Be prepared to read a story--Im sick of this and on the verge of getting out of hondas forever.(cliffs notes at the end.)

Well, it all started with a little b16..I took it apart and was going to rebuild it myself but my dad wanted me to find someone with experience to build it instead. SOO we take it to a little machine shop and the guy completely rebuilds it.(with some rebuild kit outta some manual...)And he bores and uses oversized pistons. So i put it in my car and it never stops smoking even after 4000 miles (burning 2 quarts in 2-300 miles;we take it back to the guy and he puts new valve seals it in.Doesnt fix it. He ends up screwing us around saying the engine was overheated so hes not gonna pay to fix it.( its was never overheated EVER)

Next, we take it to a local Honda genious that builds all kinda motors ranging from turbo to NA and never has problems.The head goes to a reputable machine shop in town that does everyones work and they said the valve guides were shot so they replaced them along with new valve seals. Meanwhile my guy hones the block, puts on new honda rings(uses same pistons) and new bearings. He puts it back together and it still smokes terribly, worse than any other engine he has ever built. He figures somethin is messed up with the block(the machine shop we used does all his work also and he has never had a problem)
So he gets me a b18c1 block out of some guys car that was rebuilt, ran for about 10000 miles and then sat for a year(DUI). He checks it out and then slaps my head on and it still smokes. I drove it for about 3k miles and it burned a little less oil than the b16(1 quart every 200miles). So, I get new rings from honda and he installs them along with honing the cylinders,and uses the same pistons....but he does something i dont like; uses the same head gasket(sprays it with copper spray) anyways...now it burns about 1 quart every 3-400 miles. It only smokes for a few seconds when i first crank it up after it has been sittin for a while(in the morning) and it smokes when i take off after letting it idle for a few mins(sitting at a redlight). Ive had people follow me and they say it doesnt smoke or smell like burning oil when im just driving around.

That guy gets tired of messing with it ( has better **** to do like build motors that dont smoke for people...) Ive checked the pcv system about 1000 times and its good everytime.I performed a compression test and came up with 210 190 190 205 and removed the head to go back to the machine shop cause i figured it has to be the head..The guy at the machine shop says theres oil in the intake ports and theres also oil residue in the IM. He says im getting blow by and insists its the piston rings but he said he will take the head apart just to check everything out again.
Im sick of this, i dont know what to think anymore, this has been dragging out for about a year now...The only thing i can think is it needs to be bored and re ringed with NEW pistons..And im thinking of getting an oil catch can. I NEED HELP

*Cliffs notes*
b16-rebuilt=burning oil like crazy
new valve seals=still smokes
New guy rebuilds it and head goes to machine shop and gets new valve guides= still smokes
Get used b18c1 block=still smokes
Used block rebuilt=still smokes
Me=going to shoot myself in the head....HELP ME AHHHHHHHHHHH....

 

go find someone who knows what they are doing, you are in GA

DonF is not too far, hes in FL

 

I do not use stock rings, there are better sets out there. Most hone finishes are too course and need to be with-in .0005 or less. Also if the stock used piston has skirt wear and you hone the block bigger you will burn oil, not enough oil ring tension as it was designed for.

 

Hmm..Thanks for the replay Don....I havnt seen the pistons that are still in there. #1 piston is very black, blacker than the others and the combustion chamber is wet; and has a lot of build-up except on 1 exhaust valve that is dry. So I should probably take the block, get it bored and honed at a machine shop (not by hand) get new OS pistons (pr3 or so?;id rather not spend 500 bucks on a set of pistons)?. What kind of rings would u reccomend? Not Honda rings?

 

The block needs to be honed by machine. Let me know what size pistons you end up with. Ther are a few better rings, and they are cheaper than OEM. IM me.

 

yah sounds like a problem with your mechanics. i know that if my mechanic put together a motor for me that smoked like that or burned that much oil, id make sure he fixed it, no matter how "busy" he is with other peoples motors. you are a paying customer and deserve quality work and you should demand it. get it to a good shop that backs up what they do.

 

Well..He can keep working on it but i have to keep paying him money to fix it and so far it hasnt been fixed, and now im almost broke and im not spending anymore money for someone else to mess with it and it not work.

 

I had the EXACT same problem in my B16A (meaning the smoking after idling or when starting the engine) which got fixed after I installed new valveseals (the expensive ones - ARAI, NOK seals cost less than half).
My oil consumption was way lower though (about 1 quart in 700miles), so I figure it's not only the seals.
After changing the seals the oil consumption was reduced to 1 quart in 1800 miles but the block is old (120k HARD miles on it - no rebuilt) but the smoking issue was never seen again.
Since your problem was the same with 2 different blocks, my bet is that something is wrong with the head

 

straight up OEM rebuild, or a higher compression setup? are you using a stock ECU for the setup when breaking in?

 

Im using a chipped p28 right now running on a b16 basemap. The heads been to the machine shop once and got new valve guides and seals along with a valve job, i was thinking of getting some higher quality seals just in case,because i dont know what kind of seals comes with their "head package."
I think ive figured out what im going to do with it; just gonna rebuild it myself, the way its suppossed to be done. Block is going to machine shop to get bore and hone(by machine) and im getting new pistons and rings. I figured i was paying people to do the work because they have experience but apparently i was wrong.
Oh and are honda valve seals better than the others, like the ones that come with a head gasket kit(that has all the seals for the head)?

 

I trusted OEM honda ARAI seals, the stock JDM B16A motor that I have had these babies from the factory, so I figured why change something that works from the factory

Just remember, white spring seals go on INTAKE and black spring go on EXAUST side
If you do it the other way round , you'll have problems

 

By the way, If you're running a B16 p30 basemap in a B18C block you're way too lean in the midrange in WOT
After you rebuild your motor dont use that basemap for the break in unless you keep it to closed loop (and you are sure your lambda sensor works fine)
I've seen two different stock b18c's running in the 16:1 A/F range in low-mid rpms when p30 basemap was used for tuning

 

well ive been trying not to get on it too much too hard. I actually had a b16 basemap and for some reason it was running rich and fouling plugs(probably because of oil) and smoking black at idle. I think this new basemap this guy burned for me actually has a b16 low cam and ITR high cam.