87 Honda UP AND RUNNING

[speedyz]

Well, with gas at 3.10 and rising, my camaro was simply sucking down way too much. I decided to look into my father's parked 87 accord, 5 speed. He got a saturn for about $1,000 with very minor flaws, and basically gave up on the honda. To start, the motor was blown, possibly the oil pump failed? We also have a wrecked 88 accord 4 door with damage only to the rear of the car. Upon further inspection, both motors appear to be F/I, 12 valve engines. We have an engine lift so I spent the weekend pulling the 88 motor out, pulling the 87 motor out, and replacing the 87 motor with the 88. Apparently the 87 motor's crankshaft bolt had broke off, because the pulley was simply laying on the chassis (possibly overheated, cracked block? head?) I got the 88 motor mounted to the transmission and hooked up all vacuum lines and electronics as "accurately" as I could. I found an old car battery and charged it for a few hours. Bolted the battery up and hoped it would fire. I was expecting nothing to happen, when I swapped motors in my camaro it was hell. Turned the key and she just kept cranking and cranking. I could hear the fuel pump kick on. There was no way I could get it to fire until I pumped the gas a few times. After I pumped it a few times, it started sputtering, then fired up , and after giving it some gas for a few minutes, she idled. Sort of. The idle pulses from about 2,000 RPM then it sounds like the motor just cuts out, drops to about 800 RPM and repeats back up to 2,000 RPM. I took it for a drive up and down our road. Clutch engages fine, shifts smooth, there is a slight miss. Temperature was fine, with the gauge sitting right at halfway until the drive home (just on a dirt road, no insurance currently). The temperature got very hot so I shut it down and towed it home. Upon inspection, it seems the crankshaft bolt came loose, because the pulley was laying on the chassis once again. With the pulley running the water pump and accessories, I am assuming this is why the motor got hot and the battery ran down fairly quick. So I jacked a bolt and key from a tore-down 86 accord. Bolted up and is up and running again. Now I am battling a massive oil leak. Here's a startup video, this was right after I installed the motor, and spent 2+ hours with the laptop sitting under the hood, trying to figure out where the 9999999 vacuum lines and wiring connectors went. oh BTW the motor has ~330-340k now, and is just now getting some valve train tick. Anyways, here's a video http://s117.photobucket.com/albums/o...irst_start.flv

[TheGr8Schlotzky]

Re: 87 Honda UP AND RUNNING

fun project. gas here is above 3.40 now and i wish i had something good on gas as a DD but i get around 27mpg so i can't complain too much i guess..40+ would still be nice though.

[StrtRacer98]

Re: 87 Honda UP AND RUNNING

You have a driveway full of cars?

[Fireball27]

Re: 87 Honda UP AND RUNNING

You have a driveway full of cars?

lol, seriously. Do you live in a honda junkyard or something? Whats the deal?

[speedyz]

Re: 87 Honda UP AND RUNNING

3 hondas, 2 saturns, camaro, intrepid, an old chevy with a 350 that STILL RUNS with almost 400,000 miles, and an F-150. The camaro gets 13-15 mpg driving easy. I think it is just because F-body's are heavy and the little V6's have to use a lot more gas. I replaced all my 02 sensors, even though I had no codes or SES light. gas mileage didn't improve. I figured this would be a fun project and will definitely get me better mpg.

[Fireball27]

Re: 87 Honda UP AND RUNNING

3 hondas, 2 saturns, camaro, intrepid, an old chevy with a 350 that STILL RUNS with almost 400,000 miles, and an F-150. The camaro gets 13-15 mpg driving easy. I think it is just because F-body's are heavy and the little V6's have to use a lot more gas. I replaced all my 02 sensors, even though I had no codes or SES light. gas mileage didn't improve. I figured this would be a fun project and will definitely get me better mpg.

13-15mpg?? Wow.. thats pretty bad.. not even i get that with my 2 ton convertible... Are the tires flat or something?

[3.4 slow to go]

Re: 87 Honda UP AND RUNNING

be like me and not have to pay for gas for the next 15mos, except for maybe 3wks max when I'm back in the states.

Might want to put a hation boatload of locktight on that pulley bolt. I was able to coax 35mpg hwy outta my 'mero and if i really wanted to, decent milage city. it's all how you control the right foot.

[StrtRacer98]

Re: 87 Honda UP AND RUNNING

Yeah something is wrong with your car, have you done a tune up?

Cleaned your airfilter?

Seafoam your engine?
*when i seafoamed my mileage went up alot

Id start doing those things, cuz even when i beat on my car and dont care about fuel efficiency, i get 18... and up to 35mpg on the highway..
Average city driving, i get 22ish

[speedyz]

Re: 87 Honda UP AND RUNNING

Yeah something is wrong with your car, have you done a tune up?

Cleaned your airfilter?

Seafoam your engine?
*when i seafoamed my mileage went up alot

Id start doing those things, cuz even when i beat on my car and dont care about fuel efficiency, i get 18... and up to 35mpg on the highway..
Average city driving, i get 22ish

The motor is brand new, about a month or so back I rebuilt a 2001 firebird motor with new bearings, rings, lifers, etc. etc. Everyone told me mileage would go up after the initial break in, but now with about 6k miles its still doing terrible. Then again, my old motor only got about 2-3 mpg more. I use about 1/4 throttle and shift at 2000-2500 rpm usually. 3000-3500 is me driving it "hard".