Ok guys any help is much appreciated, and happy holidays.

Daily driving a 95 dx hatch AT needs head gasket, still driving, not even running warm but coolant turning black and car sounds/runs doggy.
i just picked up a very poorly running 93cx MT needing head gasket. And i also have a 94ex MT that threw a rod bearing.
Planning on a minime with 5spd swap, But dont have all parts/money needed(which is whole nother question lol) should i Do the mini on the b8 and once i know its running good swap that motor with the z6 head and MT?? Or wait and do the swap when i have all parts in hand?? Which would mean doing a head gasket replace on the b7....is there a good reason to use something other than a b7 gasket, if im planning to do the mini and swap later?


95 dx hatch 330k runs smooth no knocks, and is only car with useable body/chassis.

94 ex coupe threw bearing, 220k on head/motor.

93 cx hatch, unknown mileage. Unknown if it has 4relief pistons or not.

Ill add that i have always done my own mechanics, but never any internal motorwork.

 

Whichever option you eventually choose, have the head and block surfaces leveled by a machine shop and clean out the block head bolt holes to make the job seamless and long lasting.

 

I plan on doing that with whatever is gonna stay in the car. But not if i just do the b7 to get by, which the more i think about it, thats what im leaning towards... But for a "temp fix, maybe a year or more) is it worth useing a Y8 or some other gasket? Or just stick with b7?? Does one seal better on NOT perfect surfaces?

 

And do you have any suggestions on who to talk to about doing the mini me? I have the whole ex car, most write ups involve searching/buying a bunch of parts, gets confuseing

 

Did you read links in the FAQs sticky above?

 

Surface leveling is also critical for just a head gasket swap, where you should use the Honda D15B7 gasket and follow the instructions in the Honda service manual.

 

Ive gone thru a bunch, and made comments but no replies, and have not directly messaged anyone. And the head/cam gear/belt combo seems like a big debate

 

I would go with the decision you seem to be leaning toward - install new head gasket in the D15B7.

With your daily driver back in action, you will have sufficient time to plan a future mini-me or engine swap.

 

honda made a revised graphite gasket. ishino leak gasket iirc.

 

 

It's not a graphite gasket, the leak gasket is a true MLS with black polymer coating. The standard non leak replacement is another graphite gasket as far as I know.

 

Here is the Ishino head gasket that Honda currently sells:



The Honda leakless head gasket (12251-P08-004) is made by Nippon:

 

 

Yes, I believe Honda discontinued the leak gasket so only sell the graphite gaskets for these old cars. You have to goto autopartsway to get the Ishino Stone leak gasket as Ishino still makes the leak gasket. As can be seen in the details, the 12251-PM5-S02 is the same crappy graphite gasket originally used which will have the same inherent weaknesses it always has had that created TSB 97-047 and costly repairs sooner instead of later. The leak gasket listed below "ISH1621414" is the 4 layer MLS leak gasket made for the D15B7 engine that is superior to the original graphite gasket but does take a bit more effort to install/use.


Ishino Cylinder Head Gasket

 

 

Sorry I missed that!

Looks like Nippon is more in line with Dealership prices. The Ishino leak gasket is 55 USD versus OEM Graphite for 80 from Dealership or the Nippon for 80 from Amazon.

It would be interesting to know who originally made the leak gasket for TSB 97-047 back in the day. I assumed it was Ishino based on what I was seeing when I was researching it all several years ago for my old B7 but now that I see Nippon also makes one..... It's anyones guess. Amazon seems to state that the Nippon is the OEM gasket though.

Cheers

One small problem, the part number you posted for the Nippon is for the D16Z6 not the D15B7:




Part number for the leak gasket is 12251-P01-004 as seen in TSB:
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...-head-3243419/

 

 

Put the EX head and intake on your DX engine and there is the mini-me. You do not have to actually hook up the VTEC right away, as it will run fine (but not quite as fast) without it. No sense messing with the non-VTEC head any more when you have a presumably good VTEC one. The regular graphite gasket that costs about $30 should be fine for a stock setup. Do realize that every time you take the head off you need a new gasket.

Once you have the engine working well, look at using either the CX or EX parts for your auto to manual swap.

 

One thing to keep in mind, the B7 piston to deck height is .002" (almost flush) so the quench distance is set by the head gasket. From my understanding optimal is .035" to .040". The D16Z6 and D16Y8 gaskets do not reach optimal if I remember correctly so that leave either the Graphite gasket or the Ishino Leak gasket or specific gasket from companies like Cometic.

Under the optimal space tends to cause pinging (detonation) under load and the only real fix is a retard in ignition timing, reducing power further.

 

Thanks guys some good info, and merry xmas