zaebra

Hi, guys. I'm normally a Ford Courier guy, but my little trusty '86 Civic 1.3 might be up next for some engine work.

I think this model came brand new with a smoking 60 HP, and now it's probably something like 16 HP. It struggles to get up a hill or go past 60 mph, and it does smoke a teensy bit every once in a while (like under a load).

The engine just rolled over 225,000 miles, but I did a top-end head rebuild about 10,000 miles ago. I'd like to see if there's an inexpensive way to maybe give the engine another 50,000 or 100,000 miles, and I was told that you can just swap out rings on these older Hondas.

With that in mind, does anyone know if you can just drop the pistons out the bottom, put on a new ring set, and then put them back in without actually honing the cylinder bores? I got the car for $150 and have less than $1000 into it, including everything except gas, so I don't want to dump much money into it. Any garage mechanics out there that can give me some easy longevity or power tips?

Thanks, guys n' gals!

~z~

EFinawesomeman

First thing, you can drop the bottom end out replace the rings and put them back in without honing it. Is it a good idea? No. You can get a brush type hone online for preeeetty cheap and all you need is a drill to fit, which you can rent at like and AutoZone or something if you dont have one. But to get the pistons and rods back in, best way and sometimes the only way is to do it from the top, you'll want to replace the headgasket when you take the head off though so that will take some money, but if you want that engine to last I'd say do it the right way man. As far as wanting to make more power, while you have the head off you can polish your combustion chambers if you'd like it will help with flow and combustion, also while you have the pistons out you can get the top dome of your piston covered in ceramic-but thats expensive. You can also do a mild port job if you have a dremel, or you can just polish the paths and rough out your exhaust side with a rough grit sandpaper. Hope my information helps brotha.

zaebra

whoa, information overload! :D

ok, I did the head job so I guess I could certainly drop the head off and change the rings out all proper-like. Definitely rather do it right.

How would I polish the combustion chambers..?

What do you mean by "mild port"? I own a rotozip with the flexshaft (cuts rebar), so that sounds cool. Is the porting where you polish the exhaust ports and remove the little metal burrs and stuff to improve exhaust airflow?

What about polishing the paths and roughing out exhaust side..? What's that?

Sorry, I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to engine internals. I learn as I go, and it's forums like this that help a lot.

Thanks again!!

EFinawesomeman

By Mild port I mean just getting everything smoothed out and nice then just polish it. to polish the combustion chambers is like polishing any other metal just be VERY careful to not scrape or scratch your machined head surface.

Polishing the exhaust ports is practically useless. Alot of pro engine builders found more horsepower out of their engines by actually roughing it out. Don't know how it helps but it does.

I tend to type as I think by the way haha.

SA-Motorsports.com

They sell port and polish kits and have DIY guides on there.

2ndGenGuy

They don't polish the intake anymore because they found that the fuel will condense on the smooth passages. Having it slightly rough prevents that from happening. Think like your mirror in the bathroom with the steam condensing on it.

EFinawesomeman

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2ndGenGuy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">They don't polish the intake anymore because they found that the fuel will condense on the smooth passages. Having it slightly rough prevents that from happening. Think like your mirror in the bathroom with the steam condensing on it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Are you talking about the engine he has? or engines in general? thanks for the hug. haha