The story goes:

I boosted the car about a year after I bought it around the end of 2000, went through a steep learing curve and ended up having the setup tuned on Hondata, it made 295 whp on a mustang dyno and ran 12.6s on drag radials...long story short, after over 40K miles just *** raping the car, she finally started consuming a lot of oil (burning it) the compression test showed that #3 was lower than the rest, so I finally realized it was time for a rebuild. I decided to pick up a used GSR block and build that, and the plan was to keep the B18C5 for a future build. This project took from November of '05 to July of '06...the car was down for over a year . The reason it took so long is purely a time and money issue. With a wife and son and a new one on the way (he was born this August), I made many of my decisions based on my financial resources (or lack thereof..), overall the build was a great learning experience.

Picked up a nice 95GSR B18C1 with about 100K miles, it had been boosted previously, but the price was right. I paid $550 for the short block plus eagle rods..sweat deal IMO.



I already had the engine hoist from a previous build a few years back (DSM)



The rods: I wasn't in the market for eagles, but again the price thing got the best of me..



I also wanted to make sure I had the right tools for the job, so I bought a bore gauge and a nice metric micrometer for measuringthe bores/pistons:





stripped down and cleaned up the block a bit



CP Forged pistons, forged out of 2618, then CNC machined.



My boy Bronson, he's my little helper



the block was bored/honed .5mm over. I checked it and all the bores are within +/- .0002" (both axes). The pistons were ceramic (dome) and dry film lubricant (skirts) coated, and look nice



Block honed .5 mm over





double checking the machinist (I have trust issues)



new arp head studs courtesy of Jim at FMM :thumbs1:



bought a new set of micrometers



measured rod and main journals and tunnels before ordering bearings



new bearings from Honda, and plastigauge to make sure I measured correctly







started ripping out the old motor..



evidence of oil burning on 3 and 4



out she comes



no problem



found the root cause of my oil burning problem broken ringlands on 3 and 4



ugly



new headgasket from Honda



new rear main seal from Honda



Rod bearings and hondabond from Honda, plus I ordered a rod bolt stretch gauge from Summit





Got the Endyn breather system, a new dipstick from Honda, and valve cover gasket



assembling the new block






Endyn fittings



I got the bottom end done. Gapped the rings, installed the piston/rod assemblies. Torqued the rods using a stretch gauge...it's a weird feeling not using a torque wrench on the rod bolts..I've built a few engines in the past and always used a torque wrench...oh well, it's a pretty sweet method IMO. Supposedly much more accurate. I checked the oil clearances with plastigauge anyways..the clearances ended up a bit tighter than I had calculated, but they were at about .0015 on the rods, but then again plastigauge isn't perfectly accurate and the resolution is much greater than you can achieve with proper measurement tools.







rod assembly





installed the head and cams



almost done



japanese newspaper FTW



ready to be dropped in







installed the motor and finishing up





all done..



The motor has over 1K on it now and is running great on the old tune. I plan on getting bigger injectors and a retune (more boost) soon.

 

nice choice on the mic set. i want to do a engine build that percise in the future but maybe for na because its a daily driver. i give it a big

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MadSuRfEr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice choice on the mic set. i want to do a engine build that percise in the future but maybe for na because its a daily driver. i give it a big </TD></TR></TABLE>

thanks. Mine's a daily driver too.

I don't drive it in winter however.

 

Nice write up and a great job

 

Thanks for sharing your project with us. Looks like you did her right.

 

Man Thats a chinese newspaper FYI

Good writeup

 

awesome work

keep an eye on that catch can setup, unless you are running a return drain. running it out of the block fittings like that can quickly overflow the Endyn can.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gogogomoveit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Man Thats a chinese newspaper FYI

Good writeup</TD></TR></TABLE>

HAha, I was gonna mention the same.....

Thanks for sharing the pix.... gives me a good idea of what I don't want to be doing in the near future as my car is showing lots of blowby....diesel/gasoline hybrid oil/gas consumption for the mega lose...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gogogomoveit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Man Thats a chinese newspaper FYI

Good writeup</TD></TR></TABLE>

hehe..nice catch..I didn't bother looking at it that closely..I just saw the asian guy and a bunch of crazy squiggly things...

 

NICE BUILD! makes me want to buy another project to build

 

Nice clean build! Be sure to update once its retuned and when you get to work on the old C5

 

PLEASE retune the car before you drive it anymore. It's not safe to run an old tune for a stock motor on a rebuilt (and different for that matter) motor.

 

awesome build man, your itr is gorgeous also!, very very clean and professional, good luck with the future plans keep us informed

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RagingAngel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

HAha, I was gonna mention the same.....

Thanks for sharing the pix.... gives me a good idea of what I don't want to be doing in the near future as my car is showing lots of blowby....diesel/gasoline hybrid oil/gas consumption for the mega lose...

</TD></TR></TABLE>

x3

awesome build and documenting!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by boostincoupe &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">PLEASE retune the car before you drive it anymore. It's not safe to run an old tune for a stock motor on a rebuilt (and different for that matter) motor. </TD></TR></TABLE>

It's fine. If I was increasing compression, or boost, I'd worry about it. However I decreased compression and didn't change boost, so the program is ultra conservative right now for this setup..there's no danger of any engine damage. The car runs like a peach, and gets close to 30 mpg

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gogogomoveit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Man Thats a chinese newspaper FYI</TD></TR></TABLE>

beat me to it

nice stuff! rebuilt.. what numbers you making now?

 

Hey just one question: What did you use to plug the hole in the block that used to have the oil breather tank attached to it when you installed your catch can setup? thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fled &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hey just one question: What did you use to plug the hole in the block that used to have the oil breather tank attached to it when you installed your catch can setup? thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

It is a Dorman brand freeze plug, part number 555-104

 

Thank you for sharing

 

nice

 

you do know your engine building room has to be a certan temp otherwise heat/cold can alter measurments that small.

 

awesome build! props to you.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SkRiBLaH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you do know your engine building room has to be a certan temp otherwise heat/cold can alter measurments that small.</TD></TR></TABLE>

ofcourse I know that, that's why all the measurements were done in my house after letting all parts sit inside for about a week.

 

nice picture thread.
i wish i had a better camera and skills to take pictures my self

 

Sweet build. Track in the cars future?