serjey15

Hey guys, so Im planning on replacing piston rings on my h22a1, and I looked up rings from the dealership, and they have a set of oem, and .25 over size.
They both cost the same. So what is the difference and how do I know which to get?
My engine internally is all stock. has 137k on the engine.

minilogoguy18

Get the standard size. The oversize is for blocks that have been bored over .25 which is the maximum limit.

serjey15

Ok. I was just wondering why a dealer would sell over size rings. lol.
Ok. And how do I know if I need to resurface the cylinder walls or hone the or whatever?

Apex1972

you should always hone before replacing rings. some will say that is not true and if they arent building the motor for themselves alot of people wouldnt do it. Its not worth doing all that work to NOT hone it so that your rings seat properly. only take your block to someone who has done an H series build before though. FRM requires a special procedure for the cylinder to be honed right. if you dont know about any of this you really need to do some research first Im sure Kronn98SH will be glad to help you out.

minilogoguy18

The service manual goes over the honing procedure and whether or not it is even necesarry.

serjey15

My car doesnt have a manual

thundernoodle

no the service manual. Get an OEM service manual or have a tech print off the pages for you. You might want to find someone who knows how to hone FRM walls. Try a Porsche place if all else fails.

minilogoguy18

*facepalm*

The service manual, google it, there's a site where you can download it for free. spoonertuner.com I believe.

serjey15

ok ill do that. When you buy oem piston rings do you need to file them down? or do you just put them on?

NAH2B

the reason honda offers oversized rings is for your exact situation.

you may need to get a set of oversized pistons and rings and have the cylinders bored/honed.

that would be the proper way to freshen up your block. it would be pointless to replace your existing rings w/o a fresh hone and once you hone the cylinders your clearances will be to loose to run standard pistons/rings and the rebuild will be pointless.

you will find some letters stamped on your block above the waterpump on the back side behind the cylinder head. there will be 4 letters either A's or B's. if you have all 4 B's then you are in luck and most likely can get away w/ buying only a new set of standard rings and rehoning the cylinders since the (B) blocks have a slightly smaller bore from the factory compared to the (A) blocks whcih would definately need to go up to oversized pistons/rings after a hone.

DO NOT rebuild the block w/o honing the cylinders, contrary to what people may tell you.

serjey15

Ok but Do I need to custom fit the piston rings? I dont understand why thats a dumb question.

0Import RP

iTrader: (7)

Do you have any machine shops you can recommend that know how to properly hone/bore the H-series blocks?

NAH2B

there are several in my area, not sure who to recomend around you.

any machine shop can do the job if they are willing to order the proper honing stones.

vinuneuro

Golden Eagle and DFE can properly do it for sure. Although I'm not sure if DFE is still in business, I wouldn't send anything there in fear of it not returning. Golden Eagle charges around $200 to bore/hone an H22 which is very reasonable. Their turn around time is less than 4-5 days.

Look at this thread for which stones, etc to use if you have a local place you trust:

https://honda-tech.com/forums/showth...ghlight=golden

serjey15

Ok thanks guys. So .25 over size rings is only if i bore it .25 and get .25 over size pistons right?

thundernoodle

yes

perfectlude

I have a h22a1 that came in my prelude when i bought it, when i bought it it had low compressin in 1 cylinder so we began the rebuild.. sent the head out got all new valves and re surfaced. We tore it down to bare block to find out that there are scratchs in the cylinder walls? Im not sure from what but we we then used a bore guage and to my surprise we found that the block had been bored 20 over already.. im stuck and dont know what to do now? After honeing it can it still be good? Please help.. im a beginner at this and the struggle is real lol

snobordboy

Measure your pistons and find out if they are the .25 overbore or not, if not, get the correct pistons and hope that the tiny amount of bore/hone is enough to clean the walls and make them useable.

If not, sleeve the block and put in forged pistons.

perfectlude

Will do and the block is currently getting hot tanked at the machine shop. If we are not able to remove the scratches how much would it be to get sleeves and forged pistons cheapest as possible? I started the rebuild on a $1500 budget and im down to about $850..

snobordboy

Just go for "dry" replacement liners sleeves, they are usually pretty cheap and a couple 100 to install. Pistons there are quite a few options just search around, and probably do some rods as well, something budget like eagles will be fine unless you end up going to excessive boost down the road.

perfectlude

Alright the pistons are oversized .020 over and block is .020 over do you think it will still be good to run them after the hone is done it shouldnt remove that much material? Scratches arnt very deep. And would it hold good compression? And another thing is when the engine was in (never got it to start) because the ignition when i turned the key all it did was click down on the left side.. would that be an ignition relay ir some other kind of issue? Its a 1992 prelude