Bitumen Boy

Never had any problems with the racks, so would hazard a guess your problem is likely to be the trackrod end or bottom balljoint - which means replacing the whole bottom arm assembly, not a terrible job by any means so long as the captive nut behind the inner pivot is still captive. Local motor factors came up with the parts for us, but that's a few years ago now. I suspect, though, that the part may be common to something more recent/common, so if necessary take the old one along as someone may recognise it. There are, of course, moving parts at the top of the strut to allow the whole thing to turn, but never had any need to go there.

Absolutely. Some properly waterproof coating all over is going to be essential. Be careful as many varnishes are water based these days and despite the claims of the manufacturers aren't going to last well in this application. Look for something with middling to high VOC content that tells you to clean your brush with white spirit, or alternatively an epoxy type product - but you're not likely to find that sort of stuff in the average DIY shed.

I don't know why the steering wheel needs to come off, but it might not be the only way to do it. The nut on mine has always been seized tight, but I got round it once by simply undoing the impact clamp at the bottom of of the inner column and lifting it out complete with the wheel. May need to drop the outer column a little in a saloon, I forget now. Have fun... 🙂

Each to their own, but having driven a fair number of different Acclaims I always found the standard brakes perfectly adequate so long as they were working properly, and we live in a very hilly area. Master cylinder failures aside, the only ones we had trouble with were one that had some very soft aftermarket lining material up front - which did fade badly - and another that suffered with seized calipers until I tracked down seals and pistons and rebuilt the calipers.

After the last bearing change I found I'd buggered this part up to the point it was rattling loose on the shaft. I stuck it in place with a dollop of bitumen/fibre roofing sealant and let it cure for a few days before driving. No further problems, though I'll have to look at replacing the next time it's all apart.

I've never heard of anyone having bottom end trouble with one of these engines, so hopefully you will be lucky. However, at the very least you should be fitting new shells to main and big end bearings, and new thrust washers - even if the crank doesn't need regrinding. Again, all this stuff is such a  pain to get at later on it makes sense to do a proper job while you can, anything else is a false economy.

As Ferny says. It's not worth trying to skimp on the cost of machining as it will represent a comparatively small part of the total bill. What really costs is the time taken to strip down and rebuild, although all the new gaskets and other bits you'll need can add up to more than you expected as well. Do it right, do it once. And take plenty of notes and photographs so you can write it up afterwards, because then it will almost certainly be the first documented rebuild of an Acclaim engine.

I confess I don't know how the block was cast originally, but bear in mind that the best way to repair something isn't necessarily the same way it was made. Actually since my previous post I've chanced to read up a little on different welding methods, and it may not be such a bad job as I thought to build up between the cylinders - for someone with the right skills. I agree though that sourcing a better replacement engine would be more satisfactory if at all possible. Are you any closer to understanding what caused that damage in the first place?

In these engines it would be a case of removing the old liners by boring them out - much the same technique as reboring to fit oversize pistons - then pressing in new liners. The sticking point would be the lack of metal between them, though that could probably be sorted too if you had very deep pockets.. I don't believe they are in pairs, though it may appear that way on first glance - but it's a good few years now since I had one apart!

Hi Pawel, those pictures are a bit small (I know it's a pain resizing them for forum use) so I'm not 100% sure but to me it looks as if you have a hole between cylinders 3 and 4, like the iron cylinder liners and alloy block between them have had a chunk broken out of them. I can't think what may have caused such extreme damage short of a dropped valve which it doesn't sound like you have. Have you seen the engine yourself or are you just going on emailed pictures? I can't imagine what your friend is saying about a "missing bushing", that idea doesn't make much sense to me. If it's as bad as it looks then it's probably game over for this engine. A specialist engineering firm may be able to recover it by building up the metal between the cylinders and fitting new liners, but that's not going to be cheap. More pictures, however, especially of the cylinder head showing the valves and combustion chambers, would be no bad thing.

I had a situation once where I eventually figured out that the lights were dim because the earth path was front indicator lamps > indicator wiring > rear indicator lamps  > rear lamp unit earth. Could something like this be a possibility?

If it's of any comfort to Bill, after years of messing around with Acclaims and many bad exhausts, I can say that the chances of being properly stranded with an exhaust problem is nil. Yes they can fall off or fall apart, but they can be tied back on easily enough with a bit of soft iron or copper wire and - so long as you can stand the noise - you will get home OK. Boots do a nice line in foam earplugs that I can recommend 😀

You might think that, but you'd be disappointed. Best access for such jobs - barring a 4 post lift or dry inspection pit - is gained by jacking up the rear end and supporting it on axle stands, then jacking up the front end and supporting that likewise.

Plus, of course, getting a car with iffy or no brakes onto the ramps - always a surprisingly tricky manouvre - is going to be awkward verging on foolhardy. I wouldn't try it.

Not something I've ever tried, but I would expect access to the bleed nipples to be difficult bordering on impossible with the wheels in place and the weight of the car on its springs - which is what you'd be looking at using drive-on ramps. IIRC getting the car onto the ramps shouldn't need extensions, but to be honest I would save your money. I've always had access to a set - think my dad salvaged them after someone lost them on the M5 - but haven't found them of much use for Herald maintenance. A decent trolley jack and axle stands are much more useful.

I fitted a gearbox from Fitchetts, must be about 10 years ago and no problems with the 'box itself.

I suspect you may be right here - chances are they\'re a standard part. How about going out and trying to find a Fourtrak and having a closer look at its headlamps? Incidentally, Pawel, what\'s happening to your Acclaim with the broken engine?

I've found the Clarke stuff to be variable in quality. Some of it is good, some is let down by one cheap component that can be modified to make a good tool, some of it is just pants from the start. I suspect that quality control isn't all it could be, always important when manufacturing abroad.

In this application the nipples are only for filling the UJ with grease after assembly of the joint. Technically you should then remove the nipples and fit blanking plugs (though you will get away with leaving the short type nipples in place). It's not possible to grease them in situ with the car supported on axle stands. It might just be doable with the car on a four post lift using a very slim nozzle, but I wouldn't bank on it.

Headgasket failure often does result in water mixing with oil, but not every time. No compression on two adjacent cylinders, however, is very suspicious. You could have some very weird problem with the valve gear, so I would suggest removing the rocker cover, visually check for foreign objects and then spin the engine over - even start it up, if it will - while you observe the action of the valves from above, which should show if any have become stuck or are otherwise not doing their job. Beyond that, whatever problem you have is going to require the cylinder head to be removed to properly diagnose the trouble, never mind repairing it. As I see it you have three options at this point; 1. Remove the cylinder head to diagnose and hopefully repair the fault. This would be my preference. 2. Source and fit a complete replacement engine that you may not need. Could be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire! 3. Give up and scrap the whole car. Look at it this way. If you remove the cylinder head and it turns out that the engine is beyond economic repair - and I would be surprised if this were the case -  the only cost to you is time. You will get as much money weighing it in for scrap with the cylinder head in the boot as with it on the engine. You have nothing to lose and potentially everything to gain. Should you decide to remove the cylinder head yourself watch out for the hidden fixing in the rear left corner. It's deeply recessed, hidden beneath the distributor shaft and you have to remove the distributor to even see it, never mind get a socket on it. But removing the head isn't such a bad job on an Acclaim, really - the carbs come off pretty much as one unit without disturbing the settings and there's not a lot else to remove. I'm unable to help on which Hondas share parts with the Acclaim other than the contemporary Ballade, which was the same car but with wing mirrors rather than door mirrors. However, they must be as rare as Acclaims by now so probably aren't a lot of help. Perhaps Barry can put you straight on this one.

I wouldn't get a recon diz from Rimmers, I've seen one before and wasn't impressed. Got it sorted in the end but not nearly such an easy job as it should have been.

Never seen or heard of serious valve trouble on these engines and the cylinder head castings also seem to be good quality. Given that compression test result it sounds most likely to be headgasket related, but in any case your only realistic next step is to remove the cylinder head to see just what's going on in there. Unfortunately I don't know what spares availability is like for these engines for the simple reason that we never needed any that couldn't be had used, if the trouble is serious it could be time to look for a better used engine although if the trouble does turn out to be valve related a cylinder head specialist will likely be able to assist - but, of course, for a price. Let us know how you get on!

Hi Pawel, If I understand your post correctly I wouldn't suspect the ignition or the carbs, but would suggest you check the engine cam timing in the first instance. If I am right in thinking that your car has the Triomatic gearbox, and that you suffered a loss of power on making the 2-3 upshift while accelerating, it sounds very much like a problem we've had in the past. We had a Triomatic Acclaim for a good few years, but on three separate occasions the cam timing slipped under exactly these circumstances. We never did find out why, the cambelt was always changed at the recommended intervals and there was no other visible fault, but on every occasion retiming the engine with a new cambelt cured the problem.  Ours always slipped far enough to stop the engine running at all, but if yours has only slipped slightly out that can give all manner of odd symptoms. It's worth noting that we never had this problem with any of the manual Acclaims we had. Overheating is something I always found that Acclaims are prone to anyway - even with everything spot on - and isn't necessarily related, though it would be worth having the waterpump off while checking the timing and making sure that the bearing hasn't failed and that the impellor hasn't come adrift. I've seen a few pumps with impellors that were just rough castings (better ones are machined) which I suspect don't help the cooling system perform well. Incidentally, the temp gauge on the dash is for water temperature, unless yours has had an aftermarket oil temp gauge fitted. Another possibility is headgasket failure, and I would suggest a compression test should be carried out as a precaution even if another more obvious fault is found. In my experience though Acclaim headgaskets don't let go suddenly; rather they fail slowly due to corrosion as people keep topping up leaky radiators with plain water rather than getting the rad sorted and using a proper 50% mix of blue antifreeze. There's no practical way for the home mechanic to check the oil viscosity, however if you don't know what's in there it's probably overdue for an oil and filter change anyway. Originally the recommended grade was 15W/50, but I suspect you'll struggle to find that now. 15W/40 was an alternative listed in the factory manual which you should be able to get hold of without too much trouble. As I say, I don't think this is an ignition or carb related fault - the fact that you have sparks and that it sounds like the engine will run after a fashion means that neither has gone dramatically wrong. Ignition and carbs on these cars are normally pretty reliable and I would leave well alone until you've investigated everything else first.

I'd say don't bother. My car came with a set of these and was constantly plagued with an annoying rattle that I just couldn't trace... One day I had a flash of inspiration, pulled over and whipped them off. Once in the boot rather than on the wheels they were nice and quiet 😀 Oh yes, and I managed to cut myself on one of them once. Yes they look nice, but IMO more hassle than they're worth.

Are they actually corroded or just dirty, oversprayed, paint spotted etc? Mine looked bad but came up a treat with some paintstripper to get all the years of crap off them. Obviously you need to remove the inserts and do this off the car, but it's a pretty simple process and you have nothing to lose by having a go.