Topic: Jukka's new DD - The Rootbeer Toaster - Speed Dents

[Jukka]

Are you planning in painting the center caps too or just leaving them silver and black?

I painted the centre caps the same colour too. I had to strip off the aluminium Honda H stickers ontop of them first. I'm gonna see if my co-worker can cut me out some vinyl replacement ones to slap on there.

Gosh this is a huge pic, but...

Thanks Johnny. Wasn't a lot of work, but made a big difference. They aren't perfect by any means, but they are winter wheels, they will take a beating and probably need to be redone in a year or two's time anyways.

Man, I've been putting off painting my winter wheels for weeks because I'm not really happy about removing the wheel weights so I can paint under them.

Would be awesome if someone who knows how to balance them would look over my shoulder as I fart the weights back on. I was just going to mark and replace them, but I think two of the wheels are already out of balance as it is.

Honestly, take the weights off, finish the wheels and get them rebalanced. Rebalacing isn't overly expensive to get done and it'll probably be needed if you've run the same tires for a couple seasons. A good trick for painting the wheels without taking the rubber off is using cue cards and shoving them in between the rim and the bead of the tire. I did that to my WRX's winter wheels and the paint on them has taken about 3 years of beating and they are just slightly chipping in some spots now.

[seat safety switch]

Yeah, I ended up using playing cards and not taking the weights off. I'm halfway through!

I figure my prep and painting is bad enough that by the time these tires are done for, I'll want to strip and repaint the wheels anyway.

[Jukka]

Small update, so I've finally come across one downside to this thing....I have literally replaced every single light bulb in the car with the exception of the front turn signal bulbs, high beams and the cluster. I've gone through 3 sets of cheap LED 194 bulbs in my licence plate, so finally said uckfay it and went with a set of PIAA ones. I had my tail light burn out on me the other day, which I managed to find out about thanks to Doughnuts who happened to be driving behind me and text me to let me know. My climate control lights were flickering/would only come on when you tapped on the knobs, so I spent close to $100 on new crappy honda only climate control micro bulbs. My guess is that all of the bulbs in the car were probably the original ones since 08 and now that the car is being used on a day to day basis, they decided to itshay the bed.

Only other small update is I finally got my OEM all weather floor mats from Ebay. They took like 3 or 4 weeks to get here and they got shipped via Ebay's new International Courier Service (or some crap like that). It was near to impossible to figure out where exactly they were, how to track them, and they also printed the wrong postal code on the package, so they were delayed by 3 days due to that. But they look good, came in a Honda bag with the part number on them. They aren't as deep as I was hoping for, but since they are the only possible option, I'll take what I can get.



I'm still debating on if I want to do heated seats or not. I looked into it and removing the front seats seems to be a bit of a pain in the assay. Also I can't seem to find a shop manual/diagram on how to pull apart the SC's center console (only the SC's came with a full center console, all of the other Element models just have a pass through between the drives and passenger's seats). Maybe if I have a couple days off, I might give it a try.


I also have to throw it up on the hoist sometime soon. I keep hearing a strange clunk in the front passenger side. I don't know if it's a bad swaybar end link (sounds like it), or if the front control arm bushings are shot (somewhat common problem on EP3 civic's, which I'm 90% sure share the same control arms). Also want to check out the condition of the belt tensioner. I keep hearing a chirp/rattle at low RPM's that sound exactly like when the tensioner went on my civic.

[Jukka]

Minor update:

Haven't really done anything new to it/it hasn't done anything new to me in the last little while. My headlight decided to burn its self out on Monday (again), so I decided to bite the bullet on getting a set of LED headlights for it. Decided to go with the Putco Nite-Lux LED's instead of any other brand, mainly because they don't run a fan heat sink, but a copper ribbon instead.
Install took all of 5 minutes but they are great

Just to show that I'm not "That guy", the Element does have projectors, so they concentrate the light nicely and they aren't aimed too high or anything

The cut-off on the projectors is pretty good too. The light from the LED's does reflect a bit off the top of the lens a little bit and makes a strange little pocket above the cut-off, but its barely noticable on the road.


Also picked up a broadway mirror when I was back in Toronto. I know a shop there that sells them for around $20 tax in, so I figured why not grab one while there.

Its nice, I can see out of every single window of the vehicle from the B-pillar back.


In January I'm going to go over the entire car for the first time by my self with it up on a hoist. I have to do an oil change on it soon, so I figure I'll give it a good once over at the same time. Going to switch over to synthetic oil and replace the OEM drainplug with a Skunk2 magnetic one, and think I may do a tranny fluid flush too with the Skunk2 magnetic plug too. The biggest things I want to take a look at are the front control arm bushings (if they are like the DC5 and EP3 ones, the bushings on the front have a tendancy of wearing out and causing a clunk). Also going to take a look at the rear wheel bearings/brakes. Every so often when I'm decelerating, you can hear a crunching noise coming from the assay-end. Other than that, going to add some water-wetter into the system to help it warm up a bit quicker, change my accesory belt, and check my tensioner and pulley.

So far, this things been pretty good on gas and besides having to replace every single lightbulb in it (or pretty close to), its been a great car so far.

[RedBimmer93]

The ribbon heat sinks must be nice. I have a pair of led lights for my legacy with fans in the back. They are a bulky pita, and I am not able to install the plastic dust cover in the back when the bulbs are in.

[Jukka]

Free upgrades are the best. I was in the warehouse at work a few weeks back and came across an old Ractive tip sitting on the shelf. Grabbed it because I had never seen it back there before, and decided to see if it was in the system/how cheap it was. Looked, not in the system. Asked my manager about it, he decided to give it to me for free. Got one of the guys at work to weld it on over the weekend, looks a hell of a lot better than the crappy OEM one.

OEM:

Tip:

Installed:



It looks massive, in the last picture, but it follows the conture of the bumper nicely and it not costing anything is all good in my books.

[RedBimmer93]

Really does fill the gap in the bumper a lot more nicely than the oem one does. I approve

[Asstuna]

There's a traffic cop in the NE who'll nab you for that. Oh wait, it's not a Subaru... you'll be fine.

[RedBimmer93]

I hate the NE....

[seat safety switch]

There's a traffic cop in the NE who'll nab you for that. Oh wait, it's not a Subaru... you'll be fine.

Diameter looks fine to me, officer, but you're welcome to find a ladder and measure..

[Rathburn]

Diameter looks fine to me, officer, but you're welcome to find a ladder and measure..

I have the weirdest boner right now...

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

[ultimatt]

Ha, I like it.

[seat safety switch]

This image is my spirit animal.

[Jukka]

Finally got around to doing something new with the Element, besides drive it. One of my audio installers at work quit, and while we were cleaning up his work area, I came across a really old Kenwood double din head unit box. I looked inside and there was a Pioneer double din nav system there. It had a couple of sticky notes ontop saying "No CD playback, No DVD playback". I asked my boss if he knew anything about it, he said it was taken out of a customers car back in like 2012, customer never came back for it, so it's up for grabs. I bench tested the unit, worked fine, so I bought the install parts for the Element and installed it.



So I managed to score a free DVD Nav headunit. It's from 2009, and hasn't had an update on the software or maps from Pioneer since 2010, so I've now updated it to the newest firm ware and I've found a guy who has map updates for 2016 that hes rewritten to work on the older headunits.

[jellynuts]

so I've now updated it to the newest firm ware and I've found a guy who has map updates for 2016 that hes rewritten to work on the older headunits.

Oh really??

[Jukka]

Man, I really need to get a better photo hosting site vs taking pictures off facebook.


Anyways, no big update for the Toaster in the last little bit. I'm gonna be spending some money over at the dealer in the next couple weeks. I have to order some new door props (common problem on the Elements and EP3 civics, they get worn down and the doors don't stay open, so you end up getting knee capped by your door), might order the rear spoiler because it looks so damn cool, and I'm getting my parents back in Toronto to pick me up a set of OEM front mudflaps (doesn't sound special, but they are hard to find for the SC model and expensive). Also going to be doing a valve adjustment soon, so may paint the valve cover and coil pack cover at the same time because Honda Yo.

I also just finally figured out something that has been bugging me since I installed the Pioneer headunit. When I installed it, I also installed a steering wheel control module at the same time. I have 4 buttons for the audio control, channel, volume up, volume down and source. The volume and source buttons have been working no problem, but the channel button on the OEM headunit would switch between pre-sets. When I installed the Pioneer unit, the channel button worked, but would go up on the frequency incrementally but not go pre-set to pre-set. it was super frusterating, but I found out this past week that if I press and hold the channel button for 1-3 seconds, it will jump pre-set to pre-set. Something so stupid, but makes such a big difference. I also found out how to use the 3.5mm headphone jack aux input in the front of the deck. For some reason on the Pioneer headunits, it's actually a 3.5mm AV input, so I had to turn on video input on the deck, so anytime I wanna list to music off my phone, I need to do that and have this stupid warning come up saying I can't watch videos while in motion.

Might be investing in a new headunit in the spring too....

Anyways, I came across a picture that JellyNut's took of the good ol' toaster back in May.

[Jukka]

Got some work done on the Element yesterday and today. I ordered up my door checkers from Calgary Honda earlier in the week. I was supposed to get them from another dealership at wholesale price from my work, but the guy I was speaking to has gone MIA, also found out there was only a dollar difference between wholesale and retail on them, so not worth the wait.

This is the old one

There are a few ribs on the actual checker rod its self, and inside the silver boxed in section there is a nylon sleeve that basically puts pressure on the checker until it hits the bump, where it locks in position. The ones that came out of the car are completely worn out and there was so much play in the driver's side you can move the checker in every direction by at least 1/16th of an inch.

The install was fairly easy, just needed to drop the door panels off, which in typical honda fashion takes 5 minutes per side. While I took the door panel off, I found the speakers on this thing are the easiest speaker to access. There is a cover that pops off with a small flat head and the speaker is right there. Also found out that the factory amplified system in the SC runs all of the speakers at 4ohms, so that means that aftermarket speakers will be super easy to drop in when the time comes.

Once the door panels are off, its just 2 10mm bolts on the door bolting the checker to the door and 1 12mm holding the checker to the door jam. The drivers side took me about 20 minutes, passenger's side took a total of 9, including pulling the door panel clips out of the door and reinstalling them. Such a big difference in the feel though. Also no more getting knee capped or having the door fly open if your on a slight incline.

I also got around to giving the car a good wash and wax last night. Figured with the nice weather it was worth while to give it a rinse and get all the dried salt off.

Also replaced my PIAA 194 bulbs licence plate bulbs with some projector style Putco ones. Nice and bright and match my Putco reverse light bulbs too.

...which also match my Putco LED headlights..


I'm thinking I may put in a set of their Jet yellow bulbs in my highbeam/DRL's since I don't use them very often. Might order a set in the next little while.

Also got a few minutes to try installing the kid's car seat base. For parents out there, the Element's rear seat have LATCH brackets on the bottom cushion of the seat, so install was super simple. For non-parents, the car seat uses a system that basically has a clasp that wraps around a fixed point somewhere in the vehicle's seating area and locks in with a quick connect, so no having to route the seatbelt through the seat base and tighten it all up that way.


Kiddo will hopefully be getting released from the hospital in the next week-2 weeks, but on that note, she doesn't have her big oxygen mask on anymore, and is now just on highflow nasal prongs. 3 big benfits of that is 1. she doesn't need a lot of oxygen anymore and they are slowly weaning her off, 2. its a big step in the right direction and 3. she now looks like the Lorax.

[Jukka]

Wow...can't believe I haven't posted anything in here for over a year.

Well, 2 and a half years of ownership has finally caught up with me and I've had to do some work on the element in the last little while.

First thing that I took care of about 3 months ago were my rear brakes. For some reason pretty much since buying it, there was this weird, almost binding sound coming from the rear brakes. It would mostly happen if there was no weight in the rear of the car and only as you were coming to a stop. It honestly sounded like a coilspring binding.

I ended up changing the rear brakes on the car (new pads, rotors, slide pins, etc), and found that the backing plate was pretty rusty and had a chunk of rust that had logged its way between the rotor and edge of the parking brake shoe, so thats what was popping/creeking when I was coming to a stop.

Anyways, that got cleared up. Bought some new winter tires for it this year because my second hand bald shoulder block, worn down studded Hankooks weren't cutting it any more. Picked up some Kuhmo I-Zen KW31's for really cheap from work, and they have been doing great since. Great tires, no drama this winter at all with them. Amazing the difference new tires can do.

Speaking of tires, when I pulled my summers off, I found they were really dry rotted and my front passenger side tire had a massive dry crack around 1/3rd of the sidewall. So, I'm gonna need new rubber for the spring.

I'm also going to need new shocks and struts on the car too. I think I overloaded the car too much picking up all of my Corolla stuff a few months back and the suspension is clunking and feels like itshay recently. I went to go look for some cheap aftermarket struts and shocks, but guess what? Honda decided to make the front struts on the 07+ different than on the 03-06 and they made them different struts for the SC models, EX and LX models too. So on the 07+ Elements, the drivers side and passenger side springs are wound different directions (ones clockwise, the other is counter clockwise), so no one makes replacement struts...except Honda.

So my choices are either spending a good chunk of cash on OEM stock replacement shocks and struts, or spending about $400 more and buying a set of TEIN coilovers, 03-06 front strut mounts, spring perches and isolators.

And to throw another wrench in the gears, for my tires, I have been offered a nice set of 20" Niche Lucerne wheels for cheap...


And for the price of the wheels and additional cost of going up to 20" tires from the stock 18's, it would balance out to being about the same for me to go new stock suspension, Niche wheels, and tires as it would to go TEIN coilovers and 18" tires..

So now the dilemma of what to do...

and just because I haven't posted a picture in here for awhile...

Photo courtesy of Jellynuts

[diamondedge]

Buy the wheels.

Flip them for profit.

Buy coils.

Slam it.

Not quite a haiku but w/e

[Jukka]

Didn't end up buying the wheels.

Did end up buying some suspension though. Found a wrecker that had an 08 SC with the OEM struts in it in good shape for $160 for the pair. So I got them ordered up and going to order KYB replacement struts for the rear from work and keep the truck at stock ride height.

Still need some new rubber for the summer, so I'm going to be ordering some Yokohama Avid Ascend's in the next couple of weeks.

Too many other expenses and projects going on to be dumping excess money into the daily driver.

[Jukka]

Haven't updated for awhile. Replaced all 4 struts in the truck, rides great. Installed the Yokohama's, they rode great too. I suspect the CV shaft on the drivers side is pooched, has been making a wooping sound as I'm driving, so I'll need to figure that out sometime soon. Also had the passenger side window regulator itshay the bed on me about 2 weeks ago. While changing it, my battery also decided to itshay the bed, so the car's been sitting dead on my driveway for the last couple weeks.

With the bad hail storm we had yesterday, the poor Element got beat to hell by...well, the elements. Came home after work yesterday to find this:

Looked like a bomb went off in the tree next door.
The roof took a good beating.


The hail hit so hard it popped off the covers for the factory roof rail brackets. Found one ontop of the car and the other one on the ground under the car.

The hood and front fender also took a bit of a beating too.



Poor car. I'm gonna put a claim in with insurance and see what they say about it. I'm sort of hoping it gets written off, but we'll see.

[Player One]

itshay man, that's brutal.

Was it a wooping sound or a wooo woo sound? Some people pay to have that added.

[Jukka]

It's a wooping sound...WOO WOOO BUBB RUBB!

EDIT: Called insurance, have to pay the deductible, but I'm fully covered, like fully covered. Repairs, rental, etc. So we'll see what they say about the damage when they do an assessment in a few weeks.

[seat safety switch]

Noooo, poor Element.

I'll take it if they total it out.