so as some or most of you know, my freshly built, freshly tuned motor has pushed coolant just hours after the dyno session.

I was sent another tune with 4-5 degrees of timing removed. and I'm replacing this head gasket tomorrow. I will also be purchasing a straight edge to check both the head and block to see if they are true, as i did have a few moments of 215 degree temps show their ugly face. if all is well in that regard then in will go the new headgasket. new coolant, and i will be bleeding the system with all new coolant.

my plan of attack is as follows.

1. remove head, check with straight edge along with block.

2. if all is well install new OEM HG and torque to 60ft lb as per ARP specs. what i do is tighten my studs with an allen wrench until snug, then proceed to follow honda's sequence in 20/40/60ft lb increments.

3. bring the motor to normal operating temperature, pull the valve cover and torque studs to 65ft lb. I was going to just recheck for 60, but i feel like that will accomplish nothing.

4. take the car out throw it a beating, hopefully see no signs of headlift, and enjoy her from here on out.

5. if i fail again..be on the lookout for a for sale thread. or trade me your H22 swap.


anyone have any tips or tricks for me to avoid failure? my boy mentioned cooper spray but i'm trying to stay away from it.

 

We torque are heads down to 90lbs on arp. You might want to recheck the torque rate in those studs

 

for reference i'm going to post this here...




could i be screwing the entire installation up by bottoming out the studs with an allen key??

 

same 90ftlbs here

 

B-Series studs call for a higher TQ spec, this is a D16

 

I hand tighten my D studs and torque in 5 lb increments to 60. Never popped a headgasket.

I have never retorqued after a heat cycle either. I hope your not doing it warm either...this will change the values. Whats the set up?? how much timing are you pushing? turbo? pressure?

Get me by PM if you wish.

 

I put mine in with an Allen wrench with almost no torque above what I could do by hand. I'm sure it's a little more, but very minimal. Everything I have ever read says torquing more than 60ftlb is not providing any benefit and only stretching the studs.

215° is nothing, that won't warp anything. Do you have sleeves? Maybe they sunk?

 

We lifted a d series head on the dyno on a d series build not too long ago. Pulled the head off and sent it to the machine shop. They milled it for the second time as this head was also overheated when my customer decided to drive the car 20 miles after the dyno. Got the head back, checked the block, copper sprayed an oem gasket and torqued those arp s to about 80ft. lbs. forget 60 you need to go more that that.

 

75 is a nice round number that i use. 80 if she spits a little.

 

Drill it out and run 11mm studs. What is your setup? Details?

 

I torque my d16 to 75 foot pound when I had it.

 

I do 70-75lbs on D series.

 

We do 75 also on the D series, never had a issue.

 

ive done 100 and not a single **** was give. never lost a headgasket either.

 

70 or 75 on the d is good. I did my vitara motor in this sequence. 20/40/75. I heard somewhere that the last step needs to be the biggest jump in tq compared to the other steps. Havent had a hg issue since I started using this method. Good luck man

 

70 on a B and I never retorque, I feel that will distort things. my secret is "copper spray" never had single issue, some people that used it improperly may complain, and others just follow what they heard. not messy and never had any in my oil or coolant.

fresh surface on head and block.
wash new GE headgasket in hot soapy water.
dry gastet with a air gun
I did this in a sanitary room/paint booth... spray thin layer allow to dry, repeat 3-4 times. let dry, install and torque one time, be happy with the results.

 

I just realized its a D. I ran 500whp on a D with 60ftlb and copper spray. How much power are you making? Maybe it's a little too much timing

 

I know when I was building the Detroit Diesel engine we used to soak our head bolts in oil prior to installing them. Our manuals said that it allowed for a better torque reading. I know thats not a Honda, but it may help in your situation.

 

I use the allen key get the studs all the way down they back off a tad. why is ur car reaching 215 degrees are u having cooling issues what fan are u using what rad? even at 600hp over 30 dyno pulls my car stayed under 200 degrees

 

2 buddies of mine had headlift/warped head right around the 280-300hp mark on their d's. Seems like a common issue since one friend found a lot of people with the same problem. The other friend had the head resurfaced with a new head gasket and is holding together (so far) and has already gotten dyno tuned with no problem. 60lbs isnt torqued enough. Both motors were torqued to 75lbs+ with arp's.

 

Use oem gasket, copper spray, arp studs torqued to 80ft lbs. Check torque on studs after a week of driving(while motor is bone cold).

 

^^^^^^yup 85 lbs 19 psi no issues

 

Chalk another one up for using an oem gasket and copper spray.

When having head lift issues on an H22 at ~600 whp, we talked to ARP, and they said to go up to 90 ft lbs as well, when we had been going to 70 previously. Never had another issue after that.

 

don't forget to get all of the oil/coolant out of the block/head bolt hole threads.

 

fully built from top to bottom with the exception of sleeves, 18G on 18psi. making roughly 350.