darcyw

There is a metal bar running along that bottom cover towards the back. It is difficult to get those rings removed if i remember correctly- but persist and you will win.

Your seats are looking remarkably good for nearly 200Kkms otherwise

​​​​​​​darcy

Sreeve

yeah those were the rings that made me give up for now, ill battle them again later



Today i decided to change my spark plugs
i pulled out the coils and plugs to find them like this






guess its time for an overhaul

pulled off the valve cover and took this opportunity to do a valve adjustment



out of the16 valves, only like 4 or 5 did not need adjusting. some of them were a pain to get at.
back breaking work... had to stay leaned over for a long time to do it. now my back kinda hurts

Honda didn't have the gaskets in stock and told me it would arrive tomorrow so i figured why not repaint the valve cover while i wait. I didnt have wrinkle paint on hand so i just prepared it for VHT red wrinkle paint tomorrow



Meanwhile i read up on here that people do this refresh on the shift mechanisms so i decided to do that too




Honda again didn't have any in stock they told me i have to wait till mid - end of january
so that will have to wait

Tomorrow hopefully ill get around to painting the valve cover, putting it all back together, and installing my new OEM spark plugs. i wonder if ill notice a difference from the valve adjustment (sound wise)

bolesun1

Congrats on the purchase man. I love this type of build thread, never been that handy myself but it is always a joy to read through. Keep up the good works

zeroptzero

It looks like the plugs may have been loose at some point in the past and the bottom of the coil boots overheated, which was an issue with early ap1's. New valvecover gaskets will help to keep them dry, and torque the new plugs to 20 ft lbs as the owner manual spec. which is a tad too low.

I wouldn't condemn the motor just yet, all Ap1's consume some oil. The plugs don't look oil soaked, just some oil burning combined with running rich, the new changes may help with things going forward.
That shifter is definitely in need of a lube job, I bet it will feel like butter once you get that done.

Looks like you are doing all the right things to nurse this car back to health

myflys2k

Welcome to the forum. Hope that wasn't a big pile of money you had there. Makes me rethink what I sold my AP1 for. Come spring make sure to make it out to a meet or two

hawkman199

On AP1s, the plugs tend to loosen. Good idea to check them every few months, especially if you track the car at all.

Lots of stories on the S2K forum about the plugs backing out and grenading, dropping bits back into the cylinder.
:-(

While you have the shift assembly off, check the clutch slave push rod for lube and possible 'tit' on the ball.

Attachment 76981

Sreeve

thanks for the good feedback guys! and ill check out that clutch slave push rod once i change the fluid. i was not even aware of that



the valve cover gaskets came in today



i started painting today, went alright. ive never used wrinkle paint before and i think i went a little too heavy. i got some runs on the most important part, the part that faces the front





it also takes a long time to dry, some say to put it in an oven. I just aimed a fan at it



TIP: cover more area around your painting area cause i got it all on the floor. i guess it will come off eventually but wooopsss

im going to let it dry over night, attempt to sand the run spots and give it a few more coats to clean it up a bit
overall its good, the red seems to be a little more on the bright red side then the original honda red (closer to Ferrari valve cover red)

ill post finished pictures probably tomorrow or the day after

hawkman199

Oh, and while I think of it, check your cabin filter. When I first got my MY02, it looked like nobody had replaced it in years.

$23 at AutoPartsWay.

You can blow them out every year.

Hfreak

Love the project and the color.

The fun is in the resurrection!

Edit: Hope the paper doesn't stick too bad to the valve cover.

myflys2k

I was scrolling through the comments and saw the pic of the cover on the floor and said out loud... you just painted the floor... and then read your comment. Haha