From a "Type R" to a "Type S"

[Paul_Smith]

Afternoon all,

Only been a member on here for a short while so I thought I should place up pictures of the progress I'm making on my Type S.

In June 2011 I sold my beloved Accord Type R. I bought that car with 99,999 miles on the odometer and in roughly 4 years of ownership, I only put on another 25,000 miles.

It was a fantastic car with fantastic abilities but when ever I saw the 7th generation Accord being driven on the road, in Type S guise especially, I knew that I would have to sell up and move on in the not too distant future.

Shortly after getting my Accord Type R featured in the 1st edition of the Total Honda, I placed it up for sale as a good friend of mine had 2 Type S Accords come into his work.

I really wanted one in Gunmetal grey but the silver one you see here had little over 37,000 miles on the clock and as I'm more into detailing and appearance, the condition of the paint and the car was higher up the list.

So from a high revving H22 with no sound proofing to a quiet, reserved K24. First impressions were good but I won't be truly happy until I get the car up to the standard that I had my Type R.

Firs thing on the list for the K24 was suspension. Even with the A-Spec suspension fitted the Accord sits fairly high when compared to say an A4 or 3 Series BMW.

I opted for uprated springs and KONI adjustable sport dampers over coilovers. While the car was in the garage getting all that fitted I had a new set of discs and pads fitted also.

When I got the car home I set about cleaning up all of the suspension components. I'm a great believer in “what you see has to be clean†and if it's rust, it must go!

Everything got rubbed down and treated to a coat of Hammerite smooth silver.

So from this . . .

To this . . .

First photo opportunity since I bought it then (daughter was asleep in the back seat :blush: )

Suspension and brakes sorted, I then had to make a choice on wheels.

I knew that I wanted to go down the rote of "less is more" as I'm not into chrome or overly complicated wheel designs. I opted for a set of Fox FX004's in Glass Black. They are a complete pain to keep clean, but I regularly wax them inside and out which does help with general dirt and brake dust as it just falls off

Next up is a wing. I wanted the Mugen duck bill spoiler but even replicas fetched over £150. Another owner on this very site had an unfortunate accident and donated his wing as it was damaged. As I have spent some of my teenage years in a paint shop, I'm no stranger to repairing fibre-glass and painting. Here's a picture of the spoiler in its current state.

I've spent around 3 hours so far wit fibre-glass resin and body filler so re-create the shape of the original wing. If I don't get it perfect then I just won't use it . . . more to follow on that one.

The engine bay is every bit as important as the outside appearance of the car. The intake manifold is due to be removed and polished but for now I commissioned a custom purple pearl for the cam cover. It was an exchange scheme on the DC5 owners club and the best I’ve seen in recent years.

The rest of the engine bay will shortly be receiving the same treatment, lots of purple.

A few more goodies that have arrived in the last couple of weeks.

Replacement front H.

Mugen Oil Cap

Titanium Pre-Facelift Accord Type R gear knob, arguably the best Honda have ever produced.

Not bothered not it would suggest I have a 5 speed box, its how it feels.

So what's next? A proper paint correction as so far I have only spent around 10 minutes on each panel with the DA polisher. I really need to get some halogens on the paint and make it perfect, that's what I'll be aiming for.

All chrome is to be removed, all of it.

Adjustable rear cambers arms are next I think and an X-Car Link for the standard stereo.

[Paul_Smith]

I'm a big fan of Powder Coating -

Packages from Japan . . . nothing Mugen I'm afraid -

Some more purple to be added, new wheel nuts -

New earthing kit -

Window chrome all wrapped, took me 2 nights but it looks OEM so I'm happy with that-

Been busy with my new business venture and working five days a week in the office doesn't help when you just want to get out and take advantage of the good weather before winter kicks in.

So, as I had some time to myself yesterday, I got the Accord out from the garage and tried out some new equipment that I purchased recently.

A quick set up shot for you

Full set will be hosted on my FaceBook page soon - http://www.facebook.com/PaulJSmithPhotography

[knight]

Love that photo above ^^^

[fyfie5]

looks really nice! proper hard work has gone in to this so far, love the cleaning and painting of everything that you can see

[simpo]

Looks nice mate I was thinking of getting one of those intill I seen the next shape on accord must be 8 gen. I want the estate thou

[NIKH25]

Wow, nice work so far, purple works well with the silver.

[dr_broon]

awsome work on the detailing.... and the type r paintwork looked just

[Perconte]

Great looking car. Would love to have one

[Krzys]

Looks great so far!

I'm not a fan of black wheels though as you have to constantly keep fresh tyre shine on otherwise the grey tyre against the black wheel looks tacky in my opinion!

What's the "Go" like with the K24?

[Paul_Smith]

Wow!

What is the performance difference like between the two?

It's difficult to compare.

On one hand you have a high revving H22 that provides all of its power in one large thump, where as the K24 provides its power more like a V6, a wave of power if you will.

It still has V-Tec but it’s so less dramatic compared to the likes of a K20 or H22. Where it does benefit is torque – 220 Nm.

It's 190bhp out of the box and I've seen 205bhp with a CAI intake.