My EK with b18C1 needed new valve seals. The car has great compression and nothing else wrong with the motor. Everywhere I went to quoted me labor hours for taking the head off, resurfacing, suggested a new headgasket, all to just replace valve seals.

I found a DIY online that suggested using a vice, some zip-ties, and a torch to do it with the head still on the car, but the method look awfully dangerous and I was looking for a cleaner solution.

Well I found an awesome tool to do the job without pulling the head, and it's really simple and fairly cheap. I put the company's card in the pic so anyone who needs to find one new, can. I'm also selling mine cheaply here (since I'm selling my EK and no longer need it). I hope this helps someone save some money!

http://www.hondamarketplace.com/zerothread/2403632

 

Quick question, I've never done valve seals with the head still on the block. Did you take a compressed air hose and screw it into your spark plug hole to pressurize the cylinder so the valves didn't fall down?

 

That's definitely the easiest and safest way to do it. I didn't have the leakage tester hose to adapt to my air compressor so I did it a different way.

Basically you bring the cylinder about half way up the bore, than you thread some soft thread/twine/rope into the cylinder throught the spark plug hole. fill it as much as you can, then bring the piston up as far as it will go in the cylinder. It will basically push the soft thread against the valves keeping them from falling in and nothing damages your pistons.

This way was a bit more time consuming (filling the cylinder with thread through the spark plug hole took some patience) but no noisy compressor turning on and off.

Were I to do it again, I'd use a compressor. It's just so much faster that way, even if it is noisier

 

nice tool and there right down the street from my house might have to go buy one thanx for the notice

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2332025

A guide for the procedure (wihtout that tool)