DIY A/C Delete on 2006 Acura RSX Type-S

Hey readers!

How are you all?  It has been a while yet again.  And while that is a common theme in almost every post-- that I am a slacker-- I still come back to write over and over again because it's something I love to do in my spare time.

Currently I am on break from school.  I am in my senior year as an engineering student and while I cannot wait to graduate and make money at a job for cawr pawrts, I have also been having the time of my life!

So much has changed...some for the better and some for the worst.  But I have grown a lot as a result.

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Anyway, enough of the sappy stuff.  Let's get down to the nitty gritty!

Since I do not have a job I am pretty low on money.  This is not a big deal, but it has cut into my plans for next season pretty seriously.  My goals were to get hasport motor mounts, swift springs, and a racing seat for the car with other possibilities including a high flow cat to get me back into STX class, vents for my hood, and possibly a steering wheel.

Momo Start Bucket Seat (FIA Approved), Personal Neo Grinta 330 mm, Swift Springs, HASport Motor Mounts

Long story short I've been going nuts not being able to modify this thing!  All I can do is practice driving on driving simulators and that's just not the real thing.

My Brother Playing GT6 with my Logitech Force Feedback Wheel on my Parents' 50" Flat Screen

I had been thinking recently about ways to save weight.  One thing I did was I deleted my rear windshield wiper, but I'm sure that only netted me four pounds at most.  I wanted something more.  I was fiending.

So, I decided to delete my A/C.  After all, I never used it and I was pretty sure that it needed a recharge anyway.  So instead of giving it some more refrigerant I just removed it all together.  Recharge for what?

Other reasons for removing A/C include:

• Decreasing the rolling drag on the serpentine belt that runs off of the crank, thus slightly improving power and mpg
• Removal of the A/C condenser which sits directly in front of the radiator therefore making more space for an intercooler if I ever wanted to boost the car
• Increased air flow to the radiator therefore reducing the chances of overheating on track

With all of that being said, the only thing I'd really be giving up is comfort and possibly it may make my tune function differently.  So, let's begin!

You're going to want to start by removing the power steering reservoir with a 10 mm ratchet.  This will allow you access to the 12 mm (?) bolt that sits on the idler pulley.  Put a long serpentine belt with a socket over this idler pulley's bolt and pull it toward you to break the tension in the belt.  Then, remove the belt off of the top pulley (the power steering pump's pulley).

Look closely at the bottom-right of this picture.  A hard line for the A/C sits here and connects to the condenser.  A second line like this is on the left side of the condenser.  After safely (and legally) removing the refrigerant from your system, pop the bolts off of these hard lines and pull them away from the condenser.

Next, unbolt the power steering coil which sits in front of the condenser.  This coil probably serves as a mini-me heat exchanger to prevent the power steering fluid from overheating.  Notice there's not much more to the cooling duties of the P/S fluid than this.

On the right and left of the condenser, you will find these brackets that hold it to the radiator support.  Unbolt the condenser on both sides with some sort of wrench that gives you easy access behind the headlights.  I used this swivel thing with a 10 mm socket.

The picture above shows the condenser removed.. Looks pretty beat up.  You can tell that the bottom part is where the bumper opens up to allow air to flow through because there's all sorts of crap in there.

If you take a look at the next picture you'll get an idea for how much space this frees up.  For all of you guys who track, you know that when your car has overheating problems that providing more airflow (either through venting or through ducting or whatever) is one solution.  I don't think the DC5 has cooling problems, but a little added reassurance is never a bad thing.

Plus I like to rationalize over negligible changes on my car because I'm a nerd :)

The next thing I did was remove the radiator mounting brackets and the radiator cap.  To remove the compressor, it is easier to remove everything sitting in front of the engine.  It's all due to a single bolt which sits right above the subframe.  Talk about a pain.

The coolant was changed when I first bought the car...about three years ago.  I was worried that it'd come out looking like crap since I have had a bunch of auto-x days and parade laps at Pocono on this motor.  However the fluid didn't even look that bad!  It was clear and not viscous.

To be absolutely sure that I wasn't killing my engine all of this time, I took out a coolant test tool to look at the boil-over and freeze protection of this fluid.  

The following picture shows the boil-over protection of the fluid.  The recommended boiling point of the fluid is 129 degrees Celsius according to this little gauge.  Mine was slightly compromised at 128 degrees Celsius, but I feel that maybe if the fluid filled up the little gauge more, the needle inside would have risen more.  Not too shabby!

Next I checked the freeze protection of the coolant.  The picture below shows a recommended -37 degrees Celsius freezing point and an actual freezing point of -29 degrees Celsius.  Again, more fluid in the little plastic part may have helped, but this is okay for me...good thing I will be flushing the coolant and replacing later anyway.

Next there are four painful connectors connected to a painful harness which is fastened in a painful manner to the radiator fan and to the bulkhead.  Remove those.

You'll notice in this last picture that I had already removed the clamp from the lower radiator hose.  I also removed the lower radiator hose before taking these clips out.  Big mistake.  My hair smelled like coolant all night.

Remove your upper radiator hose, and your radiator is essentially free!  You may want to not only remove the passenger side headlight to remove the radiator, however.  You may want to remove the driver's side as well.  This will give your ratchet access to the crash bar's bolts that hold it to the frame rails.

With the radiator removed your front end will look much like this.  Remember, I really do recommend you remove this crash bar AND your headlights BEFORE taking the radiator out.  This was my first time doing this and the order in which I did things was a little wacky.

After removing the crash bar you'll have a ton of access to that A/C compressor at the bottom-left hand side of the picture.

There is an inlet to the compressor and an outlet.  I'm not sure if the fluid entering the compressor is gaseous or if it's liquid.  I'm not too keen on the specifics of A/C operation, but I know the outlet is "compressed" A.K.A. at a higher pressure than the inlet.  This compressed fluid is then cooled in the condenser.

Next I removed the bolts holding the compressor to the bracket.

Try to compare this picture to the first close-up of the compressor.  You'll notice two of the bolts holding the compressor to the block are removed.  Remove these!

There is one last annoying bolt which is sitting RIGHT ABOVE THE SUBFRAME on this car.  This is the whole reason why you are disassembling your whole car.  Thanks Honda.

When you take your compressor off of the motor, you'll see a bracket that was holding the bottom of the compressor to the block.  In this picture it is removed, but you will want to remove that bracket as well since it serves no purpose now.

There's some sort of sensor that goes into the evaporator.  I'm guessing it's a temperature sensing element.  Remove the clip that goes to this sensor first.

Now, unbolt the whole canister from the car along with the bracket that's holding it.  Most pieces of this system are very light aside from the compressor.  You'll notice that this canister is especially light despite the way it looks (heavy and ugly).

Now, start unbolting your hard lines from the rest of the A/C system.

This hard line goes up and over the engine.  Remove the whole bracket from the radiator support.

With the top line removed, you will be able to focus your efforts on getting your NEW SERPENTINE BELT IN!  YAY!

The belt pictured below is a smaller belt than the stock belt.  I went this route versus buying idler pulleys to delete the A/C and power steering because:

• I want to keep my power steering-- it makes it easier for me to control the car while cornering
• Adding an idler pulley reduces drag caused by the compressor, but it still has more drag versus a smaller belt with less pulleys
• The lower amount of ribs in the belt will also serve to decrease drag slightly and I am positively certain it will hold up.
• Spaz of ClubRSX uses a smaller ribbed belt on his K24 motor with an Accord pulley and it is fine.

If you'd like to purchase the belt you can get it online for pretty cheap.  I paid around $20 for mine with shipping and handling.  The part number is: 537K6

To loop the belt around, you will follow the following configuration shown in the diagram stolen from ClubRSX:

This picture shows how the belt physicall wraps first around the alternator and then up and over the water pump.

One of the last things I did was plug up the A/C hard lines in case I wanted to ever have A/C in this car again.  I will probably be removing these lines soon, but I did not feel like it, so I just left them there.

Finally, your last step is to re-install the radiator and everything else.  Flush your coolant, fill the system with new coolant, burp the system, and take your whip for a drive!  Forgive the sideways picture!

I hope you all enjoyed this read.  It was fun for me to get back out there and work on my car for a small price of $20.  I will be letting you guys know about how the car feels after I finish doing the coolant!

Peace and thanks for reading!

DIY: Preulde Ball Joint Removal and Installation for an 05-06 RSX Type-S

Hey guys,

After driving for tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of miles you may start to feel your car hate you.

Bushings wear out and rot, suspensions components fall apart, engines blow up-- so much crap can go wrong!

If your're experiencing slight, infrequent wobbles on highways at speeds above 60 mph and you're getting clunking, popping sounds when you're turning your wheel while parking perhaps there's something more than voices inside of your head.  Perhaps your ball joints are going!

Well, if you have an 05-06 RSX Type-S, then you're in luck because I'm going to show you how to replace your ball joints without buying a whole new $300 steering knuckle!  You can just use some BB6 Prelude ball joints!

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Disclaimer:  I am not responsible for any inconvenient or undesirable outcomes that may result from following these instructions.

Parts needed:

1. 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" ratchets
2. 8 mm, 10 mm, 12 mm, 17 mm, 19 mm, 22 mm, 36 mm
3. Table Vice
4. 2 lbs mallet
5. 1 lbs hammer
6. Sleeve to fit around inner diameter of ball joint to disperse hammer impact
7. Cheater bar
8. Flat head screw driver
9. Phillips screw driver
10. Pittman Tie-Rod Arm Puller
11. Tie-Rod Separator Pickle Fork
12. Impact gun (I used an old electric one, so if you brake a stud with your 180 gal compressor tank don't blame me)
13. Chisel
14. BB6 Prelude Lower Ball Joint (Information Taken from ClubRSX.com)
1. Go to the following link to purcahse the ball joints that I purchased.  Note, I am not responsible if problems ensue as a result of installing ball joints not specific to this car model.
2. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000C9Q0VM/ref=pe_385040_30332200_pe_309540_26725410_item

Optional Parts:

1. Puller (three-armed puller from Harbor Freight)

Start by removing your wheel.  This will help a lot when you're doing things to your car...always know how to remove a wheel...

Lol, I know you know I'm joking.  Take the damn wheel off.

Next, remove your wheel speed sensor cable and your brake line from your strut.  These are my Tein Street Flex's...love these things.  Pretty sure that the wheel speed sensor line (mounted on the bracket at the back of the strut) requires a 10 mm while the brake line requires a 12 mm socket (bracket closest to you in picture).

After you're finished with removing those lines, remove the brake caliper.  The two outer-most bolts on the top and bottom of that big piece of metal are for the brake caliper.  You're going to want to take the bottom one out and wiggle it a bit to loosen it up, then take the top one out.  I believe this requires a 12 mm short socket.

With your caliper bolts removed from the caliper bracket, lift the caliper up and bungee cord it to your shocks.  This will prevent the caliper from dangling by the brake line and eventually braking the line and spewing fluid everywhere.  BRAKE FLUID EATS PAINT LOLZ.

Now you're going to want to remove this bracket shown in the next picture.  It's the brake caliper bracket.  The two bolts holding it to the knuckle are 17 mm bolts.  Use a short socket and a 1/2" ratchet with a cheater bar and some rust penetrate to brake the bolts free.

Next, you'll want to remove the rotor from the hub.  But first, you'll need to remove your spindle nut.  You'll need a 36 mm socket for this and an impact gun.

First, take a flat head screw driver and pry the flange on the spindle nut away from the spindle.

Take the 36 mm socket and bang that jawn off of the spindle after using your flat head screw driver for the aforementioned step.

Now, you're going to need to remove the two phillips screws holding the rotor to the hub.  They may be frozen on there from a long history of usage, so I recommend taking a phillips bit and putting it in a short socket.  Then, take the socket and put it on a 1/4" ratchet and torque the screw off of the rotor.  You can even hammer the bit into the screw lightly before using your ratchet to twist the screw out of the threads.

BE CAREFUL not to strip the screw.  If you do, you're screwed!  Use some more rust penetrate if you have to before you remove these screws.

The following picture shows the knuckle attached to the LCA with the C.V. Joint in the picture.  Notice the castle nut which is in focus.  It has a pin in it.  This pin is called a "cotter pin."  Remove the cotter pin from the castle nut.

Next you'll need your tie-rod separator pickle fork and your Pittman tie-rod arm puller.  Both can be purchased from Harbor Freight for approximately $30.00

Place your Pittman arm puller in between the ball joint and the LCA.  This will take some wiggling, so be prepared to be frustrated and afraid if this is your first time doing this.

Here's a better view of what your Pittman arm puller should look like.  Tighten the bolt on the puller so that it rests on the end of the ball joint.  In other words, the ball joint has a stud that sticks out (as a part of the ball-and-socket mechanism).  Make sure your Pittman arm puller has its bolt tightened up against this "stud".

Next, insert your pickle fork in between the ball joint and the Pittman tool.  Hit the end of the pickle fork with the 2 lbs mallet until the pickle ball joint and the LCA come apart.  You will hear a loud "POP" noise when you do this.  It's most likely due to miles of rust and wear on the components making them stick.

Here's a pic of what it will look like when the ball joint is separated from the LCA.  You will be able to separate the LCA from the ball joint's "stud".

Now, remove the bolts and nuts holding the strut to the steering knuckle.  The bolts shown in the picture below are both 19 mm bolts.  However, the nuts which tighten the flanges of the bolts to the strut are located on the other side.  These nuts (deez nuts) are 22 mm nuts.  To remove the bolts, you must hold them still while rotating the 22 mm nuts on the other side of the steering knuckle.

The strut and the steering knuckle separated...

Now, look behind your dust guard (the black thing that sits behind the rotor).  You will see this black thing which is bolted to your steering knuckle.  This is a wheel speed sensor.  Remove it using a 10 mm socket (I think...it may be an 8 mm socket).

Your final step will be to completely press the spindle from the hub.  To do this I used a puller, but you could probably do this by having someone hold the axle while you pull the steering knuckle out.  In other words, you'd save yourself about $20 at Harbor Freight.

Here's my steering knuckle...annoying as shit.  The wheel bearing lies in that little cylinder that you see at the center of the picture.

Next, put your steering knuckle in your table vice.  I used the part of the steering knuckle that bolts to the struts as the "clamping point" so-to-speak.  You can use a cheater bar to turn the vice tighter to get a better grip if need be.

Here's the fun part!  Take your 2 lbs mallet and bang away at the ball joint on the shown spot below!  Try not to hit your thumb!  :)

You can always use rust penetrant to help this process and the installation process as well.  For the installation process just spray the penetrant around the hole and around the new ball joint.  For the removal process, just spray the penetrant around where the ball joint goes into the hole.

Here's that stupid-ass old ball joint.

Here's that smart-ass new ball joint!  :)

Place the steering knuckle in the vice and then place the new ball joint in the hole in the following way:

Hammer lightly AROUND the ball joint while it's in the hole.  Make sure it does not go in the hole unevenly and make sure that the threads on the end of the ball joint are not contacting any surface below the vice while doing this.

To finish off the job, you can use a little socket-like jawn to go around the inner diameter of the ball joint's end.  The fit of this tool is shown in the picture after the following picture.

You can fit the sleeve around the end of the ball joint in the following way to disperse the impact of the hammer around the end of the ball joint evenly.  This will allow you to bang the ball joint in as hard as you want without messing it up by banging one side in more than another side.

Almost in!!!  (That's what she said)

Notice how the seat of the ball joint is flush with the steering knuckle.  This step (installing the ball joint) took me an hour my second time.  Expect to take a while installing this ball joint.  This step is normally done with a hydraulic press.

Take the ring off of the dust boot.

And if your ball joint is a CHEAP aftermarket replacement (like one from China) then put some more grease on the inside of the ball joint!  Mine was a $50 AC Delco part, but I still decided to put some more grease in it.

Now, take the snap ring supplied with your ball joint and install it on the ball joint.  Note that putting the grease on AFTER this step is probably a better idea than what I did, but we're not all perfect, now are we?

If your snap ring has holes on the ends to be able to use pliers to install it then good for you.  If not you'll be fidgeting with screwdrivers and hammers for 20 minutes.  You'll need a second person if the latter is applicable to you.

Re-install your dust boot and the ring on your dust boot.

Walk back to your RSX <3 .="" p="">

And pull your spindle back through your hub.  I installed the nut on the spindle lightly so that the spindle would not fall back through the hub while I was re-installing it.

With the ball joint seated in your lower control arm (LCA), torque the castle nut.  I used an impact gun for this and torqued it as tightly as I could to make sure nothing would come apart while I was driving.

Now, place the cotter pin that was supplied with your new ball joint into the ball joint's stud.  Wrap the pin around the castle nut.

Now, re-install your strut bolts.  Loosely tighten the 22 mm nut to the other side.

Put your rotor back onto your hub assembly and put your rotor's screws back on.  Tighten them as reasonably as possible (don't tighten them on like a monkey, but don't tighten them on like a kitty).

Put your caliper brackets back onto your steering knuckle and place your brake pads into the brackets.  Re-apply anti-squeal grease if you don't have much grease on the back of your pads.

Torque your spindle nut as much as possible with your impact gun and then notch the flange on the spindle nut by taking a chisel and a mallet to it.  Notice that the flange is smashed into the groove in the spindle.

Now, bolt your wheel speed sensor, wheel speed sensor line bracket, and brake line bracket back onto your strut.  In addition, re-install your caliper.  Calipers are important for stopping.  Stopping is good...unless you want to die.

Give everything a good torque (remember your strut bolts and everything else).  Inspect all bolts and makes sure everything is tightened to spec and you're good!  Put your wheels back on, torque them to spec, and take your car off of jacks!

Now you're good to go.  Go test drive that bitch and have a good time!  Until next time, enjoy yourself :)