I recently purchased a beautiful 1990 white 4-door Civic EX (D16A6). I purchased it for $400 because it was running poorly/sometimes not at all. With the help of this forum, and a basic tune-up, the car is up and running great with minimal out of pocket expense. It has 217K on it, an smokes under heavy acceleration, so I am gonna do a basic rebuild on the bottom end. My buddy owns a shop, so I was able to get cost on parts, and am gonna be able to use the shop to do the work. I have about $105 in parts so far including the following...

-Rings
-Rod/Main bearings (Only replacing the main bearings if I can sneak them in with the trans still in the car - I have done this with many other cars, but am fairly new to Honda, and what allowances I will have)
-Head gasket
-Water pump
-Pan gasket
-Valve guide seals
-Intake/Exhaust manifold gaskets
-Valve cover gasket
-Timing belt

I think I have everything I purchased already listed, but will edit if I remember something I missed. Is there anything that you guys think I should add to the list? I plan on going in this Saturday to do most of the work, and tomorrow (Fri.) is my last day to order parts before Monday. I have Been a VW guy for years, and am well versed in cars in general, but you guys are the Honda experts, and may know of things that should be looked at that are not obvious to me being new to Honda's. This car is an automatic, and is basically just going to be used as a commuter, but I am studying this car to plan a future turbo EF civic build (I have had/built several turbo VW's), and am so far very impressed with how much better these cars are designed compared to VW's. Thanks for any assistance in advance!

 

good luck on the build im doing the same thing right now =P

 

Well, all went well, and she is back in action! Other than getting the T-Belt 1 tooth off initially, all went smooth. The timing marks are really goofy in my opinion, on one tooth, it looks like it is 1/3 of a tooth off on the cam, and if you go to the next tooth, it looks like it is 2/3 of a tooth off, but it runs right when it is on the one that looks 2/3 off for some reason (Going by the little slits that are on the cam gear that are supposed to line up with the head top surface).

What I did was a basic in frame rebuild (Motor never left car), so the crank never left the block, the only downside I saw to this was that I found out that the rear main leaks when running, as the car only drove 4 miles or so prior to being torn apart since I bought it, and did not notice (No biggie, as I am doing a 5-Speed swap soon, and will be right there to replace it). I recommend this to anyone who is having oil smoking/consumption issues. It was really cheap to do everything, and I had a total of about 10 hours in the whole project while drinking beer and working casually. I just need a few nic knacks for the car, and she is ready to be daily driven!

 

how did you do main bearings with the engine in the car??

 

I actually just did rod bearings, but on VW's I have rebuilt in the past, I have been able to roll out the mains, and roll them back in (Easier with manual trans as you can push the clutch in to drop the crank a few MM's or so), not sure if that would work with honda though. My main goal was to replace my dead rings.

 

I've had pretty good results doing rod bearings only, they seam to wear a lot faster than the mains. Whats your technique on honing for an in-car rebuild? Or did you hone it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AK_CRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've had pretty good results doing rod bearings only, they seam to wear a lot faster than the mains. Whats your technique on honing for an in-car rebuild? Or did you hone it?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I do a flat stone hone (The three legged spring loaded jobbie) to make sute the walls are flat, and then do a quick follow up with a fine ballberry hone. I just put several rags over the crank (Soaked in oil to keep shaving from getting through) while honing. I usually use basic parts washer solvent on the hone as lubricant. I have always had great results doing it this way. I am basically done, and got the last missing engine part today (The hose from the PVC to the breather box on the back of the block), so other than the stuff that I have listed in my sig that I need, I am about ready to be daily driving this sucker.

 

looks like fun i wanna do this same kinda thing to the d16a6 this coming fall

 

did you remove the girdle,or can you do it without removing it.
i need a DD bad and my buddy is gonna give me a deal on his 91 std. only thing is 1 cylinder is dead[cracked ring] and the others have low compression so it smokes alot. im thinking on this just till i can get some $ saved up for a nice setup. it still may smoke some if the walls are out of round but with new rings it wont be as bad

 

oh yeah,you gotta have pics of the ef

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4g hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did you remove the girdle,or can you do it without removing it.
i need a DD bad and my buddy is gonna give me a deal on his 91 std. only thing is 1 cylinder is dead[cracked ring] and the others have low compression so it smokes alot. im thinking on this just till i can get some $ saved up for a nice setup. it still may smoke some if the walls are out of round but with new rings it wont be as bad</TD></TR></TABLE>

I did not remove the girdle. I keep forgetting to get pics as my camera is at my house, and the car is at my buddies shop. It is a bone stock white/maroon 4 door EX with a D16A6.

 

how tricky is it to do with the girdle on. there cant be much space. can you get the bottom of the rod cap out to change the bearing. thanx in advance

 

tell me how it goes! im doin the same thing...

 

It was actually quite easy to get the rod caps off with the girdle on. I used a 1/4" extention with a tiny hammer to tap the rod bolt up through the caps pushing the piston off, and the caps came right off. As long as the crank is not in the down position for that cylinder, the caps come right out!

 

Well I have been looking for a 5 speed honda donor to do the manual swap on my car lately, and was seriously lucky enough to get one for free today! I did not see it untill it showed up on the tow truck at my place today (1990 hatch), but it is perfect for my swap! I also need a drivers fender for mine, and unfortunately this thing had JDM Yo M3 fenders (And ricer tail lights/headlights), but I am still not gonna bitch. I will try and get pics tommorrow!

Edit: I forgot these cars came in a 4 speed as well, this thing could be a 4 speed, I didn't really look that close! That would suck! Hmmm. Is all of the 4 speed linkage the same as 5 speed? It would probably still be worthwile to do the swap now if it was a 4 speed, and then keep my eye out for a 5 speed and just swap it in later. How much stuff is different in the 4-5 speed transmission cars?

 

sorry to reply in an old post but was doin some searchin.... i think i still have my stock gauge cluster for my 91 crx si if u still need one... and i have some ricer fiberglass fenders also... lemme know something albanyhardcore@gmail.com