Hey guys... how's it going?

I picked up a 2000 Civic Si turbocharged that has 1 bad cylinder (210, 210, 90, 210). I pulled the head off today and pulled the piston out to find a cracked ringland:



Anyway, I am *praying* that the damage to the cylinder wall below is minimal enough to be able to hone it out... but this is where I need all of your professional opinions on what to do. The scratches catch my fingernail, but do not feel deep. Will a hone take care of these? Or is a bore ABSOLUTELY necessary? My intentions are to replace the piston and rings with a hone and call it a day (I hope). What do you think?



Any help is appreciated!

-Louis

EDIT: I can only *feel* the scratches with my fingernail at the last... ohhhh, 3/4 to 1 inch of the top of the cylinder... the scratches look like they are consistent all the way down, but you cannot feel them whatsoever once you go further than a inch down or more into the cylinder.


[Modified by HybridKOOP, 4:10 AM 10/2/2002]

 

if you can feel it with a finger nail, then it needs to be overbored. Thats a general rule in engine building. Chances are if you were able to hone it out, it would be out of spec for piston to wall clearance on stock sized pistons.

 

That makes me sad... because that turns this repair from just costing me a piston and ring set to:

4 pistons, 4 ring sets, bore/hone

 

and ****, while you're in there, might as well throw in some rods.....new bearings....balance it all...**** if you're gonna do that, might as well go with a sleeve job...or perhaps a b18-20 block.....up the turbo size.....this is how things get out of control

 

yes....this is how i became poor.

 

my wallet just got lighter THINKING about all that

 

mine already IS

 

It really sucks... so easy to dump money into these cars

I just want to go about this the most cost and LABOR effective way possible. Pulling the head/turbo/piston drained me today enough as it was... I really don't want to have to rent a cherry picker to get this pig back on the road.

 

Never heard of this wallet thing, can you tell me about it? Is it supposed to hold reciepts or something?

 

That's the mistake I made. "Gee, while I'm in there rebuilding the motor, might as well get some nice rods and pistons....oh gee, while I'm doing that....etc etc."

But as someone said, if you can feel it, a honing job probably won't get the job done.

 

Can't he just overbore .5mm and buy some oversized honda pistons?

 

Yes, but my wishes are to not have to remove the engine from the car to be able to fix it.

I'd much rather run a hone down that one cylinder and install 1 new piston and ring set... the pictures above look soooooo much worse than it is when you're looking at it in person. You can only feel slight scratches in a VERY small area... dead center at the very top.

 

Hahaha, sounds SOOO familiar. I can't believe how a simple h22 swap landed where I am now... :S

 

Its crazy how we all think the same way. When I read your post I started to laugh so hard.
VaporTrail is right, if you are going to rebuild then go all out and get everything and it will be done right the first time.

 

or just completely over done. You have to know where to draw the line, or where to get a line of credit, one or the other.

 

ttt

 

If you are on a tight budget but you still have enough to rebuild then just get the rods & pistons and keep the sleeves stock .20 over, Get Hondata or AEM and tune it and you will be happy.
With the proper tune the stock sleeves will be fine to 400hp but the tuner has got to know what he is doing after that.

 

damn.. I'm reliving my "investment" about a year and half ago....

I'm still a recovering boost-a-holic... and will be recovering for some time....

Rebuild it, but don't get too crazy.... i rebuilt for 2bar and never even went past 1bar.... so it was sorta a waste... could have done that with a properly tuned stock setup (except pistons and rods)....

I cant say i wouldnt do it again... i would just need some extra cash and a second car...

 

wow lou...this is the same predicament that i'm in right now except i haven't pulled the head off yet to see the cylinder damage my comp. #s were 220 220 220 195

 

dont we all know the felling with b0000st craze!

 

I'm glad to see my thread going off in three thousand other directions than what I asked for (not you Anthony). People.... I'm NOT looking to build this motor for more boost... I simply want it back on the street the cheapest way possible. STOCK pistons. The only question at hand is bore... or hone.

Anthony, when did you drop cylinder pressure? Have you been spraying alot?

 

ever since i got the car back (after the head was p&p, valves, etc) it's been smoking pretty bad and been burning some serious oil. so when i originally broke the car, apparently the cylinder itself went bad too I just assumed and *hoped* that it was only the head
i haven't sprayed at all since i got the car back because of this......
rememeber that check-engine light though? one night tom (tbone) started screwing with a bunch of **** under the hood and that disappeared at least. so at least i'm not running rich any more

 

Ah I see... well 195psi is verrrrrrrrry slightly low. The piston in the car I just bought was only making 90-100psi. When your valves melted the sides of the piston probably got a little melted out of wack as well... Just pull that piston, hone it, and drop a new one in with new rings.... I'm sure you'd be set.

 

i hope so man....i hope so!

now i just gotta get the head taken off of my car one of these weeks!

 

cheapest route? buy a new block...