Hi gang,

Well it was my turn yesterday. Broke my timing belt while I was driving to the parts store to get plugs and a fuel filter for my kids EX like this thread.

I have a B18B1, in a 93 Civic DX. I began the task of pulling the head today. I'm going to have a look at the valves myself and then determine whether or not to get another head or swapping out the engine.

If everything looks good, I may just put the head back on and get a Gates belt. If not, I guess I will have to start thinking about my options.

Any guru's out there who could suggest the best swap for me? Is there any fitment problems with putting a b20b or Z into my car?

 

k20 swap ftw

 

Thanks Tom and all for the help...

I didn't think I could start a new thread until I had been here a couple of days..

Since I'm in the middle of pulling the head, I just thought I would post to this thread since it was already being discussed.

If I end up having to spend more time and money on a new head, or work therein, I was wanting to warm up some ideas on what direction I should go before I commit to replacing a head and such...

 

You didn't really need to pull the head. No matter what, you need to replace the timing belt - could have possibly saved yourself some headache by just replacing the belt, then doing a compression test. If it passed, then you're done. You're past that point, though, so here we go.

Any B series motor will be a relatively direct drop-in for your car. As long as you keep it within the OBD range of what you currently have, and don't get a VTEC motor, it will be a direct drop-in. If you find yourself getting an OBD2 motor, swap over the peripherals (distributor, alternator, sensors, all that fun stuff on the outside of the motor), and it'll be direct plug in. That includes a CRV B20, but you may have to put your LS intake manifold on the B20 so it'll clear the hood.

 

Whatever is budget friendly to you.

 

Yeah I know, but everything is out of whack, and I don't want to rotate the crank and cause anymore damage if any...I know I can always rotate the pistons to clear all the valves as well..but what the heck.

I was thinking I would probably do that if I go that route. Is there any fitment issues with the engine itself? will I have room between the engine and the compartment walls at the struts?

 

Just get a B16 head and be done with it!

 

Tell me more Timmy...

It's better than the B18B DOHC I have now?

 

yes, so much. a b18b1 block with a b16a head will give you an amazing combo, with VTEC. member notaracist did a LS VTEC head swap, if I remember correctly. PM him for info.

 

But he's building it properly and not just swapping a head on his block, plus the basemap will be different from a b16 p30 basemap.

 

Smh OP valves are cheap throw some valves in it. You might want to replace the guides for the bent valves if there are any, but you can have the guides tested to see if they took damage along with the valves.

OEM-style valves will cost around $100.

be extra careful not to get head gasket material into the bores, if you're careful it'l be easy. just read the directions yo

 

Nope. Dimensionally, the motors are the same.

 

Thanks for all the info folks, lots of help.

I'm going to pull the head off on Saturday to see if there is any damage. Then I can start thinking about direction.

I'm really lucky that I have a boneyard just down the street...Honda Parts Connection in Sugar Hill Ga. Jim says I can come on down and dig around for what ever I want.

 

Do a compression test first to see what the condition of the valves are.

 

Good Stuff.

Since I have been a little more preoccupied with building fighter planes at the moment, I haven't done much to the car. Through all my searching and going by your recommendation... I'm going to hold off on pulling the head until after I get everything lined back up and do a compression test on the cylinders to see if anything was damaged when the belt broke.

It only makes good sense.

So that all being said, I have been posed with a few challenges. This is where the Noob has to come out. But that's okay I can take the heat. I want to make sure I do things correctly without damaging anything, and screwing myself anyway.

First thing first. I will have to get #1 to TDC. How can I do this with the cams in jacked up positions? I mean if I start turning the crank and there is an undamaged valve in the way, don't I run the risk of damaging it? There is nothing in the Haynes manual about how to navigate this problem.

Since the cams are going to have to be correctly aligned anyway, can't I just turn the cams individually until all the lobes are up and not pressing the valves down?

Once thanks all for any and all help.

BTW,

should I go ahead and start a new thread dedicated to this problem so I can go through it step by step post pics and whatnot?

 

Just turn the crank to TDC and then do the same for the cams.

No. You wont end up with any damage turning the engine over with a bar.

I broke a timing belt on a D15B7 years ago. Tried repeatedly to restart the car while coasting, no damage. Replaced timing belt on the side of the road and drove it home.

 

Okay now I see. The cams are improperly indexed, but it looks like they are in a free-state. I feel a little more confident now in rotating the crank....

 

Pointless to do that now.

 

Well I finally got everything back together on the car....Man am I ever glad that I came onto this forum to seek wisdom before I did anything major.

As it would turn out, I would be one of the lucky ones. Once I had everything somewhat back together, I did a leak down test. Which read in the yellow range of the leak test. Only thing is that the gauge I was using was graduated in zones that really didn't tell me anything other than the cylinders were leaking or not.

So satisfied that there was nothing else to see there, I did a compression test. The across the board compression results from 1 - 4,
1) 180 psi
2) 175 psi
3) 180 psi
4) 180 psi

So, it seems that all is good considering that the max press is 199 and the minimum pressure being 135.

So the synopses of my odyssey is that I replaced the timing belt with a Gates Racing belt, water pump, tensioner and pulley, thermostat and coolant. Cost me about $200 for everything.

What did I learn? Inspect and replace the timing belt at about 80K or so. Next time I may not be so lucky.