PaulS

Alas not, one piston on each side at the front has rusted so they need carefully pushing out and the rust sanding off so that they retract properly. I have already sanded both discs and the brake pads so that the discs go round but they still catch and impede the rotation, I was wondering if this had the impact of causing the inner drive shaft wobble.... Just cannot bend down for long enough at present.... hence investigation and remedial action stalled.... No ATF leaks (and yes, there is a good volume of ATF back in the gearbox!). How does one get at the shaft output joints? and which grease should I use to repack? So near and yet so far....

Bit of a problem - a hernia and corrective op has left me temporarily unable to do the last remaining bits sorting out the calipers which have stuck due to rusting up through lack of use I guess. Also both the inner drive shaft joints do look like they might be bent as the inner ends of the drive shafts seem to be wobbling around (though do not feel loose to the touch) when the drive is engaged. Have not worked that out yet. Could the diff be damaged or are wobbly looking inner drive shaft joints normal? All opinions welcome... To top it off, I fell down some steps into the back of the car and bashed a dent into the vertical part of the boot lid! Head seemingly OK thankfully...

Another thought is that you might find a stilson wrench grips better than a mole wrench if you have space to use it. And there is the possibility of welding on a nut with good edges onto the rounded bolt end...

How feasible would it be to take the whole unit off and work on the problem off the car where you have more space....? Other than that, I would strongly consider cutting the bush bolt through with a dremel (or angle grinder if you can get that in (easier when the unit is off the car though!)

Wonder how many folk have older tyres with these potential problems. Caravans and trailers quickly come to mind, and many low low mileage cars....

Baldrick has helped my Coupe through its stay in intensive care so at least I am grateful and help it live on in part....

2 In theory yes I agree. But as I am quite nervous about not really finding any cause for the original charge into the wall, I prefer to leave those hoses on byepass until I am happy it does not decide to ram anything unexpectedly again. Those pipes squirting their newly released fluids& their respective messes over our path caused me a lot of grief (from the other half plus time & materials) to clean up. If everything drives well along the alley behind my house, then it seems it will be the right time to reconnect them. Driving the car such short distances and not pushing either steering or transmission whould not get the fluids hot enough to need cooling - especially as the weather is cooling off again. If all is well, I plan to then reconnect the hoses properly and re-tax it again on 1st Nov before taking it on cautious road tests for a couple of weeks. Then assuming all seems OK, I will hopefully arrange to take it down to Hughezee for a proper inspection....... Well that is my plan at the moment....

Did you work out the cause of the back end twitch?

More progress: Radiator mounted in, water hoses connected and car running, started first time again. At present I have not connected the transmission cooler nor the power steering cooler, leaving hoses bypassing both to see what else needs sorting. Todays issues noticed: 1. Only one fan (battery side) kicks in as the engine gets warmed up - is that normal? If so when does the other kick in? 2. Still jacked up with wheels off, I discovered the brakes had stuck on. I will have to service both calipers as the pistons are not that easy to retract at present. After a bit of temporary work, including sanding the discs & pads & putting them all back together, both discs now move reasonably freely, but it seems I have some drive shaft wobble on both inner joints which is more pronounced on the right than left. Is that normal? 3. There is a bit of a judder as one brake or other binds and stops one wheel or other spinning. Is this as a result of the still slightly tight brakes or Is this the diff playing up? Maybe as a result of the original problem? No noticable drive shaft wobble when I remove all the brake pads - the wheels drive smoothly in both directions. 4. There is also a sort of ticking coming from around the main drive belt pulley - sort of like when as kids we used to put lolly sticks in our bike wheels to make a noise. Not loud , but definitelt sounds like something catching but I cannot see or feel anything obviously hitting anything spinning, nor can I see a bit of a belt catching anything. Any ideas anyone? But with runniong engine, I have put it in forward and reverse gears and left it running in both directions for around 15 minutes each to see if there is any sign of the original problem, but no sign so far. No water, ATF, or power steering leaks seen either - and as far as I can tell I have managed to reconnect all wires correctly with no loose ones spotted anywhere, and no warning lights on.

Thanks fot the pictures - no wonder I could not spot the mount as after the crash that area was well bent up & the mounting point is not too visible, but the bracket was still there although well crushed and unrecognisable. After a substantial session of bracket bashing and bending, the newly shaped bracket now fits the shape changed mounting point & the pipe now fits more or less where it should be. Rain stopped play again today though....

Obvious really, the big outlet hose from the windscreen washer bottle actually fits to the headlight washers on the front bumper. Much easier to spot when one has the bumper to hand.... Last time I was trying to connect up everything without the bumper.... Only need to find the feedthrough spot for the power steering cooler now.

I have also had a good slide in similar circumstances on a roundabout - that time in my C240... and could actually smell diesel fuel when I went back for a check out look around. Did you go back to check?

That is the outlet from the resevoir but it is the metal cooler pipe (you can see it through the front grill) where I have the problem. Quite how the cooler pipe fits through between the bodywork is my real question. Without the 2 rads in the way it is easy, but it must go in front of the air con rad but still feed the pipes through to where the rubber hoses are. Everything looks in the right place and the distance between wheel centres front to back is the same on both sides. And as far as I can tell the subframe & mountings were not bent anyhow, but it was worrying to find the RH side bar bent when the left is straight!

Cable ties arrived and got more paint so work continues. After primer and colour paint dried, I sprayed Lanoguard everywhere I could find. Then refitted RH headlight unit, screen wash bottle, RH wing liner and all electrical connectors for both sides. Also refitted aircon rad after finding the mislaid top pipe. But 3 things have foxed me so far: 1. How does the power steering fluid cooler pipe that should sit in front of the aircon rad thread through and fasten in front of the air con rad? I might have damaged or misplaced something in either the original crash or subsequently.... 2. Where does the outlet hose on the bottom of the screenwash bottle fit on to? This is the fatter hose on the engine side of the bottom of the screen wash bottle. 3. Is the front right anti-roll bar naturally bent or straight? Mine has bends in it and I am unsure whether this was another bit of crash damage or not.. Obviously I have no before pictures and my parts CD does not give answers to any of the questions... all info gratefully received. Cheers Paul

Thanks, ordered.

Specifically push in cable clips - the ones that push in but have an inbuilt cable tie. Yes, I have found them on eBay - ~£20 for 30... still seems a lot... Would prefer push in version with just a slot where one can use own releaseable cable ties though.

Some good progress to report at last: Radiator & aircon rad now fitted, brackets made, welding finally done. Primer coat on repaired body bits... Now comes trying to remember where everything else goes back and how to get it there, get some specific Honda clips which seem to have disappeared, - and to apply some rustproofing, seam sealer, and get some more B89P blue paint....

Any idea how the bolt got in the tyre? Was it through the centre of the tread where the remains showed? I had a similar problem with one of my Nokian winter tyres last year -nothing inside and repairable puncture, but interior bad sidewall damage from a very brief period of running flat... New tyre for me too....

Although I did not set any traps and cannot prove anything, I am also convinced nothing was done to my car at the supposed recall. Dealers taking money (from Honda this time) for nothing perhaps....

Progress slow as we have had the in-laws here for 2 weeks, however I have almost got the radiator to fit properly. It is around 5mm too high, but the bonnet shuts cleanly on it. Not yet tried the air con rad, but no reason why it should not go in, albeit with a bit more tin bashing... Later this week I hope. Then trying to remember where evrything should go back as lots has happened in the last 3 months... Still not sure as to the original cause though...

Do you know if you only have the options you list or is there another shock absorber with a very similar spec & mountings from another model? It would seem very likely that someone somewhere would use something similar, or indeed perhaps another manufacturer use the same original part. When I restored my Mitsubishi, I found Leda most helpful and crafted my stub axle onto one of their adjustable similar spec stock shocks..... Alternatively, would a hydraulic repair specialist be able to refurb your existing shock?

Thanks guys.... Thinking if I cannot move the offending part, I can cut it where it catches and fabricate a new bracket. It is not far out, but sufficient to stop the rads fitting. I will have another go later this week...

A disappointing time recently as although the bumper now fits well and hides the messy front crossmember, I cannot fit the replacement radiator as it appears I had not pulled the front crossmember forward quite enough. Also my pulling has slightly squashed the the RH side slot width where the radiator should sit. The slot is currently too narrow to slide in the radiator and consequently it sits too high to close the bonnet.... believe me I have tried and tried to make it fit, but failed so far. I will have to have a go with oxy acetylene to soften up the metal and attack it with a big hammer...... But that will need more gear.... more time & favours....

Following my trip to Honda6 HQ on Monday, I now have the bits I need. Today, with the help of some hefty chains and a heavy duty ratchet puller, I managed to get the last half centimeter of the chassis straight and fitted the front crash bar again. Hopefully, I can sort out mounting the rads over the next couple of days, but have to fit that around some other pre-planned activities..... And as the bottom rad bolt fixings are no longer available in the right places, I will have to create some suitable solution....

Still more stuff to double check yet. Problem is I only know what is broken from what I have left. If anything is missing from now or earlier times, I might never have seen it. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, but not always....I now have a CD with schematics though so I will plod through the relevant sections of that too.