- 2,833
- Colorado
- GTP_Cyborg
Somehow I never created a thread for either my daily RSX or my project CB Accord.
First, the big project. This is what's currently ruling my life. My first car was a '92 Accord LX sedan. I did some minor mods, but after a while the original single-cam F22A1 engine finally gave up the ghost. Rather than diagnose and get it running again, I took it as an excuse to do the common swap with these things: a Prelude H22 DOHC VTEC motor. The castings of the two engine blocks are extremely similar, so aside from some minor electrical work it was a direct bolt-in - stock Accord mounts and axles, even! After about a year of smooth driving, an electrical issue came out of nowhere (in hindsight, probably a short resulting from my noob attempt at tucking the wiring harness), so again... "hey, an excuse to go harder!" In October of 2012, I pulled the H22 back out, got rid of the sedan, and spent the next several years collecting parts for more power, but this time in the wagon variant that had stolen my interest.
After leaving the sedan, I needed a new car to daily in while I collected parts for the next Accord. I set out to find a 5th-gen Prelude Type-SH, but after being let down multiple times by what was on the local market, I saw for sale a 2002 Acura RSX (base model, semi-auto transmission). I had somehow forgotten these things existed, despite badly wanting one when they first came out in my teen years. In my haste to end my dependence on bumming rides from a friend, I failed to research the RSX, not realizing that they came with two fairly significantly different trims. But as it turned out, the base model was still a fun way to get around... especially the more I upgraded the handling. Who needs power when you don't have to slow down for corners? This car's biggest problem actually turned out to be my inability to resist modifying it. I've put quite a bit into handling and appearance changes, and all at the expense of focus taken away from collecting parts for the H22 I have sitting around. 200,000 miles later (300k on the odo as I re-write this intro post coming into February 2023), I've managed to leave the RSX's powertrain untouched to maintain reliability, but that will certainly change after I've got an Accord to drive again. The car is certainly feeling its age these days, and will become a proper project itself.
Eight whole years after pulling the H22 from the sedan, all of my engine parts were in hand and I was finally ready to go shopping for that wagon. As it happened, the first car I went to look at in January of 2020 was too good to pass up. It was an automatic, but that's easily remedied and the body was straight, with not a speck of the rust that '90s Hondas are known for. Faded paint on an old car is to be expected, but if there's one thing I've learned by now, it's that I do not want to deal with serious body work if I can help it. In what I thought was a calculated move, I took out a loan thinking I'd knock this thing out in a few months. I don't regret the loan itself, for paying the interest was well worth it to me to get this finished up sooner rather than later, but the scale of the work still to be done was larger than I could have known. The wagon has now spent a hair over three years inside a storage unit as I work on it, and the 'end' is only now in sight.
To summarize my intentions, what I'm putting together here is a fun road trip car. I have fond childhood memories in the rear-facing third row of my mom's late-'80s Pontiac wagon, trekking back and forth between California and South Dakota, and I want to experience that as an adult. I want something to see the 49 continental United States in, but it has to be enjoyable for those thousands of miles as I hunt down this country's great driving roads, and above all it has to be... me. I'm not interested in something that anyone else can go out and buy, or I'd have just bought a newer car that most people would consider "nicer." I have certainly poured enough money into this build by now that I could have done that.
The engine is over-built in hopes of reliability, but the power will be modest. I'm aiming to be roughly on pace with the faster modern turbocharged four-cylinders - just without the turbo, because I love a good naturally-aspirated screamer. The handling will of course be improved, but not to the point of making the car physically draining to drive long distance in. Other measures will be taken to make the car comfortable to be in, even if they're at a slight detriment to performance. I'm not building a race car, after all.
As of January 26th, 2023, the car is technically drivable (has been for over a year), but not road legal and not properly tuned. I have an appointment set at one shop for the end of February to have the custom intake and exhaust tubing welded up, and then after that I'll be talking to another about the dyno tuning...
How it started:
How it's going:
![51233892266_4b00562af0_b.jpg[img]](/forum/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Flive.staticflickr.com%2F65535%2F51233892266_4b00562af0_b.jpg%5Bimg%5D&hash=210395b607cf03b6792244852394f10b)
First, the big project. This is what's currently ruling my life. My first car was a '92 Accord LX sedan. I did some minor mods, but after a while the original single-cam F22A1 engine finally gave up the ghost. Rather than diagnose and get it running again, I took it as an excuse to do the common swap with these things: a Prelude H22 DOHC VTEC motor. The castings of the two engine blocks are extremely similar, so aside from some minor electrical work it was a direct bolt-in - stock Accord mounts and axles, even! After about a year of smooth driving, an electrical issue came out of nowhere (in hindsight, probably a short resulting from my noob attempt at tucking the wiring harness), so again... "hey, an excuse to go harder!" In October of 2012, I pulled the H22 back out, got rid of the sedan, and spent the next several years collecting parts for more power, but this time in the wagon variant that had stolen my interest.
After leaving the sedan, I needed a new car to daily in while I collected parts for the next Accord. I set out to find a 5th-gen Prelude Type-SH, but after being let down multiple times by what was on the local market, I saw for sale a 2002 Acura RSX (base model, semi-auto transmission). I had somehow forgotten these things existed, despite badly wanting one when they first came out in my teen years. In my haste to end my dependence on bumming rides from a friend, I failed to research the RSX, not realizing that they came with two fairly significantly different trims. But as it turned out, the base model was still a fun way to get around... especially the more I upgraded the handling. Who needs power when you don't have to slow down for corners? This car's biggest problem actually turned out to be my inability to resist modifying it. I've put quite a bit into handling and appearance changes, and all at the expense of focus taken away from collecting parts for the H22 I have sitting around. 200,000 miles later (300k on the odo as I re-write this intro post coming into February 2023), I've managed to leave the RSX's powertrain untouched to maintain reliability, but that will certainly change after I've got an Accord to drive again. The car is certainly feeling its age these days, and will become a proper project itself.
Eight whole years after pulling the H22 from the sedan, all of my engine parts were in hand and I was finally ready to go shopping for that wagon. As it happened, the first car I went to look at in January of 2020 was too good to pass up. It was an automatic, but that's easily remedied and the body was straight, with not a speck of the rust that '90s Hondas are known for. Faded paint on an old car is to be expected, but if there's one thing I've learned by now, it's that I do not want to deal with serious body work if I can help it. In what I thought was a calculated move, I took out a loan thinking I'd knock this thing out in a few months. I don't regret the loan itself, for paying the interest was well worth it to me to get this finished up sooner rather than later, but the scale of the work still to be done was larger than I could have known. The wagon has now spent a hair over three years inside a storage unit as I work on it, and the 'end' is only now in sight.
To summarize my intentions, what I'm putting together here is a fun road trip car. I have fond childhood memories in the rear-facing third row of my mom's late-'80s Pontiac wagon, trekking back and forth between California and South Dakota, and I want to experience that as an adult. I want something to see the 49 continental United States in, but it has to be enjoyable for those thousands of miles as I hunt down this country's great driving roads, and above all it has to be... me. I'm not interested in something that anyone else can go out and buy, or I'd have just bought a newer car that most people would consider "nicer." I have certainly poured enough money into this build by now that I could have done that.
The engine is over-built in hopes of reliability, but the power will be modest. I'm aiming to be roughly on pace with the faster modern turbocharged four-cylinders - just without the turbo, because I love a good naturally-aspirated screamer. The handling will of course be improved, but not to the point of making the car physically draining to drive long distance in. Other measures will be taken to make the car comfortable to be in, even if they're at a slight detriment to performance. I'm not building a race car, after all.
As of January 26th, 2023, the car is technically drivable (has been for over a year), but not road legal and not properly tuned. I have an appointment set at one shop for the end of February to have the custom intake and exhaust tubing welded up, and then after that I'll be talking to another about the dyno tuning...
How it started:
How it's going:
Last edited:
