kim-s2k

I'm quite excited for you, can't wait to see it in the new car!

AquilaEagle

Well done Spikey

I really like the last pic, I remember mytse doing the same thing, it was even funnier because he is so tiny!

Good progress made so far

Floppy

Yet again its been a busy couple of weeks trying to get everything done as well as fit work in somewhere too

Before making a start on getting the engine out of the new car I had to re-assemble the suspension on the back end as I'd taken it all off so I could swap all my suspension arms off the silverstone one, which had been polybushed. While the arms were off I decided it would make sense to de-grease them, wire brush them to clean them up and then paint them. I didn't go as far as sand blasting and painting like Whaninoz as I had to get things back together in a hurry as I had 2 evenings after work to get it sorted before the car was being collected and taken to my friends workshop. Due to this I decided to hammerite the arms with a standard gloss black finish before putting the polybushes back in.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7355111964/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7355111964/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7169897579/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7169897579/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

A little tip for those who are polybushing, put the rubbers in first and then the metal sleeve as they go together better. If you look at the pic above of the arm with the bushes in they squeezed themselves out of the arm again until I took them apart again and went with the method I described above.I also decided to fit my rear coilovers at the same time as it made sense seeing as the back end was in bits anyway.

After all the hassle of trying to get the other engine out on axle stands I decided it would make more sense to get the new car trailered down to my friends workshop as we had access to proper ramps and as many tools as you could think of. This definitely paid off as it was so much quicker. In total it took us about half a day to get the engine out of the new one and then another half day to put the other engine back into it from my written off silverstone.

Getting my new car up on the ramp I was hoping that the hydrolocked engine may have just bent a rod and dropped a valve...until I saw this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7169887575/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7169887575/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7169886129/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7169886129/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

Needless to say I don't think there's any point at all taking it apart as its likely the big and small end bearings, shells etc are all knackered so I might just take the head off and get it pressure tested and then make a coffee table or something out of the block!

After getting everything disconnected the subframe on the new car came out with no problems at all so it was just sods law on the bolts with the other car.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7169882273/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7169882273/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7326146038/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7326146038/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7326150200/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7326150200/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

The engine out of my silverstone S then went on the hoist and was ready to go in. I swapped the rocker covers over though as this orangey one was disgusting!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7355089376/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7355089376/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

Here's the knackered engine...I've already started stripping it down removing the alternator, TCT and anything else I could keep as spares but still have a fair bit to go. I can't believe how much has to be disconnected/unbolted just to get the inlet manifold off! I've decided I can't be bothered to polish it and re-fit it to the new engine as its too much hassle!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7326147976/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7326147976/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

Before putting the working engine back in I fitted a new clutch kit giving the bearing and clutch fork plenty of grease. This is definitely well worth doing - the clutch is so much lighter now and more managable for driving in traffic.

I also put the front coilovers in before the subframe went back in as it again made sense.

Both knock sensors broke!

The first snapped off removing the starter motor. The second, we went to remove VERY carefully and it just snapped off as we disconnected the multi plug. My guess is that the amount of times it has been through the heat cycle and its location on the block means that the plastic gets very brittle making it susceptible to breaking easily. I've glued it for now and the engine runs for it to be MOT'd until my new one arrives from CFL Honda next week.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7326156904/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7326156904/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7355091408/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7355091408/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

Finally after getting everything back together there is life in my new beast again

[media]http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7355113908/[/media]


All was good and everything went smoothly with me thinking that the car was ready for MOT by last Tuesday...but unfortunately the headlights weren't working! After doing some testing all electrical feeds were working so I knew it had to be something wrong with the units themselves. The car had been driven through a flood so it didn't surprise me that something electrical wasn't working. It turned out that the lights had some water in them so I took them home, stripped them down as much as I could and emptied the water out. I gave them a clean and then put them in the oven for a bit to dry out followed by some silica gel to absorb what was left of the moisture.

I also disconnected the ballasts and this is when I discovered the problem. The sealed units were full of water sloshing about when you shook them! I split the seals on one but over a cup full of water came out of it and it was obvious that the circuit boards were knackered. Thankfully I hadn't sold my left over light from my crashed silverstone S and the ballast had survived the accident on the passenger side so all I had to do was swap them over and I now have a working set of headlights again

So, she now sits like this awaiting an MOT once the headlights are put back in.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7169884161/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7169884161/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7355240242/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7355240242/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr

Its been bloody hard work and a massive learning curve as I've never tackled something quite as big as this before but I've thoroughly enjoyed it! Once the car is MOT'd I'll then be polybushing the front suspension arms, rolling the arches and getting all the bodywork done, including a new coat of paint, front bumper smoothed, veilside spoiler fitted and alloys refurbed in a new colour to suit the car. I'll also put the rest of my mods back on like the exhaust, decat etc. as well.

I definitely owe my mate Pete more than a few beers for all his help as we've done about 30hrs of work on it so far between us!

I'm not there yet but definitely feel a lot closer to the ultimate goal of getting it looking better than the old one did! In the mean time Whaninoz spotted this on ebay, brand new in the box with everything, only 10 mins from where I live. So I thought I'd treat myself for when its up and running properly

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7355113908/http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-collins/7355113908/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/alex-collins/, on Flickr


If any of the mods can fix my video link as well that would be great I've tried all the options and it doesnt seem to like embedded HTML.

wokadowokado

Looks like a good job done well. Keep it up.

whaninoz

that car has been built and taken apart so many times now

Floppy

I know! I'm not too bothered about taking the front arms off to polybush them but I still have the words 'arch rolling' haunting me from when we did our car's last year

Sazzy

Well done Spike

I can't wait for you Midlands boys to be back on the road, it's been epic

adz9

Loving the build Floppy! Looks like you learnt the hard way with the sensors like me!

After doing the engines both ways would you say its easier to drop the whole subframe or the splitting the box off first? I had the same kind of thing, the subframe on my back one had a really stiff bolt that would NOT undo to drop it down, the orange one came out no problems at all!

One of the gearbox bolts was rounded off on the engine I kept as well, but I only realised when I was trying to get the bolt back in! (This was DEFINATELY done before I put it in, I didn't round it! Need to try and get a new thread cut in place!)

I have a spare OEM knock sensor after my swap as I managed to glue one back together! Its a genuine Honda one! You can have it for £140 if you want?

I need to put my finished photos up!

unclefester

You can get a brand new knock sensor from the USA for £76 plus delivery.

Ultra_Nexus

Knock sensors are overrated anyway.

You don't need it and the second you modify anything on the engine, you lose it's accuracy.