Hi there. A couple of months ago I bought an 87 crx for pocket change because it couldn't pass smog here in CA because of a high idle. I took it home to find that the high idle was to keep it from dying because cylinder 4 wasn't firing. I replaced the spark plugs and wires, and that helped a little, but not much. Then I checked the compression, and 1 through 3 were within spec, but cylinder 4 had almost no compression, and none of them went up with oil in the cylinder. So right now I have the head off, but I'm not quite sure what to do next, and I don't want to just dive in and ruin something. It doesn't help that my home forum (redpepperracing.com) is pretty much abandoned.

So now that that mess is out of the way, does anyone here know how I can learn about tearing down cvcc cylinder heads? And verify if this is a valve issue? There was no smoke and the head gasket looks fine. Any help would be great. Thank you.

(Also, if wanted, I can post pictures.)

 

This is the first cylinder, and number 2 and 3 look like this





Cylinder 4, the one with low/no compression. The exhaust valve looks a little different than the other exhaust valves.





closeup of cylinder 4 exhaust valve





cylinder 4 auxiliary chamber. It has less carbon deposit in and around it than the other auxilary chambers





cylinder 1 through 3 exhaust valve stems look like this.





cylinder 4 exhaust valve stem<br/>

 

All of the intake stems look new. The carburetor looks almost brand new, and the cylinder walls are great. I was thinking maybe the distributor could be the problem, or the valve seat, because the valve looks to not have any cracks, stress, or pieces falling off. It just doesn't have the white deposit on it, and the combustion chamber has less carbon deposit.

 

Ok, I have decided to just pull the trigger and take the head to a machine shop to get the valves fixed, and the head milled slightly. I do have a few questions about that though. Do any d series cam gears fit on the EW1, or do I have to find a special size? Also, is there any work that really makes this head shine? I figured mill .01 to .03 inches, which a lot of people say to do, then port and polish. I am also going to get the head checked for cracks, heat tanked, valves reground, valve seat reground, and new valves put in if needed.

 

You probably shouldn't ask for the port and polish, on a cvcc motor the difference will not be felt whatsoever. This is an economy engine that was designed for fuel efficiency and reliability.

Don't waste your money on this motor trying to go faster, just fix it back to oem spec.