So the time has come to do all the major service I can think of to my motor.

First I will be pulling the motor so anything an everything will be accessible so any suggestions about what I should service while I have the access would be appreciated.

So far the parts I've purchased are:
-OEM Timing belt kit (Timing and balance belt, assorted seals including front main seal, water pump)
-Rear main seal
-TSB seal retainer and new seal
-Various gaskets
-EGR port plugs

And while I'm at it I will be:
-Swapping my H22 crank pulley for my H23 pulley (H23 will have the correct # of grooves)
-All new drive belts
-Cleaning EGR passages
-Re-sealing oil pan (it leaks)
-Valve adjustment (was done fairly recently but I have an engine stand now so why not)
-Installing ES (I think) motor mounts from my non-running car
-Fluids (trans, engine, coolant)
-Maybe take a wire brush to it and paint it and the trans, or just pressure wash both
-Clutch and flywheel should be OK but I'll inspect those as well

If there's anything I missed please let me know. Thanks all

 

Do a clutch while its out
Valve adj should be done with the engine warm, no need for engine stand to do it either
remove balance shafts
swap in manual belt tensioner off the h23
replace all the gaskets you can afford, including headgasket and ARP head studs

 

Thanks for the reply.

The clutch is fairly new, so it should be fine. If not then I have another lightweight flywheel and clutch/pressure plate assembly on hand.

Balance shafts will stay in because I don't want to do the whole removal process but I may just remove the belt to free up the rotating mass some.

And I forgot to write it, but I will be doing the tensioner swap as I have my old H23 sitting in the back yard.

And as for the HG I want to avoid that since I've never had cooling problems and I won't have the time or funds to have the block and head checked and decked upon dis-assembly.

 

never do a valve adjustment warm!?!?! a good mechanic will tell you to at least let it sit over night. on the stand i would say should be fine. as for the hg why not? how many miles are on it?

 

Use the H22 pulley, it may not have the right amount of grooves for you accessories but it will still line up right and not cause problems. Every motor's crank pulley is made it be a specific diameter and weight for engine harmonics. I have been using the H23a1 A/C and alternator accessories and belt with the H22 with no problems like fraying of the belt.

Yeah, the warm valve adjustment post is retarded, you always want to do that on a cold engine. If you're tearing everything that far down I'd open up the trans and make sure everything in there is in a condition in which it wont need to be serviced for a long time.

 

At least check the condition of the internals, and before you pull it out and disconnect everything, do a compression test wet and dry to check for leaks either on the valves side (dry) or piston ring side(wet).....If you have two cylinders that are lower in pressure, nest to eachother, and run about the same numbers there might be a leak in the hg where the cylinders meet. Would really suck to do all that work and end up having to work on the interals not to far down the road, if works needed its way easier to do it out of the bay....

 

Yeah I've never done an adj. warm and don't ever plan to lol. I'm worried about the HG because I don't want to screw up doing the loosening and re-torquing process and have to find a way to bring my warped block and head to a machine shop. If time wasn't such a constraint I might have put it on the list this time.

I have a 99 trans that I'll put on just for ***** n giggles since I know that one has low miles. Plus my current trans grinds into 3rd a little bit and the other doesn't.

That's a good idea and great info, thanks. Do you happen to have any links for both comp. tests? If not I'll search it up tonight and get the parts I need.

 

Yeah there's a vid on you tube just need the gushed that plugs Into the sparklug and that's it. Ill post the vid when I get to a computer.

 

That would awesome. Step one is done, motor is pulled from the non running car and the Innovative mounts are in hand.

 

Throwout bearing

 

Here's the vid...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNQSd...e_gdata_player

 

How many miles are on the motor? If I had taken all the time to get the motor out and on a stand I think I would go through the entire thing. Mark and label all the parts as you take them out, so if the bearings are still good you'll know which journals they came from. I'd clean all of the oil passages and in the Vtec solenoid.

 

Ordered and should be at the dealer tomorrow morning, thanks for the reminder.

That's a great video, thanks.

Honestly I have no idea what mileage I'm at because this is a JDM H22 so, 30-40k as they always seem to say. However when I did the first valve adjustment in 09 the top end looked very clean and fresh and was exactly within spec.

I'm starting to run short on time now due to some work and personal things that popped up so I won't be removing the head, but I will do the compression test and hopefully it gives some kind of indication to the internals. I also plan on doing a G23 with either the H23A3 bottom end I have or just rebuilding the H22 bottom at a later point so any bearings and such will be addressed at that time.

 

Be prepared to give your bank account a beating if you do a complete rebuild.

 

Well all is said and done everyone! She's running like a champ and I couldn't be happier aside from a cel issue the I'll address soon.

Everything done was:
Checked valve lash - It was perfect
Checked compression - Great numbers
Timing belt - OEM Honda, not as big of a PITA as expected, details to follow
New waterpump -OEM Honda = no problem
OEM cam seals (behind cam gears) - Super easy, details to follow
OEM valve cover and spark plug seals - I love OEM
H23 manual tensioner swap - Easiest part of the whole ordeal
Added balance shaft seal retainer - Easy as pie
Re-sealed oil pan
Applied Hondabond to seals (cams, front balanceshaft, front and rear main)
Innovative motor mounts (red) installed - Ho....ly.......s#@t....what a difference
OEM intake manifold gasket
OEM EGR valve gasket
Cleaned throttle body
OEM trans fluid
Clutch and flywheel are in good condition, added loctite to flywheel bolts and re-torqued
Dielectric grease put on spark plug wires on the plug side (there was evidence of arcing)
Cleaned EGR ports - more detail below

Details:
_Timing belt was very easy to get on if you loosen the tensioner adjuster bolt just enough to let the timing belt tensioner slide off of it's pivot point and the belt will slide on with minimal force.
_My auto tensioner had not failed, however the balance shaft belt had NO tension on it whatsoever. I had a slightly rough idle on my stock mounts and figured that was the problem, which it could have been, but I think this was the main culprit. That being said, my idle is LESS rough with the Innovative mounts installed so I'm convinced the belt was the issue.
_The EGR ports were fairly clear but I went ahead and soaked them down with some carb cleaner the proceeded to pressure wash the ports through each opening including the valve ports. The new plugs didn't fit for whatever reason so I just set them in place upside down and filled up the entire port with Hondabond from the top. Seems to be holding up just fine.
_The cam seals were just slightly weeping so I replaced them. On a side note, if you have a 5mm dowel you can lock the cams into place through the cam itself though a hole that appears at TDC which allows you to remove the cam gear to replace the seal then replace and re-torque the cam gear. I didn't know this but some of you may have already.
_I suspected my rear main seal was leaking but it actually was the oil pan spewing oil on everything and dripping down. I had previously replaced the pan, used black RTV to seal it and follow the torque sequence while the engine was installed but it obviously didn't work. This time I had mounted the motor on my engine stand, smeared a layer of Hondabond across the whole mating surface and replace the pan following the torque sequence again. No issues thus far.
_I'm inclined to believe this JDM motor is actually low mileage since my only seals leaking and I mean only very slightly, were the cam seals. So to prevent future leakage I smeared Hondabond over all of my seals for a little insurance.

In summary
So far I have about 300 miles on her and all is well aside from a code 41 cel but it has no effects on drive ability and easy to repair. The Innovative mounts are fantastic, that's all I can say. I just seafoamed it today through the brake booster and it seems to have freed up a little more throttle response but that could easily just be in my head. If you noticed I love Hondabond. It really is that good

 

Probably would have been best to replace the 3 seals on the oil pump while you were in there, the rear balancer o-ring is notorious for leaking.