Hey all,

I've been lurking the Prelude forums for a while now and recently haven't had much to post about. However, weekend before last I finally was able to ditch a rebuilt H22a4 that had dogged me and my SH for 3 years and replace it with something that worked (and didn't burn a quart every ~100 miles, check this thread from a while ago, ABL had it right ).

First, a little about the old motor:

Let me just say that whoever bored the cylinder walls when the motor was being rebuilt should've payed a little more attention. After separating the head from the block, it turned out that the motor was so damn loose that the rings never had a chance in hell to seal. So not only was I burning oil because their was no oil seal between the pistons and cylinder walls, but the motor was also being fed oil through the PCV and back into the intake due to an overwhelming amount of blow-by. Let's just say that this was a very unhappy motor.

Fast forward to the a couple weekends ago and the lude now sits with a re-conditioned H22a4 block/head (new bearings/rings) that I picked up off of a fellow luder in Sacramento and, with the help of a family friend, installed a handful of goodies while we were at it:

KS Manual Tensioner
Gates Timing Belt
NPW Water Pump
OE-replacement cap, rotor, plugs and plug wires
New thermostat
ES Motor Mount Inserts
New driver/passenger CVs
New inner/outer driver side tie-rod
New driver/passenger uca's
Fidenza 8lb flywheel w/Exedy OEM-replacement clutch (from old motor)
Type-S intake w/K&N (from old motor)
KS Balancer Shafts Delete (from old motor)
M2A4 w/Quaiffe (from old motor)
New throwout bearing
New fuel filter
Honda Genuine MTF
Mobile 1 Synthetic Oil & Filter
New misc seals, o-rings and gaskets
+ a GC/KYB (440F/340R) setup and Apex'i WS exhaust that was already installed.

It's hard to put into words how different the car feels, much less the engine itself. After driving with an unhappy, oil-drinking pig of motor with piston slap and WOT hesitation this refreshed H22 feels so damn good. **** doesn't come out of the exhaust, it doesn't leak, doesn't smell like crap. I'll try and post some pictures of both the old and new motor later on.

Simply put, it drives the way a Honda should. Sadly, that's a feeling I had nearly forgotten until I fired this thing up.

tl;dr:

total pos motor replaced with good one, drives like a champ, owner/driver happier than ****.

Thanks everyone.

 

Just to bring this to discussion, if the block was bored/honed incorrectly by the wrong machine the rings will not seal.

how do you know the engine was loose? did you measure the piston to wall? how large was the bore? how large was the piston?

who did the rebuild? and were they familiar with FRM?

 

The builder is an H/A enthusiast, but from what I understand he is more of a B-series guy. A part me thinks that he, or whomever he had machining the block, didn't understand the subtleties of FRM so I wouldn't rule out that the wrong machine was used. Are their any visual markers that one could identify to help determine this?

As far as measurements go, I don't currently have piston to wall or cylinder bore, but I do know that I specified OEM overbored pistons which I believe are 87.25. Once I get a bit more time with the old motor I'll see if I can have those other measurements taken, but just by putting a finger or two on the top of the piston you can move it laterally within the cylinder relatively easily. Also, the tops of the cylinder walls have minor vertical scoring as well.

 

A B series guy honed it without knowing what FRM walls were? ouch! thats bad, very very bad. FRM require a special stone. if anything else was used, you might as well pull it before you cause more trouble. either sleeve it or get a new block.

"And be sure this is NOT the 1st FRM motor they have worked on.
A Champion B series builder that hasn't touched an H series wouldn't be a choice I would make.
Very easy to screw up and you need special stones to do it." Quoted; NirVtec.

 

i would like to see pics of the said prelude and the new h22!

 

pics!!1!

 

Yeah, it was a mistake not to ensure that he, or whoever was performing the machine work, was aware or learned of FRM. Oh well, water under le bridge, lesson learned

Pics to follow soon, thanks everyone.

 

Oh wow just saw! you are from Chico? is your builder from Chico. I am from paradise.

 

Oh damn, small world! Yeah, the builder used to live here but has since moved on I think. He used to work for a joint down here, I think it was called Promachine.

 

never heard of Promachine.

I wouldn't use ANY builders in Chico as there aren't ANY that know dick about Honda's.
You pretty much have to go further North into Redding or south into Sac.

Putney as an exception with B an D series. I use him for all machine work as he has amazing equipment and is pretty good at operating them.

 

Yeah, this is the conclusion I've come to unfortunately. Taking it to PM's