1998 Honda Accord LX

[AdroitKirby]

So, this Honda Accord ended up back in my hands after my ex basically said "brakes don't work." Ignoring that the brakes just needed to be pumped, I decided to just change the front brakes anyways. I've already done more, but I'll make these posts sequential in organization.

[AdroitKirby]

Here are some basic pictures after I washed the car, as it was in rough condition. 
 

EDIT: So only my relatively bad phone camera pictures are uploading for some reason.

[AdroitKirby]

So, I kind of decided to use this as an opportunity to work on something different and started working on the brakes/wheels/tires to begin. 
 

I know it was probably completely unnecessary given stock engine and auto transmission, but I decided do a BBK upgrade, rear disk conversion, and 4-to-5 lug "upgrade" (mostly for wheel options) on this 6th gen accord. Or CG6 as the community calls it. You can be going 20, 60, or 120, but better brakes will always help you stop better and more reliably. I'm going to write this as a DIY write-up simply because the community surrounding Hondas honestly lacks in people willing to explain things thoroughly. I don't know if it's a result of Hondas being so easy to work on that just about anyone can do them. So hopefully, even people that have never touched a car can look up videos and read this as a companion if they happen upon this post.
 

So concept:

 

I'm doing several things at once here , and you could probably also tackle suspension upgrades when doing this if you don't mind taking longer. In retrospect, it might even take less time if the suspension components are new, as I had to struggle with rusted sway bar end links. As stated before, I'm upgrading the front brake calipers, switching from 4 to 5 lug hubs, and switching the rear drum into a disk brake.

 

For the front brake portion, this involves using the front caliper off of a 2nd gen (2005-2012) Acura RL, custom mounting brackets from FatFourCustoms(there might be other custom brackets out there. These are straight up called Brake Caliper Bracket on their website with a drop down to choose your model (1998-2002 Accord in this case). They also come with the hardware necessary to mount the bracket to the spindle and caliper to the bracket, along with the banjo bolts and copper crush washers), steel brake lines (I used Goodridge 20004. These ALSO come with the banjo bolts and crush washers), brembo-type disk rotors for a Nissan 350Z, and stock Acura RL brake pads. The most important thing to note is that only 17" wheels or bigger fit with the BBK installed. Not all 17"s will fit depending on offset. The Acura TL-5 17" wheels (the 5 spoke ones) will fit. I went with some Enkei TFRs 18"x8" wheels, though now I have about 0.5" of poke. I bought mine because I got them for about 50%, so if you've got money or are picky about a certain look, I suggest you research fitment for the Accord 6th gen.

 

Quick side note, because I "upgraded" the rear drums to disks, I also ordered the steel brake lines for the rear. If you don't want to touch your rear brakes, you could technically also only order the front ones. If you have already installed steel brake lines on your stock EX or V6 brakes, you don't have to order new ones, just use new crush washers when mounting them to the front calipers (and banjo bolts if your threads are different for some reason). 
 

For the lug conversion:

The 4 disk spindles are required. The V6 has a "beefier" front spindles, along with a slightly bigger caliper/rotor setup than the I4. This is all according to the internet. On glance they look about the same, but since I needed an entire new setup, I grabbed the V6 front spindles anyways. The rear spindles are the same for the EX and V6 models. Unless you're able to get your hands on some 5 lug hubs that fit the drum spindle(I don't think they exist), you WILL have to swap over to disk brakes in the rear. So you need ideally the front out of a V6 and the rear out of either an EX or V6. The CV axle is the same for all models.
 

On the more technical things, the DX/LX trims don't usually have ABS by default, but it was the late 90's/early 00's so who knows. The proportioning valves are also different between rear drum and disk models, but unless you had one of the unicorn non-ABS, disk brakes, you'll have to use your stock proportioning valve. There was another option of using a different honda/acura's proportioning valve but that involved opening the valve in order to swap out the correct bracket. If you've got any welding skills as you wouldn't have to open up the valve(from 90-93 Integra IIRC, I might be wrong), then researching that wouldn't be a waste of time. Upgrading the MC is also an option, but that depends on how much you want to spend on this. I personally just kept my stock prop valve and MC. It works pretty well. 
 

There's also the topic of the handbrake/e-brake/parking brake. You will need the parking cables attached to both of the calipers for the rear disk brakes. I ended up buying the whole rear setup instead of pulling old brake parts.

 

Parts list(to recap):

 

For front BBK:

Acura RL 2nd Gen front brake calipers (Left + Right)

Acura RL custom brackets

Steel brake lines

Nissan 350Z brembo-type disk rotors (they same for brembo caliper on their description) 

Acura RL brake pads

Wheels that fit over the BBK 

 

For 4 to 5 lug conversion:

All 4 spindles (V6 or EX Accords 1998-2002)

Any replacement components (eg lower spindle ball joint)

New hubs would be good if you're able to press them out yourself or have them pressed out easily for the front ones. Changing out the rears is relatively easy, as it only involves removing the hub cap and nut.

For rear disk conversion:

Disk calipers (V6 or EX)

Caliper brackets (V6 or EX)

Rotors (V6 or EX) 

Brake pads (V6 or EX)

Steel brake lines (meant for V6 or EX)

Parking cables (left and right)

The trailing arm has a different part number, but the one of the drum spindle will fit the disk one. Not sure the effects on the geometry or what. You could grab it if you want. 

 

Next post will be the process I went through in case you need that but this upper portion should be good for most people that have wrenched on suspension/steering/brake components.
 

The most important thing to note is that these had a lot of air. Took me 1-2 hours to bleed the brakes. I also had a fitment issues on the right spindle. The bracket was causing the caliper to grind against the rotors. I had to add a washer between the spindle and bracket to offset the caliper so the pads touched the rotor instead of the caliper. Not sure why that was a thing, but it solved the issue. With the whole spindle out, right now would also be a great time to upgrade your suspension if you're not planning on moving the car. Something to consider if you've got the money.

[Pete M]

On 6/4/2023 at 12:38 PM, AdroitKirby said:

 

EDIT: So only my relatively bad phone camera pictures are uploading for some reason.

 

 

what were you trying to load from?  how large were they?

[AdroitKirby]

I tried to view them from my phone and laptop. They're about 2.4 mb and 2.9 mb

[Pete M]

iphone?  do you get an error message?  our software auto-shrinks them so that shouldn't be too large to handle.

[AdroitKirby]

On 6/14/2023 at 8:23 PM, Pete M said:

iphone?  do you get an error message?  our software auto-shrinks them so that shouldn't be too large to handle.

No, they just appear black. I edited them in on the original post where I made the comment about them not uploading properly

[Pete M]

never seen that before.  not sure where to even start researching it.