I just swapped a low mileage d15b2 into my 89 Si hatch. Motor ran fine in previous car, no modifications made other than a new header (ebay cheapie). Car starts and runs perfect but headre gets so hot it melts the high temp ceramic coating (probably just high-temp paint ). It bubbles and is almost visibly red-hot. Is this normal, has this happened to anybody else?

 

No its not normal. Since theyre ebay theyre probably cheap metal with cheap paint on them, and the flow sucks. Get a real header.

 

Why would you even put a header on that motor?

 

your timing is probably off

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EvanFullwood &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">your timing is probably off</TD></TR></TABLE>

my guess as well

 

Timing is unchanged from when motor was pulled and there have been no other changes made. Header was not intended for a power increase but rather to facilitate easier future engine removal. And I had it laying around, freebie from a friend.

 

is the cat plugged?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bobjohnson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No its not normal. Since theyre ebay theyre probably cheap metal with cheap paint on them, and the flow sucks. Get a real header.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Agreed!

 

how hot does it get?
can you touch it and give us an estimate of how hot it gets.
Bare hands are preferred in order to get a proper reading.

 

Hehe, it gets might hot. i'll check the cat tomorrow. That is a possibity because the car was spewing gobs of smoke which is why I swapped the motor in the first place. O2 sensor was caked on with soot, I should have thought to check the cat.

 

laser thermometer ftw.