A local garage has a what i believe to be a 91-92 4 door integra with bent valves from a broke timing belt. It's a one owner with 113k. For the most part it's in decent shape. I think i might have a good chance to buy it for $400. They have already removed the head and the parts are included.

I am not looking to make this a race car but to just enjoy it for what it is. If i am looking at a rebuilt head or rebuilding it myself, what general range will it cost? I have been a good parts replacer for 30 years but haven't ever ventured into a top end rebuild.

I did see a 1.8 cylinder head on fleabay for $400 rebuilt. I am looking for a something i can drive to work once in a while.

What advice do you have?

 

To rebuild the head with a standard 3 angle valve job, hot tank and new valve seals installed its usually no more than $450 to 550 dep. on the machine shop, yes you can buy those remanufactured heads from ebay but I have no experience with the machine work quality or who did the machine work so its hit or miss, but generally you can buy the entire head gasket kit for around $300 or so and just drop the head with valve seals off to the machine shop and your good, years ago I used to take my head to the dealer parts dept. and there machine shop would offer rebuilds for the head for a reasonable price, the machinist later got his own shop and I used him for a few rebuilds, maybe try the dealer and see if they offer the same labor, try talking with the machinist there maybe throw some questions to start a convo and go from there its what I did, next thing I know the guy said just give me the head ill rebuild it here at Honda!.

 

Thanks for the advice. That's pretty reasonable.

 

 

There are so many options on the net to buy a rebuilt head. Where would be a good place to get it? I haven't explored local options yet.

It has a pr4-5 casting.

92 rs with 113k and i'm the 2nd owner. it has rollup windows and manual mirrors. There is some rust but nothing hateful.

 

You could probably just get any non vtec on facebook market place due to the undesirability of non vtec heads and just have the machine shop check it, change valve seals/perform valve job? You'd probably come out cheaper than spending 400-500 on a reman head, when that is what stock VTEC heads go for

 

After searching in my area there are a few machine shops that do heads. They range from $395 to $450+ depending on what's broke. Autozone has a couple reman they sell. One is American cylinder head and the other is techhead. They have a one or two year warranty depending which you buy.

What timing belt kit with water pump is recommended?

 

OEM

 

There are so many other options like this....


Has anyone had success with other aftermarket kits?

I basically need all gaskets from the head gasket up. I also need the studs that screw into the head where the exhaust and intake bolt on. I am going to assume these are not reusable.

 

Not sure if your trolling but Yes there are tons of aftermarket Head gasket kits/ options.. should you use them? in my opinion hell no. Non of the quality parts come even close to Honda OEM parts NONE!, don't be that guy go with OEM. When the head gasket or studs fail you'll know why I was telling you this.. If anything just buy a OEM oil/ water pump, OEM timing belt, OEM head gasket, OEM valve seals, OEM or ARP head studs would be even better, OEM cam seals, the rest of the gaskets you can get away with using cheap aftermarket ones.

 

Not trolling, i really don't know since i haven't had to do work like this in a really long time. Thanks for the advice.

 

Ahh no worries im just teasing you, There is lots of people who may have used the aftermarket gaskets with no issues so its really up to you, if its a budget your on and your just looking to try and get the car back on the road then go ahead just pay attention to the assembly specs and you should be ok, Now for the valve seals there not expensive at all from the dealer so I would use those at least for piece of mind but again its all up to you.

 

This might be a really stupid question. When a refurbed head is shipped to you, should the rockers be loose? I was swapping things over and all of them were loose. The shop says that they are shipped that way since you have to adjust when setting the timing and they have had rocker arms bent during shipping.

 

It doesn't matter if they're loose or not. You should be doing a valve adjustment either way

 

Good to know. Generally, as a parts replacer in the past, i haven't really had to adjust anything, so this is new. I really need to get my hands on a helms manual.

 

Tell them to remove that black plastic stripping object on the rear wheel well, it contributes to rust.

 

I was wondering if i should remove that when fixing it.

 

first thing I did when I got my integra was to remove the rear wheel well arch rubber strips.

 

There's rust at the top of one of them, but surprisingly the other parts aren't too bad. I think this car has less rust than my POS 09 tsx that i had. This thing is 27 years old and has minimal rust, but my tsx was only a couple years old when i had it and there was a lot more rust. It goes to show you the quality.

 

imho those tbk kits are the way to go.
all made in japan good quality stuff.
a good guide to the best brands is here:

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...civic-3114911/

 

Hell yes! i had that or the aisin kit in mind.

I had to make a list of the stuff i need and where i can get it. I haven't done much besides remove the pinstriping since i got it. Life is getting in the way.

 

Everything has been ordered and on the way.

When i had this car towed to me, the head was already off. There is carbon buildup on the two exposed cylinder walls and the top of the block. CAn i just use brake cleaner and a really fine sandpaper to clean it up? If not, what can i use? I don't plan to remove the block so i am looking to remove the built up crap.

Also, before i install the refurbed head, do i need to turn the motor to tdc? And then once there, Do i need to do anything special with the head before installing it? Do i need to make sure things are lined up before setting it in place and installing the TB? I have been a great parts replacer for many years so this is a first for me. I finally have the copy of the helms manual on my laptop, but they don't go over all situations. I have a war wagon of tools so that's not a problem.

I have been intimidated by jobs like this, but i like the challenge.

 

Go get yourself a shop manual and that will tell you everything you need to know. Not the shitty books behind the counter at AutoZone but actual service manuals from Honda (published by Helms). Google search 1992 Integra service manual pdf download and download a copy of it for yourself. Other than that, basically all of the information you need can already be found online.

 

FSM will tell you how to check and what to check and will give you the specs you need. Even tells you what specific tool you need.

 

Thanks, this is much easier than having to open all of the folders that i had to download.

I have searched online for some of my answers but must not be using the proper search terms. I was hoping someone with more experience could answer them.
I have read the parts of the repair manual and it doesn't state what i am looking for.