Hi Nick, from Oz.

I am lucky like you, I found a 27,000 kilometer, 17,500 miles AP1. Ours are like yours.
Also like yours, it had not been serviced to the Honda time schedule for little used cars, but had 3 times the mileage servicing.

In South east Queensland, with temperatures like yours my gearbox is never clunky, the change is always a total joy from cold, & reverse is equally easy. It already had Penrite manual transmission fluid in it. It is probably pretty much the same stuff as Honda or General Motors MTF, & I suggest you use one of them.

I have a couple of old Triumphs, a TR7 & an 8. Their gearbox is dreadfully clunky when cold, with 2Nd almost impossible to get when cold with normal oil. They are so bad that Triumph recommended auto transmission fluid, which helped a lot. Their gear boxes are now a joy with Manual transmission fluid in them, so I highly recommend it in yours ASAP.

I changed all fluids, including brake fluid, & adjusted the valve clearances before I started using the thing, after the 300 Kilometer trip home. This made quite a difference to the Vtec feel, & noise.

Do check the age of your tyres. It can be a problem with low mileage, gently driven cars. My fronts were just a couple of years old, but the rears were original, with the rubber gone very hard. They had about as much grip as a lump of granite in the wet, quite deadly in fact. These things are a bit sensitive to tyres, I wouldn't use anything older than 6 years on one.

Great you're loving it, & I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine.

 

It still has the original tyres on it from 2004. I'll have to replace them soon. Was out in the wet with it yesterday, damn they're slippery!

Someone mentioned about the 'clunk' into 1st gear, and avoiding it by holding in the clutch for a few seconds before you change from N into 1st. Tried it yesterday, it most certainly works.

 

Most people seem to get about 10-12K miles on the rears, twice that for the fronts, at 27k I'd guess at the very least your rears have been replaced.
Levi

 

Nope, it was driven very easily its whole life. They are still the original tyres, fronts have loads of tread left, rears are almost out so will replace them. RE50s on at the moment.

 

You're going to replace both front and rear tires (aka tyres), right? 10 year old performance tires, even with perfect tread, should be tossed.

Oh, and there is a thread on here somewhere for suggestions for new owners. Very useful.

 

Yes, will be replacing fronts and rears with Bridgestone S001

 

welcome to the S world.... I use nothing but mobile 1
honda did a lot of cool engendering on the S and its awesome to open up

 

Doesn't seem this was mentioned, but with your mileage, I'm assuming your spark plugs are still in good condition. I have the same car, but at 60k. Replaced the spark plugs w/ new OEM units and the VTEC engagement was much more smoother.

Best,
-a

 

If I bought that car irregardless of the previous owners maintenance on the car I would change all fluids except radiator, change air and cabin filters, and do a valve adjustment. I would inspect brake pads and rotors for any unusual wear and replace accordingly. This would be minimum list of maintenance item other than replacing anything extremely worn or damaged. If your tranny is still notchy, clean and re-apply Urea grease to the shifter mechanism.