DIY Project Car ; 97 Accord

Our trusty 1997 Honda Accord might be graduating to Junior High School fairly soon, as it is already into its 12 years old of age. Yet since much of the time has been in our garage it is merely covering 30 thousands km mileage, never gets involved in any prank! All its OEM parts is still original even down to its ICE (In car Entertainment) receiver.

Only recently we just replaced its dampers all around, the OEM shock absorber did finally give in. Despite of its worn out suspension the Accord did still provide good handling and ride, as fast as cruising at 140 kmh on our punishing Cipularang toll trip. And now it is even better and much sharper handling aside of shorter braking distance.

We are now wondering what kind of suitable DIY project modification to further enhance its driving performances, and does it really appropriate to replace its immaculate OEM parts? Originality does help its resale value, yet we have no intention to put it up for sale. Not in the near future!

While a brave and tough decision is well in progress, we have been looking at some options. Certainly it would not be an extreme modification such as this Orange Accord suggests, no way! It would be something that could make its driving more enjoyable, safe as well as giving more economical running cost.

The Accord currently serve as a workhorse on short urban driving on certain occasion and occasionally for trip to Bandung on that famous yet punishing Cipularang toll road, so most of the time it is for city car's driving purposes. A typical bumper to bumper traffic, the engine hardly revs hard. But this is very tough environment, as it never attain its optimum operating condition. Multivalve engine is designed for screaming to produce optimal torque at highly 3,500 rpm.

Consequently its VTEC engine is a bit down on torque at low rev also, perhaps this is due to high gearing overall ratio for fuel economy purposes (or the combustion chamber has accumulated lots of carbon deposit due to city traffic). A good brand of header would help gaining flatter torque across the rev, advantageous for many driving hours at city traffic which consequently happens at low rev band most of the time. Either an ordinary Pacesetter Header or its ArmorCoat Header version could be one of the answer, yet this DC ceramic header look very tempting don't they? DC was at one time specializing in Honda's performance only, so this brand is excellent choice for our 97 Accord.

Many additive might solve the above carbon deposit problem, yet by far the most effective way is to get your fuel injection system a thorough cleansing by a process known as "De-Carbonize". Any modern large workshop should have the right equipment and cleansing chemical agents for this process. De-Carbon once a year would help your injector out of clogging, many high mileage car has degraded its injector to deliver only 70% of its capacity.

Other replacement part which is due fairly soon is its headlight system, a set of dual Halo Chrome Projector Headlights which imitate BMW of early 2000 looks inviting. HID lighting is an obvious choice, since it has higher rating of illumination at lower power consumption. Furthermore HID lighting system waste less energy, its heat emission is far less than the OEM Halogen. We could in fact expect longer lifetime for the whole headlamp assembly housing as well as its ancillary and harness.

A better choice for our low mileage 97 Accord is perhaps just a simple bolt on Euro XENON HID Conversion kit, since its headlight assembly is still in excellent condition. The sealed beam kit could be installed as additional driving lights, but judging by its size it might be too big for our need. Since this is just a mere wishing list as yet, we might for now look to the next available choices! Perhaps this range of selection from Piaa driving light would give better ideas. Piaa is a good brand and has many nice looking driving lights, with just the right smaller dimension well suited for our need.