dculberson said:The beam isn’t a crush structure it’s to spread the impact out across both sides of the car. The part it bolts to on the car is the crumple zone. That’s simplified of course!
no worries... I can take the simplified explanation and extrapolate. As ever, my main problem with most things is walking into the problem definition with the wrong assumptions/IC's.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Can you cobble something together from the existing tubing attached to the massive airbox that you just removed?
In reply to Woody :
Every piece after the rubber connector is smaller in diameter than everything before it. It would work, but I hate to do that even though I expect the power loss by doing so would be nothing.
At some point in the future I'll source the proper size AC condenser and have lines made to move things over like on a 964. Keep AC but also allow full flow for cooling.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
cruise the junk yard looking for shiny aftermarket intakes? or are those stripped clean pretty early on?
Finally had a down day to just sort of mess about for almost two whole hours and it was glorious. Much coffee and staring.
For starters, this picture should make it obvious why I'm all excited about playing with aero. So much room for activities.
I hate putting dirty stuff back together. I don't think the power washer actually made the process faster but it's still fun.
Behind the bumpers on everything even a little bit modern are these flappy doors. I suspect they're a sort of pressure equalizing/fresh air drawing device. Is that correct?
Also, in at least four places on the car Honda put weights. I assume they're to solve some sort of vibration issue. There is one under the car on the subframe, and a big one was in the front crash beam (but none on the aluminum one) which is gone.
This one under the rear deck, it bolts on from the top and a lot of plastic needs to come off. I'll get to it.
And this one on the inside bottom of the front bumper. I pulled it off. This in the one that I wonder most about, maybe some sort of flappiness at speed? Easy enough to put it back on if it solves a real problem.
And then it was time to put the rear crash structure back on. Some crayon and 3x5 card made a template for hole location.
I didn't take a picture of it, but it turns out that the reason for the different holes was because using the existing stud location puts one of them right against the center rib in the beam. It would take a bunch of moving metal to be able to get a wrench on there so I just went with one per side. It's there for a compression event anyway, it'll be fine.
With that done, I put the beam and the foam on. I'm using the rear foam because it fits and I really don't want to damage this body if I can help it. It's so clean. The whole beam will come off when I get super serious.
Tried to put the bumper cover back on at this point but the beam is too long. Took it all back off again and got out the sawzall. About halfway though the agonizingly slow first cut I remembered that you guys told me more than once that aluminum cuts better with wood teeth. I swapped blades and zipped off the ends.
Everything fit this time, assembly is the reverse. I need to put the front crash beam on and then I'm just waiting on headlights and I'll be back on the road. Driving my truck is killing me.
Your side photo reminds me of a couple videos by KYLE.ENGINEERS on youtube that you may like (if you haven't already seen them). He does CFD analysis of a "cut bumper" (aka no rear bumper to mimic the effects of a diffuser) and finds that it can be surprisingly effective.
Link to first video: CUT BUMPER CFD
I'm pretty sure I found this guy via GRM's loosecannon (sp?). The channel has stalled as of late as he's an F1 aerodynamicist now, so I'm tempted to believe he's legit.
Apologies if you've already consumed this material.
damen
You’re correct. The flappy vents are so you can shut the doors, all that moving air has to go some where. If the bumper cover is still off, watch them as you shut the door.
The suspended mass harmonic dampers are cool. I’ve never seen them in that application.
In reply to Carson :
Mother of god. I just lost a whole evening of spending time with Mrs. Deuce by watching aero videos. Not sure I can sleep with all this bouncing around my head. I need some plywood and a jigsaw, STAT!
It’s completely unnecessary at this point of course, but could you have flipped the beam end for end and then drilled two new holes on each end, thereby avoiding that center rib?
Getting close to putting the car away for the summer. I'm going to miss it. Still putting on about 500 miles a week. Mrs. Deuce still hasn't driven it. 
One minor "fix". Shifting was getting grumpy and I was worried that something might be going wrong with the clutch hydraulics. I found a post on a Honda forum that suggested doing a couple of side steps to let the system readjust itself. Foot to the floor, slide your foot off and let the pedal slam back up. Amazingly it appears to have worked and my initial school run had better shifting than it has had in weeks.
Accord is jealous that I haven't been working on it.
Static pressure looks good.. is it not engaging compressor?
Yup. The clutch engages off the battery, so that's good. Do that with the car running and high side/low side running pressures are good and it makes cold. Relays seems to be good when I swap them which leaves me with........just the pressure switch I think. I ran out of time and had to make dinner and then go to a band concert. I'll get it sorted in the morning.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Sounds like it's jealous about one car specifically. 
"If you can't keep it in the shop, keep it in the family!"
Jumped the pressure switch. Nothing. Spent sometime probing the terminals for the relays. Nothing. Lots more checking. Nothing. Finally broke down and checked the internet to see if I was missing a fuse or something. Turns out the AC clutch has it's own 7.5 amp fuse, #12 in the underhood fuse box, and it was blown.
New fuse seems to have fixed the issue, but the question remains, why did it blow? Is my clutch starting to go and drawing more current than necessary? Just an old fuse and it was it's time? I threw another extra in the car. Now that I know what it is, it's an easy two minute fix instead of several hours of diagnostics.
oh hey mr deuce!
i got me a 2006 accord, this one with a v6 and 6 speed manual. 'bout 215k kms on it (130k freedom units
they are stout little cars! the J30A5 is a decent engine, just heavy up front. i track mine and so far so good. its been a learning experience of learning how to wrench on one.
TL-S cams
AMR coilovers, 14k front 10k rear
rear camber kit
wheels off an acura TL to fit 235s, they can support up to 245!
TL-S rear sway bar
HP+ hawk pads
if you have a chance to get a pair of bucket seats, you'll shed some more weight! the stock seats are quite heavy, nearly 100lb for my driver's side and then about 80 or so for passenger. the seatbelt lock is attached to the seat and not the body of the car though, so be mindful of that!
the foglights can be turned into brake ducts i'm sure too, shouldn't be too hard!
In reply to Celeias :
Is that Grand Bend Motorplex? I ran there last August and hope to again this year in my old red BMW. I'm at TMP Cayuga a lot more but I'll keep an eye out for you.
Adam
In reply to Celeias :
I've got to say, your car looks a LOT better than mine. Does yours have an extra lip or is that a Honda piece? I think I need to drive a V6 car on track at some point to compare. Keep tracking, it's fun!
Got to drive an 05 V6 Manual Coupe for the last 2 days as I detailed it. Man, what a fun car. Cleaned up nice too.
In reply to adam525i:
yeah thats Grand Bend Motorplex! i'll be out to TMP Cayuga sometime in august once i get my bucket seats installed as well as an oil cooler.. too afraid to run the car hard without one with the summer temperatures.
i will definitely keep an eye out for you as well! 5 series? looks like an E28.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
factory lip! part of the "HFP" package available for this year. they don't make them anymore but you can find them on e-bay for fairly cheap. new i think it was about $1,500 for the first owner to buy the rear and front lips, and then to have the dealer install.
do drive the V6, and expect the weight up front to be much more noticeable! but its still an incredibly capable car with a high spring rate up front.
I'm back in town after the summer. The Accord fired right up. The idle was wonky for about 10 minutes but settled down and things are great. I love this crap box so very much. Time to work on it!
Stock hood weighs 33.5 lbs on my crappy scale.
Aluminum hood from the Hybrid is 18.5 for a nice round savings of 15lbs.
It acutally lines up well (it wasn't latched or bolted on here, it looks better pressed down)........
But it doesn't fit at the back. It's too short.
The tape measure tells me that the stock hood is 44 inches from front to back and the hybrid hood is 43. And the hinges don't fit, either in shape or having the bolt holes line up. What I don't know is why. Is this a sedan/coupe thing and grabbing a sedan cowl and hinges will make it work? Is it a hybrid/non hybrid thing and I'm going to need to try and chase down another hybrid to grab the parts? Are the sedan and coupe just fundamentally different enough that I can't make it work with stock pieces? Is is a facelift thing? Could I change ALL the front sheet metal and have it work? For a potential 15 lbs in savings it's worth it to try and chase the answer down. 11.5 lbs from the beam, another 15 from the hood, and there is an easy 10lbs or more in the battery. If I can get all of that done it will be 37.5 lbs from the front of the car. That's pretty huge.
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