Hey guys,
I am currently changing the body of my 98 DC2 Type R, as the rust basically had destroyed the old one. The car has done about 260 000 Km, so I think a partial rebuild of the engine is needed, as the engine eats oil like crazy. After researching the possible causes of the high oil usage, I found that most likely I would need to change the piston rings and valve seals.
But, 260 thousand KM is a lot for an engine, most likely I would need to change the pistons themselves, valves and other parts. So therefor I am looking for guidance - which parts of the engine I should change the most? Any experience with rebuilds?
Second - I am trying to keep the engine as close to stock as possible, with only slight modifications. I have had trouble finding parts which are similiar to the original ones. Any tips which suppliers to use for pistons, valves etc.?
Edit: forgot to add - The engine is the European version.

 

Your best bet would be to drop off the engine at a reputable machine shop and have them inspect the engine for you. Without knowing the history of the engine and with that much km on the engine, checking clearances is a must if you want your rebuilt engine to last a long time. At the very minimum, the cylinders of your block would need to be honed before reassembly. These are things your backyard mechanic would not be able to do properly.

As far as parts go, try to use OEM wherever possible. They are known to handle abuse and are reliable. If you do decide to do any engine mods for more power, now would be the perfect time to do it. Let us know your power goal and we can help point you in the right direction. You could also check the All Motor/Turbo forum to see various engine builds. Good luck!

 

Well the plus side is that the car itself has had only one owner (my father), but for some time it was not driven, so probably that period was the main reason why I am changing the body work, but for the last few years it has been driven pretty much daily.
It could be hard to find a machine shop which specializes in engines, as I don't know any. It could be possible that I just have to look deeper, but it is also viable that they have not caught much steam yet, as in my country (Latvia) we have a fairly young car rebuilding culture and in most cases we tend to just repair the car, so it works until selling.
One of the sad moments is that, I can mostly find the OEM parts which are sold in the USA, that means large delivery costs and also taxation of the goods delivered to the EU.
If speaking about the power goal - I would say in the range of 200-210 BHP (assuming the engine would still deliver the horsepower when new :D), so basically few tweaks.

 

I guess I take for granted the amount of resources we have available in the US. In the end it is up to you to determine if this car is worth enough to you to restore. It may end up costing as much as a new car judging by the lack of resources you have available at your fingertips. I can't tell you how to get aftermarket/OEM parts cheaper because I haven't had to jump through hoops to get them. You'll have to figure that part out. As far as rebuilding the engine, there are a lot of threads in here discussing how to rebuild an engine. Take some time to research and read. Also see if you can source a Helm's shop manual to help you with the rebuild process. It will show you what needs to be done step by step to diagnose/fix/replace parts on your ITR. Since you are sticking to OEM power levels, I'd say just rebuild to OEM specs, throw on an intake, header, and exhaust, and then get your car tuned. You'll be more than happy with that combo.

Here are some of the things off the top of my head that need to be done in order to properly rebuild your engine:

• Disassemble entire engine
• Clean entire engine
• Inspect crankshaft journals for wear
• Measure crankshaft journals to see if within spec
• Measure crankshaft run out
• Replace main and rod bearings
• Inspect cylinder bores for wear/cracks (most likely worn down)
• Measure cylinder bores to see if within spec. If not in spec, may need to be over-bored
• Bore out cylinders (if needed)
• Hone cylinders
• Inspect pistons for wear (would need to be replaced if over-boring is required)
• Replace piston rings
• Measure piston ring gaps
• Inspect connecting rods
• Measure block deck for flatness. If not within spec, need to shave surface
• Inspect camshaft for wear
• Inspect camshaft journals for wear
• Measure camshaft journals to see if within spec
• Inspect combustion chamber
• Measure head deck for flatness. If not within spec, need to shave surface
• Replace valves
• Replace valve guides
• Replace valve seals
• Replace valve seats
• Replace valve retainers and keepers
• Replace head gasket
• Inspect rocker arms for wear
• Replace lost motion assembly to spring-type
• Replace all seals

Keep in mind there may be more items that I may have forgotten. As you can see you'll need some expensive equipment and tools to do it the right way. I've done a full rebuild of a B18C1 block using 99% OEM Honda parts and it came out to nearly $6,000 USD, which includes machine work to over-bore, hone, and shave the deck. If I had the machine shop assemble the engine it would have been even more expensive.

 

Where exactly did you buy your OEM parts that it cost you 6 grand and you even did the assembly yourself? I recently had to source an entire rebuild for a customers 01 Type R/B18C5 and using all OEM parts it was less than $2000 to do the entire short block, and another $800 for the new valvetrain /head components. All in all the customer spent less than what your talking including labor for machine work and long block assembly. As a matter of fact, for under $5,000 the customer got his full rebuild and didn't have to touch a single wrench or bolt, so $6,000 for just parts seems very excessive if you are inside the US. Hell a new engine from Honda directly without even needing a core is about that price, maybe even less.

 

See pictures of my spreadsheet. Keep in mind I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and the prices listed do not include shipping costs. I should have left out the price of the long block, head, ITR cams, and other things the OP already has. I had to build mine from scratch since a lot of the parts were either no good or missing. Feel free to verify my bs.

 

So where did you buy all of the OEM parts? I have to say that the parts which I can find locally, they are cheaper here, but very few of them.

After doing some research on some engine shops, I found some. At the look of your spreadsheet it seems that this service is cheaper here.

 

The OEM parts were bought from either Delray Acura or Majestic Honda. If you can buy OEM parts at a cheaper rate, hats off to you. Majestic Honda is probably the cheapest OEM parts dealer in the US. Machining is a little on the higher end of the spectrum mainly because there are only a handful of reputable machine shops local to me. WPC coating of the parts is unnecessary but it was something I wanted to try to see if it works.

 

delray sells on ebay too and the shipping is stupid fast.
ordered 4pm thurs, got from fl to me in mo before noon 2 days later.
not sure how that's even possible lol.

 

just buy a new motor not an option? way less work