1992 Honda Accord EX – Striking A Chord

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The millennium’s flavor of choice for Honda swaps was always the perennial B series as well as the big-block H-series. Still used regularly, began to slow bit, taking a back seat to the new kid, even though times, they do change, and the B- and H-series swaps. Richie Feliz of New York was there when the H was king, and planning to stay ahead of the curve, he decided to take on the K family.

Richie has been turning wrenches for many years and similar to most guys developing in the late nineties, his dream Honda was not the auto-tragic Accord he’d been rocking. He recalls I always wanted an EG coupe having a B-series, everyone I knew had one, it was the automobile to have. After a series of unfortunate accidents and flipping cars he ended up back in a CB7 nearly a decade later, although this one had seen better days. He adds, It was looking for some help. It had the common northeast quarter panel rust and it had damage to both passenger doors … it was also in need front and back brakes. To handle the obvious body rust and flaws, Richie picked up a donor car to drag clean panels and doors from. The new donor car also happened to possess full black interior that Richie promptly swapped from dash to door cards. The OEM brakes were tired therefore they were ditched for a 5-lug conversion using parts from theRichie removed the tired suspension and installed a set of the then brand new Function/Form Type 2 coilovers and upgraded sway bars, before buttoning up the new suspension. Anyone who lives within a road salt state knows that once the rust starts, there is no stopping it, so next on the list was pulling the quarters off the donor welding and car these to the project. Once complete, a coat of Platinum white pearl was laid over the car, a color only available in the UK in the S2000. Searching for more power, Richie installed a JDM H22 and APEXi exhaust system. For the following year, Richie hit every meet he could down and up the east coast while stacking up a slew of rare JDM bits like his one piece headlamps. At the moment, Richie picked up the pride of his collection, an ESP 3-point shock tower bar. He adds, This was the first bar ever made for that CB Accord. If you wanted a 3-point strut bar you had to go custom. Richie still has the bar today and luckily it still fits with his newest setup, in the past.

After some time Richie grew bored and hit the forums and it wasn’t long before a West Coast member mentioned that Hasport had just released mounts and axles to the K-series to CB chassis swap. When this occurs he knew he had to do it. Unlike the Civic/Integra platform which has always had massive aftermarket support, I used to be faced with an issue. The only things provided for me personally were mounts and axles, everything had to be outsourced or custom made. Richie got right to work with sourcing the various components, starting with a K24 and accompanying six-speed transmission that he’d arm with a Competition Clutch and ACT flywheel. Some parts, similar to a DC sports K-swap header for a civic and a Mishimoto radiator from an EP3 were modified to properly fit his chassis. Others, like the Civic RBC intake manifold, were obviouslyaxles and mounts for the swap but from that point it was essentially uncharted territory. To help ease the process, and tidy up the bay, Richie opted to remove all of the engine accessories like power steering and AC, and relocate battery to the trunk to ease within the rewiring. Wiring the entire job was a completely one-off process at the time, so Richie flew in his friend Oscar from Florida to help finish the fragile procedure. Richie put a fork in it because his CB7 was officially done, a brand new heart called for new rollers so the DC5R wheels were replaced with a collection of 17-inch Regamaster Evo’s along with that. Richie’s new cruiser can be seen down and up the East coast, and are available spring, can get strapped to some dyno the first time, keep your eyes open!