading east bound. I thought it was 44 just west of Louis. but might have been 70 just east on the Illinois side. a guy was driving. car had even collared paint. didn't look overly shines, but not sun faded. had a large decal on the drivers quarter window. it looked like the block letters "KC" in white. anyone know who that is, please chime in. this is the first and only 1gen crx I've seen on my trips actually driving the the road!

again, no crx love during the trips. but, here in my home town while I topped for fuel Sunday before storage.. comes a black tesla. guy pulls up to me and starts asking about the car. long story short, he owned an 86 he and loved it. chatted for a while. he was a year older than me. so same generation of college age owners of that era.

cheapest gas was 1.49. most expensive 2.20 between October-dec. ave was around 1.80
for most of the trips. ave fill up was $16-18. always cheapest in ok and mo.

got some pics. had problems getting into the gallery the last time. will try from another computer

until spring.

[greasemonkeyreborne 5x1g's]

Road trip 2017. Another "double D", but this is Dallas to Denver. Maybe 1700 miles round trip direct??

after the last trip in2015 Xmas, the drivers fender and head were cracking to the point I felt they were going to fly apart on the highway. So mothballed the car and drove my modern car in 2016 to support my father.

Replaced broken drivers seatbelt. repaired drivers door pull handle arm rest combo. replaced antenna. removed fenders and header header and passenger fender were still pretty tough. The drivers panel was brittle and toast. Replaced rear tires w matching Toyos. Reinstalled drivers mud flap.

Sacrificed an nos Taiwan header panel. USed the abs material from that to reinforce the bolt line lips that fit under the hood line. ran a reinforcement on the underside of the header as well pix would be best, but my gallery is gone and all my previous pix have disappeared. Pulled a drivers fender I got from Demion out of Oklahoma about 8yrs ago. It was an oem fender DOM 1993. already painted black from previous car it was on. A pretty good match. For now, it'll save me a paint job.

Mechanically, the car fired up. drove locally about fifty miles and all seems fine.

heading out this month. Will let u know how it went

[zakats]

I'm glad to see that you're sticking with your annual pilgrimage, keep us up to speed.

[Sinub]

Nice. Do you ever come to California? You might have more luck on seeing 1G's on the road here... Perhaps roadtrip to one of the California annual meets?