Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation
08-09-2003, 02:10 PM
#1
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Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation
In this installment of the Ghetto Garage Racing story, we'll take a moment to install GSR cams in the B16A'd CRX.
Here are the specs for the VTEC lobes of the cams:
B16A (1st-gen)
Intake
open: 10° before TDC
close: 40° after BDC
valve lift: 10.1 mm
Exhaust
open: 40° before BDC
close: 7° after TDC
valve lift: 9.0 mm
B16A2/3, B18C/B18C1 (2nd and 3rd gen B16A)
Intake
open: 10° before TDC
close: 40° after BDC
valve lift: 10.5 mm
Exhaust
open: 40° before BDC
close: 7° after TDC
valve lift: 9.4 mm
As you can see the B16A2 and B16A3 engines have the same cam specs as the JDM and USDM GSR engines (which both happen to have identical cam specs). The B16A, 1st-gen B16, was cursed with the weakest cam profiles out of all the manual-transmission VTEC family. This is what I've been rockin' for about 2 years now. While the only difference was roughly 0.4mm of lift, this difference was responsible for most of the 5-10hp difference between the B16A2/3 and the B16A. It was time for a change.
You can start your cam swap by charging up your air tools.
This swap takes a few steps to complete and requires some basic engine knowledge. In order to remove the cams and install the new ones in the exact same position, you have to make sure to put the #1 piston to Top Dead Center, and a valve adjustment should be performed after swapping the cams due to the higher lift of the B18C cams.
First step is of course to clear out the working area. Removing the spark plug wires and distributor cap allows us to check the position of the #1 cylinder by following the distributor rotor's position.
1) Remove the sparkplug wires and distributor cap to expose the distributor rotor:
After the distributor cap and plug wires are removed, the valvecover can be quickly blasted off with the impact wrench. Gawd I love air tools!
2) Blast off the valvecover nuts in preparation for removing the valvecover and remove the valvecover breather tube:
You can quickly check how far the engine must be spun to get to TDC by checking the position of the distributor rotor. Any shop manual will tell you the #1 firing position - in my case, the bottom left corner is the #1 piston.
3) Check how close the engine is to TDC by looking at the distributor rotor. In my case, the black blob on the rotor indicates the tip of the rotor. Bottom left is #1 piston's TDC, so I got lucky here, I don't have to spin the engine much by hand:
After the valvecover has been removed, the upper timing belt cover should be removed also. There's two 10mm bolts holding it in place. After it's gone, the cam sprockets can be lined up to show TDC on the #1 piston, and this can be verified by checking the position of the distributor rotor.
4) Now remove the valvecover, exposing the cam caps:
This wonderful piece of photography illustrates how the cam sprockets should look when perfectly lined up. The bars are parallel to the surface of the head, not to each other - something n00bs often get wrong!
5) Set #1 piston to TDC by lining up the marks on the cam sprockets - you can't see them in this blurry-*** picture, but this is perfectly lined up:
After the cams are lined up and the engine is spun so that the #1 piston is at top dead centre (TDC), you can verify this by checking the distributor rotor is pointing correctly. Notice that advancing or retarding the timing has the simple effect of spinning the distributor rotor clockwise or counterclockwise.
6) Verify that you're at TDC on the #1 piston by checking the distributor rotor position:
The cams obviously can't be removed until the timing belt is loosened off and slipped off the cam sprockets. You can achieve this by loosening the tensioner bolt, which is a 14mm head about halfway down to the crank pulley.
7) Loosen the tension on the timing belt by making your little brother loosen the tensioner bolt:
The GSR cams should be cleaned prior to installation by removing any packing dirt and dust and traces of old oil. In my case, I give them a quick spraydown with brake cleaner fluid, then wiped them off and used compressed air (gawd I love air tools) to blast off any remaining traces.
8) GSR cams, prepare for installation:
This shows how the Honda system works: The cams are held in place with the bearing caps. Oil drips down from the caps onto the cams, keeping everything lubricated. The braces between each cylinder also have oiling passages that keep the cam journals lubricated and provide oil flow to the top of the engine. The VTEC lobe is the centre-most lobe on the cam - the largest one. Each smaller, outermost lobe has a staggered amount of lift and duration to provide swirl in the intake charge for low-rpm response and good mileage properties.
9) Here's a decent shot of how the cams lie under the bearing caps:
The timing belt can now be pulled off the cam sprockets.
10) The timing belt removed, so that the cams are free to be pulled:
At this point the only thing holding the cams in are the 16-or-so bolts that pepper the cam caps. Blast these off quickly and you're free to pull your cams!!
11) The cam caps removed, exposing the cams, which are now completely free:
12) Another shot of how the cams lie in the engine:
After the old cams are removed, you're going to have to use a 14mm socket or wrench to blast off the bolt holding the cam sprocket to the cam. Be sure not to lose the Woodruff key or the seals - you'll have to transfer all these things to the new cams prior to installation. Once everything's installed and the sprockets have been torqued to 42 ft-lbs, use a generous amount of assembly lube and coat the cam journals and lobes with the sticky goo.
13) Not much left to do here - after removing the cam sprockets from the old cams and installing them on the new, use assembly lube on the cam journals and lobes and then reinstall in the reverse order of removal:
At this point you should be free to bolt the cam caps back into place. Tighten them down in an outward-moving order in many small increments. I prefer to hand tighten piece by piece while pressing down hard on the cam caps until everything is firm, then following the tightening order moving outwards going from 10 ft-lbs to 20 ft-lbs on the 8mm bolts and 7 ft-lbs on the 6mm bolts on the outermost edge of the cam caps. I also used anaerobic sealant on the outermost cam caps to prevent oil seepage later on
After the cam caps are installed, you need to reinstall the timing belt and spin the engine 360 degrees to check for valve clearance - definitely don't want any binding now! After that, it's time for a quick valve adjustment - set the specs to B16A stock, 0.006-0.007" intake, 0.007-0.008" exhaust. Thanks to Snap-On, that was done in about half an hour, and the test drive revealed the results.
Due to rain all morning, traction from 1st through 3rd was nonexistant, with the tires spinning easily at the VTEC crossover point in 3rd gear. Even through 4th gear the tires were scrabbling for traction, but the butt dyno is VERY pleased. These cams evidently have larger lobes on the smaller daily-driver portion, so all-around the engine feels much torquier and more lively. The engine sprints toward the 8k redline now whereas before it would leisurely jog there. 1st gear comes and goes in an instant. Definitely a good investment!
Here are the specs for the VTEC lobes of the cams:
B16A (1st-gen)
Intake
open: 10° before TDC
close: 40° after BDC
valve lift: 10.1 mm
Exhaust
open: 40° before BDC
close: 7° after TDC
valve lift: 9.0 mm
B16A2/3, B18C/B18C1 (2nd and 3rd gen B16A)
Intake
open: 10° before TDC
close: 40° after BDC
valve lift: 10.5 mm
Exhaust
open: 40° before BDC
close: 7° after TDC
valve lift: 9.4 mm
As you can see the B16A2 and B16A3 engines have the same cam specs as the JDM and USDM GSR engines (which both happen to have identical cam specs). The B16A, 1st-gen B16, was cursed with the weakest cam profiles out of all the manual-transmission VTEC family. This is what I've been rockin' for about 2 years now. While the only difference was roughly 0.4mm of lift, this difference was responsible for most of the 5-10hp difference between the B16A2/3 and the B16A. It was time for a change.
You can start your cam swap by charging up your air tools.
This swap takes a few steps to complete and requires some basic engine knowledge. In order to remove the cams and install the new ones in the exact same position, you have to make sure to put the #1 piston to Top Dead Center, and a valve adjustment should be performed after swapping the cams due to the higher lift of the B18C cams.
First step is of course to clear out the working area. Removing the spark plug wires and distributor cap allows us to check the position of the #1 cylinder by following the distributor rotor's position.
1) Remove the sparkplug wires and distributor cap to expose the distributor rotor:
After the distributor cap and plug wires are removed, the valvecover can be quickly blasted off with the impact wrench. Gawd I love air tools!
2) Blast off the valvecover nuts in preparation for removing the valvecover and remove the valvecover breather tube:
You can quickly check how far the engine must be spun to get to TDC by checking the position of the distributor rotor. Any shop manual will tell you the #1 firing position - in my case, the bottom left corner is the #1 piston.
3) Check how close the engine is to TDC by looking at the distributor rotor. In my case, the black blob on the rotor indicates the tip of the rotor. Bottom left is #1 piston's TDC, so I got lucky here, I don't have to spin the engine much by hand:
After the valvecover has been removed, the upper timing belt cover should be removed also. There's two 10mm bolts holding it in place. After it's gone, the cam sprockets can be lined up to show TDC on the #1 piston, and this can be verified by checking the position of the distributor rotor.
4) Now remove the valvecover, exposing the cam caps:
This wonderful piece of photography illustrates how the cam sprockets should look when perfectly lined up. The bars are parallel to the surface of the head, not to each other - something n00bs often get wrong!
5) Set #1 piston to TDC by lining up the marks on the cam sprockets - you can't see them in this blurry-*** picture, but this is perfectly lined up:
After the cams are lined up and the engine is spun so that the #1 piston is at top dead centre (TDC), you can verify this by checking the distributor rotor is pointing correctly. Notice that advancing or retarding the timing has the simple effect of spinning the distributor rotor clockwise or counterclockwise.
6) Verify that you're at TDC on the #1 piston by checking the distributor rotor position:
The cams obviously can't be removed until the timing belt is loosened off and slipped off the cam sprockets. You can achieve this by loosening the tensioner bolt, which is a 14mm head about halfway down to the crank pulley.
7) Loosen the tension on the timing belt by making your little brother loosen the tensioner bolt:
The GSR cams should be cleaned prior to installation by removing any packing dirt and dust and traces of old oil. In my case, I give them a quick spraydown with brake cleaner fluid, then wiped them off and used compressed air (gawd I love air tools) to blast off any remaining traces.
8) GSR cams, prepare for installation:
This shows how the Honda system works: The cams are held in place with the bearing caps. Oil drips down from the caps onto the cams, keeping everything lubricated. The braces between each cylinder also have oiling passages that keep the cam journals lubricated and provide oil flow to the top of the engine. The VTEC lobe is the centre-most lobe on the cam - the largest one. Each smaller, outermost lobe has a staggered amount of lift and duration to provide swirl in the intake charge for low-rpm response and good mileage properties.
9) Here's a decent shot of how the cams lie under the bearing caps:
The timing belt can now be pulled off the cam sprockets.
10) The timing belt removed, so that the cams are free to be pulled:
At this point the only thing holding the cams in are the 16-or-so bolts that pepper the cam caps. Blast these off quickly and you're free to pull your cams!!
11) The cam caps removed, exposing the cams, which are now completely free:
12) Another shot of how the cams lie in the engine:
After the old cams are removed, you're going to have to use a 14mm socket or wrench to blast off the bolt holding the cam sprocket to the cam. Be sure not to lose the Woodruff key or the seals - you'll have to transfer all these things to the new cams prior to installation. Once everything's installed and the sprockets have been torqued to 42 ft-lbs, use a generous amount of assembly lube and coat the cam journals and lobes with the sticky goo.
13) Not much left to do here - after removing the cam sprockets from the old cams and installing them on the new, use assembly lube on the cam journals and lobes and then reinstall in the reverse order of removal:
At this point you should be free to bolt the cam caps back into place. Tighten them down in an outward-moving order in many small increments. I prefer to hand tighten piece by piece while pressing down hard on the cam caps until everything is firm, then following the tightening order moving outwards going from 10 ft-lbs to 20 ft-lbs on the 8mm bolts and 7 ft-lbs on the 6mm bolts on the outermost edge of the cam caps. I also used anaerobic sealant on the outermost cam caps to prevent oil seepage later on
After the cam caps are installed, you need to reinstall the timing belt and spin the engine 360 degrees to check for valve clearance - definitely don't want any binding now! After that, it's time for a quick valve adjustment - set the specs to B16A stock, 0.006-0.007" intake, 0.007-0.008" exhaust. Thanks to Snap-On, that was done in about half an hour, and the test drive revealed the results.
Due to rain all morning, traction from 1st through 3rd was nonexistant, with the tires spinning easily at the VTEC crossover point in 3rd gear. Even through 4th gear the tires were scrabbling for traction, but the butt dyno is VERY pleased. These cams evidently have larger lobes on the smaller daily-driver portion, so all-around the engine feels much torquier and more lively. The engine sprints toward the 8k redline now whereas before it would leisurely jog there. 1st gear comes and goes in an instant. Definitely a good investment!
08-09-2003, 02:39 PM
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Re: Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation (B2FiNiTY)
You must truely love Air Tools to use them to take off valve cover nuts which are on there with about 7ft-lbs of torque.
08-09-2003, 02:50 PM
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Re: Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation (FourthGenHatch)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FourthGenHatch »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You must truely love Air Tools to use them to take off valve cover nuts which are on there with about 7ft-lbs of torque.</TD></TR></TABLE>
haha, if i had air tools, i'd use them for everything.. why not, its easier
haha, if i had air tools, i'd use them for everything.. why not, its easier
08-09-2003, 02:57 PM
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Re: Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation (Hcivic88)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hcivic88 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
haha, if i had air tools, i'd use them for everything.. why not, its easier</TD></TR></TABLE>
Its over kill. My Impact Wrench running off a 1/2 hose has to be turned down to the lowest setting and with my pressure turned down to like 60psi to take off a lug nut without nearly spinning it off to the moon.
haha, if i had air tools, i'd use them for everything.. why not, its easier</TD></TR></TABLE>
Its over kill. My Impact Wrench running off a 1/2 hose has to be turned down to the lowest setting and with my pressure turned down to like 60psi to take off a lug nut without nearly spinning it off to the moon.
08-09-2003, 03:00 PM
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Re: Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation (FourthGenHatch)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FourthGenHatch »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Its over kill. My Impact Wrench running off a 1/2 hose has to be turned down to the lowest setting and with my pressure turned down to like 60psi to take off a lug nut without nearly spinning it off to the moon.</TD></TR></TABLE>
what do u use that thing for??? if it has to be turned all the way down to take off a lug nut, its gotta be a pretty powerful thing, which is nice to have i guess, since there are many stubborn bolts( i.e. crankshaft pulley)
Its over kill. My Impact Wrench running off a 1/2 hose has to be turned down to the lowest setting and with my pressure turned down to like 60psi to take off a lug nut without nearly spinning it off to the moon.</TD></TR></TABLE>
what do u use that thing for??? if it has to be turned all the way down to take off a lug nut, its gotta be a pretty powerful thing, which is nice to have i guess, since there are many stubborn bolts( i.e. crankshaft pulley)
08-09-2003, 03:08 PM
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Re: Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation (Hcivic88)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hcivic88 »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
what do u use that thing for??? if it has to be turned all the way down to take off a lug nut, its gotta be a pretty powerful thing, which is nice to have i guess, since there are many stubborn bolts( i.e. crankshaft pulley)</TD></TR></TABLE>
Well Air Tools are awesome for the reason they can take off any bolt in your car. To take off lug nuts you can have the car already jacked up and just zap them off, but to take them off with a wrench you have to have the car on the ground. Air tools make doing the job much much easier. Don't get me wrong I love them, but I wouldn't use them for anything that was just handtightend on.
what do u use that thing for??? if it has to be turned all the way down to take off a lug nut, its gotta be a pretty powerful thing, which is nice to have i guess, since there are many stubborn bolts( i.e. crankshaft pulley)</TD></TR></TABLE>
Well Air Tools are awesome for the reason they can take off any bolt in your car. To take off lug nuts you can have the car already jacked up and just zap them off, but to take them off with a wrench you have to have the car on the ground. Air tools make doing the job much much easier. Don't get me wrong I love them, but I wouldn't use them for anything that was just handtightend on.
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08-10-2003, 01:16 AM
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Re: Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation (FourthGenHatch)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FourthGenHatch »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You must truely love Air Tools to use them to take off valve cover nuts which are on there with about 7ft-lbs of torque.</TD></TR></TABLE>
We use them because it takes like 2 seconds to get all the cam cover bolts rather than 10 minutes using a ratchet. BTW, that arm holding the impact wrench is mine
We use them because it takes like 2 seconds to get all the cam cover bolts rather than 10 minutes using a ratchet. BTW, that arm holding the impact wrench is mine
08-10-2003, 09:09 AM
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Re: Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation (Mr. S)
if i put those cams in my b16 and start it up without backing theocker arms off first will i have a piston to vavle clearance issue oor do i need to back them off and set valve lash before initial startup
08-10-2003, 01:35 PM
#12
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Re: Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation (bagged89hatch)
I don't think you'd have any problems with clearance - I spun the engine 360 degrees prior to setting the valve clearances - but I'm not 100%.
08-10-2003, 05:32 PM
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Re: Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation (raene)
Props on the install but using a impact on ANY valve cover/cam bolts is dumb....they are delicate and require the use of hand tools and a hand torque wrench to reinstall....I almost strip my valve cover bolts with a hand wrench, your using a air gun? 
08-10-2003, 08:51 PM
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Re: Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation (Ef *****)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ef ***** »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Props on the install but using a impact on ANY valve cover/cam bolts is dumb....they are delicate and require the use of hand tools and a hand torque wrench to reinstall....I almost strip my valve cover bolts with a hand wrench, your using a air gun? </TD></TR></TABLE>
It is fine to use them for disassembly. BUT not for reassembly
</TD></TR></TABLE>It is fine to use them for disassembly. BUT not for reassembly
08-11-2003, 07:43 AM
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Re: Ghetto Garage Racing: GSR cam installation (azroth)
Yeah, I just used the air tools to disassemble No way I'd use those suckers on valvecover nuts - I wouldn't even use them on lug nuts!
No way I'd use those suckers on valvecover nuts - I wouldn't even use them on lug nuts!
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