marcj

the head work station


what do you guys think went on in the far left cylinder? (#1)


block has been cleaned.. waiting on a set of rods & pistons.


tranny bath awaits


the reason this motor was pulled.. rod bolts came loose and caused a ruckus

biscuit

Good luck with the rebuild! I have parts leftover from my build if you need anything let me know.
Is this the engine you were running or a different one?

marcj

yea it's out of my 96 EX coupe.. thanks i'll keep that in mind

1991civicsi

The damage from the rods becoming detached actually began the notching for you.

marcj

lol I was thinking the same thing.. good indicator for the spot I need to notch :P

nope.. it's getting a new clutch anyway. thanks

first wave of prepping the head.. next step is lapping the valves

marcj

do you guys think I should skip lapping the valves.. the head has about 200k miles on it and will be seeing a low 300hp daily driver

Tom-Guy

Take a very close look at that #4 cylinder. The intakes look oily, and the white crust on the exhaust valves is ash deposits from the oil burning on them since they are the hottest thing in the combustion chamber. While this oil can be from the rings/bore, there is a chance it's coming from the valves - check for wear on the valve stem, and slop between stem and valve guide. It could also be the valve stem seals getting hard and cracking or popping off, which will cause excessive oil to pass between seal and guide. You can cheap out lots of places, but a shitty valve/guide or shitty stem seals throwing 70 octane oil into your combustion chamber makes for a shitty end product.

I am guessing you are going the low buck DIY route on this? As in you lap your own valves, and hone your own bore? If so, when you hone the bore hone the ------- ---- out of it. I've been through this with local friends and they are afraid of honing too much, or ASSume they got the glaze off the bore, and the engine just burns oil. If it doesn't smoke right off the bat it does within two oil changes. The only DIY hone I've seen take was where there was a scar in one of the bores and the guy "had to hone it a LOT, but I really wish I didn't have to take that much out of the bore." The engine was smoking within two oil changes, and the three underhoned bores had oil on top of the pistons from crappy ring seal while the "overhoned" one looked perfect. Every engine builder I've talked to agrees that a loose piston-wall clearance doesn't hurt power or reliability, but the engine tends to wear out quicker... since this is a ~300 whp toy on a $5 budget you're not expecting 150K longevity so do it ------- right, sir.

rosario4124

more pics