By AccordGuy (63.207.239.73) on Friday, January 12, 2001 - 10:43 pm:

Does anyone know of a discussion Board pertaining to First generation Accord stuff, everything I find is for the Civic.

By errol (205.188.192.24) on Sunday, January 14, 2001 - 06:05 am:

If i can find it in my favorites, but it wasn't anything like this one. I've messed around with them for a while. I'll try and answer questions errol

By Accord Gal (63.204.16.66) on Friday, March 09, 2001 - 10:26 am:

Hi guys,
This is my 81 Accord, my Dad (quikrick) bought it for $200.00! The body and interior are near percect, but the motor smoked like a PIG when we first got it. He rebuilt the cylinder head and put new piston rings and bearings? My older brother had a 81 that he wrecked, it was almost a twin to this one... so we cannibalized his B-4 we junked it.

Limo tint rear windows and hatch
Dobi Performance front springs, the rears are still in the garage (no time)!

My Dad was considering selling these wheels... NOT! They will be on my car in a few days. HE WANTS MONEY!! Can you believe it?? Pops is trying to profit on family!! Maybe you guys could MUSCLE him into forgetting about the money.

While he was working on the Accord I was FORCED to drive around in a funny, little, noisy, rikity, slow 74 Civic. Those days are over.

By david (208.130.245.99) on Friday, March 09, 2001 - 12:06 pm:

that is the nicest accord i've seen
kinda makes me like the looks abit

By Paul Krummenacker (12.145.208.11) on Friday, March 09, 2001 - 01:34 pm:

whaddya mean a BIT?? come on david, you gotta agree that the Accord is beautiful!! :-)

welcome to the group Accord fans! I too have an '81 Accord with the light powder blue!

for those that don't know, (and I'm sure most of you do) I am not pampering my car, but rather I'm rallying it and having lots of fun with it.

check out http://www.liepoldfarms.com/rally/rally.htm

welcome to the club! I find that these Civic guys have been most helpful. The Accord is pretty much like the Civic just a bigger motor and better looking body, JUST KIDDING GUYS, relax!

Paul

By david (208.130.247.49) on Friday, March 09, 2001 - 03:10 pm:

first generation accords just haven't had the appeal to me that first gen. civics do. i'm just not a big fastback fan, except for porsche 356's, and early 911's and their fastback is quite quik.

paul, don't mind me, i'm a car snob. i even look down apon the longer noses on cvccs and the less pronounced hood scoop on later first gen. civics. why do you think i went to blastid so. cal to get a '73 with a crunched nose? no rubber bumper overriders are a big thing to me too. i can't stand rubber on bumpers. all red(NO amber) tail lights. i'd even like to find clear turn signal and side marker lenses, but i'll manage.

accords are still old hondas and that means class in my book.

By Mad Mel (161.184.41.87) on Saturday, March 10, 2001 - 09:32 am:

Hey Paul..."COOL" Doin it sideways is so fun. I went to the Western Canadian Rally's last race here in Bragg Creak and it got me hooked. Never thought of an Accord but it probably wouldn't be as twitchy as the shorter Civic...yes everyone it's a classic Honda and it rules with a gravel rooster tail!

By Mad Mel (161.184.41.87) on Saturday, March 10, 2001 - 09:48 am:

One question Paul...whats with the fan on the fuse box? Wouldn't it be more relyable to fix the electrical problem? What fuses where blowing?

P.S. Of course you got it up on three wheels! Three is all a Honda needs most the time ; )

By John S. (207.160.161.163) on Sunday, March 11, 2001 - 02:42 pm:

I really like the "LieopoldFarms Rally Team" secret weapon.

By Paul Krummenacker (216.26.39.192) on Sunday, March 11, 2001 - 06:41 pm:

Mel and others, the reason for the fan on the fuses was at the time I installed I kept having a problem with the fuses for the headlights getting really hot. I'm running 65/55w H4 main headlights, with 100w H1 high beams. plus I have a light bar that is running 2x55w cornering lights and 100w driving lights. so all told, when I have everything turned on and running, I'm throwing about 640 watts of light (~55 amps).

I'm using relays and wiring the lights off the battery for the light bar, but thing were just getting too warm in there. I figured more cooling is better for reliablilty. If I'm in the middle of a 200 mile event, I'd rather just have a little bit of extra insurance. OH, I also do pack along a spare alternator on the really long events.

And for the secret weapon, I now have an exclusive Briggs and Stratton sticker on the air cleaner! makes me go just that much faster! seriously, being in Production class I can't change anything on the motor.

I am getting the parts to build up a motor using a non CVCC head, Weber or Mikuni dual barrel carb, header, custom grind cam, double valve springs, and hopefully something like 10:1 compression. That should be a nice little motor for Group2 once I get all the parts and put it together.

and for the 3 wheeling, it probably didn't help that I had a really bad combo of stock partially blown out struts and stiff, shorter Suspension Techniques springs on the back. I also noticed on my last suspension tear down that the rear sway bar I added rests on the exhaust on full extension. I think the next step will be to get a custom exhaust that exits in front of the rear wheel this should give me suspension travel on the passenger side.

hopefully I can have a full cage, seats, harnesses and fire system in it by December. I'm thinking that it is an obtainable goal. I just need to not do so much shopping on Ebay.

for all you people in the Northwest of the US, check out the Oregon Trail ProRally http://www.oregontrailrally.com this is a rally that I'm helping put on. It takes place April 6,7,8th.

We also have a full rallycross season planned this summer, check out http://www.oregonrally.com

i'll keep you posted from time to time as the Honda becomes fully transformed into a rally car.

cheers,
Paul

By Mad Mel (161.184.40.127) on Tuesday, March 13, 2001 - 12:17 am:

12v know how for all!
Lol that Briggs Sticker should help!!!

Spare Alternator is also smart...hell I carry a spare alternator, fuel pump, voltage regulator, and ignition modual...in my daily driver! Maybe I am a rally driver at heart?

Ok on the wiring Paul. If "ANYTHING" other than the component (in this case its lights) gets "hot" there is a wiring problem. Nothing should get hot or even warm really.

I appologize if I make some wrong assumtions here but here it goes.

Take 20 year old factory wiring and add in some decay and slight corrosion just replacing the factory bulbs with modern Halogen over taxes the factory wiring harness and maybe even the light switch. Ever wonder why the insulation on some wiring gets hard and cracks and others don't? That is becasue the wire is regularly getting warm or hot.

Heat is the result of a current rize inversly proportionate to a voltage drop in a DC circut. That is why a bulb or motor winding gets hot as that is the "resistance" to electrical flow. Anyone into Car Audio knows that when an Amps voltage drops under extreme load it goes POOF! In your case there has to be a voltage drop somewhere else in the system. Voltage drop also means your lights might not be as bright as they could be as teh enery is being used up somewhere else. This voltage drop could be from to small a gage wire or bad grounds or combinations there of. Also if your factory wiring is getting at all warm the harness will increase in resistance the hotter it gets and you get problem that feeds on itself progressively. During a 200 mile event there is lots of time for this problem to compound.

Just a note that DC auto fuses are rated X2 for 1 second. Meaning if you blow a 30A fuse it was exposed to 60A for one second or less.

I would rewire your headlight plugs with 14 ga wire to two 30A Bosch relays. One for high beam, one for low beam. The only thing the factory headlight wires will do is provide the positive input to the realy coil. Ground the other side of the coils.
Run a 12 or 10 gage feed to these two realys (fused at the battery)
Do the same with your light bar but if it where mine ( knowing lighting is paramount in this case) I would use 12 gage wire. Use another relay (or I guess you could use a big assed high current switch) and 12 or 10 gage to a fuse at the battery. Get some good crimp connectors also as cheap ones will not get a molecular bond to the wire and will work loose. Use good Klien or Panduit crimpers as well. Solder makes a good connection but in a Ralley/race car it isn't reccomended as is doesn't leave the connection flexable and can fracture under harsh shaking and vibrating conditions.

Also note that regular Bosch relays are not waterproof so they need to be enclosed or mounted inside. They are cheap and if you get a pigtail plug that holds three or four (most stereo shops can get them) it makes for a quickchange during an event if one desides to fail.

I would be glad to sketch out what I am trying to say as a diagram and post it or e-mail it to you.
Michael

By Mad Mel (161.184.40.127) on Tuesday, March 13, 2001 - 12:22 am:

Upgrade charge wire from the alternator to at least 8 gage and run extra 8 gage grounds to the chassis from the engine just to make sure there are no losses. This is a suggestion for anybody! Especailly if you are running an aftermarket stereo. It can reduce noise if everything is bonded (grounded) well...including the hood!

Paul is that Light bar grounded really well?

By Anthony (210.50.30.3) on Tuesday, March 13, 2001 - 03:40 am:

Very Nice Accord,but mine may equal it-1980, only 124,000km.I got it put a clutch in it,as the 77 yr old driver had ridden it a bit too much,slipped on the Accord wheels pictured above and polished it.Have had 2 offers in the street for people wantin to buy it.Do you Boy'z have the EL engine in your model's in the U.S. or Canada? if so any Twin carb's going to waste in anybody's shed that would slip on to mine.I am going to change the Stud pattern to 4x100 like I solved for the Civic(with The Guru's help for the rear)so I can slip on some 17's..May post some pic's soon..
Anthony
hobbyhorse05@hotmail.com

By quikrick (63.204.16.66) on Tuesday, March 13, 2001 - 09:09 am:

yeah, Anthony we get alot of "thumbs up"s driving down the street. But no offers to buy! This one is an automatic though (read: chick car) The engine is pretty stock and is the EK1 CVCC (read:crap), no ELs in the US. We need to see some pics of your beauty!
Paul, your 81 looks like way too much fun! The only time this one goes off road is when we pull it up on the lawn to wash it!

By tedshred (63.224.195.169) on Tuesday, March 13, 2001 - 09:10 am:

Hey AccordGuy, what's your real name? quikrick is family here so It's cool to say.

Nice looking Accord. Very clean. 200 bucks was a good buy. Accords are very good cars. A little heavy, and big, but nice as an everyday driver. Zippy handling and more top speed than a stock 1200.

Those Enkei rims are the same as I have on my civic. Your stock steel rims are the same as the ones I am putting my RA T1's on for racing.

By Mad Mel (161.184.40.231) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 11:28 pm:

Quiry? Is there something I am missing or a private oath I haven't sworn to or something? ; ) The "only" time I seem to get any "recognition" (for lack of a better word) is when folks are trying to prove me wrong about something. I have noticed this with other newcomers as well. In a couple cases I was missinformed and made appropriate retractions. There have been a couple times (like the electrical knowledge above) that got zero acknowledgement, it's like I posted nothing at all? Whats up wid dat?

MANY guys know little about electrical so I find this lack of intrest strange?!?!

Brian and I hooked up in Calgary and that was cool to see his shop & project. We WILL make that Vteck fit Brian!!! : ) Hey _____ doh, sorry, forgot your name,.. in Vancouver, the other car audio guy. I am going to be out there in May. Maybe we could hook up for a pint. Would love to see some of your projects from what Brian was telling me.
Michael

By Mad Mel (161.184.40.159) on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 11:45 pm:

Great headlight protectors Paul (on his ralley web site)... what did you use? Looks like the stuff they make animal cages out of.
We in Alberta have gravel instead of salt on the roads in the winter...can't save the windshield but your idea could save the halogens!!! Thanks

By kenche (130.212.201.23) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 12:33 am:

The accord likes great to me but it is still there too much in junk yard or on the street. It's not that specail too me. I like the small size of civic better especailly the first gen. is a lot smaller than the rest. Of course mini coop. is the best!!!! the price will be a lot different.

By david (208.130.246.244) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 01:49 am:

minis are cool cars, but the first gen. civic is still king in my mind. mini cars in general have a special place in my heart. the civic is a great middle ground. honda parts are so much more ready available than say parts for a subaru r2 or those cars that vespa made for a while. i would love to own both those cars, but as a daily driver it just wouldn't be pracital. parts for cooper can be found, but the people who have them know what they have which mean watch your pocketbook get easyer and easier to fit in your back pocket.

By Todd (63.52.18.93) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 08:56 am:

Hey MadMel,
Here's your recognition. I guess if you're right, no one can dispute what you say!

By Mad Mel (161.184.40.221) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 10:03 am:

: ) Thanks Todd. I don't want a dispute though! I just would like to see people learning from what is posted by all the great minds here. Good point all the same.

Had three Mini's before the Honda's cought my eye. They are a blast but as David noted there is practicality that brings us back to the Honda's. We 1200 drivers take stuff like disk brakes for granted... ; )
Michael

By Paul Krummenacker (12.145.208.12) on Thursday, March 15, 2001 - 10:48 am:

sorry, been away for a few days, been working like a dog a work. Mel, thanks for fantastic information on wiring!! exactly the kind of description I've been wanting to get.

Mel, yes, that really is animal cage type wire. It is galvinzed wire that I just cut into a square, grabbed a wide washer and with a sheetrock screw screwed it into the plastic part around the headlights. Also, you can't see it, but I have a large piece of the screen fitted behind the grill. It covers the whole radiator area as well as the two brake cooling vent holes that I drilled in the front facia behind and below the bumper.

I'm running Repco Metal Master pads right now and I like to be able to get some air directed toward the rotors when I'm off bombing around the hills.

The light bar is grounded in the way that I have large bolts running through the bracket, and through the middle of the bumper. I removed two of the chrome carriage bolts that hold the bumper cover on and just bolted it on that way. I figure being that I've got metal to metal contact through the bumper and then into the body where the bumper mounts I'm ok.

Having it designed this way it makes mounting it up a snap. I just pull into service, undo the two wing nuts that hold the long bolts in place, slip the light bar onto the bumper, drop back in the long bolts, slip on the washers and spin on the wing nuts tight. I then just plug in the trailer plug that I've used for the lights and Viola! I'm set and ready to go! I an do the whole operation in about 5 minutes tops. I get a little bit of bounce and vibration in the lights, but not too bad. although, now that I'm changing over my main driving lights over to 8" Bosch lights, I might need to see if I can design some sort of bracket to keep them firmly pointed down the road.

now that I've got a scanner i'll be updating with new photos soon. I'll let you know when I get them done.
Paul

By Mad Mel (161.184.40.206) on Sunday, March 18, 2001 - 11:16 am:

Now worries Paul... Just glad to help. I would hate to hear you where in the middle of one of those 200 mile events in the middle of the night and all goes wrong electrically. Over cooling a fuse that "should" blow can cause a length of wire in a harness to become the fuse and when that melts (and possibly starts a fire) it can take what ever other systems with it if they are bundled in the same harness...

On your light bar. I would find a heavy quick release plug that handles 12 gage wire (all the way through the plug) and use it for ground and power. Maybe a highway tractor style trailer light plug. The round metal one not the flat plastic one with 18 gage pig tail. Or even a small battery quick disconnect (like they use on fork lifts, tow trucks, shore power for aircraft) they make a few different sizes. As the bar gets shaken around the electrical ground could be intermittent and make a high speed electrical pulse that could shorten the life of your bulbs.
Thanks on the sreeening stuff ideas. I will be doing that soon... already had screen behind the grill for the rad... so great minds do think alike! ; )
Adios

By Mad Mel (161.184.40.74) on Tuesday, March 20, 2001 - 11:34 pm:

Another electrical theory I have directs one to upgrade wiring to anything critical. All vehicles especially today are overengineered & underbuilt with planned termination outside the warranty. The wiring is getting smaller yet the type of job it's doing is no different. That could be why it's not uncommon to replace ...say...wiper motors in a 5 to 10 year old cars yet the underengineered yet overbuilt one in my 25 year old truck is original (and 800,000+ km's to boot) Electronics is not so bad compaired to basic 12 volt components...I think they design voltage drop into the cicuits to overwork the component...just my theory based on observation.

By Hoju (24.77.176.186) on Sunday, March 25, 2001 - 08:08 pm:

Finally someone speaks of Accords!!!!! I havent been able to find anything on them at all...I have a 79 with an EL and hondamatic..HHhhhh...The hondamatic doesnt do it justice, it just goes too slow with it. Would it be fairly easy to put in a 4 speed? Even though the body is crap, i want to make it good cause my car gets spit on by middle school kids and i get laughed at...I dont understand why, its a great car.

By Mad Mel (161.184.40.220) on Monday, March 26, 2001 - 07:22 am:

Hello Hoju,
Well I love all old Hondas... I even ran an 81 Accord for a while. You could probably find lots of tranny/engine info in the engine swap threads as many of us 1200 civic drivers use Accord drivelines (amoung others). Yes but don't waste your time with a 4 speed see if you can find a 5. I don't recall Accords having 4 speeds. Good luck, have fun. Where are you located?

By Hoju (24.67.224.12) on Monday, March 26, 2001 - 12:39 pm:

Hmm...so a civic 4 speed would not work? I heard the ratios were better than the five speed, but i have also heard of a 5 speed from a wagon or something that has a true 5th gear, anyone heard of this?? I am located in penticton, bc, canada.
I'm also trying to figure out if this one is worth saving, cause there is a big chunk out of the rocker panel. I have already fixed a chunk out of the quarter and the bondo doesnt actually look that bad. Any ideas on how to fix this rocker panel without spending thousands of dollars?

By Hoju (24.77.176.186) on Monday, March 26, 2001 - 04:58 pm:

oh yeah, since nobody is paying attention to my message about carbs, maybe one of you might be able to help me with this as well...since webers are hard to find ,tune, and pay for i was wondering if there might be a holley that would work, i know they have them for 20R toyotas.

By quikrick (63.204.16.66) on Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 07:46 am:

She got the wheels!

By Adam M (65.92.45.213) on Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 01:02 pm:

That is a very nice accord!Good to see one in such good shape!

By paul krummenacker (12.145.208.12) on Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 01:36 pm:

Hoju,
I can't say for sure if a Holley would work, you will probably want to check the footprint of the stock carb (probably trace it out on paper) trace out the mounting spot on the manifold and just do a test fitting. if you can get the linkage figured out then you might just have a working solution. I'd be very interested in finding out.

I take it your car is a CVCC? Rick, what model did you get the canadian head and other parts off of? if you don't have to deal with the CVCC jazz then you might be heading down the right path. I'm just not sure how the Keihin carb handles the CVCC system (have to check my books when I get home). You might cause yourself more problems then you are trying to fix.

OH, on your rusted body parts problem, if it is just a front fender, you should be able to get a replacement one from a wrecking yard for cheap, it is about 10-12 bolts that hold it on along with some goopy mastic stuff to help stick the pannels together. it just takes patience to get the old pannels off but you can do it.

Paul

By quikrick (63.204.16.66) on Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 01:58 pm:

There are some CVCC's in Canada. Hoju, do you know if it is a CVCC? If it is, you would have to get some kind of manifold adaptor to feed the auxiliary circuit. If not it should be as easy as what Paul describes above. I've never seen a kit for a Holley but I have seen kits for Webers, for both CVCC and non CVCC set ups.

Paul, I am getting the whole enchilada. Which would completely get rid of the CVCC system in it's entirety. BTW the guy sent me another late model (82-83) EK1 head! I now have two heads that I can't use! I'm in the process of securing another one that should be right, third times' a charm!

By Hoju (24.77.176.186) on Tuesday, March 27, 2001 - 02:55 pm:

What i have is a non crossflow head EL 1602cc, so i am sure it is not a cvcc..I was trying to find the shadbolt cam website, but is no longer there.....so i am having trouble finding all the things i would need like a header, cam and carb..Holley has "universal" carbs but i do not know exactly how universal they are, and i dont have 400$ to buy a weber. The thing that bothers me the most is a header- I cannot find any for the EL..i see plenty of parts for ek, but no el.