Honda Accord Type R - Project OEM+

[Matt Bird]

That's brilliant, enjoy! Very nearly bought one, just look such good value. Shame to hear about your cambelt nightmare, hope there's more luck for you in the future.

[Butter Face]

Nice one dude, glad the Cambelt was an easy save!

The H22 in these is supaerb, thirsty old beast when being used locally though. I had a Prelude with the H22A5 (185bhp) variant and it felt thirsty at the time, now I have an EP3 and I think that 28mpg is good (I can't remember how the Prelude compared)

The seats in these are great too, I have a set in my garage that were in my EP3 but have had to be removed due to an incoming baby!

I have considered selling the EP3 and getting one of these for a daily driver but I love my EP3 so much.

[Butter Face]

The Accord is a great car as it looks quite normal (in comparison to most Type R models)

I love the wing, twin exhausts and 17's on them.

Your car has probably suffered the inevitable Milano 'Pink' fade which my EP3 has also suffered from. Bit of a pain and not a lot you can do about it really.

[gregs656]

Lovely car, look forward to future updates.

[Stoatman]

Hey, I miss mine still. I live 4 miles from vtec direct . I've spent some cash there !. Oh and rust rust and more rust . Keep on top of it. Along the top of the doors and footwell especially

[NateWM]

Hey guys!


Well this is a long overdue update...again, this will be quite lengthy so it’s worth grabbing a mug of tea and some biscuits.

So I drove the Accord around quite happily since last posting here and the only issues that arose was a dodgy earth cable causing problems with the car cutting out etc. At the time, I was working as a sales rep for a home security company which meant I was putting a lot of miles on the car especially down backroads and country lanes, which are in terrible condition in this country. Unfortunately this took its toll on the car and meant the suspension had a lot of worn bushes and generally the car felt pretty tired.

Come September 2016, I decided enough was enough and took the car off the road. I SORN’d the car and threw it into the shed, and bought this....



I purchased it from auction with a few months tax and test for just €550. It was a top of the line 6 speed 1.9DCi with 130hp. I had it up until November but decided to get rid, as it was going through an alarming rate of oil! Shame really, as it was incredibly comfortable to drive and had great performance. I sold it to a local garage for nearly double what I paid for it and I’ve since heard it had a replacement engine and is in good health, so alls well that ends well.

The Accord as this stage was under serious work...I now had the car fully stripped down to a nearly bare shell and was in the process of stockpiling replacement bushes, wishbones, suspension etc. etc. As such, I needed a new daily driver.



You’d have thought that I’d have learnt my lesson with the Laguna and buy something to depend on, so what on earth possessed me to buy a Euro-Japanese love child that had a French engine, Japanese body and Swedish electrics? A €270 price tag, that’s what! In all seriousness, it was a fantastic example. It was fully loaded, had only one previous owner and was very well looked after so I took the risk. It proved a very reliable steed over the next 6 months and the missus loved the heated leather. All I done to it during our time together was general servicing and maintenance, and I did a few jobs like mud flaps, front splitter etc. It pulled like a train and would surprise a few people! Straight pipe exhaust sounded great too.









I then had an offer on the Volvo that I couldn’t refuse. With a heavy heart (and I mean that, they are great cars and I’d love another!), I sold the Volvo to a local for just over a bag of sand and have since seen it driving around. Still looks great.

And then for €300, I bought this Hyundai Coupe with a full years tax and test.





I actually really liked this car! Was quite nippy and sounded good with an induction kit, but it was the handling that surprised me. I threw on some part worn Goodyear eagle F1s and the handling was very precise and on point. There’s definitely potential in that chassis if anyone ever decided to upgrade it.









When coming back home, I then got the news that I had landed my dream job. This meant I got a company car, so I sold the Coupe and waited for the company car to arrive.



Nothing special, but it costs me nothing and the company is very generous with personal use (there’s literally no limits) meaning I could focus on the Accord more. Within 2 weeks, she was back together and back on her wheels.



The car was waiting on the test at this stage, but we had a disaster while moving it from the shed back to my house.



The circlip holding in the balljoint for the top wishbone had failed, meaning the suspension dropped on the drivers side and the car pulled to the right very hard. Was quite scary at 60 mph!! The motor factor that provided me with the parts apologized profusely, and paid for 2 brand new wishbones as well as some money to recoup the cost of the destroyed wing liner from the tyre rubbing it. I’ve since bought 4 new Uniroyal Rainsport 3 tyres, had the exhaust fixed and gave the car a full service. I also painted the wheels, changed the front lip for a more aggressive item and painted the engine and gearbox, rocker cover etc. The car was also fully under sealed and any parts removed were painted and powder coated.



















The car is now running 100% and feels as tight as a drum. Since being off the road, she also got the S2000 injectors rebuilt, timing adjusted and the Hondata map fettled with. A healthy 247hp is available at the crank meaning she’s very eager to move and sounds amazing especially with the AEM intake!

Future plans are to enjoy it for a while and then get the respray started in January as she has a few marks and stone chips.

Thanks for reading! I’ll keep this thread updated more often.

Edited by NateWM on Monday 16th October 16:18

Edited by NateWM on Friday 27th October 02:23

[Butter Face]

Good stuff dude, glad you’re sticking with it still.

[NateWM]

Butter Face said:

Good stuff dude, glad you’re sticking with it still.

Thanks bud! Can’t see myself getting rid of it ever...rust free examples like mine are hard to find these days and it just does everything so well. I love it :}

[Jaybmw]

Ah a fellow wexfordian.. batten down the hatches today my man always liked the accords been fair well done

[chrismc1977]

Enjoyed mine- not as raw or well sorted as my ITR out of the box though

Felt a bit lardy off the mark- had its good days & bad as well.

What has been done to achieve nearly 250bhp then given they are meant to be 209 standard (most closer to 200 though..)?

[Z3D]

Great car and great post.

Miss mine, had 177k when I sold it.........

Enjoy

[NateWM]

Jaybmw said:

Ah a fellow wexfordian.. batten down the hatches today my man always liked the accords been fair well done

Ah it wasn’t too bad in the end weather wise where about in Wexford are ya?

[NateWM]

chrismc1977 said:

Enjoyed mine- not as raw or well sorted as my ITR out of the box though

Felt a bit lardy off the mark- had its good days & bad as well.

What has been done to achieve nearly 250bhp then given they are meant to be 209 standard (most closer to 200 though..)?

The H22A7 is surprisingly tunable in its N/A form Out the box they wouldn’t really be comparable as such...Across the range, Type Rs of that era (DC2 and ATR included) were largely similar in performance, but naturally the two cars were designed for different purposes. The DC2 is a genuine sports car, made to do nothing else than provide pure precision when tackling a b-road. The Accord is very much the same, except you can slot the car into 5th gear and cruise along with the whole family in the car. I’m not really surprised then that a DC2 stock vs. stock would feel better for some people. From my own experience though, I prefer the tail happy attitude of the Accord and with a few bolt ones and the right driver, an Accord can show a DC2 a clean set of heels.

Mods wise on my own car, it’s quite extensive (I think I covered most of it in my original post) but engine wise, she has Brian Crower cams, larger inlet valves, port and polished head including intake manifold, titanium valve springs, AEM V2, Decat, Hondata S300 V3 management, port matched exhaust manifold, vernier adjustable cam pulleys, balance shaft delete, S2000 injectors, fuel pressure regulator, and probably more that I can’t recall at this time of night Admitedly a lot of the head work was unnecessary in terms of power gains as they are pretty well sorted and a lot of the gains are made from the management, but most of the work was done in its previous life so I’m not complaining! It does feel a lot more eager over a stock one though, with a very aggressive crossover. I love the sound.

[joropug]

Awesome car! I had a 2001 pre face-lift, what a great car.

I had the following mods on mine:
-Decat pipe with spacer for the emission sensor
-Decat back twin exhaust stainless steel exhaust
-Rota alloys in bronze
-Wind deflectors/tinted windows
-K&n typhoon induction kit (long arm, do it, incredible)

I had the 5th gear synchro crunch and got this all fixed up with new parts from Honda. I was gutted I did this as just before I got it done the crunch had stopped and the aftermarket clutch and lightweight flywheel sucked. Ruined the drive. Ended up selling it. Couple of shameful pics:


upload photoes


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[shakindog]

Took my accord out this week for the first time in a while it’s like putting on your favourite shoes.
Mine could do with some tlc but as I refuse to sell it I’ll get round to it at some point.
Even now at 18 years old they can still give modern stuff a bit of a surprise

[NateWM]

joropug said:

Awesome car! I had a 2001 pre face-lift, what a great car.

I had the following mods on mine:
-Decat pipe with spacer for the emission sensor
-Decat back twin exhaust stainless steel exhaust
-Rota alloys in bronze
-Wind deflectors/tinted windows
-K&n typhoon induction kit (long arm, do it, incredible)

I had the 5th gear synchro crunch and got this all fixed up with new parts from Honda. I was gutted I did this as just before I got it done the crunch had stopped and the aftermarket clutch and lightweight flywheel sucked. Ruined the drive. Ended up selling it. Couple of shameful pics:

Looks awesome! I love the wheels.

Mine has a slight crunch in 5th when cold so I’m preparing for a rebuild in the new year when the respray is in action. Luckily my Father has been rebuilding gearboxes for 4 decades so I’ll get it done nice and easily

[daniel-5zjw7]

great stuff, despite never having driven one these have been a firm favourite of mine for a long time, though for me it has to be original externally and a pre facelift in red (the later colours and other colours are just too boring).

The rust problems and the fact they've been so cheap for so long has put me off so far though, a good one is very hard to find and given it would need to be an everyday car for me stored outside it probably wouldn't be a great fit!

Sounds like you got yourself a bargain with your one though despite some testing moments along the way. Glad to see its in rude health and look forward to more updates.

[Bdevo3]

Great read and brilliant to see one of these being loved again. As you said often overlooked in our country because of our arse raping road tax

[NateWM]

Bdevo3 said:

Great read and brilliant to see one of these being loved again. As you said often overlooked in our country because of our arse raping road tax

Thanks everyone.

I try my best to keep it in as good a condition as possible. Part of the reason for stripping the car down and having everything painted and under sealed was mainly because it really is such a clean, rust free example and they are incredibly hard to find in that condition. Most have suffered the inevitable bulkhead rot that these are very known for...Its unfortunate but it means that values are sky rocketing lately and I’ve only see one other on the roads here in Ireland.

I love the comments it gets too. Some people are quick to judge and call it a boy racers car, and I can understand that due to the large rear wing and the more aggressive look it has since painting the wheels and front lip, carbon fiber trim etc. However it’s mostly old timers that love the car and remark at how clean it is for a MY99, even if half the time they mistake it for a civic or Integra

But all being well, it’s a car for life. I’m looking at an S2000 next to accompany it and if times ever get tough, I’ll simply put the Accord in storage for a while as I will never get what I want for it anyway!

[joropug]

NateWM said:

joropug said:

Awesome car! I had a 2001 pre face-lift, what a great car.

I had the following mods on mine:
-Decat pipe with spacer for the emission sensor
-Decat back twin exhaust stainless steel exhaust
-Rota alloys in bronze
-Wind deflectors/tinted windows
-K&n typhoon induction kit (long arm, do it, incredible)

I had the 5th gear synchro crunch and got this all fixed up with new parts from Honda. I was gutted I did this as just before I got it done the crunch had stopped and the aftermarket clutch and lightweight flywheel sucked. Ruined the drive. Ended up selling it. Couple of shameful pics:

Looks awesome! I love the wheels.

Mine has a slight crunch in 5th when cold so I’m preparing for a rebuild in the new year when the respray is in action. Luckily my Father has been rebuilding gearboxes for 4 decades so I’ll get it done nice and easily

It's well documented what you need to replace, and Honda recommend the wrong part if you ask for a certain piece. I'll try and dig out my computerised service history etc bound to have it somewhere have a full list of required parts. Cost about 400 £