I have been reading up on boosting Honda engines, d16's specifically, and it seems a reoccuring problem is blown headgaskets. Is this something that is just inevitable when pushing such small engines to their limits, or is there some way it can be prevented? Is it solely a matter of tuning, or is it the gasket itself that can be upgraded in some way?

 

Well I was one of those who posted about the head gasket probs In my case I have 143k on the motor and it was still on the original headgasket so I think just from its age it wasnt able to withstand the extra pressure. The car was tuned on a wideband and it maintained an ideal 12.1-12.5ish af ratio throughout the powerband so I know it wasnt tuning issue. I'll be replacing it with another oem z6 gasket(metal 3 layer) along with a new waterpump and timing belt just incase.



Modified by AztecEJ at 12:42 AM 5/27/2003

 

one thing to do is to run a thicker head gasket.alsou can get some after market head studs, in stead off bolts.

 

Ive heard that running thicker aftermarket gaskets can be bad since it increases the length between the crank and the cams thus throwing off timing

 

ACTUALLY... I think honda just had a "product update" for the 92-95 civic d16 engines and such.

The new head gasket is a 4 layered piece and is around 80 bucks or so.

I have my y7 bottom with y8 head package + JRSC @ 8 psi without headgasket problems...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dester223 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ACTUALLY... I think honda just had a "product update" for the 92-95 civic d16 engines and such.

The new head gasket is a 4 layered piece and is around 80 bucks or so.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's interesting. Now I wonder what is better in this case (boost), thicker or thinner?

It sounds like this may be unavoidable with time. I will be getting a new headgasket, among other things, before boosting so age will not be a factor for me. I just wanted to know if there was a better alternative to the stock z6 gasket (for reliability that is).

 

I have a 2mm inline pro headgasket on my d16y8, it does affect your timing but that can be solved with an adjustable cam gear. as for them not being reliable, i would have to say if you install it correctly, make sure your head is completley level, and torque them to the specs recommended by the headgasket company, i know for my h.g i was supposed to torque it 10% over stock specs, then you should be okay. i know many people running thicker h.g on their daily driven cars for a few years now.

 

I'd say the thicker 4 layered gasket will drop compression somewhat, so you're less prone to detonation and such. I don't know how good it is, but I guess the d16z6 gasket was replaced with this one.

Honda said that they "recommend you buy the longer head bolts to compensate for the slightly higher H.G." me = WTF???

 

So is thicker really better in this case? Compression numbers aside, is there anything about a thicker gasket that would make it less prone to failure when boosted? I actually thought a thinner one would be better.

 

If done right, you will not have a problem with a stock metal headgasket. A thicker gasket will lower your compression and therefore loose power. Not a good thing for a motor that's down on power to begin with. Unless you're planning on running over 14psi on pump gas, i'd stick with stock compression.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tony1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Unless you're planning on running over 14psi on pump gas, i'd stick with stock compression.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, actually I am. hehe. But is the thicker gasket for any other purpose than just lowering the CR, or is it just physically stronger? I don't wish to lower my CR at all, and I do not believe I would need to with my setup. Just wondering about the gasket strength specifically in this case.

 

I never got quite the answers I was looking for, so I thought I would try again. Is the stock HG the way to go, as long as it is fresh it will hold up?