I have blown the head gasket on my 5th gen Prelude. The internals are still in good condition, and I only have the money to machine the head and replace the gasket. I want to be able to run 12-14 psi making around 300-320 whp. What manufacturer makes a good head gasket? And it would not hurt to get a thicker head gasket to lower the compression a little to get more life. I appreciate any insight.

 

go to (www.sportcompactwarehouse.com )they sell cometic head gaskets they have any thickness you need ,your OEM thickness is 0.026' if you want to boost between 12 and 14 psi i would go with 0.050' or 0.060'

 

i forgot to mention that if you go that thick you might have to buy new head bolts like ARP.

 

I greatly appreciate your help. You really think I will need longer head bolts going a half inch bigger. I will most likely shave a bit off the block as well.

 

I assume that the stock bore is 87mm correct? I have the Honda manual on CD, I just don't feel like booting it up this second

 

Don't forget adjustable cam gears if you don't have them already as that large a difference can throw your timing off. You might want to check around threads here about cheating compression ratio with head gasket thickness; most people seem to think it's usually not a great idea...

 

your not gonna be able to run 12-14 psi with just a headgasket, its the h22 piston ringlands/skirt that usually blow out not the head gasket, so lowering your compression wont really help, but cmoetic is the way to go, just make sure you have a good machine shop, some say the cometics are alittle picky on the surfaces they mate too.

 

yes the stock bore is 87mm, if you get a cometic 0.051' you won't need new bolts the stock are long enough i think you can even go a little biger and still be ok, i bought a 0.051 and it was ok.
like dartonh22 said its true that the ring langs on the oem pistons are weak but its up to you if you want to boost 12 0r 14 psi i wouldn't go past 12 psi.
this comming friday i'm getting my car tuned and i'm going from boosting 8 psi to boost 12 psi.

 

Thank you for your help.

I am going to go with the cometic .051' head gasket. If I were to purchase the ring langs what manufacturer has been reliable and possibly stronger than OEM?

 

you cant purchase ring lands they're in the piston, if you want a stronger motor, you either need to resleeve and buy forged pistons, or get mahle gold series pistons that work with the stock FRM sleeves.

 

i don't know how many miles you have on your engine but maybe you should reconsider on boosting 12 to 14psi i would go safely to 9psi, friday i took my car to get it tuned and at 7.6 psi push 253whp and 243 wtq so i told the tuner lets raise the boost to 12 psi cuz i'm looking for 300whp so he did the 1st time it spike to around 14 so he let off the gas so he adjusted the manual boost controler and at the 2nd pull on the dyno at 12 psi the dipstick came flying out and a lot of oil with it, it got everywere under the hood so he turn the car off 5 minutes pass and he tried to start it but it wouldn't start unless he gave gas we did a compession test and it had 80 80 200 and 80 later the day i took the head off and pistons and the ring lands were broken . i'm telling you this so you don't make the same mistake as me the ringlans on h23 and h22 are very weak and can't handle too much boost this is my 2nd h23 with stock pistons that the ringlans brake on the pistons , so now either i have to sleeve the block and get forge alunminun pistons or get mahle pistons and i don't have to sleeve the block.

 

I am really sorry to hear that about your motor. I have been running around 11-12 psi for about a year now, and I just blew the piston ring (I assume that is what you call ring lands). I had just not heard the term - correct me if I am wrong.

Could you check out this link and let me know if this kit will have everything I need to rebuild the weak points of the motor and get back on the road. I am not trying to make a drag car with over 400whp. I just want something street legal that puts down around 300-320 whp. I plan on racing it at VIR in the near future. Suspension will be another topic. I greatly appreciate your help, and again I know how you feel - sorry

This is a full kit that includes the following:

http://www.importperformancepa....html

#1
Honda Prelude Vtec 1992-01 (No need to change Sleeves!)
Engine
Code Stock
Bore Includes: Kit #/Price
H22A1, H22A4 87mm Complete Gasket Set
Cometic Head Gasket
Mahle Gold Series Pistons (do not require block re-sleeving)
(87, 87.25mm bore) and
(8.9-1, 10.2-1, 11.3-1 comp ratio)
Performance Rings
Performance Wrist Pins
TOGA HP Main Bearings
TOGA HP Rod Bearings
Thrust Washers
Timing Belt

Additional Parts Available for Purchase:
Turbo Kits
Connecting Rods (Eagle/SCAT/Oliver/Pauter) EKH28MPX ('93-96)
EKH28LMPX ('97+up)
$879

Call to Order:
(603) 378-0090




Modified by rags00prelude22 at 6:36 PM 9/9/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jprelude92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i don't know how many miles you have on your engine but maybe you should reconsider on boosting 12 to 14psi i would go safely to 9psi, friday i took my car to get it tuned and at 7.6 psi push 253whp and 243 wtq so i told the tuner lets raise the boost to 12 psi cuz i'm looking for 300whp so he did the 1st time it spike to around 14 so he let off the gas so he adjusted the manual boost controler and at the 2nd pull on the dyno at 12 psi the dipstick came flying out and a lot of oil with it, it got everywere under the hood so he turn the car off 5 minutes pass and he tried to start it but it wouldn't start unless he gave gas we did a compession test and it had 80 80 200 and 80 later the day i took the head off and pistons and the ring lands were broken . i'm telling you this so you don't make the same mistake as me the ringlans on h23 and h22 are very weak and can't handle too much boost this is my 2nd h23 with stock pistons that the ringlans brake on the pistons , so now either i have to sleeve the block and get forge alunminun pistons or get mahle pistons and i don't have to sleeve the block.</TD></TR></TABLE>

A) your tuner [freak]ed up
B) your engine was not in good health

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dartonh22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">your not gonna be able to run 12-14 psi with just a headgasket, its the h22 piston ringlands/skirt that usually blow out not the head gasket, so lowering your compression wont really help, but cmoetic is the way to go, just make sure you have a good machine shop, some say the cometics are alittle picky on the surfaces they mate too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

PSI doesnt determine what you can do with a stock motor.

 

I am really sorry to hear that about your motor. I have been running around 11-12 psi for about a year now, and I just blew the piston ring (I assume that is what you call ring lands). I had just not heard the term - correct me if I am wrong.
Could you check out this link and let me know if this kit will have everything I need to rebuild the weak points of the motor and get back on the road. I am not trying to make a drag car with over 400whp. I just want something street legal that puts down around 300-320 whp. I plan on racing it at VIR in the near future. Suspension will be another topic. I greatly appreciate your help, and again I know how you feel - sorry

This is a full kit that includes the following:

http://www.importperformancepa....html

#1
Honda Prelude Vtec 1992-01 (No need to change Sleeves!)
Engine
Code Stock
Bore Includes: Kit #/Price
H22A1, H22A4 87mm Complete Gasket Set
Cometic Head Gasket
Mahle Gold Series Pistons (do not require block re-sleeving)
(87, 87.25mm bore) and
(8.9-1, 10.2-1, 11.3-1 comp ratio)
Performance Rings
Performance Wrist Pins
TOGA HP Main Bearings
TOGA HP Rod Bearings
Thrust Washers
Timing Belt

Additional Parts Available for Purchase:
Turbo Kits
Connecting Rods (Eagle/SCAT/Oliver/Pauter) EKH28MPX ('93-96)
EKH28LMPX ('97+up)
$879

 

you will not be able to tell if you can use the mahle pistons until you take apart your motor and see how badly it has been scorned from the broken rings, you cant overbore them much at all so that will tell you if you can use the pistons. but that looks like what you would need: you could also find a blown f23 or f22 and rebuild that with your h22 head, i belive its the f series that dont have the frm sleeves so you can just throw some forged pistons in there.

 

it wasn't the tunners fault, i had notice that the engine had blow by. the ringlans on h23 and h22 are weak.