1994 Honda Legend Coupe - Gone! 20/4

Excellent work

Glad you've had a win on the gearbox dude. Can see the very slight differences side by side!

Fab update. I live 4 miles from that picture you took on the prom. Next time call in for a brew 👍

Thank you all

tineca us Retro Riders are spread far and wide, I've been within a stones throw of another member a few years ago when picking up a car

So a not really spoiler alert for anyone who didn't see it on Sunday but the Legend behaved and made it to the Weekender

In terms of work done before the Weekender, I was a bit hampered by rain but I did have to take a bit of spring preload off the rear coilovers as it was very bouncy on the rear, the main other thing was giving it a damn good clean after all the months of sitting about!

Oddly, since I've had it back on the road, the heater fan has gone back to deciding to only work on max speed, some may remember I bought the car like this and replacing the heater transistor (resistor?) seemed to fix it. I was hoping this would be the case again so ordered a part and engaged in a spot of Deja vu



Alas, this time it didn't seem to make a difference, so further investigation is required. The hand that taketh also giveth though as my drivers window one touch open and close seems to be working which I'm sure wasn't working previously

I had a few days to use it for going to work and it did generate a few comments/questions, mostly "what is it?" haha



Then it was bank holiday weekend and I had a wedding to attend in Lowestoft and family to visit in Ipswich before heading to Goodwood on the Sunday so ended up racking up a good few miles on its first big run!

I'm pleased to report the cheapo ebay coilovers actually ride not too terribly, the rear tyres were busy scrubbing on the arches over bumps and in corners though, an issue of trying to fit those big 9.5's in, I may try playing with some tyre sizes to see if I can reduce the issue, but now its "self-cleared" a bit, it's not too bad with just me in the car!





Also in the warmer weather, it would have been nice if I could have got the AC charged in time, so thats next on the list along with the heater fan investigation!

But overall, it did the trip with ease and didn't look too bad from a distance in the paddock



On the way home I was having thoughts about what I do next, the MG needs my attention and is there much more I can do to the Legend now? So I'm tempted to sell this summer, but also it's very nice to cruise about in, and it gives the little excited feeling when I look back at it in a car park so maybe it deserves to stay for a bit yet...

Wow that is a good price for one, I've seen some people advertising saloons around £5k or so but Coupes are rarer so that tallies with that auction car.

It's odd, the climbing prices are an incentive to sell but also an incentive to keep it, I sold my FC RX7 convertible a couple years back for about half the price most of them seem to be commanding now, and the pool of cool/rare 90s Japanese cars that I can afford is getting ever smaller!

The Legend is safe for now, I think the Yaris will go first if anything does go (the Yaris is a handy little runabout in it's own right)

Well we're a few months on from my last update, so what has been going on with the Legend? I've been looking back through my camera roll on my phone to try and remind myself

First off, my brother was taking photos on his old film camera at the Weekender and got a couple shots of the Legend





Including me doing some important quick detailing after arrival... haha

Back at the start of July, I took a punt on a cheap set of wheels on here as I'm always keeping half an eye out for interesting Japanese wheels





A bit of research proved them to be a set of Arrows Industries Gewalt Spoke wheels, I even managed to turn up a screenshot of a brochure for them from the time



Interestingly in the application list is the Honda "Super Legend" as the second generation Legend was sometimes known in Japan due to it's increased size over the first generation.

Now, the wheels are 4/5 stud multifit but had been sold as being 100mm PCD which isn't particularly useful for me unless I wanted to run 17"s on the Yaris for some reason. Looking at them more closely I couldn't actually see any PCD markings, and something in my head told me to just have a go at putting them next to the Legend and well..



Turns out they're actually 4/5x114.3 bit of an accidental score there. I already have the RAYS splits and the standard wheels for Legend, but always handy to have another set in case I want to run 17" rather than the original 16" wheels over winter. Alternatively I've had some half thoughts of selling the RAYS to free up some cash for the MG, but nothing decided.

The only annoying thing about the wheels is that they're missing one centre cap and nut. The nut I managed to sort easily enough buying one (well 4 actually as they were cheap) used example off Yahoo auctions Japan, but the cap itself is proving harder to find, so I'll just have to keep an eye out.

Over July I was mostly commuting in the Yaris still and the Honda was on the driveway. One thing that was putting me off using it was the amount of tyre to arch rubbing on the rear when the weight shifted while turning corners etc.

I did fix this with some judicious use of a hammer by folding the arch return lip up, I even managed to get away with no damage to the paint on the outer arch, and I quickly touched up any paint on the inner arch to stop future corrosion. No photos though as no one wants to see that sort of bodywork brutality! Now it doesn't rub in 99% of normal driving, certain amounts of "articulation" can make it rub, like going up kerbs for example, but I can live with it.

More excitingly, the end of July saw the first Club RR meet, this time at CarNatter which is a cool location not a million miles from me, was a nice mix of cars that turned up and we were invited to take them inside for more photos as well, which was a bit nerve wracking given the amount of pillars in the building and the large size of the Legend!

















Full thread on the meet with better photos than mine here: forum.retro-rides.org/thread/219222/retrorides-club-meet-carnatter-edition

Since then, I've been using the Legend more for daily duties and the Yaris has been relegated to the driveway (it needs some work to get through it's MOT). Which also pretty much brings us up to date, the Legend was at the Gathering last weekend, which was a great show yet again I was parked up on the Midlands stand along with a couple mates in the SMX




I think in my last update I was a bit in two minds about how much longer I'd be keeping the Legend for, and I had half a plan to put it up for sale after the Gathering, but after using it more and getting the odd nice comment about it here and there while out and about, I'm pretty sure the Yaris will be first to go.

There are bits on the Legend that annoy me (mostly the fit and finish of some of the exterior trim and quality of the various bits of paint it's had) but I was in a similar position with my RX7 a few years ago, I got it to a place I was pretty happy with and then sold it, which felt a bit premature, so I'll take my time to appreciate the Legend for now.

So next jobs? Well firstly get the Yaris sorted, MOT'd and sold.

Legend-wise, the heater blower fan is still only working on max speed and that's annoying, I've got a pair of new front suspension upper wishbones to fit, I really want to do something about the exhaust as it's too quiet for me, and if I'm feeling flush, I might get the bonnet and front bumper/ wing paint sorted where the lacquer is peeling.

The main focus is turning to the MG though, so as long as the Legend keeps doing me good daily service, I'll be happy enough

Haha no I totally saw the likeness to the accord type r wheels, as well 😁

Truck

You need a nice truck.

Some good Americans out there at the moment.

On FB there is a group called Unusual Car Sales.

Loads of interesting, affordable stuff.

Recently some wagons too.

They take up space, but easy, cheap to work on and practical

Watching…….