First off my car is a 91 CRX DX 5 speed with about 111k on the odometer and is originally from Arizona.

I know nothing of the previous maintenance history. Therefore I am doing a timing belt / tensioner / water pump / head gasket (it was leaking and blowing smoke). I also plan to do a lot of the hoses while I have it all relatively accessible.

I got around to pulling the head off today and found a few things that I would like some information / opinions on if you guys know anything about it.

Facing the car this is on the left hand side of the head. As you can see it is full of crud.



This is what the block looked like :



This is what the head looked like :



How bad is this? In all of my research that I did before I always ran across pictures of blocks that looked <U>many</U> times cleaner that my Hulk-ish green and sh*t brown block.

How do I go about cleaning all of this?

 

There are a couple of ways to go about this:

option 1:
unscrew the water jacket plug located on the exhaust side of the block to drain that green crap out, then reassemble and use Zerex Cooling System Flush, that you can buy at any parts store, and hope for the best. you can also try using a rag to clean out the large particles before reassembly.

option 2:
you can completely remove and disassemble the block and take it to a machine shop to have it jet washed. If you decide to go this route, i would recommend doing the same thing to the head. Word of warning, if you are not willing to spend the money to rebuild the engine, or have any doubts about your skill to be able to do so, then stick to option 1.

I have a 89 accord that the engine was the same way, and due to other factors, ended up having to rebuild the whole thing anyways, so i went the jet washing route.

Good Luck

 

Ponch,

I was thinking of cleaning what I could on both the block and the head with rags to get the larger stuff off and then unscrewing the water jacket plug.

Then once I put it all back together then doing a cooling system flush.

 

I think it looks pretty good overall. You could clean those up with some solvents like sea-foam and a chore-boy pad.

Be sure to use the revised metal head gasket from honda for the replacement, and not another composite: http://hondaworkshop.com/misc/97-047TSB.jpg

The new head bolts mentioned in that TSB are also an improved design over the original, or ARPs will do, cost is about the same.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fireant &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think it looks pretty good overall. You could clean those up with some solvents like sea-foam and a chore-boy pad.

Be sure to use the revised metal head gasket from honda for the replacement, and not another composite: http://hondaworkshop.com/misc/97-047TSB.jpg

The new head bolts mentioned in that TSB are also an improved design over the original, or ARPs will do, cost is about the same.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I just ordered the new head gasket and the new head bolts as well.

Unfortunately I already have a Honda OEM composite type head gasket that I had ordered through http://www.hondapartsdeals.com. When I ordered there was no mention of the new style, and Honda recommended, head gasket and head bolts. There was also no mention of the Honda Service Bulletin #97-047.

I wrote them a nice non angry letter saying they should link to that somewhere when searching for new head gaskets. I asked for a response so hopefully they will update the website.

 

oke thiss what i whould do to deal with the rust use Muriatic Acid it works wonders on gas tanks it eats the rust out u can pour a pool in the jacket near the sleavs and let it sit for a few hours and then flush it out and see what u go keep repeating till its all gone id also change ur water pump as well or if u got time re assembble the block and fill the motor with the acid then take a drill and rig it up to turn the water pump and let it spin for about 30 min then flush id flush ur heater core if u hav one as well it will probly have alot of build up as well if all goes well u will have a spanking new finish ps this works well on cleaning headers

 

Would it be safe to get both the block and head resurfaced or are the tolerances too tight as far as the valves hitting the pistons or the head bolts bottoming out?

 

I ended up dropping the head off at the machine shop. It was indeed warped a little bit according to them I just now got back from picking it up. It looks much, much better. I ran my finger across the machined surface and it feels a little rough to me, like hills and valleys. They assured me that it would be fine with the MLS gasket that I got.

Pictures of the head to follow after my girlfriend gets home with the digital camera.

I've been cleaning the block off by hand and have the vast majority of the gasket off of there. I ended up buying Permatex Gasket Remover and a steel chisel.

I was going to use a razor blade but it was too bendy, even with a holder so I decided to go with a chisel. I was very careful , used a low angle when scraping and took my time so as not to gouge the block at all.

Before :



As of now :



I still have more to do.

 

mine looked jus like that except for the coolent i used my compressor i dont remember wat i used but it was a round sandpaper thing and it cleaned it up nice but its kinda risky cuz u could grind to much off and make it uneven

 

damm son, looks like some one did'nt like the car and ran diarehea as a coolant in there! I would definately say to rip that motor apart and have it hot tanked, jet washed the whole nine yards.
Other than that good luck

 

Pictures of the resurfaced head. You can see where there was some corrosion pitting.

Does this surface look too rough for a MLS (all metal) head gasket?

 

Exactly how clean does the block have to be?

I've got it to this point now, a little bit better in fact since I have put a bit more time into it since this picture was taken.