Well after spinning bearings for the 3rd time in 9 months, and two after hard cornering situations, I'm seriously thinking about a baffled oil pan from moroso (obx makes an EXACT replica). But will this really stop it from happening?
Has anybody had ANY experience with baffled pans on H series or any other honda motor. I'm sure many of you have road raced or autoX your car with the stock pan and haven't had any problems. I'm not that lucky.....
I can not afford a dry sump setup, so please don't tell me to go that route. lol
ThanX!!

 

I haven't had any problems, neither has a friend of mine, and we both road race our Preludes (he is much faster than I am). I've datalogged oil pressure, and on the track it doesn't fall below 50-ish PSI even with 1.1+G corners.

The Moroso/OBX pan is made for drag racing, and it will likely do nothing for you on a road course.

We had plans to do a baffled pan, but there are many other projects to get done first. You could look into an Accusump setup, though.

 

Not doubting you, but can you give me an explanation as to why I keep going through bottom ends. I mean 3 in 9 months is definately ridiculous. Especially for a street car than only gets beat on from time to time. Nowhere near as much as a full on race car.

 

If you're consistently having problems, it means that your block or rods and crank were toast the first time. Something's out of spec that you keep reusing.

 

There are so many variables, that it's almost impossible to tell you what the problem is given the information you've posted.

Have you datalogged oil pressure to see if you're losing oil pressure at a point in time during a lapping session?

 

when you say you went through a bottom end.... what failed ?

 

Rod bearings/main bearings
Its been through two different cranks and rod sets (one from another motor and then this one from my original motor)
Both cranks were were re-cut and bearings sized by the machine shop and then plastigauge was used by a friend. A different friend did it this time since I figured it failed from poor prep work. Both motors had ~7k miles on it.
I'm thinking a cheaper torque wrench could be a culprit??????? idk- just throwing it out there??

 

original engine with 150k miles failed after hard run on backroad- cylinder 3 rod bearing and surrounding main bearings failed

Pulled a crank out of another motor had it cut and bearings sized. Had friend 1 with better experience plastigauge it. It all checked out. Put 7k miles on it and while driving to school doing 80mph in 5th gear and destroyed the #3exhaust cam journal and cam (it was BAD) as well as #2&3 rod bearings and surrounding main bearings.

Used my original crank and rods after a HIGHLY recommended machine shop cut the crank and sized the bearings. Had friend 2 check it. Got the green light to re-assemble.

7k miles later it started to knock faintly after a hard back road jaunt for about 4 miles. The oil light flickers @ idle but goes out with a little throttle. Drove it about 4 miles and the knock hasn't gotten louder (its REALLY faint) but its down a good bit of power especially abouve 4000rpm but pulls ok in 5th gear @ 3000rpm.

If your wondering why I was getting on it, I can not hear inside the car. Only with the hood propped and slightly revving it can it be heard. Its really faint.

 

Why would you turn a crank that isn't in bad condition. A bearing color system is used by Honda to get the proper clearance. The heat-treatment is very shallow in Honda cranks. If the crank is turned, those journals need to be re-heatreated. Normally though, if a Honda crank spin's a bearing enough to need to be recut, it's done. Just because a crank checks out with plasti-gauge, it doesn't mean the journals are round and the alignment are within spec.

The BE of used rods need to be resized as they're out of round.

If you've spun bearings three times, it's a good idea to have replaced the oil pump by now.

Even Snap-on torque wrenches aren't always accurate from the factory. Craftsman torque wrenches which are so popular are crap. This is from a calibration technician. Any torque wrench should be calibrated before using the first time, if they're dropped, or if they've sat a long time before engine assembly. I usually buy used good-quality ones like Snap-on and have them calibrated.

Either way, it doesn't seem like you, your friends or your machinist know what you're doing. Swap in a motor from hmotorsonline and call it a day.

 

I could, but that's the easy way out. I wanna know what's causing it, and correct it. I'm here because I'm newer at this and want to learn and be better at it.
I'll take your words as inspiration, constructive criticism, and helpful advice.

 

If you don't already have the service manual, dl it. http://www.spoonhonda.com/Free_Downl...uals_s/119.htm .

Toss the block and get another one since it's seen spun main bearings three times. Toss the crank too, since it spun bearings and then you turned it. Toss the rods with spun bearings.

Now that you've replaced them with parts that you think are in good order, break out the helms and check that the crank is in spec. Take the rods to a machine shop and have the big-end of the rods measured for roundness. Have the block's journal bores measured for straightness. Make sure that everything else in the helms is in spec too.

And replace that oil pump.

 

r u useing the same oil pump/ oil strainer

 

no. new oil pumps and strainers both times....
the block was cleaned really well both times. I even took the time to carefully clean the oil cooler both times (something a friend didn't do and it cost him his motor)

 

Did you check the oil pressure yet?

 

Actually, I haven't been able to work on it..... I'm doing a paper now than hopefully I'll go out there and fool with it...

 

Just call me when you find out what it is. Minimum pressure @ Idle is 10 psi.
Minimum pressure at 3000 rpm is 50 psi. Anything more than those is good. Check it and we'll go from there.

 

What sort of oil level do you run?

 

Are you using stock oil pan?

 

Stock 5Gen oil pan, about 1/4 to 1/2 quart overfilled.

 

Mne was not low at all this last time. Would you suggest an additional 1/4 quart as a safety measure.
Davis: sent you text. Your prob at work so feel free to call me tomorrow. If I don't answer send a text and I'll call you back.

 

oil pressure gauge ?