The1nfection

Well... I actually made myself quite proud. I managed to (for the first time in my life) change a Head Gasket on my 1993 Del Sol S. It only took about a month for the machine shop to finish up with the Cylinder head. After that I spent all day yesterday attaching it again. Everything went well with the fix until I tried to start the car. After much thought and consideration I was totally stumped, until my dad asked if I put gas in the tank. Welp... Car works just fine now, but my brain, clearly not so much. That was yesterday.

Today I'm changing out the thermoswitch to fix my radiator. After that it's time to think about engine mounts. So that was my last two days.

delsnow

I took my timing belt off to find that I failed to tension it correctly, or some other mistake happened when I replaced it a week ago. It was my first timing belt change. All I can do is read, make sure I'm doing everything correctly and figure out the tensioner. I ordered new belt and I'm going to try again. Poor sol sits some more.

agb22

I own a 1999 Civic EX. Bought it in 2006 when I was 17. Still driving it today as my daily 11 years later. I love taking care of this machine.

Last week I replaced the cam seal, it was slowly leaking oil. Also replaced water pump and timing belt while I was over there.

Today I installed a new dizzy. It was slowly dripping oil. OEM dizzy lasted me 215,000 miles. Can't complain.

Also did some preventative maintenance!
- Changed fuel filter
- Changed trans fluid
- Did a valve lash adjustment for the first time in a while. Valves didn't need much adjusting surprisingly
- Replaced valve cover gasket and spark plug grommets
- Also found some mudguards for sale locally, threw those on today. didn't even have to take the rear wheels off.

Next project is to clean and detail the engine bay. Gotta get all this oil that was dripping out of the dizzy off my motor and trans underneath. It's all gunked up.

This is my baby. I painted the side skirts a couple weeks ago along with an Si grille I found on craigslist. gonna paint the front lip soon. I like the simple stock look.
She's nothing fancy but she's mine!

Gimme Wafflez

literally in the same boat yesterday. Did my head gasket, put everything back together and first crank was a no go. Figured after sitting for a year with already no gas in the car it must be completely empty. I put two gallons in and it fired right up. This was a huge accomplishment for me since I've never done any car work to that degree and did it by myself with a manual. Feels good

TomCat39

Got my Black H center caps from China. Cost was 12 dollars canadian for the set of 4 instead of 25 dollars each from the Stealership.

They fit perfectly:



These are the ones I bought and just had to wait about 45 days to come in:



It appears these are already gone from aliexpress, but maybe you can find another knock off. For the price, I didn't mind taking the chance as if they didn't work I'm not out a lot.

94 Civic Si

Are those Integra wheels? That is what I want to do - thanks!

TomCat39

yeah better known as LS/GSR mesh wheels. I just popped the acura center caps out and these Honda badged ones fit perfectly.

94 Civic Si

Thank you! And they are 15", yes? I think those might be a nice touch for the Si...

94 Civic Si

Was the only thing wrong that it was leaking? You can replace the o-ring and keep using your old distributor...

TomCat39

Yeah 15". I like the look of them but also when researching, the wilwood brake calipers for our Honda's require 15" wheels.

So the other thing I was looking at was what Honda's came with 4x100 15" steelies for winters and it appears the 8th gen 2006+ came with 4x100 steelies but I'm not positive on that one.

BryanM.

iTrader: (1)

2006+ are 5 lug

TomCat39

Had that feeling. Memory when posting didn't help, I'm guessing it's the 7th gen 2001-2005 civic that could be the 15" 4x100 steel wheels.

I heard Saturns had 4x100 15" so there sounds like there is options for winters.

94 Civic Si

Or why not just stick w/ 14" for winter?

TomCat39

Wilwood 4 or 6 piston brake calipers.

94 Civic Si

Got it...

TomCat39

My car (95 EH2 Civic Hatchback with Z6 swap) has overheated twice but never got past 3/4 gauge before I caught it and did the shut off restart trick to get off the road and able to add water.

Anyways, she misfires a bit in the morning so today I pulled the plugs and #2 and #4 were rather clean as well as the pistons tops are decarbonized and unfortunately, wet with coolant.

Reservoir isn't overflowing or changing level at all, but the rad has a 1.3 bar cap instead of the stock 1.1 bar.

So yeah, found out while all my major tools are packed away, my head gasket is leaking enough that I get to top up coolant every couple of days.

I suppose since it's going to be about 2 months before we get our townhouse with a garage, I should stop beating on the motor so it will last long enough to swap to my other used D16Z6 motor.

Fun discovery today

94 Civic Si

Darn, that is disappointing! Especially in the midst of a move... I hope she can make it until you get into your new place!

TomCat39

She most likely will if the story my factory trained tech told me is true.

He said a buddy of his had one our little cars and it was pushing coolant into a cylinder. He told him he should replace the head gasket but his buddy said nah, don't want to put any money into this thing. So just continually topped up the coolant and drove it for about a year before it finally gave out.

My misfire in the morning just started at most two weeks ago, so if I can keep my lead foot off the gas..... I think I should be okay.

tony_2018

timing belt job on the civic, it was time. Thank god I decided to do it because the accessory belts are cracked and ripped. The whole shebang including a new oil pump w/ seal (cuz I had it laying around).

NVturbo

Misfires may just be:
- rotor button
- distributor cap
- bad spark plug wires

TomCat39

Yes, but those most likely would not clear up after 2-3 seconds of revving the car first thing in the morning.

Those also don't account for my coolant loss, the clean carbon free #2 and #4, the over heating and the extremely pressurized coolant hoses. I've over heated 3 times now and had to add over a half gallon of water each time. As well as I depressurize the system and top up every morning now.

And lastly, that does not account for the small puddle of coolant sitting on top of the pistons when I was inspecting.

Oh and it does not account for the tiny little bits of black viton rubber floating in my coolant from it peeling off the head gasket.

My block tester and fluid is packed away so I can't confirm that way, but with everything else I've seen, there is no need. When I bought the motor, the piston tops were black with carbon.... Not anymore.

NVturbo

^^ time to ditch that engine. LOL

j/k man.


black rubber floating in the coolant? Are you sure it's not the radiator hoses? The one in my daughter's Integra messed up and you can see black film inside the coolant reservoir.

TomCat39

I'm pretty sure it's not the hoses, the motor has silicone hoses.

Also on another engine I tore apart the black viton rubber was blistering off the head gasket right at the water jacket. I posted pictures of it and was attributing it to the copper spray, but really could just be age.

Anyways, I've been seeing the black little particles floating around for awhile so I think the head gasket has been going for awhile but really making itself known lately. I suspect the person I bought it from overheated it badly, didn't mill the head and just replaced the head gasket and sold it to me. It had/has a pretty bad top block knock (piston slap) so either they honed an out of spec block before re-ringing or the pistons and cylinders distorted from a massive overheat.

I knew I was taking a chance when I bought the parts car, but compression was perfect and it doesn't burn hardly any oil. Just the really nasty piston slap and now the head gasket.

AdrianClayton

Now you just have an excuse to B swap it!

TomCat39

More money for parts I don't have.

Also, I still have to follow through with my first projects all involving D's I have sitting around.

Then I was thinking going H22A really.