Prelude Kelly

Monday, December 28, 2009

104,253

Oil and filter change, 5qts of Penzoil 10W30.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

mine! all mine!

Kelly no longer belongs to the Winchester Savings Bank on paper - she's aaaaalll mine. Woohoo!

Sunday, November 08, 2009

102,570

Cleaned and re-oiled the K&N air filter.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

101,622

Replaced exhaust manifold (DC Sports).

Sunday, October 04, 2009

101,456

Replaced all four tires with Michelins, P205/50R16 Pilot Exalto All-Season. Also replaced left upper control arm - all at Hogan Tire, Woburn, MA.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

100,342

Replaced the EGR valve. Also changed the oil - 5qts of Penzoil 5W30.

Monday, June 15, 2009

98,583

OK, so the nut-over-the-hole solution for the O2 sensor worked, but not in the long term. The cold weld stuff just doesn't stay on the exhaust. Ended up replacing the lower half of the exhaust header with a new part from DC Sports.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

98,277

Replaced the passenger side sway bar link.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

97,581

Installed new lug nuts all around.

Friday, March 20, 2009

97,565

Removed the EGR valve and cleaned the air intake passages with carb cleaner to clear code PO401.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

oxygen sensor

There are three ways of doing something: the wrong way, the right way, and the Stan way.

My car's oxygen sensor started malfunctioning, so I faced a dilemma: take the car to the dealership and pay a $100+ markup on the price of parts plus $100+ for labor, or try to do replace it myself. Actually, it wasn't really a dilemma - of course I was gonna try to do the work myself.

After a few tries at unscrewing the old sensor and in the process completely screwing it up, we were back in the dilemma. The sensor was rusted on solid and would not budge. Does Stan accept defeat and take the car to the dealership now?

Heck no. A Stan way had to be found, and it was. First, we drill a hole in the exhaust pipe:

Then, we cold-weld a nut of the appropriate size over the hole, and screw the oxygen sensor in. Done*.

* Of course, I'm skipping past a few hours of excruciating pain in freezing temperatures, but hey, nobody said that the Stan way is the easy way.

97,475

Oil and filter change: STP filter, 5.5qts of Castrol GTX 5W30.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

97,472

Replaced the power steering belt and the spark plugs (NGK V-Power Copper Core).

97,385

Installed a Denso primary oxygen sensor.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

94,114

Oil change: 5qts of Castrol GTX 5W30.

Monday, November 10, 2008

92.958

Replaced the starter brush assembly.

Friday, September 12, 2008

saga (almost) over

Almost six months after I ventured off on this journey of mechanical self-discovery, my car is back in operating condition. I still have to finish a few things - get rid of the SRS light, adjust the clutch pedal, get the car inspected - but things are looking up.

Oh, as a bonus, while the car was sitting in the garage, some smelly mold started growing on the inside. Ah yes. Icing on the cake.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

battery

Relocated the battery to the trunk, ran Summit 2ga cables through the car and into the sealed battery box.

Now playing a waiting game with the Honda dealership, as I really need the suspension bolt that they keep on perpetual backorder.

Monday, July 07, 2008

slave clutch cylinder

Replaced the slave clutch cylinder, along with the clutch fluid hard line.

Friday, June 27, 2008

progress

It's been a long three months, but things are looking up. Transmission is back on the engine, the ATTS unit is hooked up, and the last thing I need to do before putting the engine back is to run the wires to the trunk for the battery.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

flywheel, clutch

Installed a 11.5lbs F1 Racing flywheel, Exedy OE clutch.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

front engine mount

Replaced the front engine mount.

Friday, June 13, 2008

timing belt

Replaced the timing belt, complete with the manual tensioner conversion.

Monday, June 09, 2008

water pump

Replaced the water pump today. Very happy to start putting things back together.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

fuel filter

Replaced the fuel filter... not the easiest job, even with the engine out of the car.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

still going...

Can't believe I've been at it since March, but finally there's progress. The engine is completely outside the car, supported by an engine lift. I've disconnected the ATTS unit yesterday, and am ready to drop the transmission. Sweetness.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

battery

The car is still in pieces, but I got a new battery - EverStart MAXX-35N, 640CCA.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

91,233

Drained engine oil (pulling the engine, after all) and replaced the oil filter with a K&N one.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

let the games begin

Finally started working on my car. The plan of attack is to take the engine out completely, and replace the clutch, flywheel, timing belt, and belt tensioner. I've got my work cut out for me.

Monday, November 12, 2007

89,151

Replaced wiper blades with Rain-X Latitude, 21" left, 19" right. Also Rain-X'd the windshield on both the Prelude and the Accord, leaving many streaks - should've gone with the wipes instead of the applicator.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

89,147

Oil and filter change: FRAM filter, 5.5qts of Quaker State 5W30.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

85,343

Oil change: 5qts of Penzoil 5W30.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

82,349

Oil and filter change: STP S2808, 5qts of Coastal 5W30.

Monday, June 04, 2007

81,838

Polished some surface scratches out, and waxed my baby with Turtle Wax.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

80,867

I'm done with those SilverStars. Trying the Raybrig H1's. If that doesn't work, I'm gonna drive by candlelight.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

79,354

Oil change, 5qts of 5W30.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

shuttle

FYMe: Herb Chambers shuttle runs at 7:15, 8:15, and 9:15AM.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

78,456

Installed another SilverStar lightbulb in the right headlight. At $20 a pop, this is becoming an expensive proposition.

Monday, January 15, 2007

76,185

Oil and filter change and brake fluid replacement (done at Herb Chambers Honda, Burlington).

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

75,936

Put in Sylvania SilverStar H1 headlight bulbs. So far, so good: much brighter, and the light is clean n' white.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

hot spot, eh?

I cannot wait for this: a mobile 3G-to-Wifi router... Googling at 85mph... that's pretty much my dream, right there ;)

Friday, December 29, 2006

75,476

Installed an inline Scosche noise suppressor, to get rid of the alternator whine with the AUX-in. Seems to work.

While installing it, found all kinds of shorts among the wires... uh oh. My belief in the all-powerful nature of electrical tape has been shaken.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

74,975

Replaced driver's side windshield wiper with a 21" Anco AeroVantage blade. Let's hope this one will be better than the 20 that preceded it.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

wish list 2

For the carputer, need the IBM ThinkPad Media Bay 8x DVD Burner, part # 92P6014.

Monday, November 06, 2006

some people just don't understand

The guard at Susan's work pulled me aside for the second time to ask again why I took the seat out.

Some people just don't get the big picture...

Saturday, October 28, 2006

72,236

Oil change. 5qts of Castrol GTX 5W30.

Monday, October 23, 2006

72,154

Two mighty important things were accomplished today: I reset the SRS light, and upgraded the RAM in my on-board laptop.

Upgrading the memory was easy; it's the SRS light that took me a while. I had to find the resistor with the right rating to make Kelly's brains think like the airbag was still attached:

Then, I did the MES dance. It's a bizarre sequence of actions that you have to take to reset the memory and make the SRS light go away, involving crawling under the steering wheel and then turning the ignition on and off as you fumble with paper clips. Believe it or not, it worked!

Why take out your airbag, you may ask? Why do you need it, if you have no passenger seat, I might answer.

Friday, October 13, 2006

0-60 in 3.9sec with a H22?

Some dude mounted the engine from my car, an H22, inside a shell from a Mini, and says that he hit 60mph in 3.9 seconds. That is sweet.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

raze the roof!

So here's the stock Prelude sunroof... 56lbs of dead weight: booo!

A little magic, and it's outta there...

Bloody thumbs up!

These brackets took HOURS to put in. Yes, several very PAINFUL hours.

All bolted up, and slathered with about a gallon of silicone. Again, HOURS of work...

Would I recommend doing this? Sure*!

* To an enemy. This may have been the hardest car project I've tackled so far, and it will definitely remove any possibility of me selling my car ever.

But, for my liking, a carbon fiber roof is oooooosome!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

buh bye

So I'm standing at a red light on Washington St. in Woburn, when the guy on my right starts inching towards the line, trying to get a jump on me. Well, as you may know, Stan don't do dat. When the light turned green, I floored it - and the impatient dude floored it too.

It was beautiful - I bounced off the rev limiter just right to make the tires squeak as I shifted into second. Niiice.

The other car was a late model Nissan or Infiniti of some kind... can't tell you the model - it was hard to see in the rear-view mirror ;P

Sunday, October 01, 2006

71,223

Took out the passenger's side airbag. Now, I just need to get rid of the SRS light...

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

I see the light!

Finally, after months of work, my efforts came to fruition: I've got the pop-up monitor in!! Now, we have a touchscreen connected to a computer (with GPS, wireless, and a card reader), and a PlayStation that doubles as a DVD player.

The amount of wiring involved was nothing short of ridiculous. RCA from PS2 to the touchscreen, power to the screen, the PS2, and the computer, VGA and USB cables, plus all the grounding. Crazy. But, we now have a moving cinema ;)

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

carbon fibah

After months of waiting, I finally received my carbon fiber roof plug. Bye bye sunroof, hello weight savings! Installing it is gonna be a bitch and a half - there's some welding involved.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

69,156

Oil & filter change. 5qts of Castrol GTX 5W30, FRAM PH3593A filter.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

wish list

Could use the following OEM parts:
- special-key lug nuts x4
- trunk trim button
- trunk back trim plate
- interior driver's side handle trim
- stereo trim

plans v3

Computer
- ~~obtain laptop~~ ThinkPad A21E, 600Mhz, 20G hard drive
- ~~install OS~~ Windows XP
- ~~add a wireless antenna~~
- ~~add a USB hub~~

Power
- ~~find a power converter~~ 350W when hooked up to battery
- ~~mount the power converter in the trunk~~
- ~~run the wires through the firewall~~
- ~~install an extension strip~~

A/V
- ~~find a DVD player~~ PlayStation 2
- install a motorized VGA touchscreen
- ~~figure out how to hook up to the stock speakers~~ installed an aux-in that hooks up to the CD changer port of the stock radio

GPS
- ~~find a place to mount the GPS mouse~~ upper right corner of the windshield
- install GPS software (iGuidance v3), remove the p.o.s. DeLorme Street Atlas

Other
- find a inconspicuous place to mount all the hardware
- run all the power, RCA, and USB cables

Sunday, June 25, 2006

plug it in right here

Today, I proudly announced to my dad, "Not too many cars have one of these:"

He responded, "Maybe there's a good reason for that?"

All criticism aside, I have a functioning 120V outlet in the back of my center console. Getting to that point wasn't easy, and required lots of wire-pulling, cutting, applying miles of electrical tape, and pain. Let me attempt to explain how the electrons travel to get to the socket:

- At the engine fuse box mounted on the firewall, a wire is soldered (quite poorly) to the positive lead
- The wire runs through the firewall, along the bottom of the passenger's door opening, into the side panel and out into the trunk
- The wire then connects to the 350W voltage converter mounted inside the trunk lining; it's the blue one:

- From there, we need to take a little detour: I'm not going to crawl into the trunk to turn the voltage converter every time! So, I rerouted the switch on the converter, substituting two long wires instead. These wires run back into the passenger compartment, under the carpet, and connect to a push-button switch mounted under the radio console
- OK, back to the converter. It is grounded into the body of the car (+1 more wire), and then we have a normal extension cord running back to the dash. This will come in handy once the dash actually has things that need powerin'
- The extension connects to another extension, this one going under the center console. In the back, there's the outlet. Done.

dust covers?

Don't know whether I will keep them, but I'm giving the so-called brake dust covers a try:

On one hand, it's better than looking at the rust on the rotors, but on the other, it's not exactly the sports car thing. Well, here's the "before" picture:

Friday, June 23, 2006

67,471

Took a while, but got the left axle seal replaced at Herb Chambers Honda.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

plans v2

Computer
- ~~obtain laptop~~ ThinkPad A21E, 600Mhz, 20G hard drive
- ~~install OS~~ Windows XP
- ~~install GPS software~~
- upgrade BIOS: this computer is giving me so much trouble!!
- ~~add a wireless antenna~~

Power
- ~~find a power converter~~ 350W when hooked up to battery
- mount the power converter in the trunk
- run the wires through the firewall
- install an extension strip

A/V
- ~~find a DVD player~~ PlayStation 2
- install a motorized VGA touchscreen
- ~~figure out how to hook up to the stock speakers~~ installed an aux -in that hooks up to the CD changer port of the stock radio

GPS
- find a place to mount the GPS mouse

Other
- find a inconspicuous place to mount all the hardware
- run all the power, RCA, and USB cables

Friday, June 09, 2006

67,264

Got inspection done (finally!) and lubricated the clutch pedal at Herb Chambers Honda in Burlington.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

eureka!

I've been searching through my car for a place to mount the voltage converter, and finally it looks like I got something! In the trunk, the lining hides the jack compartment on the left. So, using my amazing powers of deduction, I ventured a guess that there would be space on the right as well. Aha! I pried open the lining, and voila: a perfect compartment for the converter.

Now all I have to do is run a wire from the battery to the voltage converter, and from the converter to an extension strip somewhere inside the dash. Oh yeah, I also need to relocate a switch to turn on the converter, and provide some ventilation for it. Piece of cake. I think.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

plans

With the header installed, now it's time to focus on the other task at hand: the carputer! OK, this is what needs to be done:

Computer
- ~~obtain laptop~~ ThinkPad A21E, 600Mhz, 20G hard drive
- ~~install OS~~ Windows XP
- ~~install GPS software~~
- upgrade BIOS
- add a wireless antenna

Power
- ~~find a power converter~~ 350W when hooked up to battery, 150W through the cigarette lighter
- mount the power converter in the engine bay
- run the wires through the firewall
- install an extension strip

A/V
- ~~find a DVD player~~ PlayStation 2
- install a motorized VGA touchscreen
- figure out how to hook up to the stock speakers

GPS
- find a place to mount the GPS mouse

Other
- find a inconspicuous place to mount all the hardware
- run all the power, RCA, and USB cables

66,133

Oil change: 5qts of Quaker State 5W30.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

65,936

Success! Yes, I did have to take my car to a shop in the middle of the ghetto, and pay money for something I possibly could have done myself, but the end result is stunning:

Sunday, April 23, 2006

header

I am proud to have spent most of the day trying to install an exhaust header on my car. I am not proud that at the end of the day, the old header is still occupying the engine bay. Rust 1, Stan 0.

To start at the beginning: I got a good deal on DC Sports Ceramic 4-2-1 header, so I thought that installing it would be "somewhat" easy. Anything, I thought, would be better than the stock one, pictured here with the heat shield removed:

So, after taking forever to jack up the car, I got underneath and stared into the face of the enemy:

These bolts are s-t-u-c-k. I was able to unplug the oxygen sensor and remove two support bolts (snapping one), but then things got interesting. I was trying to remove the bolts that hold the two pieces of the stock manifold together, which required a whole series of extensions on my wrench, with a metal pipe and my dad providing the necessary torque. Well, to make a long story short, we snapped a forged metal extension...

... twice. My dad, in his 50+ years on this planet, has never seen anything like that. I, in my 20+, haven't either. Around this time I decided that sometimes it takes a real man to accept defeat, and turn this over to a professional. We'll see what they can do after I get back from Montreal.

In the meantime, we can all admire the new header outside of the car:

Saturday, March 25, 2006

64,xxx

For almost a year now, I've been meaning to do some cleaning under the hood. Well, today, after an hour of scrubbing and gallons of CLR, we're looking a bit better.

Funny story: my mom came out to the driveway as I was scrubbing away. She was, quite naturally, very sceptical of the benefits of keeping the engine bay clean. She claimed that there would be little difference as compared to her car, and went to open the hood (she literally didn't know what her engine looked like). Once she got the hood open, she gasped. It looked like a cow pooped all over the valve cover, and then a tornado came through and threw some more dirt in.

My Kelly is definitely gonna stay a clean girl.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

64,362

Replaced air filter with K&N 33-2090. Removed roof liner.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

63,309

Replaced tire valve caps.

Friday, February 17, 2006

63,068

Oil & filter change with Castrol 5w30 (remember to replace the bolt gasket next time).

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

61,xxx

Got a transmission fluid change at Herb Chambers, Burlington.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

60,314

Installed new front tires, all-weather P205/50R16 Bridgestone Potenza G009.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

59,470

Oil change with Castrol 5w30.

59,425

Installed new RainX wiper blades.

Friday, September 16, 2005

57,047

Swapped spark plugs for NGK Iridiums IX (ZFRGFIX-11).

Saturday, September 10, 2005

56,768

Installed ProStop rear ceramic brake pads. Oil & filter change: 5.5 qts of Penzoil 10w30. Filter: K&N HP-1004.

Sunday, July 31, 2005

54,855

New cross-drilled brake rotors, front and rear, by SR Performance.

Saturday, July 30, 2005

54,855

New driver's side interior door handle.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

54,604

New battery tie-down.

Friday, June 24, 2005

53,492

New front carpets from Mechanicsville Honda.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

53,253

Oil & filter change. 5 qts of Quaker State full synthetic. 17 mm wrench on drain bolt.

Sunday, May 15, 2005

52,201

Bought at Kelly Infiniti, Rt. 114, Danvers, MA.