spoolinlude

Well, the problems continue.

We flushed the coolant system and vacuum bled it. Seemed to be ok, took it for a ride without even getting into it starts spiking the temp gauge. Ended up on the side of the road and limped it home stopping to let it cool down about every mile. Took a while, but its a familar thing to me with this car. I've been left on the roadside a ton of times by it already.

So- its still over heating, lots of coolant pressure. Seems to hold good pressure (held 25 vac for at least 15 mins) when cold. I guess when it heats up it isn't sealing anymore.

I hate to say this - but I think the sleeve job is just too old and tired and rusty, the head is most certainly warped with the numbers of times we heat cycled it just to get it home last night.

I have my spare sleeved h23, its already been bored all it needs is pistons (have the rods too). I have a spare h22 head. I think I need to start fresh. But - I had over heating problems with the H23 too and the deck looking strange (not level). So really I'm thinking I need a fresh sleeved block. The sleeves in my h23 are from 2003ish.

I don't know what I'll do yet. I just don't think its worth trying to make the tired sleeves in this motor work because I already know they're not 100%. Building the h23 doesn't seem safe to me either since I had troubles with it in the past that were never sorted out.

Starting with new everything seems to be the best option. Honestly though I think I'm done. I've gone through 6 motor builds now with no success, no real enjoyment out of the car in the past 9+ years, and just burning thousands and thousands of dollars, wheres the fun in that? It just isn't worth it to me anymore.

snobordboy

Damn, that's a tough call to make, especially when you have a such a beauty of a car that you have built, and it just has a heart issue.

Maybe look into having a company who knows the H blocks really well i.e. Kaizenspeed, go over the H23 block and see what they say? If they think that it is too far gone, I am sure they could lead you down the best path based on what parts you could possibly re-use, and what would be the best way to build a reliable engine for your setup so that you can actually enjoy her for awhile.

I know you have done it a few times now, but probably a good point to just take a step back and think on it a bit. I don't know your full history with the car, obviously it has been with you for quite awhile, so throwing in the towel now could be quite the loss of memories and dreams, while so close to being where you wanted it.

For what it's worth, I would love to see the car finished and in action, it helps me with motivation in my own car, where I try to buy a few parts and build experience every year, as life gets in the way of my desire to do a major build. I have a feeling that if I had the space to leave my car torn down for a long time, instead of trying to keep it driveable through stages, I would be closer by now!

spoolinlude

I hear what you're saying -- I'm just sick of it man. There are so many other things I need to do with the money than dump more into this car.

I've had the car since 12th grade, I'm 30 now. It was turbo'd back in 2002 with a RevHard kit. The H23 I'm speaking of is the first one GE ever sleeved lol, another reason I'm worried about it being "ok". They're alot better at it now then they were.

The clutch was acting super strange at the same time. Thinking it had a ton of heat in it from the extra hot motor but not sure. I literally could not let it out without it shaking the car to pieces. So I kind of want to look at that too. I may pull the head off tonight and see what that looks like.

Putting a new bottom end in and having the head resurfaced would be the ideal solution. But that's money I don't want to spend for now. Now that I want to inspect the clutch there really is no reason to not pull the entire motor out.

Just a pain, and I'm so tired of working on it.

spoolinlude

Update time.

So after a huge punch in the face with my personal life (8 year relationship ended), I finally finished putting yet another head gasket on the car....

And...

IT SEEMS TO BE OK!

We beat on it for about 20 mins, didn't over heat! Next step - getting through inspection.

I have some videos I'll try to upload later - just dumb stuff making little 2-3-4 pulls up the road near my house.

Just glad I finally have some light at the bottom of this hole I've been in the last couple months.

snobordboy

Damn, sorry to hear that, were/are you married, or not to that stage yet?

And on the positive side, Yes!!! Glad to hear that it is running well. Same older GE block in there that had questionable sleeves?

Glad to hear that you have had a little time out of the gym to get it going again!

spoolinlude

Was going to propose in August. Have spent most of that money refurnishing my house trying to make it look as different as possible at this point, we lived together for almost 7 years. New paint, new wall art, carpet, furniture, tv's.... literally everything.... spent 11-12k can't remember.

Yep same ole block haha, seems to be holding ok, no smoke or anything. I washed it yesterday, just need to figure out why its idleing high (this timing is advanced in the ECU at idle), and get my bumper held on better (corners fit like ****). Some minor body work to fix some scratches and crap from having the engine in and out 3-4 times after painting it lol.

Yeah I have lost like 30lbs.... I was 218 before it all hit the fan, 340 bench, 405 squat, 500 deadlift. Now I'm 195 back up slightly from 180. Strength no where near what it was, but thats ok I'd rather be skinny for summer haha. Just sucked that I worked so hard and lost it that way, I wanted to do a different cut to maximize my muscle loss. Oh well.... can't do anything about it now....

Just ready for whatever the future holds and driving my damn car finally haha!

spoolinlude

Pics....

BergRacing21

sorry bout the break up dude, glad to see you're back though! to be honest i have a pretty similar story (not dating quite as long) but i had break-up and it led to my drag build. I guess at the point i was like i'm going to finally do what I WANT, I had pretty much become content with my car and was slowly getting away from messing with it but that happened and it got me back into cars more than ever. Anyway goodluck with what's to come!

spoolinlude

Thanks man - it definitely knocked me on my *** for a solid 3 months. Feels good to have my face back in the sun though.

I wouldn't say I'm as 'into it' as I was when I was younger, but I'm glad I hung onto it... although its cost me a small fortune over the years its the reason why I know so much about cars at this point.

I may take it to the track just to see what it'll do - but I just want to enjoy it a while I'm worried a track trip will break something so I think that will be a late summer thing. Just want to get out and take some evening cruises. Wish it was tagged right now this weekend is Cruise Weekend in Ocean City Maryland. I used to LOVE going down for that.

My buddy had a 1986 Cutlass with hydraulics that we always took down.... thing was a POS but we pulled mad women in it... Three preppy lookin white dudes riding around in that, threw people for a loop haha.

I would of driven the lude down for the day or something but oh well.... I will be down there anyway, I play lacrosse for a team sponsored by a bar in Dewey Beach, we have a game Saturday so I'll be there for that - solid weekend ahead.

Should have some time Sunday to look at the AEM and see what the timing is at idle.

snobordboy

Damn, cruise weekends in beach towns must be fun. Do you have to get an inspection before getting plates renewed?

Assuming you are playing field lacrosse? We are still playing indoors right now, but have a field tournament coming up in June for the old fogeys like me. Sounds like I have to make it back up from my trip to Denver in time for that.

spoolinlude

Its a BLAST... tons of fast cars, and tons of shitty ones too. Lots of guys trailering down ridiculous cars and riding around on race gas all weekend.

Yeah so Delaware the inspection/tag renewal all happens at once at a state owned motor vehicle facility. I passed a couple years ago with a fake cat and no charcol can. Should be able to pass again. Just gotta get the idle down and put my heat shield back up.

Yep field - I played in college, been playing a long time now. The indoor game is so different, I've played here and there but field is where I belong. Some of the indoor guys especially you candians have amazing stick control. I was actually at the NCAA's at UofD yesterday so we saw Duke/Hopkins and Drexel/Denver. Denver killed Drexel. I loved watching the Thompson brothers at Albany too - shame they lost, they had that game in the bag and fell apart.

I'll play in a less competitive summer league locally, and then a big tournament in Ocean City in August to close-out the year, then I'm done till spring. I usually get sick of lacrosse by August haha. The spring league is the best competition.

snobordboy

Ah fun inspections, this year will be interesting for me.

My cars are still registered in Colorado, and have to comply with Colorado emissions. last time my Prelude was tested, it was just a jdm H22, so I just bolted up the stock cat and "fast passed" the dyno test.

This year I am taking the car down, so if I drive it on the street at all, I will have to go get it tested. With a bigger motor, cams, big injectors, most of the evap removed etc, it could be interesting. That and I will have to get a custom pipe made to attach the stock cat to the new header. I think it might be a good time to do an E85 tune, should help it pass, and I have plenty of headroom with the current injectors.


You are probably a hell of a lot better than I am at lacrosse lol, I played for a winter in high school, and then hadn't really touched a stick for 18 years aside from the random cradle once a year. Got into watching NLL last year, and season tickets this year, then people I met convinced me to go play again. maybe after this season with masters, I will be in better shape and make the competitive team next year.

I would love to go see some really good NCAA games, I saw a few Denver games when I worked there, since the lacrosse stadium is between the rec center and the dorms. My buddy always went to the Vail shootout, but I never made it up for that either.

spoolinlude

Yeah they suck - 4 more years and she's an antique though baby! haha....

I think it'll pass with a heat shield and the vent line plugged like I did last time once I get the idle down. E85 and a Cat you'll pass no problem dude.

Yeah - I was pretty solid back in the day. 2x 1st team all-state, all-american my senior year. Didn't even get a damn phone call from UD but had places like Maryland/Princeton/Townson/Hofstra showing up randomly at my house to take my dad and I out to dinner.... the head coach at UD is a clown and the reason UD sucks. I only went there because like a retard I was dating a girl that had 1 year of HS left. Yeah that lasted about 6 months into my freshman year. Then I went nuts.... getting laid was way too easy as a lax player haha... it literally got the point where I was bored with 'hooking up'. Couple of freinds and old teammates are playing NLL - John Grant jr's senior year was my freshman year at UD - that guy is still killing it.

Yep Vail was the only tournament back in the day - now there's 100's of recruiting tournaments. When I was in HS basically you had to make the ONE travel team in the area, go to Vail, and play your *** off and make the all-star game at the end of the weekend because that was your only shot at getting recruited. YouTube wasn't around then lol.... my dad sent actual tapes to coaches haha.... The game has changed so much since I was in HS/college.... its gotten huge, I love it.

If I don't hit the beach sat/sun maybe I'll pull the car out and look at the idle.... been busy as hell lately.

The NCAA finals are Monday - might go to that.... I have a free ticket. haha

spoolinlude

Hey guys - brief update....

Put an o-ring around the TPS sensor and the idle has come down a bit more. So there was definitely a small leak there. Should be low enough - the DMV's equipment can't read my RPM's anyway haha. Got the horn and other inspection bits ready to go, went for a drive - coolant leak from the timing side... WILL IT EVER END!

Going to put yet another water pump in it. My guess is I screwed that seal up when the head was lifting.

I know it took all summer- but I was too busy having fun doing everything else. Boating, Jet Ski's, motorcycles, beaches, women - and 5 damn weddings this summer..... Do I have too many hobbies?? Too hot to drive anyway lately, though the weather in this area was great all summer long.

Picking up the water pump today or tomorrow - try to get it in Sunday.

spoolinlude

So. As usual - its been a while.

That Accufab TB hated my car. Went to a K-tuned 90mm, holy crap what a difference, this thing was worth every penny!

Plan for the spring is to hopefully get the car tagged, I think I 'have' to put a CAT on it temporarily to pass inspection. I did attempt to take it through and among other problems I had the hydrocarbon levels were like triple the allowable amount. They also apparently have fixed the RPM pickup issues they had, because they could read my idle speeds and they were impossible to control with that old TB. It was impossible to fast idle the car on the old TB. With the new TB I can get it to idle around 900rpm and its much easier to control the low speed throttle now.

I did replace the water pump. But it appears a bolt on the engine mount is stripped, and lucky me, that bolt enters the water jacket. We repaired it as best we could, but it really needs a helicoil and there's ZERO room to get one in there. So we'll see if it leaks again.

I may get it re-tuned in the spring as well, even though it probably doesn't really need it. If I fail inspection again, I'll see if Jeff can make me 'pass inspeciton tune'. Also, it made 570whp lifting the head, I'm curious to see what it'll do now with the head sealed.

Basically, I am beyond - way beyond - tired of spending money on this car. I think I have it 95% figured out, and would like to start driving it at least to and from work (only parking lot I trust, and only about a 10 mile round trip). I'll probably put the back seats back in, and re-carpet it. I hope to finally get a chance to enjoy the car this spring/summer.

I sold my S2K, I'm down to my last honda.

snobordboy

Hmm, starting to see a trend where I am the only one replying to your thread.

Is there any IACV provision on the BMC manifold? If not, maybe using a Rosko plate to use an IACV would help to control the idle and low throttle airflow for emissions. Between that and maybe adding a good cat in the exhaust, should get it to pass, and be pretty streetable to drive.

It is always interesting to deal with the "open the floodgates" control of a big throttle body, pretty sure my wife would get frustrated driving my car, and it is only a 76, the 90 must be even more fun.

After my engine died last summer, towed my car home and it hasn't moved. In pretty much the same boat, I don't feel like spending money, so I will probably throw the stock H22 I have in, and just drive the damn thing this summer. Then maybe deal with another engine in a year or 2-10.

spoolinlude

So - it's even easier than that actually.... The K-tuned allows for use of a FORD IACV haha. I would just have to wire it in and tell my AEM what to do with it. May try inspection again without it, its much better low speed throttle response, less of the OPEN or CLOSED that the Accufab was, and more gradual like a smaller TB might be.

The CAT is a must, I think I'm going to have my welder buddy v-band it in, and have a v-band test pipe made at the same time. It appears my 2-bolt flange leaks a little, so it'll be a good time to kill that bird while I'm at it.

I definitely think I should of stayed smaller in the tb dept, guys have made huge power on much smaller ones. But whatever its what I've got now, and I think this one will work nicely.

My car sat for almost 7 years not running.... so I know all about that life dude.

spoolinlude

Hey look its been over a year........ UPDATE TIME.

Long story short - I managed to blow up my AEM Series 1 ECU..... lol

Not really - a blow up - but it blew a trace in the PCB and we tried to fix it, and it didn't work. It was my fault - I wired too many things to a switched low amperage 12v circuit (not knowingly) and fried it. I found a place that repairs them, and I'll get it repaired to have as a spare or another project, but I decided on another more modern route....

So I got a huge case of the ****-its and called Jeff Evans up and we put an AEM infinity system in the car along with all the other goodies it allows for.

It now has 5x the protection it used to - everything from knock control by cylinder, to oil pressure and fuel pressure cut protection. It also will now have a IAC again, he made an adapter to use a stock idle control on the BMC manifold. Its really impressive how far the ECU market has come.

I also solved the over-heat issue some time ago. Plugging the heat core hoses was creating a hot spot, so I put the ports back in and looped the line, problem solved. Engine temps are normal.

I actually wasn't there for the tuning - I don't care anymore, I dropped it off and told Jeff call me when its done, its still there - getting the IAC put on and a few touch ups on the tune.

So finally - It made 535whp and 390tq at 18psi on pump gas...... pretty nice numbers for pump gas. I'm skipping a race gas tune for now - I just wanna drive the damn car, and the odds of me using race gas are low, so that race gas number would just be a number to me and nothing more.......

Nakajima

Awesome build! I like everything about your car. The engine build is impressive and visually the car looks perfect. 535whp on pump gas is some serious power... she must be fun to drive!

I love the way the car looks and how you kept the beautiful stock lines of the Prelude, without any ugly bodykits or other tacky visual add-ons that some people ruin their poor Ludes with. The electric blue paint also looks great!

Keep us updated and keep the photos coming!

spoolinlude

Thanks man, I was never a fan of any body kits or really anything appearance related. I liked the car the way it looked from the factory, which is why I wanted the car in the first place all those years ago, so I never wanted to mess with it.

I'm excited to drive it again! Still up at Evans, hopefully I'll pick it up this week!

More pics soon!

snobordboy

Nice, getting a decent amount of power, along with a driveable car, should be awesome! Enjoy it!

spoolinlude

Yeah I was pretty stoked with those numbers on pump gas... I'm not sure what the limit of the h-series is on pump gas but it can't be much higher than that.

Should be picking it back up this weekend finally...

Mykizism

Throwing some love towards an OG member!

The car looks great man, I hope you figure out all the kinks. The AEM Series 1 wasn't all that great.. I had one it had pretty unreliable electronics internally. Switched over to HondataS300 worked better. I've been having to Daily drive my Prelude this year since Jan 1st, My TL's auto died. So I'm in the process of converting it over to 6 speed manual.

scottcraft

That's some serious power! It should be a blast to drive! Awesome car!

snobordboy

Just curious on one point. How did you previously have the heater core lines plugged, as opposed to looped? Did you just have the nipples on the water pipe capped off, and they were creating heat spots or bubbles that limited flow through there?

Currently I still like having heat and defrost in my car since I do drive it, and in cold climates, but that could change down the road...