Performing Honda K24a3/AST5 6spd Conversion

Sweet. Nothing like the smell of grinding metal. Great job Hussein

Indeed! I do wear a respirator for the kind of enclosed space work - so not so much metal taste in the mouth :D

Only got a small amount done today - cleaned up the welds a little & put some primer on it. Still have a little more to do here, however it will rust if I leave it exposed for even a couple days.

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I worked a little on the air deflector/splash shield for the underside - more welding, just plastic. Two sections that overlap

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Started on tidying up the welds & test fitted the pan again - had some distortion to address resulting from the seam welds on the cuts.

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Still have to add the ridge to the underside to extend the pan out over the rail ridge, and deal with the forward left corner overlap

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Only 1/2 hour on it today - between my lower back problem & migraines, just needed to get a little moving forward

Still need to resolve the forward corner with a small weld patch
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Migraines Hussein? Wow I feel for you. I've only ever had one years ago (nothing since, thank God!) and it's a pain I hope to never experience again. Got it while working a midnight shift and finally went to the Emergency Dept the next afternoon. I chuckle when someone says that they have a migraine but are still working and functioning. It completely demo'd me. Anyhow, I do hope it's not something you experience often my friend
 
Migraines Hussein? Wow I feel for you. I've only ever had one years ago (nothing since, thank God!) and it's a pain I hope to never experience again. Got it while working a midnight shift and finally went to the Emergency Dept the next afternoon. I chuckle when someone says that they have a migraine but are still working and functioning. It completely demo'd me. Anyhow, I do hope it's not something you experience often my friend

Thank you - most days it's just a bad headache - but somedays it's brutal. Been going on since Oct. Had Bloodwork, MRI, Neurologist next...
Back is easy - just have to go to the chiropractor for a few visits & that will be resolved.
 
Thank you - most days it's just a bad headache - but somedays it's brutal. Been going on since Oct. Had Bloodwork, MRI, Neurologist next...
Back is easy - just have to go to the chiropractor for a few visits & that will be resolved.
Not sure how your healthcare system is set up down there but it's very difficult here to access almost any type of care unless you're on death's door (or you're an inmate) because of Covid. Restriction after restriction. Hope you get to the bottom of it buddy.
 
Not sure how your healthcare system is set up down there but it's very difficult here to access almost any type of care unless you're on death's door (or you're an inmate) because of Covid. Restriction after restriction. Hope you get to the bottom of it buddy.
It varies greatly based on where you are. If one really needs care you can get it. If it is for something not life threatening, it can be harder but generally easy. My yearly health check was virtual last year and then later an in person appointment after the local infection rate went down. All properly masked.

Many of our care providers are getting shots for both the direct and indirect providers (office administration) so things should be getting better in terms of access.
 
It's been bloody cold here in my part of NY, along with the mild health issues, I haven't been doing much on the car - I'm lucky if I get the metal of the body up to 40ºF, so it sucks all the heat out of me leaning on it or under it to work.

Anyway, I did have time to get the floor pan fitted. stripped all mating surfaces (about 1" overlap) Rough sanded for adhesion with the Fusor 2 part body epoxy. Cut the drain hole to match the factory drains in the three other areas. This product is very low odor and has about 90min work time - so not difficult to work with for fiddly panels like this.

EDIT - forgot - I made a small tie plate to resolve the forward left inside corner & installed that prior to the pan.

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put a schmear of epoxy over all the mating surfaces first, as they recommend, then approx 1/4" bead on one of the mating surfaces

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Installed. Setup times are all rated at ambient temp -around 70ºF - so it will take probably twice as long (at least) in the unheated garage temps of around 20ºF. Once it's cured, I'l grind off all the rivets ends on the inside & caulk the seams with a good paintable body caulk

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I like your drain hole.
How did you make it?

BTW. I think the Fusor epoxy cure temp at 60f is more than 2x the time of 70f. Many epoxies will not cure at all in the cold. If you have a heat gun that will raise the temp enough to get it to start to cure.
 
I like your drain hole.
How did you make it?

BTW. I think the Fusor epoxy cure temp at 60f is more than 2x the time of 70f. Many epoxies will not cure at all in the cold. If you have a heat gun that will raise the temp enough to get it to start to cure.

I used a Dremel cut-off disc, so it's not as rounded a tang as the originals, but close enough for me.

I couldn't find an data on curing at lower temps - the measures I took were heating the panel by placing it next to the heater prior to applying the epoxy, I kept the propane heater close to me when installing, so it was prolly around 40 -45ºF when I was working it - which took almost 90minutes to complete. I'll check on it today, and place the heater in close proximity for a bit. I'll use the heat gun directly over the panel bonds as well. Thanks for the tip!

EDIT - went outside for about 1/2 hour & used the heat gun on the panel bonds. The epoxy is definitely still malleable. See how it goes, I can't stay out here, or leave the heat on when I'm not in the garage to monitor it

ambient temp
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Curious, why didn't you weld it in?

No reason to, besides the extremely awkward weld position, this epoxy is rated for OEM factory installation of exterior body panels.
One significant consideration was that even just welding the small inner sill patches - the undercoat inside the sills/rail catches fire & emits much fumes. As much as possible I wanted to follow the original seam, which is why I removed the original all the way off of the under sill attachment, vs. installing in the inside.
 
This pic is from many years back when I took care of the surface rust on the right well - can anyone confirm the outline makes sense for the factory dampening butyl? Mine was hard & cracked when I pulled the carpet, so I don't know for sure. I can assume that it was, it would make sense - but you know what you get for assumptions...

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This pic is from many years back when I took care of the surface rust on the right well - can anyone confirm the outline makes sense for the factory dampening butyl? Mine was hard & cracked when I pulled the carpet, so I don't know for sure. I can assume that it was, it would make sense - but you know what you get for assumptions...

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The grey area is the outline. I am doing mine now and the factory stuff was in the identical location.
 
Moving along with the floor... sanded, caulked - & final primer inside & out

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Seam is reasonably concealed on this side. I think once the 3M Rocker Schutz & undercoat are applied it will be invisible

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had time to get first layer of top coat on the inside

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also made a housing for the power window relay mod - I used 900 series relay sockets -

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based on this type retainer

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Moving along with the floor... sanded, caulked - & final primer inside & out

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Seam is reasonably concealed on this side. I think once the rocker Schultz & undercoat are applied it will be invisible

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had time to get first layer of top coat on the inside

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also made a housing for the power window relay mod - I used 900 series relay sockets -



based on this type retainer
Great job!

Now, about that engine cover... 😅
 
Removed the rad/fans/AC condenser today

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.....was thinking of putting one of the Volvo fans on, however they are all at least 16" deep - just no way top make that work on a 12" rad.

My two fans - approx 21" combined width

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New Condenser in place

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VW two-temp (75/82ºC) setting fan switch 90- 251 959 481K

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Cut holes for the side vents in the fan shroud I neglected to make years ago :D

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Done

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Made a support brace for the center of the spoiler - it has a fairly high degree of (downward) flex that I want to limit

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I need to clean up the Radiator cavity, and rewire the fan harness for the new sensor. Got another fuse panel for the Frunk - need to put the H/L relays in it & rewire a few things. I didn't know it had 15 fuses - I was more focused on the relay aspect. Amazon link

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