Heath

Anyway...I blew my headgasket today....wanna replace as soon as possible. Gimme some recommendations if at all possible. I just need something for street use...nothin to fancy. Thanks guys!

inspyral

I replaced mine with another stock one a couple weeks ago. Can't beat $20.

ekb18c

stock works for me.

Heath

Is it pretty simple to do? Anything I should watch out for? I'm only a novice mechanic.

Doodoo

Take it slow. I would buy new headbolts. You need a breaker bar or cheater for removing the headbolts. A pan for holding spilled coolant. Put the motor at TDC.
Get a manual. Be sure you have a back up car in case you cant do it. Its not so bad.

After I worked on a H22 I never knew what I was missing when doing a head gasket. Vtec are much easier than non-vtec.

inspyral

Make sure you pull all the sensors and coolant lines off the head before you try to pull the head. You can loosen the timing belt tensioner to give you enought slack to slide the belt off and back on. Make sure everything is at TDC when you put it back on. Oh yah, the intake manifold has this lame bracket that braces it to the block, make sure you get that out of the way too. You'll want to pull both manifolds to make it easier to get the head off. Use new gaskets for anything you take off. The head bolts need to be torqued in a specific sequence in a couple stages. Now would be a good time to pick up a Helm's if you don't already have one.

turbologist

torque them in sequence like inspyral said clean the mating surfaces and lube the bolts before installing them.

BoostedED9

what do you guys use to clean surfaces, and to keep stuff fom getting in the water jacket/oil holes and all that??

BoOsTeD_eK

Cometic HP headgasket for a gsr...$90 shipped...paypal verified.

Jared

Get new head bolts and go back with a stock gasket. Can't go wrong, I've seen 20+psi on them time after time.

Heath

Ok...maybe I didn't blow my headgasket. No antifreeze in my oil or visa versa...everything is acting normal now....WTF? No antifreeze bubblin or nothin...any other tell-tale signs of headgasket problems?

inspyral

Does your reservoir overflow after boosting?

Heath

Nope...any ideas? It hasn't done ANYTHING since.

PSI-spec

Have you checked your coolant for blow bye gases

Heath

Blow by gases, eh? How do I do that? I will check as soon as you tell me how!

inspyral

You need this kit that they sell to test coolant. I think it's like litmus paper or something similar that you dip into the coolant, and it changes color, and based on that, you can tell if there's been exhaust gases leaking into it.

Heath

So...just out of curiousity...how bad is it to blow an acura headgasket? I've heard that its really not that big of a deal and actually not harmful to your motor to continue to drive it. How accurate is this? I know I sure as hell wouldn't have driven my Z28 with a blown headgasket!