Graymalkin

Wow £200 with full NCD on a cosy postcode. They must hate me.

Topped up fluids and oil. Cleaned wipers and replaced mats after a wash. (after getting cat poo on them)

Fenella is sweet. A few growls I'm not used to at 50 Mph. Your front grill is different to mine so I'm not sure which I prefer. Chrome vtec badge fitted to rear windscreen to replace the sticker one. Then lowering next weekend. I like it. One thing is wierd though. Its like.... Its like I'm now going out with your ex lol... Sloppy seconds. Once I get my head around that I will be fine. Oh and wow the Headlight washers work. That made my day... I know I know small things please small minds. So next weekend. Lowering Washer swap Wheel swap?? Boot lid release fix.

Clunk? You broke it already. I don't think it ever clunker for me. But you are right on the outside it needs a lot of tlc. The inside is mint. Next weekend I can put all the interior panels back if you want. Save you doing it. I have the practice now. Need to nick the PSA screen washers also.

Geoff has a rough arse then! Sheesh. Geoff. That's one good thing about mine the interior is mint.

I went to go to work today and no side lights and one headlight out!!!! WHY ! It was all fine yesterday. Luckily i already had some spare headlights and luckily its the drivers side thats out and thats easy to replace. So off to Halfords i go to get these LED sidelight replacements. When I got them i was like - Thats never going to fit.... but they did. Looks good - very happy. Note current price is now £15.

Looks great. Welcome to the club.

Ahhhhh this explains a lot. I think my front drivers side is going..... Ufffff

That is really nice. I followed one in Bicester yesterday. They look really wide. But that's an excellent colour.

Just wanted to say the seat is perfect and looks great.

If one less coupe means several more stay running then it's all good.

Nice one Mark. Looks great. Geoff and I are meeting at Stu's on the 31st if you fancy coming along. We are both having a bit of work done. I think Geoff is having an ATF change.... well geoff isnt, his car is.

I want to come sit in it now... with chips n dips and football on the telly.

I bought my 1998 3.0 Auto in October. I paid £850 for it. It had done 65,0000 miles. I am very glad i went for the 3.0. When you put your foot down i will gurantee you will smile. I would say, if you have time, try and wait for a good one at the right price. It took me 4 weeks to find mine. Then I had to travel nearly 300 miles to get it. Whats good about it - the performance, the build, the general feel of the car and the acceleration from 50-70. It pulls and pulls and pulls. Whats bad - the rust and the dodgy handling. (However, that has been improved quite significantly after being lowered at the front by 35mm) Quite a few people have asked me "Oh thats nice what is it?" One friend knew what it was without asking. Plus in nearly 3 months I have not seen another one on the road. Knowing what I know and having lived with the car for 3 months did I make the right decision and would i make the same decision - Yes. Except maybe I'd go for a slightly newer version even if it had more miles on the clock. The newer models seem to have more toys and the build quality is just a tad better. The only question i have for myself is why the bloody hell i didnt discover the honda coupe a few years earlier!!!!!!

Geoff. Keep me posted on the tinting. I am wondering if they would do a discount for 2 coupes at the same time? Double up on cutting shapes etc etc Might be faster for them to do 2 identical cars? I would be happy to go for that with you.

No I have not adjusted the lights. Basically because I upgraded the bulbs to Osram Night breakers HB3 & 4. They see a lot further anyway than the standards. So I have not bothered with that. They light the road pretty much perfectly. As for the bigger wheels. That's quite a way off. Next I need to get fuel filter changed brake lines and possibly fuel lines replaced. Plus the aircon tubey thing in the front, new front tyres, and another ATF change. Plus get the rear arches chopped out and replaced. Oh and hopefully get the driver seat cover replaced too. Id like some sort of LED lighting in the door cards and in the centre console too. So there is still a lot to do that take priority over the wheels. I am lucky because I like the wheels on the V6 and my wheels are very good condition too, Stu thinks they have been refurbed at some point. Oh and a nice plus on that point too, Stu gave me some very natty Honda valve caps Which I have not put on the car yet, but will do once its cleaned.

After the Honda 6 meet in October and I saw Robs silver coupe that had been lowered at the front I thought I would like to do that. Then after a near death experience on a round a bout in Milton Keynes I decided I had to lower the car to get a bit better handling. So the decision was made to lower Sticky Vicky. Rob already had his eye on a set of Eibach springs (front and back), but he didn't really need the front ones. So I went halves with him on these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eibach-Lowering-Springs-Honda-Accord-VI-Coupe-CG-30-35-12-97-06-03-/161681820806?hash=item25a4fccc86:g:0LMAAOSw~FNUZPNx Basically £180 all in between us both. However, then there was the first fly in the ointment, Sticky Vicky is a bit rusty see here: The splash guard marked as wonky, well it wasn't just wonky it was almost totally corroded, along with the disks and the bolts and you can see here the current shock absorber. Funny really they should be called shock absorbers cos to see the state of them was really quite a shock that I never really absorbed! You can see from this picture how badly rusted the lower part of the shock was and the plate the spring sits on was corroded beyond belief. How the spring didn't break this part off the shock I do not know. So now I was faced with a budget increase to buy new shocks too and I was going to have to face the prospect of other suspension parts being replaced also as Stuart was unsure if he would be able to get bolts off etc. So Stuart pointed me in the direction of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181871000909?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT GH Shockabsorbers from Germany. These were another £100, but OK, I realised wether I got the car lowered or not I was probably going to have to replace the shocks at some point so why not do it now. So these were purchased. However, when they arrived they had been sent from Poland and were KYB shocks not GH. But Stu felt they were a good deal so I went with it. Note 2 things from the picture above, the red/white tape is not a standard Honda feature. I am not sure what that was doing there, marking a hazard possibly or marking a part of my car not currently corroded. Also notice the wire brush that appears to be levitating under the ABS ring. He really has undiscribable powers! We... I say we, but that's the royal we because I really didn't do much apart from remove the airfilter housing to allow Stu to get the ABS sensor/conector to be removed which sits tightly right behind the air filter box (orange), anyway WE started work at about 10 am on this. A lot of hammering and bashing to get the rusted bolts off and to loosen the corrosion on the ... well on everything really. You can see here the first shock/spring is in place. Rust treatment applied also. You can see here the hub was replaced from a scrapper that Stu had. Note the new shiny painted splash guard. Note also the blue paper towel stuffed inside Sticky Vickys sub frame. On top of everything else there was a hole here which Stu filled with wax and had to let dry. Once dry Stu then put some putty over the hole to seal the wax in and make good. This was then coated in a rust treatment. While the rust treatment and the wax was drying on the passenger side Stu started on the drivers side. But this side was even worse for rust. The picture above you can see Stu having a sleep, I mean he was cutting the bolt off... something or other because it wouldn't come off by standard methods. Bolts off, hub off, brakes off... it was beginning to get cold and dark. I did wonder if Stu was going to start a fire Bear Grills style but no. As a side project we decided to fit some wheel arch LED lighting here.... I wish! This picture belies the fact it was now getting very dark and Stu needed lights to work by. Note here the amount of rust gathering on the blue tarpaulin, and that wasn't the half of it. Again you can see how corroded the old shock was. It was now 5pm and dark so no more pictures were taken. But suffice it to say the bolts were cut off, some parts were replaced including the hub, brake discs, bolts and more from the scrap car he had. I think it was about 8pm when "we" finished. To be honest my expectations were not very high. I wasn't expecting a massively noticeable drop in the profile of Vicky, I was expecting a slightly worse ride with a slight improvement to handling. What did I get?????? Which is the before and which is the after... quick quiz? Result below..... The car at the top is the after picture. Its subtle, for sure. The general stance is more aggressive and looks like the car is angled down at the front more. The gap under the arch really doesn't look too different unless you look closely see the next picture. Before you could easily get 4 fingers inside Vickys arch eh hem. But now its quite tight with just two... eh hem oh god...<cough> So even though esthetically the change is subtle, that is what I was after really. I didn't want to slam Vicky so it looked like I was hauling bricks or a fat bloke in the back. If I ever get round to being able to afford 17 inch alloys then the gap will decrease even more potentially. So even though over two sessions I guess the process took around 16 hours, because of the corrosion and the work involved in getting the bolts off and the new springs attached to the new shocks I am very pleased with the result. The total spend was around £350 including Stu's time. I am guessing if I had had this done at a garage the bill would have been £1000 or more. So I am very thankful for Stu for getting Vicky in shape. That's not to say there is not more to do. But that's all for now. Oh and one last thing, Vickys ride, well she rides well, I was anticipating it being a bit harder and firmer eh hem, but the ride is actually better, this is more than likely due to the old shocks were indeed coming to the end of their lives. Also the handling, well as yet I have not tackled that round a bout in MK again and the handling doesn't feel any different BUT that is mainly because I have only done motorway driving since having the work done. So we will see.

I didn't even realise that such a thing existed. I think that's a great idea. The only down side i can think of is the tubing will be outside of the engine compartment so might be prone to freezing solid in winter? Where as the more normal setup the piping is all inside the warm engne compartment helping the fluid to stay liquid. But I suppose if you use concentrated fluid it will probably not freeze anyway...

I ended up putting some of the clear caulk (filler) on the lower edge of the eyelids this week. Attached is a pic of the upper edge that sits under the bonnet lip.

Applying the brows was actually suprisingly easy. What you need to realise is the 3M tape is ultra sticky so you need to line up before you place it in position. First of all clean the headlamp lens. Get it clean clean clean. I wiped with some isopropyl alcohol, then used wome alcohol wipes then rubbed down with a clean cloth. So the lens is dry and very very clean. Take the painted brow with the 3M tape still with its protective film on, i lined it up on the headlight with the bonnet open. I then marked with a black sharpie marker round the top of the brow, the flat surface which is actually hidden under the bonnet. I did not mark the front of the headlamp lens at all. Once the lens is marked up I then took the brow and got a blade and lifted the edge of each piece of the film that protects the 3M tape. This was so that i could quickly remove each piece of tape without fiddling with it. I used my wifes hair dryer and warmed up the brow on the rear side, this warmed the brow and the tape. I also gave the headlight a little hot air too, if you do this in the summer you wont need to do that. So with a warm brow remove the film from the tape as quickly as you can. Then line up the surface of the brow with the headlamp lens. I worked from the indicator end to the grill end. I did this because if i screwed it up it was more important the indicator end was lined up as there was less room for error. Once lined up, press down and let the tape take hold. I then applied more heat from the hair dryer to the front of the brow. This should enable the tape to warm up and get more sticky. All the time pressing down on the brow with a soft cloth to get the 3M tape to adhere even better. Then repeat on the other brow. The next step is optional: The thickness of the 3M tape is only about 1mm. So it doesnt lift the brow very far off the surface of the lens. But on the upper surface, under the bonnet there is a much bigger gap. What I did not want to happen here is water getting trapped between the the top of the brow and the upper surface of the lens that sits under the bonnet lip. So I got some clear non silicon sealant. The stuff that is used to fit uPVC windows etc. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pro-Crystal-Clear-All-One/dp/B005H0XCBC This was £5 from amazon. The good thing here is not only does it give an invisible water proof seal but it doesnt shrink with heat/cold like you get sometimes round your bath, but it also acts as a glue giving yet more adhesion supplementing the 3M tape. I only applied it to the area that is under the bonnet, not to the lower edge. If you are confident with masking and applying caulk then it would probably be a good idea to apply a thin line of it on the lower edge to stop any rain/road spray pushing up under the 1mm gap. Also if you jet wash the car it may give more protection there too. Here are some finished pictures:

This is something i have never done on any of my previous cars. But I paint model cars as a hoby so i thought why cant I paint some plastic parts to fit to the car. These are the ones i bought: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JDM-BLACK-ABS-HEAD-LIGHTS-LAMPS-COVER-EYELIDS-EYEBROWS-TRIMS-98-02-HONDA-ACCORD-/390928631316?hash=item5b05298614:g:cpoAAOSw-W5UzHNr They are from the USA. Cost around £19 including postage. I was lucky enough that no import duty was paid. The package arrived and was well packed BUT not boxed which meant the eyebrows were slightly bent when they arrived. However they were not buckled or beyond repair so what i did was prop them up with a small amount of weight on them to bend them back into shape. They are ABS plastic so they will bend but are hard and dare i say it firm. They come polished and if you are looking to put them on a black car they can go on the car straight from the box. Even though my coupe is a dark colour you could see that the eyebrow was black and just didnt look quite right. If the headlight had more black on it then again the black may have worked BUT I decided to paint them. This is where I managed to double the cost of the eyelids. First up the eyelids needed rubbing down with some 1500 grit wet and dry. This took all the shine off the eyebrows. Also took off some slight burrs on the edges. Next i noticed they came with some 3M tape on the back BUT in my opinion not enough. SO I bought a strip of 1mm thick 3M automotive tape that was around 10mm wide. This was just £3 and really didnt use very much at all. Then they are ready to be primed. I used some Halfords Grey plastic primer. This is £7.50 for 300ml. But you can use this for several parts and you will not use too much on this project. One thin coat of primer which was then rubbed down with 2000 grit wet and dry. Then another coat of primer again sanded down lightly with some 2000 wet and dry. I then left them for 48 hours to dry. Around 24 hours of that was spent blutac'd to the top of a water bottle and placed on the top of a radiator to give it some warmth and help the paint cure. I then sprayed with a can of Mystic Blue Pearl bought from CJ AEROSOLS. http://www.cjaerosols.com They are based in Milton Keynes and were very helpful. The paint was costly. It was £30 including P&P that was for the Blue top coat and a lacquer. However, Halfords will make up the colour of your car for a lot less than this, around £13.50 Plus £7.50 for the clear lacquer. The CJ Aerosols cans come with adjustable spray nozzels that can widen or narrow the spray pattern. Obviously these brows are long and narrow so you use less paint with a narrow spray pattern. If you were painting a bumper or wing you would want as wide a pattern as possible. I warmed the brows and warmed the can over a warm radiator. The can needed shaking for 2 minutes then applied a very very thin first coat of the blue top coat. The first coat was then rubbed downlightly with 2000 wet and dry. This made some of the primer show through again but thats ok. I then repeated this 4 more times. Waiting 30 minutes between coats for the paint to dry. So thats 5 thin coats of top coat rubbing down after each, even after the last coat. Because my blue is pearlescent its best to rub down the final coat just to take the shine off. But of course you need to then lacquer it which then brings out the pearl effect. But before lacquering you need to leave the top coat for at least 2 days, in the warm of the house. Infact I left this for 4 days as I was not free to do the lacquering before that. But the longer you leave it the better really. Some would recommend leaving it a week before lacquering. The laquer is applied in the same way as the top coat. Maybe slightly thicker coats and this time only 4 coats. Make sure you start spraying the lacquer before you aim at the brow so you sweep the spray over the brow and beyond, so you dont stop spraying until the can is no longer aiming at the brow. If you stop too early you will end up with a stippled effect or orange peel effect. However, even if you do end up with an orange peel effect its not the end of the world. Oh and I do not rub down the last lacquer coat and the lacquer needs at least 30 minutes between coats. Try to keep the brows dust free, but if you see anything attaching itself to the sticky surface do not attempt to remove it. Leave it then sand it out when the lacquer is touch dry. The lacquer then needs at least 48 hours in the warm house to dry and cure. But if you can, leave it for a week. Then you are good to go - ready to apply to the car.

I have also gone for Halfords Primer and bought 2 cans from CJ Aerosols. I have used them before so I trusted them. Was expensive. £26 for 2 cans. Which brings the cost of the eyelids up to £44!!! I hope its worth it.

Osram nightbreakers are here.... Still in the box as I have just taken a look at the position of the low beam bulb!!!! Passenger side its right behind the airfilter and air intake. Absolutely no room. Drivers side not so bad. But the bulb holder not budging and I don't want to break it. I feel like a total amateur now lol arrrghhhhhhhh

What kind of paint did you use? What lacquer type did you clear coat with?

I did this "upgrade" on my Peugeot 406 coupe. Replacing the squirty jets with a mist type washer. If I can do it anyone can, this is how I did it on the Accord. First of all get the old washers off. Dead easy. I used a screw driver and squeezed the front clip and pushed up and out they popped. Second, disconnect the rubber tubing. Done. The washers I bought were of eBay and advertised as Genuine Citroen Xsara mist jets. They were £6.60, but could have got them cheaper at about £5 for a pair. They arrived and I fitted them but they were rubbish. See pictures below. So I then called my local Pug dealer and got the genuine article delivered to the garage. £12.50 for a pair. Part number is 6438.v8 I fitted them in less than 5 minutes. They just pop in the hole and then the rubber tube is reconnected. They are around 75% bigger than the standard Honda ones. So I would recommend that for silver cars they were painted silver otherwise they might look out of place. But my car is very dark and you really don't notice they are black. See pictures below for the spray pattern. Personally for a 5 minute job and for just over a tenner they are a great upgrade. Painting these is very easy. With some 1000 grit sand paper just give them a light sanding taking care not to touch the jet outlet area. I put a small rectangle of masking tape over the front of mine to keep dust out. Quickly wash and dry them. Mask off the tube on the underside to stop paint going up and into the washer. Mask off the small rectangle on the front where the jet is. Spray with 2 coats of plastic primer from Halfords, this is about £6 a can and comes in red, grey and white. I advise using grey for the common Accord colours except the red cars where you would use red. Use a mask and use in a well ventilated area. Let this dry for at least 24 hours. In the warmest spot in the house. Rub down very lightly with 1000 grit sandpaper taking care not to remove too much to reveal the black plastic. Then paint with your top coat can from Halfords. Again this will be about £6 for a can. 4-5 THIN coats. Make sure they are thin!!!! Rub down lightly between coats. Let this dry for at least 24 hours. In the warmest spot in the house. Then apply 3-4 coats of clear lacquer, making sure the masking tape is still secure over the front jet hole. I would recommend replacing this after the primer and again after the top coat just so you know its 100% stuck down each time. Let the lacquer dry for 24 hours and you are good to go - fit to the car and they should last ages.