LowStandards
Club Retro Rides Member
Bigging Up The Sum Sum Man Since '99
Posts: 2,647
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Oct 29, 2019 10:33:56 GMT
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Wasn't sure if I should throw a thread up about this or not as she's my daily. But she's interesting I guess and I have a few plans for her, so why not. My mate bought her about 4 years ago, mainly to have something interesting to sleep in at the Gathering. He's never been that bothered about her and has done the bare minimum to keep her on the road. He also works on a farm and it very much shows on the interior. Anyways, here she is, a 1997 import Honda S-MX As soon as I picked her up I had to change the wheels. 90s-00s era Japanese oe wheels are always comical. These are tiny 3 spokes, wanting to stick with that theme (and I also had the replacements already) I threw on some Freelander 3 spokes in 17x7 Yes, I know, the tyres are a little too small and the ride height is comical, but they're nearly new and I think once she's down a bit they'll look fine. The body is in fairly rust free condition, the only bits really are where the side skirts clips are in the sills, the rust is creeping upwards from a couple of these. The whole bottom half of the body has various knocks, scratches and is generally shabby. Luckily there is a decent swage line running all round the car so I don't have to do a full respray. Plans are as this poor photoshop Bottom half will be done in a darker grey once the body has been tickled and she'll be lowered, but not by the amount i've applied in this picture, always get carried away!
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LowStandards
Club Retro Rides Member
Bigging Up The Sum Sum Man Since '99
Posts: 2,647
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Oct 29, 2019 10:46:58 GMT
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Interior! It's a brilliant shade of orange. Being the Lowdown she got bright orange bench seats as standard and the factory bodykit The deep shag pile carpet smelt of farm and dog and possibly 3 years of my mate 'enjoying' the dark window tints at the Gathering. Everything was removed and treated to a good wet carpet clean. The fitted carpets had a kilo of BiCarb of Soda applied and brushed in. This was left for a few days as it is brilliant at absorbing odours. Then it was vacuumed out and she's a lot fresher in there. I've still had to apply a brace of Vanillarama magic trees, but she's getting there. The S-MX came with a factory fitted Sat-Nav stereo system. Brilliant! If you live in Japan. I don't, I live in the Midlands. So out it came. The only double din head unit I have is one that came un-fitted in a previous purchase. A £20 eBay special 7012B I wasn't holding out much hope, but the internal amp is actually very good and it connects to my phone instantly giving me Spotify. It makes phonecalls pefectly and as a bonus it plays videos That's pretty much where i'm at currently The gearbox (on all these it seems) is hilarious, slipping around the gears as it pleases. I Have to change the fluid 5 times, 5! The box holds 7.8 litres of fluid, you can drop 2.8ish at a time. Someone worked out after 5 times you've got around 84% new fluid in there and after that it's not worth changing it anymore. I've dropped it once and it made a hell of a difference, so i'll endeavour to change it every couple of weeks after its had a decent chance to mix with the old. There's a knocking from the back, a common problem with a bush wearing out. Luckily they came with the purchase, so i'll get them done. One of the front wheel bearings is rumbling, so I have the joy of changing that.
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SamV8
South West
Posts: 90
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Oct 29, 2019 12:46:44 GMT
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only came across these things a couple months ago after an article on Jalopnik, will follow the thread to see how your plans go
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Oct 29, 2019 13:07:28 GMT
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OK
I’m in.
Love it. As with most of your purchases
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Oct 29, 2019 13:18:19 GMT
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yup....liking that. the freeloader wheels really suit it...and that comes from someone who thinks that all 3 spokes (other than saab ones) should be melted down and force-fed down the throat of the designer!
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'80 s1 924 turbo..hibernating '80 golf gli cabriolet...doing impression of a skip '97 pug 106 commuter...continuing cheapness making me smile!
firm believer in the k.i.s.s and f.i.s.h principles.
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Oct 29, 2019 18:15:42 GMT
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Am I the only one who cant work out the size of this? Looks like a kei car in every photo!
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Oct 29, 2019 23:15:05 GMT
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Am I the only one who cant work out the size of this? Looks like a kei car in every photo! its around the size of a berlingo. i had its bigger brother, the honda stepwagon, in the same colour scheme as your photoshop. i must admit the land rover wheels suit it well
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@ CRX_IN_SCOTLAND
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benzine
Part of things
Posts: 333
Club RR Member Number: 87
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Honda S-MXbenzine
@benzine
Club Retro Rides Member 87
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Oct 29, 2019 23:47:59 GMT
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Very nice. I had one in the same colour and miss it (I may be in the minority but I love the factory 3 spokes). My SMX was incredibly comfy, bench seat like a sofa, driving with legs at 90 degrees and eating up the miles with ease.
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Not too many about.
Love the door configuration too.
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LowStandards
Club Retro Rides Member
Bigging Up The Sum Sum Man Since '99
Posts: 2,647
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She’s of average size
Yeah, about spot on with a belingo, maybe a little shorter
The bench seats turn into a double bed if that helps
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Makes me miss my little Nissan cube.
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Dr.AK
Part of things
Posts: 411
Club RR Member Number: 62
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Honda S-MXDr.AK
@docak
Club Retro Rides Member 62
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Oct 30, 2019 13:25:20 GMT
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I am envious. I absolutely love these little things!
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olduns
Part of things
Posts: 326
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Oct 30, 2019 20:57:45 GMT
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Am I the only one who cant work out the size of this? Looks like a kei car in every photo! we had it's little sibling for a while.... this one was definitely Kei size. was there a thread last year or before with another S-MX involved covered in moss/ greenery?
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LowStandards
Club Retro Rides Member
Bigging Up The Sum Sum Man Since '99
Posts: 2,647
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Nothing much has been happening on the SM-X front, just generally being pressed into daily duties. I had to drive though a deep flood the other week. This was a bad idea. First, the front numberplate fell off, then the bearing for the aircon belt tensioner failed as did the passenger side wheel bearing. Floods ain't fun ladies! Bearing was duly changed. This is a common to every single Honda ever made part, and as such was pence. The old bearing fell to bits as it was removed and was very dry inside, so it was its time! She's whisper quiet again now. The air-con never worked, gas has long since escaped, so I just removed the belt as an easy fix for the whirring tensioner. I'd noticed now it's getting colder that the car was steaming up badly in the mornings. On some occasions the window was actually frozen on the inside. Hmmm, lent down and felt the carpet; yup; wet through. A quick search on the ever helpful FB group pointed me towards the bonnet hinges as the culprit. so off came the bonnet and the scuttle The hinges have a fair whack of sealant around them. It's that non flexible seam sealer they loved to use in this era and as you can imagine it had cracked and lifted. It was just a case of cleaning it all up, painting the area then putting the hinges back with a good dose of PU sealant. You can see in this pic they've cleverly left a random hole under the centre of the bonnet hinge mount and also - this is my favorite - i've arrowed a hole formed at the joint of 4 panels that they just decided a blob of sealant would surfice in covering. This hole drops directly behind the dash. Clever! So, now I have a dry floor and lovely bearings. Oh, the brake caliper sliders were seized solid on that side as well, so hopefully i'll get a few more mpg now!
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