seems like an aweful lot of work, cant wait to see it when you get it pained, hard to tell how it will look now, aslo curious to see how the guage cluster is looking
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89 gsr'd civic hatch, soon to be ditched for a lude
Sanded the hell outta the same spots again. Trying to get all the prep work done before I start applying body filler to the gaps left between the body and the kit. I'll be paying off Race Engine Development this week, which means I should have the true compression results, as well as the block itself by the end of next week. After a short trip to the salvage yard, I managed to find all but one of the plugs needed to complete the conversion from the Prelude cluster to the Integra Type R cluster. I'll be heading out early tomorrow morning to build the head, finish the sanding on the rear add-ons, and applying the body filler. I'll have pics up by tomorrow night showing everything we've managed to get finished before dark.
Got some of progress done on the prelude today. I seated all but the last 2 intake valves into the head, sanded down the last imperfections from the fiberglass sheeting on the side skirts and applied 2 coats of "bondo glass", which is a mixture of body filler and fiberglass. Here are the pictures from today.
Here shows the difference before and after seating a valve. To the left is the standard valve before the work, and on the right is a completed seat job on a valve.
This is after the first coat of bondo glass.
These are all after the 2nd coat of bondo glass.
Tomorrow I'll install the springs and retainers into the head and begin the bondo glass work on the rear bumper. New pics tomorrow!
Today was a day dedicated to the Endyn head. After all, the head continues to prove to be the most important part of the engine in the performance category. I finished seating in the last two intake valves. Before a trip to the car wash to remove the grinding compound from the chambers, I cleaned up the surface areas of the head.
The car wash detergent did absolutely nothing to help remove the grinding compound, so I used some dish washing detergent and cycle cleaner with a toothbrush to make sure that there were no traces of compound remaining on the head. Then it was time to start installing the Skunk2 Pro Series valve train.
The valve train includes:
Skunk2 Pro Series stainless standard size valves
Skunk2 Pro Series dual valve springs
Skunk2 Pro Series titanium retainers.
Now, anyone out there who has experience with installing/removing valve springs knows how much of a b**** it can be. Now imagine the B series valve springs, with the addition of a nice thick spacer under the spring to increase seat pressure from the original 60 lbs, to 80 lbs. I really needed about four to six other hands lol, but I managed to get it all finished today with much concentration.
I still need to order the new Type R lost motion assemblies before I can do anymore work on the head. So, I wrapped the head in shipping wrap to keep away any dust or other foreign objects.
Finally got around to working on the car today. Gathered up all the bolts and nuts from removing the engine and cleaned them up nice, this way they are ready to be used when the block comes in. Worked on the rear bumper, pics below...
I started with two 3" long by 1 inch wide pieces of treated wood. These will be used to create the molding for the fiberglass sheets. They will also add as support.
I used a high-speed grinder powered by the air compressor to sand down the edges and shape the pieces till they would match the design I was looking for.
Then I applied the first layer of fiberglass sheet and resin.
Let me know what you guys think about how the body kit is coming together. More to come soon.
Did you decided to remove the oem factory rear lip? The mugen rears are suppose to attach to those. Would've made your molding easier.
Well, the bumper I bought didn't come with the OEM rear lip. And at first, I wasn't sure if I should get one. The reason being is the mugen rear addons don't really sit flush on the OEM lip. Here's a good picture for those of you who haven't seen this type of setup.
In my opinion, I'd rather have something that looks more unique than the above. Not to say it doesn't look nice. I think I'm just a lil more picky than the average prelude owner when it comes to body kits. I tend to pick them apart immediately after seeing one. Some people like the typical mugen/OEM lip setup. To each their own. I've had so much time to burn while saving up the cash to finish the build. Good thing, because this body work takes forever
i know i questioned the effort you are putting in to this, but with how unique it will look in the end i think its worth it now... good job man and keep it up.. i want to see this finished
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89 gsr'd civic hatch, soon to be ditched for a lude
i know i questioned the effort you are putting in to this, but with how unique it will look in the end i think its worth it now... good job man and keep it up.. i want to see this finished
Quote:
Originally Posted by TJ97SH
Looks like it is coming along nicely. Great work!
Thanks guys. I'll get as many pictures taken as I can so that if someone decides to do something similar, maybe I can help them a little bit.
Well, I found an unfortunate surprise this morning. Apparently mother nature attacked my prelude during a huge rain storm. The layer of fiberglass that I put on the rear bumper on Monday was lying in the grass. I guess the moisture didn't mix well with the resin and turned it into goo. And goo doesn't hold fiberglass sheets on cars very well . However, I had plenty of good weather today to apply two new layers back onto the back bumper.
I also did a little more weight reduction on the car as it sits. I pulled the transmission out and took it to the car wash to remove all the gunk left behind from the previous owner who experienced a bad main seal.
Before the cleansing...
After a coat of engine degreaser, power wash and rinse, second coat of degreaser, attacked with a wire brush, a rinse with the water hose and almost two hours later...
I also took the OBX oil pan to the car wash for some more cleansing...
... and covered it in a thin layer of plastic shipping wrap to keep filth from getting back into it.
And here is a pic of my friend Jeremy (who is a hardcore anti-import dude who will only and always drive a Ford) having a good time making fun of my transmission and how it was as small as his shoe.
I'll be back out there tomorrow morning to get some more progress done.
Me and the other Mike spent the entire day cleaning and reorganizing the garage to prepare for all the work that has to be done on the prelude. I did manage to get the last layer of fiberglass sheeting on the rear bumper. Here are a couple pictures of what we did today, with the prelude resting in it's new temporary home until all the body work is done and the new engine is assembled and installed. Race Engine Development (RED) said today that he would examine the block and get it packaged for shipment by Monday.
Installed the Walbro 255 lph fuel pump. It took around 30 minutes to get to it, but only took about 3 minutes to remove the stock fuel pump and install the new one. Mike looked at the new pump and said "it's just a baby" lol. It really is smaller than I thought it would be.
Removed the rear seat...
Located and removed the old fuel pump...
Removed the actual pump itself from the bracket.
This is the Walbro 255 lph fuel pump.
Attached the new pump, filter, hose, and clamps to the bracket.
And, all done! And then to install the seat and support back into the car again.
Here is what the rear bumper looked like after the third layer of fiberglass.
And this is after about 2 hours of sanding...:thud: But its now ready for the body filler.
I ran outta time but still managed to squeeze in the first layer of the body filler onto the passenger side of the rear bumper.
Me and Mike also managed to remove what we found to be pieces of t-shirts and towels that the previous owner wrapped and stuffed into several crevices of the trunk and surrounding area. Must have thought it would work well as sound/vibration dampening for the 15" sub that used to be in the trunk. We estimated about 8-10 lbs weight reduction :ugh:
I'll be out there after the weekend. I decided to go ahead and polish the valve cover, as it should look better than just red with black lettering. And after a talk with someone who has much experience with body work, we decided to "anchor" all of the fiberglass sheets to the body and the kit to ensure durability and endurance. I'd really hate to hit a nice bump in the road and have a full section of fiberglass pop off of the car. More to come!
Wow this really sucks. I can't believe I've exceeded my 10.1 gig/month bandwidth on photobucket LOL. And now they want money to reactivate my links for all my pics on this thread...
Yes! Pictures are back up again. Gonna have to make sure I don't go over 10.1 gigs this month hahaha.
Yesterday we spent over 6 hours on body work. After a talk with someone experienced with body work, we decided to reinforce the work we've done on the car. We drilled a few holes on the spots that needed support and installed pop rivets to keep the fiberglass sheeting from popping off the body or the kit in the event of a huge bump in the road and to lengthen the life span of all the hard work we've applied so far. I'd really hate to go over a rough railroad track and have to redo all the work we've done.
Mike G. decided that he wanted to get his hand's dirty and started sanding extensively on the side skirts. He's definitely the sand man.
I also finished the two layers of bondo glass on the rear bumper. It doesn't sound like we did much, but all of this kind of work takes a lot of time. Especially the sanding part.
Steve at Race Engine Development called me today and said that the machine work on the cylinders could use a tad more work to get them perfect. He'll be sending it back to the machine shop on Monday. Also, he said the wrist pins did not have enough clearance with the bushings and that he'd be taking care of that this weekend. Oh well, looks like I'll have more time to get the cosmetic portion finished after all.
We really got a lot done today. And having been covered in fiberglass wasn't the high point of the day.
We started out by removing the front bumper and using the rotozip to cut the appropriate notches for the corner lights.
Then Mike G. (that's it, to end the confusion of both of us Mikes, I shall call him by his last name... Glaser) cut out two small portions of the bumper brace edges to make room for the brackets which will hold up the "grill" section of the front bumper so that it remains level.
And then there was the sanding of the bondo-glass...
... and sanding...
... more sanding...
... and yes, you guessed it. Some more sanding.
And these are the results after all of that sanding.
Next, we applied the lightweight body filler...
Tomorrow we will be sanding down the areas that we applied the lightweight body filler to and we'll also apply the body filler to the rear bumper. If we do everything in a timely manner, the body work will be complete by the afternoon and we will begin sanding down the entire car to get ready for the new paint job.
We finished all the fiberglass work today, finally! Here's what we did today.
Dressed up like this and got covered in dust. Again. I'm on the left, and Mike Glaser is on the right. We've been wearing these damned masks for the entire week and can't wait to breath freely again.
We applied the lightweight body filler to all the areas that were left, and filled in a few imperfections. Then,lots of sanding. Several hours worth.
The pictures below are finished areas of the body work going clockwise starting from the passenger side skirt, minus a little bit of trimming with the rotozip on the edges. These areas have 3 layers of fiberglass sheets with resin (kitty hair), 2-3 layers of bondo-glass, and 1-2 coats of lightweight body filler. And the body work has been secured to the car body and the body kit parts by pop rivets. Of course, all the layers were sanded down in-between each one and all the work has been sanded down to match the body of the car.
Front passenger-side skirt
Rear passenger-side skirt
Passenger-side rear bumper
Driver-side rear bumper
Rear driver-side skirt
Mike was finishing the final sanding on the front driver-side skirt when I had to leave. I'll add that one tomorrow. We'll be trimming all the rough edges down and hopefully sanding down the entire car for the paint job tomorrow. Thanks for the subs!
We started taking everything off the prelude today to get ready for sanding. Then we spend a few hours sanding the whole car. We figured that in order to really paint the car right, we should remove the sunroof to get to the edge of the body where the sunroof closes. It was fun to say the least...
Later on today we'll be masking off the windows, trim, etc. and starting the paint job. We have some more prep work to do (seems like we always do) before we can start. But if everything goes smoothly, I'll be posting pictures of the finished paint job tonight!
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. However, I had plenty of good weather today to apply two new layers back onto the back bumper.
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