CL7 Accord Euro R (Very pic heavy)

CL7 Accord Euro R (Very pic heavy)

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Kewy

Original Poster:

1,462 posts

95 months

Monday 11th June 2018
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I'll try keep this post as brief as possible as I appreciate I can go off on a tangent sometimes. Will finish it off with a bit of a photo dump from my camera roll of course smile

Once the headlights were done, the car was all serviced and MOT'd and I was just waiting for spring to creep over the horizon so I could drive the car properly again. Pretty much exactly when I bought this car we'd also bought our first house and had been having a fair bit of work done and a lot of furnishing, how I got away with spending as much as I already had on it is beyond me! But money was getting tight and still lots to do on the house so I'd decided I wasn't going to spend any more on it unnecessarily until at least the summer.

Wheels were something I knew I wanted to do at some stage but all the sets I was interested in were pushing £2k without rubber. CE28's are probably my favourite looking wheel on these Accords but wayyy way out of my budget for the time being. There was still a number of modifications I wanted to do before I considered wheels anyway (I'll list the jobs that are outstanding at some point as I still have a fair few bits planned for it, as and when part become available and/or I have the money).

But then I was flicking through that poisonous social media platform one day and something caught my eye… I fellow Euro R owner had treated himself to some Advans and subsequently was selling the wheels that came on the car when he'd imported it recently. His didn't land in the UK with the same wheels as mine, albeit still OEM Honda wheels (which was a huge plus for me), but those of its big-big-brother:



18'' Genuine Honda JDM alloys from a Civic FD2 Type R. I know I keep saying this but I really was not in a position to be buying cart parts, nor did I have a need. I was however aware that these don't come up for sale that often over here, and I had been wanting to scratch the white-on-white itch, the look that Honda's are famous for. I was torn, this was going to require a little man math. How can I justify this, well they were fitted with brand new tyres on them, thats a plus, not the choice of rubber that I would pick myself but they'll keep me going for a while until I can cough up for a decent set. I can also either sell my 17'' wheels, or keep them and sell the FD2 wheels later down the line if I change my mind. I checked my tyres and funnily enough my rears (that had previously been my fronts) were pretty much shot, fronts still had a bit on them.

A few chats with Chris who was selling them and a perfectly timed freelance job that would cover the cost meant the deal was done. I also quite fancied the drive west into the countryside where they needed to collect them from so that was a nice bonus!

Few days later and they were fitted, along with some fresh Ray's wheel nuts that my brother had recently brought me back from a business trip in Tokyo. Here's the new look:




I'd test fitted the rays to the stock 17'' grey wheels but wasn't really feeling the combination, with the white and red however I love them:


I forgot to mention above, but another factor in the purchase of the new wheels was that Chris had agreed to chuck in some 20mm hubcentric Tegiwa spacers. I'd been looking at spacers for a while as the stock wheels needed to be slightly flusher to the body work.

When the new 18's were being fitted along with the spacers I was a little anxious they was going to be some rubbing but we dropped the car down and it sat comfortably with no rubbing as of yet.

So that was back in April and that's where I am with the car now. Here's a couple of photos since the new wheels went on:

Spring finally arrived biggrin


Pretty lucky to have Goodwood round the corner, this particular occasion a few of us gatecrashed an MX5 owners meeting and somehow managed to get in the paddocks, so I took the opportunity to get a photo in the tunnel.


Prepping for Japfest:


Service station on the day of Japfest (sorry I can't find any of my shots from the actual show!)


Tried being arty.


Also been on another weekend round the Beacons and to JDM Combe since and took the car on track for the first time – which ultimately resulted in the work I'm going to be doing on Saturday but I'll update the thread nearer the time and go into a bit more detail on that experience.

Thanks for reading is anyone is mad enough to have made it this far!

Rensko

237 posts

107 months

Tuesday 12th June 2018
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Woah - that is one nice looking Accord! eek

Did the UK get the 2.4 powered Accords - if so, how do they compare to the EuroR, given that there isn't a massive power difference between the two motors?

Kewy

Original Poster:

1,462 posts

95 months

Tuesday 12th June 2018
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Rensko said:
Woah - that is one nice looking Accord! eek

Did the UK get the 2.4 powered Accords - if so, how do they compare to the EuroR, given that there isn't a massive power difference between the two motors?
Thankyou! Yeh the UK got a 2.4 petrol, a 2.0 'untuned' K20A6 petrol, and a 2.2 diesel.

The Euro R has the K20A, 2.0 tuned engine.

I've not driven a CL9 (UK variant), so its hard to say! Although from what I've read the power delivery is very different, much less revvy, vtec much less defined, and doesn't feature LSD and different gear ratios etc.

Make of that what you will, I do know the UK 2.4 is very tunable though, and people frequently use the K24 bottom end with a K20 top end for a frankenstein build.

A friend of mine had the UK 2.0 variant and the Euro R left it for dead quite frankly, think theres only about 20-25bhp different but I guess its how the Euro R puts the power down.

Kewy

Original Poster:

1,462 posts

95 months

Tuesday 12th June 2018
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Butter Face said:
Still reading!

Headlights looksm good, need to do mine!

Are you still making the stickers? I will probably need some for my EP3 Sideskirts as I don’t think Honda make them anymore.
Where are you based BF? Would highly recommend Andy if you're anywhere down south.

Yeh I can still make the decals mate. Are you on Instagram? If so, add me (@skewy) and message on there, probably the only social media platform I'm consistent on.

Otherwise I can PM you my email or phone number.

The graphics would be different to OEM ones, simply because its plotted vinyl as opposed to printed vinyl, if you look at the ones I made there is no backing behind the colour, just solid colour with space in between. The OEM ones are printed on a clear vinyl if I'm correct. Personally I prefer the plotted vinyl as it looks cleaner but its personal preference.

Butter Face

30,344 posts

161 months

Tuesday 12th June 2018
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Cheers for the reply dude, I actually spoke to my parts guy at Honda today and although it says online they’re no longer available he was able to find me some. Prefer to stick to OEM where I can hehe

All new badges and decals for when the resprayed are all sorted now smile

Striple

175 posts

142 months

Thursday 14th June 2018
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Excuse the camera phone shot, this was from the drive back from TGT. Now you've finally posted about the wheels, I can comment...you jammy so and so! I thought about getting an fd2r but the prices!

Kewy

Original Poster:

1,462 posts

95 months

Thursday 14th June 2018
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Butter Face said:
Cheers for the reply dude, I actually spoke to my parts guy at Honda today and although it says online they’re no longer available he was able to find me some. Prefer to stick to OEM where I can hehe

All new badges and decals for when the resprayed are all sorted now smile
Ah no worries mate, glad you got them sorted. If you do ever need any bespoke decals or anything made then just give me a shout smile

Ahhh red badges are on the long list of things left to do to this car. Tempted to just get the order in when I get paid. About £80 in total for the front and back if I remember rightly. Strange thing is – the big one which is one the front is from a facelift EP3 and costs about £30, the small one on the back is the same as a DC5 rear and costs £50!!

Kewy

Original Poster:

1,462 posts

95 months

Thursday 14th June 2018
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Striple said:


Excuse the camera phone shot, this was from the drive back from TGT. Now you've finally posted about the wheels, I can comment...you jammy so and so! I thought about getting an fd2r but the prices!
Yes mate! Looking good – how you finding it so far?? Any plans for it?

Yeh I'd love an FD2 but prices are silly, although there is one on PH Classifieds for £9995 at the moment which is the cheapest I've seen one for!
Another couple of years with the CL7 I reckon and then I may revisit the idea :P

Striple

175 posts

142 months

Thursday 14th June 2018
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So far so good. I've come from a 2.5 turbo so I'm still getting used to vtec life!
Plans so far..Needs lowering, I'm thinking of getting a set of tein springs. New wheels, exhaust, and ATR brake upgrade at some point in the future. Will be pretty much a copy of yours!

Kewy

Original Poster:

1,462 posts

95 months

Friday 15th June 2018
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Striple said:
So far so good. I've come from a 2.5 turbo so I'm still getting used to vtec life!
Plans so far..Needs lowering, I'm thinking of getting a set of tein springs. New wheels, exhaust, and ATR brake upgrade at some point in the future. Will be pretty much a copy of yours!
Yeh I came from a 2.0T running 305bhp, was a bit of a shock! Although the Honda doesn't feel as fast, its so much more exhilarating.

All sound like good plans, if you have any questions feel free to give me a shout. My instagram is @skewy if you're on there.

Look forward to seeing your progress smile

mp3manager

4,254 posts

197 months

Friday 15th June 2018
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I've always had a lot of admiration for the CL7 and FD2. In 2016 when I was looking for a replacement for my DC5, I did briefly look at them but to be honest they were too old for me and my needs. Even the last of the FD2's in Midnight Purple were 6 years old, which is why I settled on an FK2, which is a great car but I do miss the NA K20A.

Kewy

Original Poster:

1,462 posts

95 months

Wednesday 27th June 2018
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Just about to put together another post, but found this BEFORE:AFTER photo so thought I'd post that quick.



Really happy with how the car is sitting aesthetically right now.

Kewy

Original Poster:

1,462 posts

95 months

Wednesday 27th June 2018
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Okay, time for another post – sorry for the delay. Been really busy and a few car issues so I have spent my spare time working out the best way to address those.

First of all, I've had a few people get in touch with me via Instagram saying they'd seen the thread and numerous kind words about the car – just want to give a shout out to those guys and say thanks. I'm mainly doing this thread as something I can look back on in years to come – but also to give others an idea of my experience of Euro R ownershop. There doesn't seem to be much info out there! It's nice to hear that others are enjoying my ramblings.

(Shameless plug, my Instagram is @skewy – lots of photos and videos of the Accord on there, and some other car content)

I'll start this post off with a few photos as usual. Did another Beacons trip following where I left the last post.

Met up with a couple of good friends of mine who live in Cardiff and Weston – Interestingly, Lex – the guy who owned this EG has now sold the EG and may be in the market for a CL7 Euro R. Needless to say I approve of the decision :P (The EG was beautiful though).




Despite the numerous previous trips I have done in the Accord, including a previous trip to the Beacons, and over a year of ownership, I really felt like I got to know it on this trip. Me and a mate went this time (I think not having the Mrs in the car meant we could push it a lot harder) and both did a fair amount of driving. I know I keep praising the car but it honestly ticked every box. A nice comfortable cruise from Portsmouth to Wales and then about 400 miles in a day just driving round the Brecon Beacons. Every conceivable road surface and corner, it just ate the lot up. From narrow winding bumpy lanes that would upset a lot race orientated cars, to long swooping single and dual carriageways through the hills. I had a grin on my face every minute of it.

I was pleasantly surprised with the tyres actually, the recent purchase of FD2 wheels came with a fresh set of Toyo T1R's on them, and a fair few people had warned me how 'bad' they were and that I would need to change them ASAP. Well they weren't quite as grippy as the Goodyears I had on before, but they held their ground and I'll happily keep them on the car until they need changing I think. Maybe its because its a heavier car, or maybe its a result of lots of tweaking with air pressure, but for all the bad press they get I was relieved and impressed (don't really have money for new tyres right now!).

Few more photos from BB:




This one is from the South Downs on the way home, long drive down the M4 got a bit boring so we went on the hunt for twisties again and found this nice viewing spot:


So, the next adventure was JDM Combe, and in a series of fortunate/unfortunate events which meant a friend of mine couldn't take his S2K – meant I ended up with 2 half hour slots to take the Accord out on track. I've been a passenger on track several times but never driven on track myself, ah well – might as well break the Euro R and my own track virginity at some point!

Couple of shots from the Honda Karma stand – shout out to Guy for organising everything and everyone who was on the stand, looked great!



Few shots from the track time (was too flustered and forgot to set up the GoPro so no onboard footage of this one unfortunately frown )




So how did I find it on track? Well baring in mind I don't have much to compare it to with regards to track experience – but it drove well! Gearbox was lovely, and my downshifts and H&T are coming along nicely, really enjoyed that. Handled well enough, but let down a bit by the tyres, it turned out that whilst being okay on road, the T1R's really didn't hold up on track, lots of screeching! Brakes disappointed me hugely as well, especially given I'd upgraded the stock calipers to some ATR 2-pots (but we'll get on to that in a minute). On the whole it drove exactly how I expected it to on track – very well, I've said a couple of times, but you don't feel like you're in a big car. It kept up with the pack and stood its ground, which given the calibre of some of the cars out there is good enough for me!

We did however unearth a few problems which is where I am with the car now. Along with disappointing brakes, I developed a judder when accelerating which only got worse on the drive back from Combe. The ABS light also had a fit and kept coming on, then going off a while later, then on again.

The following day the wheels came off the car and driveshafts/CV's/steering rack checked, nothing stood out as unusual. Brakes off and found the the o/s bottom slider pin on the caliper was seized – this along with over 2 year old brake fluid would explain the stty brakes, and a sticking caliper could explain the juddering.

So next purchase were some Goodridge brake lines, a couple of litres of Motul RBF 600 and a new slider pin set:



Following weekend (which was the weekend before last), jacked up wheels off and fitted the lines/flushed out the old fluid with the fresh Motul.




Annoyingly I'd been sent the wrong slide pin set so they didn't fit (I think there are two different types for the UK ATR brakes), but managed to knock free the seized one, give it a good clean and re-grease and plenty of movement when put back together.

Brakes now feel significantly better, firmer pedal feel, and the car stops when you want it to (on road use that is, time will tell if it helps on track, I suspect I'll need some better pads for that too). Interestingly you still have to stamp on the brakes when braking from speed, but it actually stops the car now as opposed to slowly coming to a halt! And at lower speeds they're much more responsive even with light braking.

Now the annoying part is that it didn't fix the judder frown a further inspection found that the bushes on the lower control arm could do with replacing, but I don't think they're perished enough to cause the judder which is now fairly violent on hard acceleration. I suspect it is the driveshaft(s) as its a common fault on these. Car is booked in to have the shafts out and inspected a week today. Genuine shafts are around £1600 for a set, so its going to put a bit of a hold on any other modifications I had in mind, but if it needs to be done then it needs to be done, I have no intention on compromising with this car.

So keep posted, I'll update the thread once I know what's going on and hopefully will soon be back in full swing, hoping to get up to Mimms at Rockingham and get it back out on track for a bit.

mw88

1,457 posts

112 months

Wednesday 27th June 2018
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Not sure if the drive shafts on these are the same the 2.4 CL9s, but on mine there was a rubber boot thing in the middle of the shaft which tended to trap moisture and corroded it enough to eventually snap.

Had the vibrations under acceleration for a while, until I pulled away a bit enthusiastically.


Kewy

Original Poster:

1,462 posts

95 months

Wednesday 27th June 2018
quotequote all
mw88 said:
Not sure if the drive shafts on these are the same the 2.4 CL9s, but on mine there was a rubber boot thing in the middle of the shaft which tended to trap moisture and corroded it enough to eventually snap.

Had the vibrations under acceleration for a while, until I pulled away a bit enthusiastically.

I've got a feeling it is the same, although different sources say differently.

Did you replace with OEM shafts? and did you replace the Intermediate shafts as well? It's a big cost but I'm tempted to just do the whole lot to be honest.

MikeDrop

1,646 posts

170 months

Wednesday 27th June 2018
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Lovely car!

I don't suppose you're selling the wheels you've taken off?

mw88

1,457 posts

112 months

Wednesday 27th June 2018
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Kewy said:
I've got a feeling it is the same, although different sources say differently.

Did you replace with OEM shafts? and did you replace the Intermediate shafts as well? It's a big cost but I'm tempted to just do the whole lot to be honest.
I only changed the snapped one, didn't bother doing both - It wasn't an OEM shaft, but can't remember if the intermediate shaft was changed aswell.

It's been about 3 years/60k miles since it's been changed, it's mostly been fine but did have a warranty job to change it again after the first one started knocking really bad after a few weeks (Ironically, I was driving through a village called Knockin when it started knocking laugh )

OEM for the CL9 were something like £800 each, I think I paid less than £500 including labour.

doro708

27 posts

136 months

Thursday 28th June 2018
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Hi ,

Congrats on the car , i always had a soft spot for the Accord , especially the Euro R and you have done a great job on it .

I remember reading on some forums about this driveshaft upgrade for the Accord so you could look into it as is quite reasonable priced.

https://h-tune.co.uk/insane-shafts-performance-dri...

Kewy

Original Poster:

1,462 posts

95 months

Thursday 28th June 2018
quotequote all
MikeDrop said:
Lovely car!

I don't suppose you're selling the wheels you've taken off?
To be honest mate I was intending on keeping them as winter wheels. Not sure they'd be worth selling.

Guess everything is for sale for a price, try me! They would need a bit of a refurb mind.


mw88 said:
I only changed the snapped one, didn't bother doing both - It wasn't an OEM shaft, but can't remember if the intermediate shaft was changed aswell.

It's been about 3 years/60k miles since it's been changed, it's mostly been fine but did have a warranty job to change it again after the first one started knocking really bad after a few weeks (Ironically, I was driving through a village called Knockin when it started knocking laugh )

OEM for the CL9 were something like £800 each, I think I paid less than £500 including labour.
Yeh I'm constantly hearing stories of aftermarket shafts that fail or don't cure the problem. Do you remember what brand shaft you used?
Do those three years and 60k miles include a fair bit of hard driving? Mine does get pushed a bit at times.

Haha where is this village, I'll make a note NOT to visit there! laugh



doro708 said:
Hi ,

Congrats on the car , i always had a soft spot for the Accord , especially the Euro R and you have done a great job on it .

I remember reading on some forums about this driveshaft upgrade for the Accord so you could look into it as is quite reasonable priced.

https://h-tune.co.uk/insane-shafts-performance-dri...
Thanks! It's coming along smile

Yeh I'm aware of the Insane shafts, considerably cheaper but I do know a couple of people who have had problems with them. I'm not sure you can actually consider them an 'upgrade' to be honest. Common opinion is that you can't get much better than OEM.

MikeDrop

1,646 posts

170 months

Thursday 28th June 2018
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Kewy said:
Thanks! It's coming along smile

Yeh I'm aware of the Insane shafts, considerably cheaper but I do know a couple of people who have had problems with them. I'm not sure you can actually consider them an 'upgrade' to be honest. Common opinion is that you can't get much better than OEM.
PMd wink