Well after having my second motor freshly swapped and having several avoidable issues, I'm pretty much over paying a premium to people who don't come through. I will be looking for a house very soon and eventually a second car as a daily driver.

My question is, "What would be the best reference to a complete tear down and rebuild of a motor for a beginner". I'm 25, worked on many electrical/mechanical components that can be very tidious, but never got into any automotive work. I'm very conscious of my work and feel that if your going to do something, do it right the first time.

Any ideas,tips,suggestions to point me in the right direction are much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Check the following link out.

http://forums.evans-tuning.com/viewt...r+engine+build

Also, get a helms manual.

 

Just got done reading the article, thanks! Going to print this out and toss the shitty Haynes manual I have in favor of a Helms.

 

I'm in the same boat. Well almost. I have a good bit of automotive experience, but this is my first real complete rebuild. And I want to do it right.

I just ordered this book from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1884089267

Not sure how the book will turn out I have had good and bad experiences with books like these. If this one isn't any good I may try another they have.

 

I have engine building experience and I can say (in my opinion) that the most important thing is clearance. You need to have the measuring tools needed to check everything. These tools can be an expensive investment but, are well worth every penny.
If you have them already that is great. If you follow the directions to the "T" and dont skip on anything. (like "Oh thats close enough") You will be fine. Also, god forbid anything does happen to the motor but, You built it and when you disassemble it you will know what happened and will learn from that. NOBODY can say they have never made a mistake.
I personally use a haynes manual, but I only need specs and wiring diagrams. Every manual has specs, helms however seem to scatter the specs all over the book. My haynes has everything I need in 4 pages of specs.

You will be fine and it will very gratifying when you get done.

 

the same company that published that book, has several others out designed specifically for hondas. Some of them are outdated...but the theories and principals still apply...

 

The best reference is the factory service manual written by the folks that designed the engines. also there is a 6 hour dvd/video on how to build these motors the link is in my sig. there really isnt any good engine builders left, well a few but they arent too busy these days, its pretty much impossible to do good quality work anymore. you see places assemble motors for 500 dollars labor. you cant do anything remotely good quality for that price, DIY is great but the reality is that people generally just end up with a big pile of problematic worthless crap. ironically the B-series motor is one of the simplest,highest outout, and most reliable 4 cylinder motors on the planet but that doesnt garantee success. it takes years and years of constant practice to become good at anything. but often people have the false assumption that they can become an expert on the first try doing it themselves.

"experience is a tough teach, because she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards"

 

I read 2 of them. They were the books I was talking about when I said I had bad experiences.

I defiantly agree %100. The reason I got the other book is that I was looking for more in depth knowledge than a service manual can offer. Also, the factory manual rarely if ever goes into performance aspects of rebuilds. But I would not have a running car if it wasn't for my Helms.

 

I agree with making sure you measure every spec to its recommanded specs. I have rebuilt a motor and am going to have to rebuild it again this year. I thought I could get away with short cuts but I guess I was wrong. My first engine rebuilt went well until I tore it down for another rebuild. I noticed that their were small but deeper scratches on 2 of my cylinder wall. Till this day I still haven't found out what caused that, but it would be great if someone can point out that cause?

 

Thanks for all the input. I am definitely a meticulous person, so everything will be checked, rechecked, and checked again for quality assurance. To me, the most important thing to have while building a motor is patience. Not to rush yourself or cut corners, but to take each step with the same amount of care as the next.

Now with that said, I first need to get this motor running right before I think of tearing it down in a future garage. Off to Tampa tomorrow to get the beast tuned.

 

Good Luck.

 

http://www.theoldone.com/articles/

 

Read some of the books published by SA Design. I've always found alot of good material for practically anything mechanical/performance orriented in there books.

I think you'll do just fine. I take it your an IT guy? Same here by career choice/education, but I've always had interest pretty equally in cars as well.

If you know how to read, work with your hands, and can apply the same mentality toward this project that you do with electrical/mechanical things you do on a daily basis then you'll do just fine.

 

i'm doing a rebuild for my first time with my buddy on his engine and i'm definitley learning alot....to be honest, its not as difficult as i expected, but i'm in no way saying that engine building is a piece of cake. I just had a different perception about it (i always think the worst in things)....i have a ton of DIY books and i also have the honda manual from the dealer, which is definitely a must as the guys earlier in the thread were saying. it was pretty expensive, but you cant go wrong with the actual dealer manual....i am building the confidence now to eventually tear down my own engine and do it myself....good luck

 

Depending on the year/model/make you can usually find most Helms/OEM manuals online for download at HondaHookup, but it is nice to have the actual book laying around too instead of having to print out pages or getting your keyboard greasy while trying to assemble a motor and use your PC at the same time.

 

AMG whats wrong with the motor i built you? or are you preping yourself for a future diy project on the motor? lmk whats going on.

 

If you're just getting into engine assy. I would agree with omni on the factory manuals. The factory manuals have so much more info than the independent manuals. They are alot more in depth with procedures and tools. The only problem might be is the clearances if you're using forged or aftermarket pistons, rods or aftermarket bearings. Then you could follow the manufacture's specs. as a starting point, But everyone on here is gonna have their preferences on clearances. Just record all your clearances and if something goes wrong, you have some data to reference back to and learn from any possible mistakes.

 

x10,000

Also has info on da tranny, da ecu, da electrical, da suspsension.

Why mess.

 

hey man what happen with the new engine? if you need any help i can direct you in the right direction to get a engine built right

 

I kind of disagree. The factory manual is awesome for model specific info. But, for procedure, technique and tool info I find other 3rd party literature is better. I mentioned I ordered a SA book in one of the above posts. It's called Engine Blueprinting I believe. I definitely d recommend it. Its all I hoped it would be.

 

I've got this book.

You don't want to be using this book without the honda factory manual. This book has alot of out-dated techniques from the 60s.

The focus/topics are good, but how you achieve the goals have changed or simply not applicable to your Honda engine. Remember, the V8 stuff in this book is trying to achieve 70 - 80% of what a stock B16 does from the factory, LOL.

 

Yep, thats the one I just got. Much better than the honda specific books they have published.

 

Looks good, I'll have to check that out. Just added a compression tester to my tool collection. :-)

 

Subscribed. Anybody ever price out the tools needed to build a motor???

 

I'm still in high school and learned how to do it so it should be real easy for you. I payed close attention to my motor while tearing it apart seeing how everything went together. My dad can easily learn how to do things easily and could have probably learned more than I did but I wanted to do it all myself and have the accomplishment.

As mentioned, clearances are something to really pay attention to. I used plastigauge for my bearings but you will need tools too for checking the crankshaft end play like with a dial meter and micrometers for other things. If you have a haynes manual, a section in the book shows all the tools used when they made the book.

Just take your time, I really wanted to be done a while back but sacrificed 5 months without my car to make sure my rebuilt motor and tranny work.

Good luck, it is a lot of fun