So i took the head off my d16a6 cause im swapping on a y8 head and ive ran into some trouble. For the life of me i cannot get the old head gasket material off the block and i dont know what to use so that i dont damage the block itself. what do you reccomend i use? alldata sais somethin about a gasket solvent, which maybe i can pick up at an autoparts store? any other suggestions? and what should i do to the mating surface itself if anyone has any suggestions to try and ensure i dont have head gasket issues in the near future.

Anyways heres a pic of the devil incarnate

 

haha...alldata...try nodata, lol...sorry, i hate that stupid site sometimes....anyhow, get yourself a good ole' fashioned gasket scraper, and be careful!!! probably wouldnt hurt to try to find some kind of solevant, but i've never heard of such a thing??

 

i doubt anything your gunna use will really expletive up the block. just clean it good after words try letting it soak in some brake cleaner or simple green max. then make sure to wipe it up good and dry it good. also a scraper isnt a bad idea a razor or something.

 

try this?

 

http://www.permatex.com/produc...r.htm

You can get it at auto zone, napa...

 

Thank you sir, i think thats what i was lookin for! i just hope it does the job as well as advertised lol.

 

me and my buddies use "chemtool b12" just dab it on a rag and everything wipes right off. its been discontinued at my job but some places like wal-mart still have it. it work hella great

 

when I did my mini me swap I bought a solvent special for gasket removal it's like 10 buck the can

 

LOL just use some brake cleaner and a scaper. If any of the liquid is still in there after you put the block on it will have easily evaporated by then. I highly doubt you can damage the block with just a thin scraper; now on the other hand a chisel could probably expletive up your block. Just take your time adn don't dig into it.

 

i always use this stuff in an aerosol called "gasket remover".


it actually works quite well on pretty much anything sticky or even paint.

 

I will be grabbing a can of this stuff this weekend when I pull my head off...

 

For the archives, the old school (not so old) buffing discs, brillo pad style for high speed grinders or drills are concidered taboo now, if you notice Snap On selling these plastic looking round bristle brushes, like fat toothbrush round discs, this is the prefered method now if power tools come into play.

Scrapers require extra care so be carefull. Hope the solvents work out for you, take your time. Todays new headgasket technology makes up for minor mistakes.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by STREETWERKZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i always use this stuff in an aerosol called "gasket remover".


it actually works quite well on pretty much anything sticky or even paint. </TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jdm_titan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">when I did my mini me swap I bought a solvent special for gasket removal it's like 10 buck the can </TD></TR></TABLE>


answered in the fourth post....

 

i have tried wd-40 and it seem to break the old gasket better then the gasket remover.
IMO

 

I just use a razor blade and brake cleaner and scrape away.


Modified by danmdevries at 6:59 PM 10/10/2007

 

i work at honda and everyone here uses brake clean and a razor.

 

 

also there is a big bolt on the older d16 u can un bolt them and let all the oil and **** out of that antifreeze chamber out. I think the y8 havit on the back.

 

by far the fastest and easiest, spin 2500-5000rpm...

 

thats kinda funny, the third post up from this one definately has a pic of the scraper i bought lol. The permatex gasket remover really didnt work well at all, this stuff is just crazy stubborn. I've tried engine degreaser, wd-40, pb blaster, and aircraft stripper, and none of it really helped much at all. i ended up spending like 2 hours scraping slowly but surely with a razor blade and knife and ive finally got most of it off now. You can see from the pic how well the gasket remover did removing paint from the coolant pipe though from behind the engine lol, it just didnt remove the old gasket material

i wanted to get some input though on if this looks sufficiently clean to drop the new gasket and head on. I should note i haven't touched the area around the pistons yet, but was wondering how intense i should hit those as far as cleaning the black crap off, so that i can assure it seals well when it all goes back together.

Also, although it looks pretty dirty around the area on the outer edge of the block, it actually feels really smooth. there are light surface abrasions you might say, from the razor, but nothing you can even feel when you move your finger over it. so im hoping that the head gasket sealing wont be an issue. what do you guys think?



and thanks a lot for all the feedback fellas. i didnt think id see nearly 20 posts in just a days time

 

anybody.. think i'm good to put the head on or no

 

It looks better than my DOHC ZC when I cleaned the surface (installed gasket, no leaks ).

 

looks good to me...i tell ya that aircraft cleaner stuff is picky on what it works on....but when it works...it works! haha...slap the head on that bad boy

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 89efDUSTY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">LOL just use some brake cleaner and a scaper. If any of the liquid is still in there after you put the block on it will have easily evaporated by then. I highly doubt you can damage the block with just a thin scraper; now on the other hand a chisel could probably expletive up your block. Just take your time adn don't dig into it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

well put all we use is brake clean and a razor blade scraper from snapon

 

Well i ended up getting an angle air grinder from a friend and used a really light pad, within 5 minutes it took everything off. it was so clean i coulda ate off it lol, im just mad i wasted so much time using a scraper and brute force. Everything sealed up nicely and ive been drivin it a day or two now with no leaks or issues so far *knocks on wood*.

I did want to mention though pertaining to the mini me swap itself. i used the d15b7 belt from the 92-95 civic dx/lx and to me it seemed a little loose. Im half tempted to try the y8 belt but other people said its to tight to even get over the cam pulley so im not sure what i should do. Also does anyone have any quick ways or suggestions i can use to figure out what my timing is to make sure its spot on. I mean as is right now it runs fine and idles fine and as far as i can tell its a tad quicker then before (havent yet had a chance to wire up vtec) but still i want to be able to check somehow and make sure the timing is perfect and not off by a tooth. If it was off by a tooth would it even run this well or is it somethin major i'd notice?

anyway heres a pic of the finished product. proud to say i did it myself (With the help of fellow ht'ers lol)