rice4life

iTrader: (3)

my cometic gasket will arrive soon, i'm getting apr head bolts also. i was thinking about putting in a blockguard while i have the head out. every one says not to tap it in with a hammer. i have access to a machine shop but what do i do to put it on. do i machine it so that there is very little resistance and then tap it in. what should i use to hold it in place so it doesn't sly down the cylinder. i don't want to go the posting cylinder method because it takes too long and i have to pull the engine out. i also think the block guard will strengthen the cylinder wall becuause it surround the top of the cylinder where most of the pressure is. anyone have done this sucessfull please help.

G2turbo_terror

endyn explains he proper way, but you don't wanna take your engine out, so I personally wouldn't recomend putting it in.

rice4life

iTrader: (3)

where can i get the infomation from endyn, is there a website.

00civicvtec

It distorts the upper part of the cylinder....blockguards are a pain in the ***, i've seen cylinders crack right at the blockguard, and daily drivers overheat because of them...some people have good luck with them, others wish they never have gotten it...

If you want cylinder reinforcement, post your block or get sleeves...otherwise leave it alone.

Doodoo

My personel experience:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=189635

X2BOARD

Ok... no, you should not tap in a block guard with a hammer/mallet.

The reason you see so many horror stories is similar to LSVT horror stories... they just weren't done right in the first place, so people assume the product is crap.

The reason they don't do a proper job is the block guard is made of a different material than the block, so it's heat exchange/dissapation and expansion properties are not the same. Since the block guard is getting most of it's heat from the cylinder wall, it will start expanding later and at a different rate. As a result, the cylinder wall, which has already expanded, is now going to face the expansion of the block guard... which was prolly **tapped in with a mallet** so there is little to no clearance between them. What is the outcome ? The block guard slowly attempts to deform the cylinder walls. What could eventually happen is a) The top of the cylinders will crack B) The piston may seize on the upstroke.

The proper way to install a block guard as explained to my by a performance mechanic and Acura tech is to sand/grind the outer perimeter of the block guard until it can just freely drop into the recess between the walls.

Ohter than that, you just have to keep in mind the limitations of the block guard.

X2

filetofit

Huh? they are both made of aluminum. THe CTE of aluminum is the same regardless of alloy, cast or forged.

X2BOARD

If you look at the cylinder wall of a honda, you will notice the cylinder is not all the same material. It is not PURE aluminum, and therefore has varying expansion properties depending on how much impurity is in the metal.

If you think about it, it should make perfect sense to ya.

filetofit

Well you actually originally said block. And I can guarantee you that the blockguard has the same CTE as the cast aluminum block. Now the sleeve/cylinder wall is a different material. I dont know exactly what the sleeves and cylinder wall are made off but not many metals have a CTE higher than Aluminum, magnesium is the only one that comes to mind (that's about 15% higher) . Steel expands at roughly half the rate of aluminum. The only thing I can think of that might expand faster than aluminum would be some kind of sintered composite, with an epoxy binder.

X2BOARD

Going along those lines of assumption, a forged piston would expand at the same rate as the block... which it does not. Keep in mind that the block guard is not joined to the aluminum.... well a dropped in one, anyway. Heat is radiated to the guard thru conduction (?)... therefore will not expand as quickly as the rest of the block. Also, when the block guard is installed, if it is 'tapped' into a cold motor, then the clearances are already tight. Once the engine heats up (expands) and then causes the block guard to expand in that confined space... there won't be much place for it to go than to crack the walls. The fix to this is to grind the guard down enough to have some free play while sitting in the water jacket.

It is entirely possible for the block guard to have some level of silicone or similar element in it, causing a different rate of expansion.... I am not a chemist and my college years are well behind me, so I won't really continue on the subject of thermal efficiencies of metals

I don't really see what is so difficult to understand about this concept. Block Guards work... you just have to install the correctly.

X2