Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

HAI GUISE

So this thread is going to be mostly about incessant rambling. A dash of Honda. A pinch of Tech. Prepare yourself for essays (not the gangsters) about a lot of nothing. That's the way I make my posts. If you don't like it, or can't read, I'll post some pictures here and there so as to keep your ADHD in check. You don't like my style? I don't really care. You don't like my mods? I don't really care. I should do blah blah blah? Well, if you were me, then maybe I would but I'm not you, so you should just go do your own thing to your own car in your own way on your own time and make your own thread. Say that 10 times fast, I dare ya. ;)

Shoutout to GDD, RoadRace/AutoX, and Tech peeps. Y'all know who you are. Do you mayne and keep it 1hunnit!


Ok enough with the BS, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Back in like 1999 I discovered Gran Turismo. My favorite car was the CRX. You know the one. That's right. Just look at it. Tell me you weren't in love with that ish the first time you saw it.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3802/1...3965cfc6_b.jpg


Well that started my lust for these crappy Hondas. It engulfed my life. I was a die hard Mugen lover, even had the fake ricer Mugen seatbelt pads. I still heart it even though I will probably never buy anything of actual value from Mugen. Give me cheap reliable performance parts that actually work well, rather than expensive parts that work ok but are made out of unobtanium. The hype is real, don't let it fool you.

In highschool I wanted a white Civic EX. It would have been awesome. But what I wanted and what I got were two different things. Mommy and Daddy were divorced, and neither had time or money to pay for a car for lil ol' me. My senior year I ended up with a 1988 Jetta. $800 I made working a weekend job at a local paintball field paid for it. It had 256k and my uncle was using it for a commuter car. It was awesome. I put in my first system, had my first drag race in it, did my first oil change, and wrecked it 6 months later when I was late to work and not paying enough attention to cross traffic while trying to cross an intersection. Great times, that car.

My brother from another mother kept my lust for Hondas alive. We used to work on them all night long. Literally all night. From the time I got off work, til sunrise, we'd BS and wrench. Those were the days. Engine swaps, clutch changes, doing stupid things like leaving old sparkplugs in the engine bay and driving around town and having them fall out of the engine bay and freaking us out thinking the car was breaking down.

I ended up purchasing a 1987 CRX for $400, from my dad's friend. It had a roller paint job (before this was even a trend!) It used to be red. It was carbureted. It was a 5 speed manual. Popped that 5 speed cherry real quick in it, had one driving lesson from my friend on how to drive manual, and it was GAME ON. It was totally 80's and it was a motherfucking HONDA! It was great. I learned about redpepperracing and dreamed about flipping torsion bars to lower it, swapping in a browntop DOHC ZC from an 89 Integra into it. That lasted a few months until a spark plug shot out of the head. I heli-coiled it back in, thought I could take on a head swap, went to a junkyard and realized I had no idea how to pull another head.

Luckily for me, my buddy (unfortunately) gotten into a wreck in his Integra. Some bad driver didn't see the stopsign and T-boned him on his birthday. Another acquaintance had a 1988 HF CRX that he was trying to get rid of. He wanted the LS engine out of the Integra, my buddy wanted money for the engine, I had the money, long story short I ended up with the CRX. It was missing a headlight, already had a D16y7 it, an Si transmission, a missing headlight, and a blown out muffler. It had a DC header, no name intake, pretty much the definition of cool in 2004.

I had a good couple of years in that car. I ran a 15.7 at Sacramento Raceway. People were amazed a stock single cam with full interior missing a muffler and only having I/H/(no)E mods could do so well. I attributed it to my awesome reaction time and great launch and shifting skills. I bracket raced into the night and almost won, but was beat out by an automatic v6 Saturn, fkin A man...fkin a.

I played with that car, slowly destroying it unfortunately. I beat out a B16 CRX at an illegal drag, and the next day the dude wanted to sell his engine because it lost to that SOHC. I roll raced a 92-95 civic hatch with an LS swap and he couldn't believe that I was hanging with him in a single cam. He thought I was spraying nitrous..smh. Some dude from JDM Universe (remember that forum?!)

I pieced together a B20 VTEC back in 2004-2005. I swear I did it for $1100 back then. The whole swap. I never got to time it at the drag strip though, I was rear ended. Swapped the SOHC back in, parted out the motor, sold the car for $500 with the damage...I moved on from Hondas.

Nissans, Lexus, more Nissans. Back into a Honda. A 4 door civic this time... that didn't last long, and I went away again. That was back in 2008...this forum was still poppin' but had started to die. I missed the Great Fallout, I still don't fully understand what happened.

During all this time, I got together with other half, she had a CRV. I maintained it, but back then CRV's weren't cool yet. So I stayed over in HondaSUV.com. That place is almost (or is) dead now too...the Great Decline of forums... :( I put that CRV through it's paces though. I learned the max clearance of it as referenced here:
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1472/...f42354c8_z.jpg
I wish we still had that CRV. It's probably the best small non 4x4 SUV one can ever have. My wife decided to give it up for the Prius and I mention that it is her fault we don't have it anymore every chance I get :P

I rebuilt my brother's Integra, converted it from automatic to manual, and caught the bug again... The fact that Hondas are like Legos... and you can just play with them, mod them, enjoy them, it's in our blood. There are people who say they are lifers...then there are people who really are. It's not because they're cheap...they're not. Well, not if you do it right they aren't. But there is something about the #GEH cars...that captures our spirits. It envelops us. We poke fun at these little cars as we get older, and wonder why do we play with them. Really, they are playing with us. They are in our heads...be it memories, or fantasies, the dreams of the Hot Hatches and the Golden Era of FWD racing. The days where the hottest car on the streets was the Type R, the 90's supercars were Lambo killing Supras, when RX7's still had Rotary Engines. The NSX was an exotic machine, and nobody cared about the 1.4 million dollar Ferrari next to it, because that plebeian Acura had better lines and VTEC. (Not to mention it was only like 10% of the cost)

I had a Jeep. I enjoyed it. Off road. Anywhere else? I hated it. It was a tractor. It was an old outdated machine from WWII. What it did well, was one thing. Anything else? Too small, not enough power, too slow, too tall, too bouncy, etc. You get it. It is the offroading king, and it is the suckiest vehicle on the planet, at the same time. The soft top was cool though, summer time was fun even if I did sit there sweating. There is something about riding around in a Jeep with no cage around you.. almost like a motorcycle...almost. Damn near the same amount of a death trap, that's for sure.
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I found somebody wanted to trade this 1996 Civic for it. I thought about it...it had AC, it had GSR blades, it was a manual hatchback. It'd be fun, it'd save gas, why not? So I traded.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7373/...95b0fde7_z.jpg

It came with the typical eBay special parts. Plastidipped white GSR blades. eBay coilovers. The classic kind, with gold collars and red springs. Just like ground controls, but not! a cheap aluminum type R shift knob that didn't thread in right so it was cocked to one side. Crappy Scosche wiring kit for subs that I will never put in. It also came with a completely stock engine that was healthy(ish) for 200k miles on it. And AC. Ohh I loved the fact that it had AC. The Jeep had none. It wasn't broken, there was literally NO AC. WTF buys a car without AC? Jeep owners do, that's who.

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

I intended to just drive this Civic around for a DD. The CRV AC was broken, we were used to it, and only bitched about not having AC when it was like 104* during a heatwave in the middle of Summer and as soon as it cooled off, we forgot about it.

There is something about driving a #GEH car. Rowing through even a D series transmission, seeing the RPM wind up, feeling the (non existent) power, it brought me back to being 18 again REAL quick. I enjoy it. There are times I hate it, but mostly, enjoyment. People make fun of me for going back to a teenager's car. :shrug: they never got it, and never will.

So I played with it a bit.

Bought some Neuspeed race springs to get rid of the crappy ride of the eBay coils. Welps.. it did do that, and blew out the Koni ST.rt shocks at the same time, which brought it back to a crappy ride.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/270/1...b5b80214_c.jpg

I swapped those 14's on there because my brother really wanted to rock the blades on his Integra. TBH, the blades fit his car way more, and the 14's looked better on my Civic. :shrug:

I plastidipped the bumpers red, because I wanted to try out plastidip for myself, and I got tired of the black bumpers.. Eventually I'll swap these out for OEM bumpers and repaint the car, still red though, because Lil Weezy, sup. (jk, I don't like rap music) (JKJK, I like rap music, but only real rappers, not crappy rappers who don't make sense. Real gangsters don't dance they boogie.West West Y'all)

I put in some BB6 Prelude front seats. GREAT UPGRADE! Compared to the stock seats. They are pretty comfy, usually cheap, and you can still fully bolt them in if you swap the side rails.

Other than that the car has remained relatively the same. I removed the spooge wing and traded it for a DX wing. I removed the CTR replica lip. Keep it looking stock...idk, it's just better looking IMO.

I changed the oil a couple of times in the 2 years I've had it, drove it around, flirted with a Single Slammer, but realized that single cams just don't go fast, can't hold power, don't torque, and wtf dude it's a single cam, everybody knows the first thing you do to a Honda is swap it!

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

I recently was hired for a new job and decided the best course of action was to commute the Civic. The wife can't row a manual, she is a tiny Asian and can't turn the wheel of a car with no power steering. So...no cushy Prius for me...

I had been watching a GSR swap in the classifieds for a bit. I decided that the tired old single cam should be put to pasture, and that this swap would be the perfect candidate. The seller was pulling it out of a 96ish hatchback (man I wish I would have driven it when it first got put up for sale...but I didn't...woe is me) so it was complete! Everything ready to go! This is what I was told. Change a couple of seals for preventative maintenance, the T-belt/water pump, and she's a runner! B16 Trans with LSD! ACT CLUTCH! FRESH HEAD! Bill of Sale! Guarantee the motor will start, run and drive! Complete, almost perfectly ready to BAR! (which I fully intend to do...)

I bit. And now I'm chewing.

I went and bought the swap yesterday. (01/31/2016)

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1514/...a85c5f6e_c.jpg

I've gone so far as to strip the complete motor down to a bare long block, and tear off the oil pan for inspection of the bottom end. Here is what I have found.....

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

First things first, separate the engine and transmission.

The first bolt I take out, I see this. :|

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1519/...21bf2957_c.jpg

All that oil you see, came out of the bolt holes. Indicative of a rear main seal leak..a massively bad one. Great..clutch is toast. Sent a text to the seller, keeping him updated of my progress. He reassured me the clutch is fine.

Some sort of aftermarket LSD. Anybody have any idea? I will be breaking down the transmission later, probably to replace the case, if I can find a replacement soon. I don't think I've taken any pics of the condition of the front torque mount area...that was the first sign I should have walked away and I didn't...

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1471/...04b5f88a_c.jpg

Here is the bellhousing.. a little degreaser will clean this up... hopefully.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1638/...b1bf6189_c.jpg


A decently expensive ACT clutch setup. Supposedly it is a 'stage 3' or something. The flywheel is 8 pounds...on a stock GSR. :| Probably wasn't even balanced with the crankshaft..I wonder if this is what caused the engine to spew it's oil out of the front/rear main seals.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1602/...c453d476_c.jpg

The seller hooked it up with this intake! Dem Nostalgia Feels...I remember being in high school and going to Infineon raceway and seeing the Matrix booth :)

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1470/...edb687cd_c.jpg


Back to the clutch...

Pressure plate:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1659/...1bbcca48_c.jpg

Clutch disc:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1694/...4a80b628_c.jpg

(backside)
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1607/...781e3aa5_c.jpg

And flywheel:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1573/...1cc4b933_c.jpg

I'm willing to sell this kit if somebody wants it... IDK what it would even be worth in this condition, I'm assuming at least the flywheel could be cleaned/degreased/resurfaced and be good to go. On a stock engine though, no point, I'll be fine with a Type R or even a factory GSR flywheel/clutch kit...


Finally, the culprit. The rear main seal. You can see where it is leaking...

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1604/...aa9fc395_c.jpg

Let's get that engine on a stand now!

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

A book about nothing! That crx in gt was beast as hell. Subscribed!

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Once it was on a stand, I decided to tear down the motor to a bare long block. I needed to assess the condition of the whole motor, as this is obviously not as ready to go as was stated. I do understand the seller told me I should change the front/rear main seals, VC gasket, and T Belt and W/P...but what I found the farther I dug into the block... :thud:

I started by taking off the fuel rail so I could easily access the intake manifold nuts.

Does this look right to you? These were the fuel rail bolts that held it on. I've never messed with a GSR head/manifold so I am unfamiliar. Notice...one bolt is drenched in oil.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1580/...7537ee72_c.jpg

I was told it was a freshly rebuilt/cleaned head. Whatever was in the ad..can't remember at the moment. The intake ports did look really clean, no gunk, no blowby etc. Notice that I/M Gasket though? Also the bottom stud second to the right needs to be chased, either the threads are really dirty, or it's in need of a die.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1706/...b29a98be_c.jpg

Let's take a closer look of that I/M Gasket.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1519/...562cb640_c.jpg

Soaked in oil! HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?! I can only assume the valve cover gasket was also completely shot and was just puking oil. IDK how somebody doesn't see this oil leaking and change it... I had no problems getting the IM gasket off in one piece, it just peeled right off.

You can see the oil on the head here:
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1497/...6d7f422e_c.jpg

The intake ports are really clean as can be seen here. Only one pic, they all look the same.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1717/...b1f3b150_c.jpg

This gave me a bit of hope, as an engine this age (it's a 96 afaik) would have some sort of blowby in the head due to the design of the ventilation system.

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Moving on to the exhaust side of the head.

The seller told me he drove home from San Jose to Lathrop with 3 sensors not wired in correctly, and basically the ecu dumped half a tank of gas into the engine during that time. This is like a 2 hour drive. Maybe less.

Notice the date stamp on the head? Looks like somebody fudge with the single digit year...This may fail me at the referee station..There was also oil in the exhaust manifold gasket and on the head.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1514/...b0e7d5b4_c.jpg

Stripped exhaust manifold stud, a Heli coil or time sert might be able to fix that.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1690/...4b910b5a_c.jpg

Let's take a look at each of the ports, shall we?

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That buildup is pretty bad. Is there a way to clean this out without taking off the head and having it hot tanked? I really don't want to have to change the head gasket. I may end up having to do this... "If wishes were wings, pigs would fly!"

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Moving on to the valve train...

This area looks pretty...well..it's clean. No sludge build up, no tarnishing...notice anything odd though?

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1629/...b0b4e6b1_c.jpg

You see it yet? No?

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1510/...d3cf4ca1_c.jpg

A missing bolt. Hopefully this isn't stripped out...

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Let's drop down to the block for a bit.

Sorry, it was cold, pic is a little blurry.

I needed to crack open the block and drain out the coolant remnants before I flipped the engine and pulled the pan off.

This proceeded to come out. Nice and rusty....

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1709/...ec865005_c.jpg

Just a little bit of buildup in the coolant jacket...

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1597/...33b2db1e_c.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1550/...474733e8_c.jpg

I'm hoping flushing the block out will take care of this mess, hopefully somebody didn't use stopleak!


So far, that is the end of the surprises.

I had to drain the pan of all it's oil, as apparently It's just easier to pull the engine rather than undo the drain bolt. No milkiness in the oil, no shavings in the pan. Maybe it is just a leaky rusty engine in need of a cleaning, sealing, and fluid change...

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1544/...dc3d76e8_c.jpg

The bearings don't seem to be shot, as far as I can tell. I did not pull them apart, just checked them for longitudinal play. None there. The rods slid side to side laterally, so it seems good to go in the bottom end...

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Interested.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/honda-t...d67d48e3a7.jpg

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Ordering time..

So far I've ordered:

Front main seal
Rear main seal
Timing belt
Water pump+gasket
Tension bearing
Valve cover gasket kit
Intake manifold gasket
Exhaust manifold gasket
Oil pan gasket
Oil strainer gasket
Axle seals
Cylinder cam plug
Spark plug wires
Cam seals
Timing belt cover
Thermostat+gasket


Still need to order:

Clutch kit (aftermarket Exedy 'stock' clutch kit)
B20/DelSol DOHC VTEC AC Bracket
Spark Plugs
Pretty much all the hoses ever made ever by Honda (need to figure out the heater hoses/radiator hoses, I'm assuming EM1 Si hoses are what I need to buy)
Cap/rotor (I may pull this off my SOHC distributor since it's the same thing and I changed that less than 5k miles ago)
A metric tap and die kit

some brass wire brushes (I believe I have these, this is more of a mental note)

Probably some heli coils/time serts

random bolts that are most likely missing or the wrong thread pitch

Lots of engine degreaser (kidding, I'll probably use a couple of gallons of Simple Green doe)

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Electronics/Accessories

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

You going with NGK blue wires? Hondata I/M gasket?

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Forgot the rear main seal repair sleeve and anaerobic sealant. I bet there's a nice gouge in your crank to match the leak.

Maybe a distributor seal too.

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

OEM errythang

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

What is this repair sleeve you speak of? and anaerobic sealant?

I did not think of this, I will check for this.

Good point. I will grab an O ring for the distributor as well.

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Need to locate a factory service manual for the GSR.

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Dis gon be good!

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Needless to say that engine was a POS

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Wow ...i almost bought that swap ...:crook:

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

I wish it weren't so.

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Found the FSM, for both 94 and 98-01 models. Should be good to go on that front...

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

Subscriber here from NY stopping in to say this is how 99% of the motors out here in Long Island, New York look. Not bashing what you have, but just trying to relate of how much a pain it is to strip a motor down and fix all the bs that the previous owner couldn't. But in the end it will all be worth it. Loving the progress! :)

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

lots of work to do. nice.

Re: Caoboy's OMG WTF did I get myself into project thread
 

In for updates!