Scrap it or save it?
Hey everyone,
I’m the owner of a somewhat rare car in Australia. It’s a CH9 Accord Si-R that was long ago brought to Australia under the personal import scheme. It has been my daily driver since 2019, bought with 160,000km on it, now with 212,000km. It‘s approaching the stage where fairly soon it will need some really significant investment in maintenance to keep it on the road, and I’m debating whether to commit the money to keeping it alive or whether I should scrap it and buy a replacement daily driver. I can‘t in good conscience sell it as is (has a major game breaking issue, will go into more detail later in the post) and I already have a project/weekend car. It does have some modifications that make it somewhat unique even as far as CH9s go. It has a manual T2T4 box from a CF4 Accord (all CH9s were automatic from the factory), Recaro seats from an EP3 Type R, but retains the original H23A VTEC engine. The driveshafts to my knowledge are from a CL1 Euro R. The interior has been fitted with CL1 Euro R trim pieces, so the door cards and some of the dash have carbon fibre patterned inserts rather than the original woodgrain. I’ve installed a set of Tein Flex Z coilovers in it as they’re pretty much the only thing available on the market for the wagon and the previous coilovers in it were flogged and too firm for roads in Australia.
In terms of mechanical stuff, it needs the following:
- Replacement passenger side driveshaft - it has split both CV boots (apparently a common problem with the CL1) and while it’s not clicking yet, they’ve been split for too long to chuck some new boots on and call it a day. Can get a used replacement driveshaft from Japan for probably about $600.
- The AC died fairly recently and the climate control simply won’t power it on. I can manually power the compressor on and get the clutch to engage by removing the compressor relay and shorting the contact pins, so it seems like the compressor itself hasn’t failed - my presumption is that the AC system has a leak and has triggered a low refrigerant sensor that prevents the climate control unit from commanding the AC on. I don’t have the kit necessary to test system pressure however, so I’m not sure. Either way, I’m thinking I won’t come out much short of $1500 if it turns out that I have to replace the compressor, condenser, or evaporator.
- Timing belt - it’s approaching the due mileage and needs a timing belt, tensioner, and balance shaft belt as they‘re not shared on the H23A VTEC. I can get an aftermarket belt and tensioner kit for about $300 all up. Usually I would replace the water pump concurrently, that’s another $300 for a genuine pump from Honda.
- Rear brake rotors and pads - $700ish all up from RHDJapan.
- Possibly a clutch - it’s not slipping at all and still feels good but I haven’t had the clutch replaced in my ownership and it’s beyond 60,000km that I’ve driven on this clutch with who knows how much mileage was already on it when I bought the car. Clutch will likely be about $1000.
- Some other miscellaneous odds and ends, spark leads, replacement intake tube from manifold to air box, fuel filter, etc.
Now if the car were in perfect shape otherwise, I would have no issue shelling out for the above. I have the facilities to do all the work except for air con stuff, so labour cost isn’t too much of a concern. But the car has some pretty severe rust in the unibody at the very top of the hatch. I’ve attached a picture for reference but it’s pretty gnarly. I believe it’s some poor repair work from the past as there are hints of overspray on the rubber grommets and window washer hose. It’s quite possible that it’s previously had rust in it necessitating the repair work as the design of the car itself seems a little flawed - the panel gap between the roof and hatch is massive and allows debris and leaf litter to collect which retains moisture if there’s been any rain at all. It’s actually that bad now that there are some holes starting to open up allowing moisture to get in between the layers of the roof. I’ve had someone who does some pretty involved restoration work have a look at it and he believes it’s fixable, but I would be looking at around 5k or 6k at a very minimum to get the rust cut out, new metal welded in, and paint. The difficulty is also exacerbated by the fact that it‘s eating all the metal away around the hinges (I guess this would be structural rust).
Anyway, I’ve typed up a bit of a wall of text, so the gist of it all is - would you bother putting in the investment to get this car up to scratch, or would you drive it into the ground and scrap it? If I get rid of it, I’m planning on replacing it with an IS F eventually. Keep in mind I’m probably looking at about $12k to $15k minimum to work the major kinks out of it and get it respectable again, which would probably be approximately how much it’s worth on a good day in good condition. Thanks everyone, keen to know your opinions.
EDIT: Fixed some grammar, typed it on a phone and missed some stuff.