1.) My 89 prelude has r12 refrigerent for the ac and I had to put 2 cans in last year and its not cold anymore. As I'm sure you know, r12 these days is about $40-$50 a can. Could I just dump some regular r134 in there and save $20 or so to put in the gas tank?

2.) Through certain parts of the throttle there is a slight (tin sounding) rattle. Sounds like a loose guard or something. Any ideas where to start looking?

 

1) Donno

2) It will help diagnose the problem if you can specify where the noise is coming from. However, a lot of 'tin rattle' noises will be because of your heat shield on your cat converter. Don't ask me why, but it's very common.

 

O.k. its coming from the front and sounds like it could be the heat shield. Can I stop it? Its quite annoying and makes is kinda sound like a POS.

 

Coming from the front and sounding like a heat shield is probably the header heatshield. You can remove the heatshield with the bolts - pretty easy to identify and remove. A lot of people do not have this on their car and it's somewhat useless. All it does is protect the header from debris and retains the heat generated from the header. Some people will argue that the heatshield is important because the header needs to run hot to maximize airflow. Not having a shield on there allows air to come into contact with the header.

Below is a pic of a B16 with its stock heatshield (the dipstick is coming straight from it), I believe there are around 6 bolts and held on by what I believe to be 12mms.

 

Alright thanks man. So do you think it's a real loss of hp just taking it off?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 89pre2.0si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Alright thanks man. So do you think it's a real loss of hp just taking it off? </TD></TR></TABLE>

I would leave it on, keeps radiant heat from inside the engine bay.


looks cleaner as well.

 

if the heat shield isn't the problem the sound could be an exhaust hanger bracket

 

its most likely NOT the heatshield on the header rather the one on ur cat convertor like said above. just toss it.

u cant put r134a into a r12 system for one fittings are different sizes. buy a retrofit kit from the boys. ull need to change all your o-rings, remove ur compressor and drain the oil and fill with pag oil(r12 uses mineral oil) also replace your reciver dryer.

and last thing fix ur hvac controls.