My del sol sir project

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My del sol sir project

Postby Graham27 » Tue Oct 13, 2015 11:04 pm

Just recently signed back up on here - i'm Graham and live just outside Edinburgh in Scotland! Had a tonne of eg hatchbacks/coupes and 1 other del sol briefly before this one, although this is definitely a keeper as finding Hondas from this era is just getting impossible now!!

A friend owned this sir about 8 years ago, later selling it to his brother. It had been sat for a while, couple years, and i was looking for another old Honda after selling my yellow eg6 sir last year, so thought why not buy this. Its a really good car, and has a lot of sentimental value too, but isn't without its problems. The bodywork was a problem 8 years ago so you can imagine what it looks like now :lol: Its gone very pink and a bit rusty, but to be fair its pretty solid compared to other cars i've owned, and is totally original which is more important to me. Also its an automatic, which had to go, but again the silver lining is the engine is in really good shape and doesn't smoke or use oil as a lot of b16s do

Haven't got a huge amount of pics from over the summer after breaking my old phone, if i find anymore ill add to this. Had a blast driving it with the roof off at every possible moment, but its now off the road to make next summer better still

Some pics - day i bought it, drove it home from Aberdeen to Edinburgh, first time it had been on the road in 2 years and drove perfect

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Some pics after i put on a set of Cusco coilovers i had from an old eg. Transtop roof works perfectly!

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Thats all the pics i could find :lol: can barely even see it...

So last week i decided to take it to bits, im fitting an s80 4.4fd gearbox, and everything else associated with converting it to a manual. Havent done one of these swaps before so bound to run into problems, but stripping the car was an absolute breeze - not 1 problem bolt!

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Only spent a few hours on it so far so pretty pleased its all apart and just about ready for the real work to start. I need to replace the welded on mount on the drivers side chassis leg, do some rust repairs and repaint the engine bay. Im also going sand the inner arches right back and redo the stonechip while the suspension is all removed too

Hoping to get a bit more done later in the week, and keep chipping away at it before i lose any motivation :lol:

General plan is to get the engine bay and front arches painted, build it back up mechanically, get it running again and test it out before restoring and respraying the rest of the car - im a panelbeater to trade so have to fit it in around work and things, but hoping to have it all ready for the weather picking up again next year :)
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby solman » Wed Oct 14, 2015 1:26 pm

Fair play to you buddy, having the bodywork skills though it the only way to make these pay really. Looks like you are doing all the right things in coverting this one to a manual which is another good way to save a buck or two and make some more wonga should you come to sell at some point down the line as the autos are less desirable. Another one saved from the scrapheap and no longer will be Milano Pink!
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby Graham27 » Wed Oct 14, 2015 6:17 pm

Yeah it would never be worth paying someone to carry out all this work and properly restore one, but I got the car cheap and enjoy working on it - hopefully make a good car in the end that will last another 20 years!
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby delsolchippy » Wed Oct 14, 2015 6:33 pm

Hi Graham

Going to town on the car I see! looking forward to seeing the progress, maybe giving me a few ideas for mine. ;)
Keep up the good work mate

Andy
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby Graham27 » Thu Oct 15, 2015 11:17 pm

I end up doing this to every Honda i own - can never leave stuff be!

Been chipping away at this over the past few evenings, got the engine built up with the manual gearbox and throttlebody etc, cut out the gearstick area of the car using a template from a donor Integra and removed the welded on engine mount - the one i got from the Integra is a bit different, but a bit of adjusting and i should be able to use it. Finding a lot of wee differences, brackets that aren't the same between auto/ manual etc so kinda glad i got so many parts from the donor car when i did! Hopefully i can get the engine mount lined up and welded in over the weekend then get the engine back out of the way to prep the engine bay

The massive puddle of oil had cleaned itself up overnight :lol: floor must be porous... probably not a good thing!

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Cutting out inside the car to fit the manual gear linkage mount

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This is the piece i needed from the Integra, kinda wish id cut a bit more out but will be enough to be secure

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Ill need to weld this in place but will do that once the engine is properly mounted and use the linkages to line it up properly

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Removing the welded on engine mount, just a few spot welds holding it on

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The chassis legs on del sols are different to egs/ integras which i didn't know about or expect, still learning!

Building up the flywheel/ clutch/ gearbox/ spoon throttlebody

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Then put the engine back in - bolted the 2 other main mounts on, and i filled the torque mounts with sealer to stiffen them up a bit (cheapskate I know!) so once that's dry ill have 4/5 mounts holding the engine in the correct place while i line up the new mount for the gearbox. Can see its not quite the right shape, but luckily there's more metal than I need rather than too little so I can trim it down and weld it in hopefully without too much messing about. Would have been better getting a del sol mount in hindsight but never expected there to be a difference...

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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby gwhoo4t » Fri Oct 16, 2015 9:41 am

Blimey that's impressive progress Graham 8)

I'm surprised the gear shift hole on the transmission tunnel needed adapting - would have thought it was a one-size-fits-all, but there you go.

Good pics - interesting to follow.

Gaz
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby Kristoffer » Wed Oct 21, 2015 3:55 pm

Looking good mate, you don't waste anytime do you,
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby hoppi05 » Sun Oct 25, 2015 12:54 pm

some good work buddy!
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby HowHard » Tue Oct 27, 2015 10:41 pm

bloody ell, don't mess about do ya lol

Nice to know someone quite handy with a spanner near me mind haha :)
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby Graham27 » Tue Feb 09, 2016 12:12 am

Well... lots changed :lol:

I lost all motivation for this and various other things, quit my job and went to Australia haha. Came back and have recently got stuck back into this, have a lot more time on my hands now so wanting this done as soon as possible

I had read conflicting info about the gear linkages - i had Integra type r ones sitting, tried them up but they're too short - so had to find b series del sol ones. Luckily found a guy breaking a couple locally so i got them along with another chassis mount and some panels. Turns out the actual chassis leg is different on an auto to a manual, which i didn't realise, so just stuck with the mount i had and welded it in place. Took a bit of reshaping but its way stronger than from factory now

Integra linkages...

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Can see the difference in length here

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Del sol b series ones, perfect fit with the new panel

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Weld through primer onto the leg before tacking the mount in

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Had to sand most of the front panel and chassis legs back to bare metal to sort minor rust, nothing serious though. Etch primed it but had to get a friend to paint it as the roof in my single garage is leaking so badly, winters taken its toll :(

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Got it trailered out to my friends unit, first time it'd been outside in about 3 months

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And then got sent these pics...

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Decided to change the colour to BMW Marrakesh Brown, wanted to do this to an eg for years so finally committed :lol:

While the car was away i started prepping some panels, the wings off the car were in really good shape, just minor dings, so repaired and primed them

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Got the car back yesterday, so its back in the garage and i spent this evening getting it back together

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Brake lines and other junk all back in, cleaned up everything and using nice clean bolts, not going crazy with it though - don't want to be too afraid to use it!

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Engine going back in, hopefully staying there this time!

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Got it all connected up bar the coolant hoses, but had to cut some of them. I bought another del sol last week to use for parts, so will hopefully get the hoses and other stuff i need from that. Ive got a nice manifold and original intake to go back on it, and will be redoing the rocker cover once its running again. Just the outside to go now :/
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby solman » Tue Feb 09, 2016 8:33 am

Wow, fair play for saving one properly! It will all be worth it, I don't think any of us are in this for the money anymore, its all about the sentimental value and passion for saving what is a vastly underrated Honda. That colour looks perfect to me and if you can make it to some shows I'd look forward to seeing it back on the road. Keep it up buddy
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby Graham27 » Tue Feb 09, 2016 9:26 am

Doing it all myself it won't really cost much, but I got the car cheap enough and should I ever need to sell it its still worthwhile doing! I'm hoping to get it back on the road in time for summer and get to some shows down south and just use it as much as possible, so sure you'll see it somewhere!
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby gwhoo4t » Tue Feb 09, 2016 8:42 pm

Nice to see things coming along. If the welding's your handywork, my compliments - not bad at all 8)

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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby Graham27 » Tue Feb 09, 2016 11:38 pm

It is, and thanks! Just have a small portable mig at the house but fine for most car related jobs. Enjoy welding and something I'd like to learn a lot more about and get better at, so doing stuff like this is good practise :)
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Re: My del sol sir project

Postby Car3stash » Sun Feb 14, 2016 1:42 am

Damn this is looking awesome. Good luck with finishing it! I'm loving that brown gold pearl color. Is that how it's gonna look on the outside as well?
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