Wes Vann's Honda page

Acura Carland; It's a factory Acura dealer that sells on the web. Good prices and the site uses the same parts diagrams that your local dealer does. I've ordered items from them and been happy with the service.

Majestic Honda; It's a factory Honda dealer that sells on the web. Good prices and the site uses the same parts diagrams that your local dealer does. I've not ordered through them, but they look like they are same people as Acura Carland.

Ben's EF Resource; It's Ben Ogle's section of the ef-honda.com site. As the title would lead you to believe, it's about EF Honda's. His "tech" articles are well written with a lot of use-full information. There is a lot of good "real world" suspension information there.

"The 12 Volt.com"; Most of the body of this site is covering radios and alarms. What I found of major interest is the pages that show all sorts of things that can be done with standard Bosch relays. The site shows all sorts of ways that you can disable the engine or starter. This is the place to see how to wire up that sort of thing correctly!

Lightning MotorSports; This is where I get my performance parts. The prices are good and the service staff intelligent (not trying to sell you stuff that you don't need!)

Helm's; This is where you can order factory manuals for a lot less than what the dealer wants for them. When people tell you to get a "Helm's", this it the source for the manual they are talking about.

Diary;

April 22, 2006; Once again, it's been a long time. What can I say, I've just been lazy in regards to this site.

August 30, 2005; Well, it's been quite some time. I've got a lot done on the car. I just haven't had any time to update stuff on this site.

May 18, 2005; I've been REAL busy. I'm just about half way through painting it. I picked up a set of HX rims and also the 89 stock hubcaps. I've "pulled" all the wires for the alarm system. This doesn't sound like much, but was a bitch.

April 10, 2005; The roof is welded in and sealed!!

April 1, 2005; The roof is just about ready to be welded in place.

March 27, 2005; Damn, I haven't kept this section up to date. The power window and door lock conversion is done and just needs to be hooked up to the alarm system. The alarm system is in and has to have all the wires routed. I still don't know if I'm going to post what the alarm system is. I cut off the roof! Well, not the whole roof, just the sunroof section so that I can weld in a solid roof.

December 26, 2004; I'm making some progress on the power windows and door locks. I started the page that covers them.

December 15, 2004; Well it may seem like I haven't been doing much on the car, but it's not really the case. I've done a lot of the preliminary work on the alarm system and also the power window and locks. The biggest stink about doing the power windows is getting the wires through the loom section between the door and jamb. I want it to be "factory" and that's a real pain!

October 31, 2004; I just got done installing the Koni shocks (and removing the Tokico's). I added a page covering it. The rear wheel bearings seem to make a bunch of noise and the fact that Honda wants $140 a side for the assemblies just pisses me off!! I've got to figure out what I'm going to do with the transmission! It isn't right and I'm not sure if I want to just pay Gear Speed to do it (changing ratios and solve the down-shift problem).

August 12, 2004; The car is running well and I've just been doing a bunch of random things. At this time, I'm working mostly on getting the alarm system in and working. It's rather difficult due to my wanting to place it in a location that can't be gotten to by thieves easily. Then there is the issue as to if I want to post information about it. I just don't know.

June 6, 2004; The car is running well, but the headlight switch went up in smoke. I really hate the small of burning electrical stuff. The switch is 100 bucks at Majestic Honda and I'm just going to have to pay it out (the insides of the existing switch were worn out and that's what caused the high-resistance burn-out). I installed a new steering rack and it made a major difference in how the steering feels! It no longer feels like a "loose", old car.

May 31, 2004; It's been quite some time since I've added anything here. I installed a set of EX spindles on the front and now the brakes are working OK (although I'm not sure if worth the effort). I also modified the tail pipe to have two stock looking "tips". That came out real nice. I've still got other things to sort out.

April 24, 2004; I drove the car down the alley! The brakes don't work worth a darn and I'll have to try bleeding them again. It sounds like one of the front wheel bearings isn't any good. (keep in mind that I only did a small amount of driving of it prior to pulling the stock engine)

April 22, 2004; I got the engine to start!!!!!! I had a dang time with it due to having two of the wires that go to the MAP sensor backward. I'm happy! There is still a bunch of stuff that needs to be done, like hooking up the radiator fan correctly.

March 21, 2004; Dang the wiring is a bitch! (I'm allowed to say that on my own site) It wouldn't be too bad if the factory manuals gave a complete wiring diagram and didn't just break it down into sections. I really hate it when a diagram just has a little comment on the fact that a circuit goes elsewhere, and doesn't really tell you where or if it's just to one other location. When I get around to writing up a page, I'm going to recommend buying one of the adapter looms!!

March 10, 2004; The exhaust system is done and back in the car. I can now get it off the jack stands. Next is the total terror of doing the wiring conversion to OBD1.

March 7, 2004; I managed to get the Mugen bushings to work with the Integra disk brake trailing arms. I cut, shortened, and installed the shift linkage. I've cut out the exhaust system so that I can add "break-down" flanges. I've got that loom and it's not a pretty sight!

March 4, 2004; Well, the last week has been a matter of two steps forward and one back! I picked up the rear disk brake set-up from a junk yard and went to replace the bushings with the Mugen ones I bought. Guess what, the bushings are a different size and you can't buy rubber bushings for the Integra arms. I've got a secret up my sleeves in regards to this and will talk about it once I know it works. I got the LS shift arms, shortened them, and they are now installed. I had to get an ITR throttle cable due to the Skunk2 manifold. I picked up the cat and misc. parts to hook up the header to the exhaust system that I had installed. The shop that installed it welded the whole dang thing together as one piece and I had to take a hack saw to it. Now I'm going to have to add the "break-down" flanges so that it can be removed if required. It's not the shops fault, I didn't tell them how I wanted it. All in all, it's coming together but I keep having to go to the dealer to order parts. It seems that everything is a "special order". I should pick up an OBD1 wiring loom tomorrow and then it's time to figure all that out.

February 25, 2004; HOT DANG; I put in the B18C and transmission today! The Raxle axles went in with no problems. And the really good news is that the stock hood still closes!!!!

February 22, 2004; I spent a couple hours cleaning the engine compartment with Simple Green and a brush. It's dirty work, but somebody has to do it. I installed the Place Racing front cross-member. It went in with no problems. I've got to get new TC rod (not the correct Honda term) bushings and nylok nuts.

February 21, 2004; A friend of mine (Don Lee) came by and helped me pull out the old engine and transmission. I could have done most of it myself except for getting those dang electrical connectors apart without breaking them. I had hopes that I could talk him into taking the parts I don't need (to sell), but he wasn't interested. All he wants is the transmission (he has a CRX). I'm going to have to figure out how to sell the other stuff without having somebody I don't know coming by my garage and seeing all the things I have. I worry about stuff like that!!

February 18, 2004; UPS dropped off the axles that I ordered from Raxle. They sure look good. If you look at the time between when I ordered them and when they showed up, keep in mind that they were shipped ground from Florida to California.

February 15, 2004; I just spent the last two days fixing the base of the drivers seat. Dang it was a bitch.

February 12, 2004; I installed the stock steering wheel and took the car to have the muffler system replaced from the cat back. I'd have done it myself, but I just don't have the time and it has to be reasonable while my Mom is here and using the Mazda. I ordered replacement trailing arm bushings from Mugen (King Motorsport). They are on back order and should come in at the end of the month.

February 11, 2004; I ordered "hybrid" axles from Raxle. Dang I hate waiting for ground shipments from the other coast. I picked up a stock steering wheel at the junk yard.

On February 5, 2004, I picked up the car that will receive the GSR motor that I've already got. Now the process really steps up!

It's a 89 SI and the engine is stock. The transmission sounds like there may be a bad bearing.

The prior owner (or one of the prior owners) put on tokino shocks and short springs. The suspension is just too stiff for my liking. A couple years ago I had another 89 SI and I installed Neuspeed Koni SP3 shocks with Neuspeed Race springs. With the Koni's set on "soft", the car rode just about perfect for my liking.

The body is real straight. Not perfect, but reasonable for it's years. The interior is black and in good condition.

The trailing arm bushings are totally gone! I guess that I get to do the Energy suspension bushings again. (I did them on the other Honda that I had)

The exhaust system is trash. The muffler has areas that have rusted out and it is in contact with the body (where the spare tire goes). The piping isn't hung correctly and is rubbing on the frame.

After saying all that negative stuff, I'm happy with the purchase. Most of the problem areas are dealing with items that I planned on changing due to installing the B18C engine and transmission.

Wes Vann