Mark Chappell's 2.4L 96 GhostAccord ITB Induction Build

4 into 1

2011-10-03T01:29:00.002-03:00

I now have all 4 individual throttles and shafts spaced appropriately and operating smoothly. I was fortunate that the original horizontal mounting brackets on the throttles ended up in a vertical orientation. Using the previously drilled mounting holes that were in the brackets. All that was required was 2 x 305mm pieces of threaded rod and 6 precisely measured aluminum spacers.

The 4 throttle bodies are still able to be separated mechanically. I was originally going to have them machined and welded in sets of two. However, I like the fact that they are individual and can be replaced or worked on without any major machine work requirements.

Another bonus is that I was able to get the center line of the throttle body and intake ports to line up within +/- 2mm

I finished up the week having nearly completed fitting the velocity stacks.

As you can see there is still a bit of material to be shaved on each of the center stacks. it is pretty easy work I simply ran out of garage time...... I love my wife for putting up with the time that I am down there getting dirty and making a little noise

xoxo ;~)

Waiting for a few -AN bungs for the intake flange. I think it will be better to weld everything in one go. Saves setup time.....

54mm Throttle Body Update - 2

2011-09-21T14:05:00.001-03:00

Finally took possession of 2 more 54mm throttles and 4x Ducati 999s intake manifolds this week. That puts my count to 4 complete throttles and now it is time to start the manifold fabrication process.

Here is what I have to work with now.

• 2x Injector wire harness complete with Mil spec connectors and air box seals
• 4x 491cc top feed injectors
• 4x shower top velocity stacks
• 4x 54mm Magnetti Marelli throttle bodies
• 4x throttle body manifolds

Also have materials for my throttle body to intake adapter

• 1x 5/8" aluminum plate (manifold flange)
• 1x F22A intake manifold (cut to length for throttle flange)

These next images show the progression of parts, minus the 5/8 adapter plate that will go between the throttle manifolds (black) and F22A manifold flange.

Now it's time to have the throttle shafts machined and cut the aluminum throttle adapter plate to size. Then weld it to the intake flange.......Porting and all the finishing touches after that.

54mm Throttle Body Update!

2011-08-21T01:35:00.004-03:00

As most of you who have been following this blog may know. I was lucky enough to pick up a free PT3 (F22A6) engine. After inspection the head was found to be in perfect working order. So then came the rebuild process as I now needed a new intake adapter for my individual throttle bodies. The PT3 intake ports were much larger than the P0B head that my original throttle bodies were designed for.

Not to say that the 46mm throttles were too small for my original build. However, with the added flow with the new head comes the requirement for a larger throttle plate.

These were a no brainer when it came to updating using a bike throttle body. 54mm throttle bodies should be enough........for now.

I realize that some people may be thinking. With the money that I have spent on all these throttles. I could have bought a set of off the shelf brand name throttles. However, I have still only spent just over $600 on two sets of used throttles and adapter manifolds. That's still 1/3 of a name brand set and $300 cheaper than the rip offs. It's amazing how much you can save when you take the time to learn to design, fabricate and weld. Helps to know a few people as well ;)

The exit port on these throttles is a 95% match to the PT3 intake port. Just the right amount of taper! Anyone familiar with any of Honda's performance intake ports may recognize this shape. Minus the injection port! ;)

They are a much larger throttle in diameter so I have been sent back to the drawing board for a runner design. Picture 4 of these side by side, sorry no pictures yet, I only have two of the 4 so far. Other two are on route.

The shower head w/velocity stack is a much welcome design. The injectors that come with them have a flow rating of 491cc @ 43.5 PSI, and a single stream 15° spray pattern. As a secondary injector, they should help in the higher rpm ranges.

I am currently working on a digital file that I will be sending along with a slab of aluminum to a buddies shop for a trip through his CNC laser table. It will end up as an adapter plate for these throttles. These throttles are not going to end up permanently welded onto runners.

Stay tuned for updates!

The old 46mm throttles will no doubt become part of another build that I have in mind. Maybe an individual throttle, Boosted 2.2L. Possibly into something with a hatch. A straight line machine.

White Housed headlight Update!

2011-08-16T23:20:00.000-03:00

Update to my White housed headlights;

Decided to go blue after all!

Original DIY White housing post

A little more Interior work

2011-07-17T01:35:00.001-03:00

Didn't bother getting any felt material this week. So the resin and flet work will have to wait. Instead I took a few minutes to get some more interior prep work done.

Took on the door panels tonight. They are a two piece design. This will actually make the two tone painting process much easier. I am sticking with the Accords original colour scheme.

Once they were taken apart it was time for some more vinyl and foam removal.

There wasn't as much foam on the door panels as the dash. Therefore it was actually much easier to remove.

Took a few minutes to take the window control panel apart as well.

The controls will be getting a good cleaning and the trim piece will be getting a few coats of paint.

If I have some spare time tomorrow I may get the rear door panels done tomorrow night.

Cheers!

Push Button Start!

2011-07-14T17:08:00.003-03:00

Check this one off the list............

No longer a smoker and this car will not have any need for a 12v output socket. So I figured that this would be as good a place as any for my push button start switch to go.

Started off by removing the cigarette lighter housing and trim piece.

Then I had to file the existing trim piece to fit the PBS finish ring. After a few hours of measuring and filing. I finally got it to fit. There are 3 tabs and 3 key ways on the backside of this ring. It was a rather large PITA!

Once that was done it was onto making the mounting bracket for the PBS switch itself. That was to consist of a few bends in a piece of sheet metal.

Then a few more bends and a couple holes drilled and she's ready for paint.

After that was done it was time to set the two mounting screws (with heads cut off) into the back of the trim piece. The reason for doing this is because the lighter socket and housing were used to sandwich this piece in place in the console.

After adding the epoxy I taped the cover in place. This was done to hold the studs straight and true to the mounting holes while the epoxy dried.

Give it a night for the epoxy and paint to dry and the next day was time for a fitting.

Could have been a bit cleaner, but it's all hidden behind the dash..........

.............. I think it looks pretty good from the front.

May start playing with resin this weekend!

Stay tuned!

Time for some interior work!

2011-07-13T00:02:00.002-03:00

Help a fellow enthusiast out! Simply click on an ad on the right.

While I wait for the cash fairy to drop the money off to finish the block. I figured that I would get started on the interior.

Figure the dash is a good spot to start off.

Stripped all of the brackets and vents. Weights in at a whopping 7.2lbs

Then it was skinning time

This was a lot easier than I thought it would be.After about 30 minutes it was completely vinyl free and ready for some sanding and resin.

Had to weigh it just to see... dropped 2lb just from removing the vinyl. However, after I cover up a few unwanted holes and create a custom gauge pod. It will probably end up weighing 10lbs more.
I'm not planning anything too crazy, more function than form.

Stay tuned for more

Clean up time!

2011-06-14T01:04:00.002-03:00

Help a fellow enthusiast out! Simply click on an ad on the right.

With the intake and exhaust guides removed I took the opportunity to clean up the ports a little bit more.

Started with the exhaust............still a little bit dirty, not for long!

The F22A6 head really doesn't have much to remove when it came to the valve guide humps. I had the bulk of the guide humps removed fairly quickly.

Took them up to an 80 grit for now.......they will be mirror finish when completed.

The intake had less guide material...

However the port itself was an odd shape. The long radius had a bit of a dead zone directly behind the valve guide.The transition from the throat into the seat has a pretty good step as well.

Once I get a flow bench setup I will spend a bit more time figuring out what to do with that dead zone for now I removed a bit of material from the front of the guide only.

Looks like I may have to add some material to fill that dead spot....only time on the bench will tell.

For now the exhaust ports will get finished and the intake ports will have to wait.

Time to start wet sanding

Little bit of Guide Work

2011-06-12T22:32:00.002-03:00

Cranked up the old oven to 150°C and got the workbench prepared to remove a couple valve guides tonight.

The exhaust side was a bit more work than the intake side. Now I know that if I get into doing this on a regular basis. I will have to invest in an air chisel with a 5.5mm guide bit. Too many trips back and forth to the oven for this cat.

Exhaust side removed....took a few swings of a hammer to get them out. The added surface area on the cylinder head for the exhaust guide acts as a heat sink. This is a good thing for cooling the exhaust valves. Not so good for removing the exhaust guides!

Intake side removed, fairly easily as there is approximately half the surface area to overcome.

All ready for a bit more porting........

Next update should have all these ports ready for a valve job and new guides.

Keep the AFRs low

EPM Finished

2011-06-06T22:05:00.000-03:00

Had some time tonight to finish the EPM cover, stuff the sensor back in and wire up the connector.

Mounted the cam sensor in it's stock location and gave the wires a little bit of added cover.

Next to be put into place is the shaft and rotor, complete with the bearing and stock bearing plate. You can see that the hole is still there for the stock ignitor (ICM). I could have filled it with a piece of aluminum. However, I decided that I wouldn't take the risk of possibly warping the bearing plate by welding anything to it.

In the end it really doesn't matter because the overall cap covers all those holes and the bearing plate. The cap was filed and ground down a bit so that the cover would fit nicely into it.

Final cam sensor complete with a water tight connector taken from my spare GSX-R wire harness.

Even I'm not sure what part of this build I'll jump to next.

Stay tuned to find out!

DIY EPM (Engine Position Module) Take 1

2011-06-03T23:20:00.000-03:00

Took a few hours to get my EPM started today. Last night I spent the night testing the electronics (Stock CYP Sensor) and taking all of the measurements and making all of the required adjustments.

First thing was to move the bearing on the distributor shaft. It had to be pressed approximately 20mm further down onto the shaft. Pulley puller worked like a charm to more the bearing into place. This was done to keep the overall height of the EPM down. I took it as far as I could go without interfering with the CYP sensor.

This sensor will be used as the cam signal in the my two trigger COP setup. So it's really not an engine position module as much as it is a cam position module. The 360° 12 tooth crank pulley (24 tooth 720°) and stock CKP sensor are the other part to complete the EPM.

Now onto the cutting, grinding and filing. If I had access to a machine shop I still probably wouldn't use it. I need to keep up the practice with the hand tools.

Stock P0B F22B2 distributor marked for cutting on the table saw.

Inside shot

Not a bad cut for a 12" 3/32 cut off blade on a cheap table saw. Biggest things was making sure the blade and deck and guide were all square. That took longer than the actual cutting. It only took 2 1/4 passes to get it cut through......5-10minutes tops, cut like a hot knife through butter!

Really didn't have to do much filing to get it level and flat

There was more filing involved after the coil deck was rounded off. It required a step down in order to have a proper sealing surface.

Then it was time to fit the filler piece for that step, just so happened to be just shy of a 1/4". So a cut, rounded and shaved scrap of 1/4" aluminum plate did the trick.

No fancy O-ring grooves so a roughed up surface and some Honda-bond will have to do. Once that was cut and ready to go it was on to cutting down the distributor shaft.

There was quite a bit to cut off. You can see the rest of it laying on the work bench in the background. Shaft and bearing rolls true with the bolts in.

Got the EPM cap, another piece of 1/4" scrap, rough cut and put into the vice for final fitting just before it was time to go. This scrap was going to be an IACV block off plate at one time.....This is a much better use for it!

Little UFI

The stock height of this distributor from the base with the cap, not including the plug boot stacks, was approx, 120-125mm. The total height of my EPM is 45mm. I probably could have gotten it down to 40-35mm but that's cutting it close for the stock sensor sitting inside.

Hope to have the cover and wiring done by the end of the weekend.

Remote Thermostat

2011-05-29T18:22:00.001-03:00

Rain again so I got to spend a little bit of time getting started on my remote thermostat setup. This will be consisting of an F22A PT3 thermostat housing and the F22B P0A thermostat cover. I will be using welded AN fittings on the block, upper rad hose housing, thermostat housing and the radiator.

Doing this will allow me to use the appropriate length of SS braided coolant hoses in place of the steel tube usually used on the back of the block. As well as using it for both the upper and lower rad hoses.

Here are a few pics of the cleanup.

Started off with a dirty rusty A6 housing with all of the coolant hose nipples intact.

Within minutes I was down to threading the old 1/4" nipple outlets for plugs and removing the 3/4" inlet hose fitting to make room for a welded -AN bung.

1/8" NTP 27 threads, both of these ports will have plugs in them. Considering I am not going to be using the IACV or FITV. However I decided to thread them just in case I ever need to run a couple -AN coolant lines in the future.

Here are a few shots of it all cleaned up ready for some bungs and plugs!

Mated with the P0A thermostat cover and fan switch. I will probably be replacing the fan switches with plugs as well. I am going to be using the ECU to control the cooling fan along with the electric water pump.

This isn't the -AN fitting that will be welded on, it is only there for representation. ;) That will be a 12-AN fitting and the inlet and outlets for the block, head, rad and housing will be 20-AN. As you can see I am also a few 1/8" plugs short. I used up the ones that I had on my -AN fuel setup. Updates on that to come soon!

Back at it again!

2011-05-27T10:46:00.001-03:00

It's been a while since I felt like digging up dirt. So here we go. Seems as though my good old friend at Gen5 is trying to suck more people into buying another light weight crank pulley. Posted on the websites front page is a writeup about how the last one ran into some unforeseen difficulties. More like lies lies lies and poor business ethics is what it really ran into!

On another note, I like that the members forum has been down for well over a month for maintenance that was supposed to be completed in just a few days. Hopefully people will start to see through the BS and opt for quality over quantity.

Go to a shop that has a reputation for doing good work, not just cheap prices & parts. In times like these it's sometimes hard to go with quality. Every dollar goes a long way. However, Don't let this guy take your hard earned money and run with it. You could probably do the work better yourselves.

Just wanted to remind those frequent viewers that this is what the BBB gave their automotive store for a rating.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Have a great weekend.

More rain in the forecast, more work on the car is a definite possibility.

Stay tuned for more updates soon!

F22A6 Port Cleaning Take 2

2011-05-21T20:02:00.001-03:00

Rain Rain Rain and more rain....... so I decided to spend the afternoon working on my exhaust ports.

I opened them up at the outlet about 2mm, didn't touch anything else other than cleaning up the casing shift lines with a 180 grit cartridge roll.

The valves for the exhaust are going to be 1mm oversize, 30mm. I will end up having to blend the new valve seat again after it has been replaced and cut to the new size.

For now I am content with the way the ports are shaped so I went ahead and polished them. After the initial carbide bur shaping/enlarging and the 180 grit cartridge roll, there were a few more steps to get to this;

Another 220 cartridge roll on the die grinder then it was on to hand polishing. Wet/dry 320, 400, 1000 then 2000 grit. Finished off with a hand buff with green rouge then finally a white rouge.

There are a few light spots the could use some touch-ups but I think this should do.

So now in addition to having the intake ports with a rough textured surface to promote good flow. I have the rest completely polished to promote cooler combustion chamber temperatures. Heat will be reflected out the exhaust ports. Polished pistons and combustion chambers in conjunction with the exhaust ports will help maintain the temperature of the exhaust gases further out the exhaust track. In turn hopefully increasing the exhaust velocity and increase the scavenging effect. We'll have to wait and see..... Also it will reduce carbon buildup.

Piston Tops

Combustion Chambers

Exhaust Ports

Stay tuned for more......

PCV Air Pump

2011-04-26T15:39:00.003-03:00

Well I took some time off from the porting to let some of the aluminum dust settle. Also to give my compressor a little bit of a break.

A rainy day and all I decided to fix the $20 Denso smog pump that I bought a while back. My thoughts are to use it as a mechanical crank case ventilation system. Considering there probably isn't going to be enough vacuum to do it as per usual.

Used a puller and got the thing opened up, it was a little rusty around the edges. After a bit of cleaning it was as good as new.

Pulled it completely apart to give it a thorough going over.

Gave the inside a quick wipe down. Didn't want to use anything to abrasive and remove any material. I wasn't able to find any way to adjust the clearances of the impeller blades.

All cleaned up!

Found that it was the front bearing that was a bit messed up.

I don't think it was the original one ether. Looks like it was a quick fix. The seal on the back side of the bearing was dented. I removed the seal and a few of the retainers were slightly crushed. So I'll pay the $5 for a new bearing and press it in. Hopefully that will be the fix to my $20 PCV pump.

Mounting this pump under the alternator using the A/C bracket will be the next step for this system.

F22A6 Port Cleaning

2011-04-25T03:17:00.003-03:00

Today I spent a few hours cleaning up the F22A's intake ports. They really look a bit on the angry side and just a little bit cleaner than they were.....

Before;

After;

I didn't do much re-shaping work to them other than widening the injector valley for the DSMs wider V spray pattern.

Even the valve guides are tucked up in there nice and neat.

There was quite a bit of work to do to blend the seat and get rid of the casting marks running down the sides of the ports. There was also one in the center of the short turn just before each valve seat??????............. Gone now!

Hope to get at the exhaust ports tomorrow. I'm thinking that they might be a bit small. Might open the port up a mm or two. Nothing to big...... get some flow numbers and then make any real adjustments....

Stay tuned!

Individual Throttle Bodies V2

2011-04-24T10:18:00.003-03:00

Well it's been a while and I figured that I should update this blog. During this recent absence my build has taken a slight deviation. I was finally persuaded to go with an F22A head when I had this given to me.

It is an F22A6 with a P12 intake manifold on it. Not a big deal as I really don't need the A6 intake secondaries anyway. ;)

The head had 1 bent valve. Turns out that there was no other damage to the head.

These intake ports look a lot more inviting than the B2 ports ever did.

The exhaust ports need a little bit of work but with the straight through design they don't need 1/4 the time the B2 head needed. The B2 head with all of the work done. Still wouldn't have had the flow that these will have with a mild port cleanup.

The F22A6 block on the other hand.......

It had a broken rod and some damage to the underside of the cylinder bore and the crank rod journal. Nothing that a little bit of work can't fix. A weld here and an offset there, next project ;)

For now it will be used as an empty mock-up engine for arranging hoses, fittings and wires in the bay.

Now onto the V2 throttles.........
With a new F22A head comes the need for a new F22A intake flange for my throttles.

It was with great sadness that I marked........

........and then cut my old manifold.

However, It was with great excitement that I cut up the F22A (P12) intake to make the flange for the new head.

That is as far as I was able to get so far.

TIG welding and port cleanup coming soon!

An update on the worst customer service

2010-12-15T07:31:00.002-04:00

I posted this on the Gen5 web forum and have yet to receive any form of reply from Kevin or the staff at Gen5.

"He won't answer my messages or my phone calls. So I'm back to contacting him via public means. As I am unable to make comments on the Gen5Alive facebook page anymore. I must resort to the Gen5 site.

Kevin you said my parts were being shipped out by the 15th of October.

Remember?

Just wondering if there is any word on there whereabouts?

A valid USPS tracking number would work.

Cheers"

Well at least the Better Business Bureau has finally caught up with him. They have given his store the lowest rating it could possibly have, an F

BBB Business Review of Gen5Alive - Automobile Parts and Supplies Retail - Norwalk, CA

Unfortunately this doesn't seem to make any difference in the way in which he conducts his business.

Time for some shaving!

2010-06-29T02:06:00.003-03:00

Shaved Doors
Finally took some time on a rainy day to get some work done. I started by removing the door handles from both the front and rear doors.

The front was a wee bit harder to pull out than the rear as it had what seemed to be a safety mechanism around the lock cylinder.

Once both of the handles were removed it was time to swap the opening mechanisms.

The one on the top is the rear door handle and the bottom is the front. You can see that the rear door handle uses a metal plate to push down on the rear door opening mechanism. Where as the front handle operates with a rod that is connected to the handle.

This is a better picture of the two different operating mechanisms once they were removed from the handles. The handles themselves are identical, so swapping the mechanisms was fairly easy. Here is the rear door handle with the front handle opening mechanism swap completed.

The actual mounting holes in the doors for the two handles are not the same. I forgot to take pictures. What I had to do was weld a small tab on the existing mounts to extend the surface area. Once welded on I drilled the new mounting holes and it was easy sailing from there.

Now with the front door lock, technically shaved it was on to shaving the rear door handle.

There was a bit more work to do here than there was on the front. Cleaned up the paint around the opening so I would have a good clean weld.

I then proceeded to make a paper template and traced it onto a piece of sheet metal. Cut the shape out and contoured it to the existing body lines.

I took a few trips to the grinding wheel to shave off a little here and a little there until I got it fitting flush with the existing door panel. Once it was sitting pretty it was time to weld it in place.

Now it's time to do the same to the other side.

Active Spoiler Modification Take 2

2010-04-23T00:09:00.003-03:00

I couldn't wait to get this project finished. Spent a few hours down in the garage today to get it finished up.

Here is a shot with both struts and mounts in place. Almost ready for the spoiler.

Once I had them both lined up it was time for a test fitting. When I had the spoiler mocked up. I was able to see that the spoiler mounts needed a slight modification.

To the grinding wheel I went. Once I had it roughly were I wanted it with the grinder I leveled them with a file.

Once I had the mounts leveled It was a lot easier to attach them to the spoiler.
Here they are securely mounted to the underside of the spoiler.

Now it was time to make the final adjustments on the transmission cables and sleeves, one of the steel sleeves had to be curved a wee bit to get it to work freely.

Time for a manual test.

Flush mounted, this will be the ride height under 45-50mph

And fully raised.

The fully raised position is where it will be when the spoiler ECU sees that my Accord is going over 45-50mph. With the flip of a switch I will be able to manually raise and lower it to any height in between.

A few more shots of it in the down position.

I will finish welding in the side panels for the drops another day.

Hope to have a video up as soon as I get the welding complete and all of the wiring hooked up.

Active Spoiler Modification Take 1!

2010-04-21T21:06:00.004-03:00

Today I got a chance to start on my active spoiler modification. This spoiler is speed activated. It will change it's pitch depending on the speed of the vehicle. this should create a larger down force on the back of the car. Exactly how much down force it will create on my Accord is unknown. It may end up creating drag and be completely useless. I'm not really concerned with the aerodynamic properties right now. I saw it and figured that I had to give it a try myself.

Pictured below is the Volkswagen Corrado active spoiler motor and transmission assembly. Along with the fiberglass spoiler that I will be using.

Fist thing was to mark and cut the trunk. I quickly realized that if I want the spoiler to lay flush with the trunk surface while it is in the down position. I have to create a drop/step in the OEM trunk.

After everything was marked out and lined up. It was time to cut and bend the steps into the trunk lid.

Here is a look from the underside of the trunk lid.

I had already removed a lot of the cross bracing from the underside when I shaved the license plate recess. The picture shows how the OEM down brace on the trunk is in the way of fitting the spoiler motor mount. That was easily remedied by cutting a section out or the brace and welding the spoiler motor mount directly to the remaining bracing.

After having the spoiler motor mount securely welded into position. It was time to mount the spoiler transmissions and struts.

Had to make a template of the transmissions in order to drill the mounting holes and strut opening. Once the templates were on and lined up it was just a matter of drilling everything out.

Then it was time to check everything out and make sure it all fit and operated properly without any obstructions. Everything bolted up rather nicely.

and the struts and spoiler mounts moved up and down without any dragging or obstructions.

With the one side pretty much completed the other side shouldn't take quite as long to finish. I should be able to get started on mounting the struts to the spoiler very soon. The only thing left to do on the trunk lid is to weld in a couple of side panels on the step-down. I'm going to leave that until the very end. That way I will have an access hole to see the mount under the spoiler when it is flush to the trunks surface.

Cheers!

Under Construction

2010-04-12T02:19:00.005-03:00

Well I'm finally getting around to cleaning this blog up a bit. As you may or may not have noticed. I have added the "Build at a Glance" heading in the right column. This is where I will be creating all of my archived project pages. These pages will contain project specific details. Rather than having to search through the archives by date.

I'd like to thank those of you who took the time to critique my blog and force me to get off my but and actually make this a somewhat easier blog to navigate.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my bud Neil, for showing me how to create, link and move pages. As well as sorting out my blogs colour theme. I can't believe that I didn't match everything to the logo before now. Guess that's what happens after a year of not doing any real design work. ;)

Have a good one! Cheers

Give a fellow Hobbyist a hand!
Check out the listed ads.
Thank you for the support!

Stanley Foglight Install

2010-04-12T02:12:00.001-03:00

Well I got all of the screws and seals for the fogs now it's time to install them.

Pulled my bumper out of the shed and set it up for fitting.

Then went right at it and started hacking it up........

Actually it was a very slow process trimming the grill so that it followed the shape of the fog light perfectly.

Once I had the grill cut out it was time to start on fabricating the sheet metal brackets.

You just have to love the simplicity of beer box templates.......

Top bracket ready for test fitting.

Slid in just like it was factory made.

Then was the time consuming process of measuring, cutting and bending the bracket to fit the the light housing.

With the top bracket fitted it was time to do the same for the bottom. The curve and uneven size of the bottom half of the grill opening proved to be some what of a pain. I was eventually able to get the lower bracket in place. After a few hours of trimming, grinding and filing.

With the brackets in place it was time to alter/fabricate the 94-95 Accord fog light housing brackets themselves.

This was a fairly easy part of this process.

First was the very long and way off level lower bracket.

I heated it up and bent it straight back. From there I was able to make it into a 90. So it was on the same level as the upper bolt hole. Drilled the hole and we are good to go for that side.

The other side of the housing was a bit harder. It was way off but unlike the other side it was too short. Therefore I had to bend this one straight up and weld on a new bracket.

New 90 bracket tack welded in to place and it was ready to be fit to the grill brackets.

Here is how they sit now.

Waiting for a fresh coat of satin black paint and some new wiring.

Stanley Foglight Referb

2010-03-21T18:15:00.003-03:00

Working condition my F#@K'n A$$. The ground wire was severed and there was a blown bulb in the other one. Nether of them worked when I got them. I thought they looked like they were in pretty good condition........on the outside.

Then I tried to get them to work...... and that's when this hornets nest was reviled.

Yes these are the same fogs that are posted above.

They didn't mention any of this in the item description. Complete with severed ground wire, burnt out bulb, all 4 glass lenses broken around the edges and all the weather seals are toast.

and then after I cleaned them up

I am now waiting for seals and new screws and bulbs to complete the restoration. They don't look so bad now after 5 hours of drilling taping, grinding & polishing.

I ended up getting half of my money back from the Ebay member once I showed them the pictures... Nice to see that there are still some good honest people out there.

The worst Customer Service in North America. Update!

2010-03-21T01:59:00.011-03:00

Kevin sent me another email last week apologizing for missing my call, accompanied by an excuse for not returning my call.

Here is his latest response;

Quote:

Originally Posted by Email received

From: Kevin
To: GhostAccord
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 6:06 PM
Subject: RE: Parts Inquiry

Hi Mark, I missed your call the last time as our vehicle was hit and I was out of the office. I will endeavor to contact you in the next couple days.

- Gen5Alive staff

13429 Pumice street

Norwalk, CA 90650

562-229-9131

And do you think he called me?

Not a chance. I find it funny that this email was sent the day after I originally posted this complaint on my blog. Wonder if I'll get another apologetic email after he hears about this one.

Cheers

March 26, 2010, Update!

So I talked to the nice folks down at Bisimoto Engineering this morning.

This is the information I was given by Bisimoto Engineering,
Bisimoto Engineering was approached, around this time last year, by Kevin Murase of Gen5Alive to price the production of a Light Weight Crank Pulley for the F22 engine. Kevin was given a price per unit & the minimum number of units required to get that price. Kevin was not satisfied with the cost and went no further in pursuing the production with Bisimoto Engineering.

It took me a year to get that answer, in the end it was 1 phone call a year after the fact. Why couldn't anyone tell me that 8 months ago? Oh well now at least I know Bisimoto Engineering has nothing to do with this Gen5Alive scam. Now I will go back to my pursuit of my measly $160 from Kevin Murase & Gen5Alive.

Again I apologize for bringing Bisimoto Engineering into this. I still have never talked to the guy personally but his staff was very informative and courteous.

Thank you for clearing this up.

April 27, 2010, Update!

I just got off the phone with Kevin and he said that the crank pulley is still a go. He has been in contact with Bisi to get them finished up. It's funny, as stated above, that when I talked to Heidi a few weeks back, she said they had nothing more to do with them. I do not have any more details on what is taking place now. Maybe Kevin has gone back to Bisi after all else had failed. Kevin said he would keep in touch so there will be no further miss-communication.

He seemed sincere but I am still a bit skeptical. As long as he keeps the lines of communication open I will give him another chance.

Possibly The worst Customer Service in North America

2010-03-13T00:51:00.007-04:00

So to make a very long and drawn out process short. It was one year ago yesterday that I bought into Kevin Murase's Lightweight Crank Pulley group buy on Gen5Alive.com. None of the paying customers have received the part to this date. Nor will he publicly give any information on it's whereabouts. It has been one story after another on how this shop and that shop aren't working out.

If you care to read all about it you can read it here. TSM Pikachu = Kevin

http://www.gen5alive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10882

Here is the latest

Quote:

Originally Posted by Email Sent,
From: GhostAccord
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 1:04 AM
To: Kevin@gen5alive; Brian@gen5alive; Allen@gen5alive; sales@gen5alive

Subject: Parts Inquiry

Good morning everyone,

Just wondering if there are any updates on the production of the light weight crank pulley yet.

Any information you can pass on would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

GhostAccord

P.S.

Is your shop number still 562-229-9131?

And to my astonishment he actually replied.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Email reply,
From: Autosport sales
To: GhostAccord
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 7:28 PM

Subject: RE: Parts Inquiry

Mark, Yes our office is that shop number, I recently went through a couple upgrades on our office line.

I’d much rather not discuss this over email, could you give me a call perhaps? This is just due to the nature of the transaction and I’d much rather talk to you over the phone rather than just shoot you a blind message.

-Kevin Murase

Gen5Alive Autosport, President

13429 Pumice street

Norwalk, CA 90650

562-229-9131

To me this actually sounded like he wanted to talk about what is going on with this part that is now over a year into production?????? On March 10th at 11:32 PST, I placed a call to Mr. Murase's place of business. There was no answer, Therefore, I left a short and polite message with my Name, phone number, with the area code, and to what the call was in regards too. I than asked him to return my call. As of tonight, 3 days later, I still have not received a phone call from him.

I guess it's time to start hounding the brains behind this parts production as well. But then I've been hearing that getting in touch with **** has been kind of hard lately as he's very busy. I highly doubt that Kevin's store/shop is so busy he can't return a phone call.

Oh well I'll wait the weekend and give them both a call on Monday.

**** I will leave this persons name out for now until I give them a chance to answer my questions. Even though I have sent them & their sales representatives numerous emails. too which I have received no replies.

White Housed Headlights

2010-03-10T21:25:00.007-04:00

There was no way that I was going to go and put black housed headlights and signals on my car. It's way to overdone. So I decided that I would go White 1987-88 HN512 Polar White to be exact.

First thing was to remove the headlight from the mounting bracket.

After a few dark-n dirties, a long soak in penetrating oil and a bit of muscle. They finally came apart

Most headlight DIYs don't mention to remove the mounting bracket. I wanted to because some of the hardware looked rather rough.

This is what both of the main adjusting mounts looked like. Part numbers added to the always growing "Parts Required List".

After washing the years of dirt and grime from the Headlight it was time to bake them in the oven at 230F for 5 minutes and separate the lenses from the housings.

Then it was time to carefully mask off the portion of the original reflector that I wanted to remain. Then sand and prep the unmasked portion of the housing for primer and paint.

Hanging from the painting line I have strung across the ceiling of my garage. Sanded and ready to go.

Gave the garage a good dusting and turned the heat up a little bit and threw a couple coats of primer on.

Then gave them an adequate dosage of Polar White. 12hrs of dry/bake time and I unmasked them to reveal my new white housing headlight.

The taping, prep and painting was the easy part of this project. Getting the lenses from a state like this,

To the end product was the tough part. They were in such bad shape it took more than a few hours of wet sanding and polishing. Just to get one too look like this.

Started with a bucket of warm soapy water and 400 grit wet dry, then onto a 1000 grit, 2000 grit, then it was the white buffing paste and loose cotton buffing wheel. To finish it off I used Mother's Gold three stage wax system. It was a hand application of step 1 cleaner, Step 2 sealer conditioner and then step 3 carnauba wax.

I had to get another headlight from the junkyard, because one of mine had a little bit of weld spatter/ a hole in it. That one is still in the wet sand stages. $30 lesson learned, no welding while the plastics are still on the car...lol

Update!

Finally got around to finishing my headlights tonight.

Testors 1257 Transparent Blue day/high lights.

After two coats of paint, 48 hr cure time, good cleaning, few minutes bake time in the oven and this is what you get.

The white housed corner lights are still on hold until I get a new set.......

My Coil Over Plug Setup cont-1

2010-03-02T14:43:00.005-04:00

Took a few minutes today to get my 2007 GSX-R pencil coils fitting snug in their new homes.

I had an old set of Accel 300+ ignition wires down in the garage. They were still in good shape, but I'm hoping I won't need them.

First I took the rubber grommet off the GSXR coil and took the Accel ignition wire apart. That allowed me to get the upper valve cover grommet off of it

Then I simply cut the top off the ignition wire grommet and was left with this.

After cutting the tops off the ignition grommet, I also had to bore out the inside diameter so that the coil would fit. Very messy job with a Dremel tool and a 60 grit cartridge roll. After that was done, I put some dielectric lube on them and stuffed them in their new homes. Snug as a bug in a rug. No need for a long aluminum mounting bracket when they are done this way. ;~)

When all was said and done. I spent $35 for a set of 2007 pencil coils. Took approx. 1.5hrs of my day to cut up a set of used ignition wires And they look like new. Tested the resistance on each coil and all is good on that front as well.

Piecing together my Coil Over Plug setup

2010-02-27T18:34:00.003-04:00

Here are a couple shots of something I have been piecing together & working on, here and there, for quite a while now.

It's coming together quite well so far. Hopefully a COP, OBD1 ECU with a modified OEM distributor bench test will be in the near future. Fingers crossed!

Waiting on some more sample electronics stuff from those great electronics manufacturers out there. :thumbsup: 2 - Maxim Integrated Products, Inc., Intersil & Mill-Max MFG Corp.

Cheers :beer:

13" Maradyne fan 2 Civic 1/2 Rad

2010-02-25T00:11:00.008-04:00

Took a few minutes to figure out how to mount my 13" Maradyne Universal S-blade rad fan to my Koyo Civic 1/2 rad.

Started by mocing up a 1" aluminum bar and machining it to the rad mounting points.

Mounted the bracket with a few bolts and cut out the small area for the drain cock.

Lined up the other mounting points and bobs your uncle!

had to take a shot of the fan and bracket from the other side...

So with the bottom full bar mounted in place it was time to fab the 2 upper mounts.

Got the first mounting point done now it's time to line up the rad mounting point.

Now it's time to shave it down and give it the Chappy Aeffec!

The other top side was exactly the same.

Stay tuned for more.........................

Little preview of my cylinder head cleanup!

2010-02-21T14:40:00.004-04:00

Well as I wait for some welding and shop supplies to arrive to finish my hood mod. I went back to working away on my engine.

I decided to do a little shaving.

Before:

After:

This is how you do a power steering delete for real...lol

Before:

After:

Still need to fill in/weld the holes and clean up a bit.

Same with EGR delete:

Before:

After:

I threaded the EGR port and I was going to use a 7/16 set screw. However, I will probably weld this opening shut instead. I will also be filling/welding & polishing the EGR opening inside the #4 exhaust port as well.

Cheers

Secondary Fuel Injector Setup

2010-01-17T15:32:00.008-04:00

Got to finally work on my car again.

Got the secondary fuel injectors mocked up.

I am using the stock fuel rail from the 2003 GSX-R1000 Throttles.

Bit rough right now but they are still in the build phase.

The height on these/distance from throttle plate is a manual adjustment.

Before

After

Not quite as refined & polished as Kinstler's aluminum setup. The rods and injector brackets, once finalized, will be powder coated.

Civic 1/2 Rad installed into a CD5

2009-08-08T18:05:00.011-03:00

I did manage to get my half rad mocked up & mounted.

Started by removing the stock lower rad mounts.

Drilled out the spot welds and they came off with no problems.
They are a little bit rough but with a quick sand blast and a coat of fresh paint they should last.

I had to cut out the socket in the cross member that was used to hold the A/C condenser. It was in the way of my new mount location. You can see in the first image that it curves out from the front bulkhead approx 1/2".

Had a piece of pre-bent steel that was the right thickness and pretty much the perfect contour, cut it to size and tacked it in place.

After that I mocked up the rad to mark where all the mounts were to be welded and holes drilled for screws.

At this time I heated up the replacement plate and the cross member to bend them into shape. Welded the seams and the bulkhead was better than stock with the newly located lower mounts welded to it.

Drilled and welded nuts to the underside of the upper cross member for the upper rad mount. Just have the one finished in this pic. I used one of the stock CD5 upper rad mounts and bushings for the single mount on the Yanaka half rad.

I used the rubber bushings from the CD5 A/C condenser for the lower rad mounts. I had to drill out the inner diameter of the bushings a wee bit to get them to fit over the Yonaka posts. I also had to bore out the lower rad mounts to accept the larger bushings.

Securely mounted and ready for hoses.

With more than enough space between the front bulkhead and the rad.

Chassis and Suspension Parts

2009-08-02T02:45:00.002-03:00

Chassis and Suspension Parts

KYB struts and Kaizenspeed balance shaft eliminator kit.....

Well here is what I have been working on putting together for the last little while. I didn't want to post pics after each part was blasted and coated so I figured I would post them all at once.

Front beam and radius rods

Center Beam

Rear Beam

Rack and tie rod ends

Front suspension - should go nice with my red KYB's

Rear suspention

Accel External Coil

2009-07-24T02:28:00.003-03:00

Accel External Ignition Coil wiring & connector

What a difference this Accel Coil made for my car......Fired right up with out any hesitation. The throttle response was right there as well with absolutely no hesitation at all. Now with that being said I also have a new cap, rotor, Accel 8.8mm ferro spiral core wires and NGK copper core spark plugs.

Here is how I made my conversion harness for my Accel CD E-Core Ignition Coil Pt# 140019. This harness is for an F22B2 external coil.

Caution:
Ensure that you are familiar with your ignition system before attempting this conversion. When working on any part of your vehicles electrical system disconnect the negative (-) cable from your battery.

If you have the stock Honda radio still installed in your vehicle it is equipped with an anti-theft system. Make sure you have the activation code before attempting this. Or you'll be paying the dealer a visit to enable your radio. $$$ you don't need to spend.

First I had to hack apart an old junked F22B2 coil with a hacksaw. It only takes about 5 min tops. I picked the coil up from a J/Y for a few bucks.

Then I used a router bit on my Dremel to carve out the back of the connector. This made it easier to solder the coil wires to the contacts.

I then pulled out the stock contacts from the connector and drilled holes so that I could do a pull through solder.

Now on the Accel side of things the coil only has 1 + terminal and one - terminal and the stock ignition has 2 + & 1 -. I soldered another wire to the Accel + wire connector. That is all that has to be done on the Accel side of things.

Here are all the parts together up to this point.

Now all there is to do is shorten and solder the wires as shown below.

Note: Insure that you make note of where the 2 positive contacts and the negative contact is situated. I marked my connector with a black marker +/+ on the positive side & - on the negative side. Just wanted to make this clear. You can see my + + on the following image.

After placing the wires into the connector your all set for waterproofing. I used a piece of tape wrapped around the connector to create a form for the non-conductive silicone RTV sealant. I used a tube of everyday silicone that you can buy at your local automotive store. Get the stuff that is designed to work with O2 sensors. It does not contain any sort of corrosives that may damage the solder connections.

*Note*
Silicone is a fairly good insulator to use, Dow BETASEAL U-418 urethane window sealer will cure harder than silicone and it is also non conductive. I don't have access to liquid Teflon or a plastic injection system. These two processes would be more professional and permanent choices if you have them available to you.

Non Honda TPS Connector DIY

2009-07-18T00:26:00.002-03:00

Non Honda TPS wiring for maintaining Stock engine wire harness connector. Also saves from having to buy a pricey aftermarket TPS mounting bracket/adapter plate

What Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) to use on DIY ITB's? I just finished testing my GSXR to F22B2 OBD2 TPS setup and everything works fine.

Here is how I did it:
I am using the stock GSXR Secondary TPS as it already has three wires ready to go. The primary GSXR TPS does not, it has a male connector on it,

Secondary TPS on the left, Primary TPS on the right.

I took an old Civic TPS and cut the guts out of it and exposed the connectors on the inside. I then cut the rest of the old TPS housing off. Leaving me with my newly created male connector. After soldering the three wires in there proper positions Sig/Gnd/Ref I had my GSXR to Honda TPS conversion ready for testing....

Close-up of the altered Civic TPS hooked into my OBD2 wiring harness.

New TPS and harness connected for testing, I used a screw driver to turn the GSXR TPS to simulate WOT.

I ran all of the standard Honda Voltmeter tests to confirm that the TPS was working correctly. At this time I was also able to record the actual voltage range for my new TPS so I can add them into my ITB TPS settings in Crome. I don't have any actual images of the readings as I only have two hands and I was flying solo today. Here are the readings that I read: 1.13v @ CT and 4.89v @ WOT.

With the most current tuning software that is available. It is very easy to calibrate non Honda TPS voltage values to enable smooth operation.

NOTE:
If you use the primary GSXR TPS the voltages are pretty much spot on with the Honda specs. 0.46 @ CT and 4.47 @ WOT

ITR Seats into CD5 - DIY

2009-07-10T18:21:00.001-03:00

I picked up a set of USDM ITR front seats for a steal and figured that I would give them a shot in ol’Ghost.

Front seat frame only test fitting.

I'm not going to bother with a racing harness just yet. For now the car is just going to be a fair weather Daily Driver......Until we get a track or two around these parts. At that time all it will take is to unbolt these seats and drop in some ITR Recaros

Started off with completely clean Accord rails, cut everything off them except for the seat belt bracket on the inside rails. I made sure not to ruin the Accord front inside mount when I cut it off. I knew that I would need it later on to mount the ITR seat.

I drilled the spot welds off the mounting brackets from the ITR rails. This allowed me to weld the ITR brackets to the Accord rails.

The ITR seats have the inside rail mounting bolts coming from the bottom of the seat. This presented a problem in conjunction with the Accord rails. Therefore I had to move the mounts from the bottoms of the ITR seat pan to the side.

After moving the mounting brackets on the sides of the seat. I was able to fabricate the rear mount. I drilled the seat bolt hole threw a piece of 1/4" plate steel. Then tacked it to the existing seat belt bracket.

Here is where the original front mount from the Accord rail comes into play. I used it for the with the ITR seat bolt moved to the side and the Accord bracket offset on the rail slightly. Then tacked it into place.

I removed the seat bolts in order to finish all of the mount welds.

Viola one ITR seat pan in a CD5.

and the somewhat finished product....still waiting for new skins.

Both seats installed

Engine & Tuning Parts

2009-07-04T12:11:00.002-03:00

Engine & Tuning Parts

Well I don't get as excited as some over clear plastic bags with red "H's" on them but these parts make my heart beat a bit faster

• 34mm intake valves
• 30mm exhaust valves
• 175psi single springs
• Bronzed valve guides w/ seals
• Ti retainers

• Darton M.I.D. Sleeves
• Wiseco short skirt Pistons 89mm bore 29mm compression height w/0.6cc dome (approx 12:1 CR w/milled head)
• Carrilo H22 (143.5mm) Pro A Connecting Rods.

• Full Engine Gasket Kit & Bearings
• Full ES Poly suspension kit & engine mount insert
• Ebay fuel pressure regulator w/gauge
• AEM Tru Time Gear
• Innovate Motorsports – x2 Wideband O2 sensors w/controllers – LM3 AUX Box & X-16 gauge
• Fidanza – 8.5lb flywheel & 3.2 Clutch kit
Well I now have all of the gear for my head. This is what was waiting for me down at the ol mailbox today when I came home from work.......ahhhh the mids to highs on this should be pretty sweet!

Gloss Black Oil pan to go with my gloss white VC....

I got tired of cleaning and coating my suspension so I took a day to do my V-Cover instead.

Had to take the extra 20 minutes to file and polish the lettering.......

Want to give a shout out and big thank you to Chris and his team over at Xenocron for some outstanding customer service. He was quick to inform me that the rad I had ordered was on back order. Much appreciated. Then he arranged to have the order shipped right to my door saving a lot of time and cross boarder red tape BS. Sounds simple enough but not enough vendors care enough to contact customers anymore. I didn't even request a rush or anything, I ordered it and didn't really care when it shipped.

My aluminum half rad (Xenocron) fuel, brake and oil -AN fittings (Summit). Also has good customer service and very fast shipping considering they are using the USPS.

Individual Throttle Body DIY

2009-07-04T10:52:00.005-03:00

Wanted to share my 1996 Honda Accord F22B2 DIY ITB setup. I have not installed the ITB's yet. I am currently completely restoring and customizing the chassis.

ECU Chipped
I started this whole project off with learning how to chip my own ECU and it was a bit tougher than I thought but I got it done eventually.

My Auto P75 non VTEC Ecu converted to a 5spd P72 VTEC w/IAB enabled, low profile Zif Chipped, with jumpers, to allow for an easy return to the stock auto P75 mode. Base Mapped, set up for Hulog data logging and OBD2 (Veh) to OBD1 (ecu) wired.

GSXR Throttle Body prep for F22 ITB conversion

These are a set of 2003 GSXR 1000 Throttle bodies. Measuring 51mm at the trumpet and 46mm @ the throttle plate. Now some may say that these are the measurements for a Hyabusa, so be it, I got these TB for the price of 1000’s….cheap $80 delivered.

First sep was obviously to clean them up and get rid of all the bits that I will not be using.

They came with the secondary throttle bar still attached but not the the valves. I removed the bar and was faced with the fact that a hole in the side of the ventury would not be a benefit so I filled the holes with JB weld.

Before JB weld

& holes filled

Then I had to go about deciding what to do with the stock GSXR fuel injector locations. They could be of some use in the future so for now I decided to just leave them be. Possible secondary injector setup :thumbup:

I did not make the injector bungs any bigger or modify the seal in any way so that I may be able to add an extra set of injectors in the future. May even try adding the GSXR injectors.

Well after doing this I saw that there was a bit of room to clean up the JB weld and maybe enlarge the ventury.

So I honed them out about 1mm making them 52mm at the trumpet and 47mm at the throat

Then polished them.

on to

The runners and stock F22 manifold.

This is where I started with a stock Upper & Lower IM.

After I disassembled them here is what I had to work with, got to love So Cal car parts not a spot of rust or aluminum pitting.

After a few hours of cutting, grinding and fine-tuning. I get my lower manifold ready for runners.

At this point is where I stood stagnant.....waiting........and......

........waiting. It was a long wait for my custom bent aluminum runners. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find 1"7/8" I.D. aluminum tubing in this city. It's not a common tube size or material for refineries, paper mills or breweries. lol Not one shop in the city carried this tube size.

After some searching I found some and have made my request for 4 14" pieces w/40°. I want my ITB runners with a bit of an angle.

Here is where it all begins, the hours of fabrication. These are all the parts that went into making my ITB's, Runners, Fuel Rail and Vacuum Manifold.

And.......

here they are with those unbelievable hours of fabricating and grinding to get the angles right as well as the curve. I had to make it so that there would be as little bend in the inside track of the runner as possible. Some may have noticed that the runners I started with were a lot longer...well that's how long I needed them to achieve the curve without being to badly crushed in the bender. The amount that they did flatten matched the oval shape manifold ports 100%. I now have enough pipe to do 1 or 2 more sets depending on the runner length. I only used one and a half of the four.

Fitted with the bottom half of my ram air GSXR air box. All measurements were double and triple checked to ensure this thing will fit snug in the available space.

Finished intake & throttles. I had my runners welded directly to the throttle bodies. The runner length is measured specific to my engines target RPM range and VE%.It will make use of second wave harmonics at this length.

Vacuum Manifoild

Now some people are saying that what do you need a vacuum manifold for ITB's are un-tunable using vacuum. Well not to step on any toes but I need vacuum for more than just my MAP sensor. I need vacuum for my FPR and my break boost. Plus I had some spare tubing lying around and some aluminum end plugs so I did it anyway.

My vacuum manifold is complete will all the factory vacuum line ports as you can see in the pic it is actually the factory vacuum housing from my parts manifold.

And this is how it sits now waiting to have my engine rebuilt and my engine bay cleaned up.

Complete with vacuum can and all stock vacuum line ports.

If ITBs aren't your thing. Why not try a larger throttle body.

Intorduction to My 96 Accord Build

2009-06-24T22:12:00.006-03:00

This is how the engine sits right now.

It was originally a 1996 Honda F22B2 8.8:1 CR SOHC 2.2L.

It will soon be an 12:1 CR SOHC 2.4L with a set of 54mm individual throttle bodies.

This is the current state of my chassis. I am in the process of converting the hood and 1/2 fenders into a reverse lift operation.

I have full documentation on this entire build thus far. I will be posting it in the near future along with any of my week to week updates.