Recent had my head gasket start leaking real bad, oil in coolant, and burning coolant at the same time, fun stuff. So I ripped apart the motor, cause I also suspected my piston rings had gone bad also and surprise, the oil control rings were stuck in the piston grooves.
Everything else in the engine looks great, besides a few very late oil changes by previous owners, and there are no groves or scratches on the crankshaft
This I know I must replace/repair
For the block
- Piston walls just need new crosshatching
- Bearings need replacing, both crank and rods
- Oil pump, rear main seal, oil pan gasket, coolant rod seals, thermostat, rubber hoses
- Recently replaced water pump, timing belt, tensioner
For the head
- All seals, including valve stem seals

So I'm just looking for some advice on what else I should look to replace, and what companies I should get them from, as this engine most likely has over 250k on it.
- Are the pistons salvageable? Or is it not worth trying to clean the oil control ring grooves, and just replace the pistons and rods.
-- If replacing them, where can I find the best replacement kits, preferably with floating pins, as I do not have access to a press, as well as good rings and bearings?
- Should I replace/maybe upgrade valve springs? I'm taking apart the head to clean all the oil, grime, and carbon buildup on the head and valves, and will replace valve stem seals and re-lap the seals, so should I just replace the springs while I'm there?
- Which head gasket and crank bearings are best for replacing mine? Who could I trust for another 250k miles lol.

Ordered a mechanic's straight edge to make sure the block and head are within spec, so kinda waiting on that to arrive before I purchase anything in case I need to send them to get machined.
Please let me know which parts are best to replace mine, as well as being within OEM specs. Also, I have a budget of $1000 cause I'm a college student stuck at home unable to work because of this whole pandemic lol.

Thanks!

 

have a machine shop take care of the cylinders for you unless you have the tools to clean out them. Get a good measurement of the size and order the correct pistons.. Look into good bearings such as ACL. As for head gasket, nothing beats Genuine Honda. Leave the stock valve springs alone. Just get some new valve stem seals. For the pistons, you can go with some Speedfactory no-notch rods+piston combo kit. If you do most of the work yourself, you can save the install labor charges.

 

I forgot to mention that the pistons, or the rods at least, have numbers on them, but from when I pulled them out, instead of being 1-2-3-4, it was 3-2-3-1. Maybe someone what already in this engine? The car I pulled it from was all messed up so maybe so.
If both the head and block decks are in spec, I'm just gonna hone the cylinders. If not yea I'll get the machine shop to do that as well.
For the pistons+rod combo, looks like they're out of stock on the site, but will probably find them elsewhere. Also on their site, it looks like the no-notch rod increases the compression to about 8.5:1 from 7.6:1 factory, is that something the genuine honda head gasket has no problem with? Or maybe I'm looking at the wrong combo pistons lol.
Thanks for your reply :D

 

I bought my set of Vitara pistons and SF rod kit from eBay. They were 75.5mm but I still was able to use a factory 75mm H/G. The raise in compression is fine. While you're in there, you might as well upgrade to some ARP head studs instead of the factory head bolts. Make sure to get the one for a Z6 instead of a Y8. The z6 head stud kit has one longer bolt....for the hole closest to the VTEC solenoid.

 

No, the numbers you see stamped into the side of the small end of the rods is for bearing sizes. Those numbers correlate to numbers stamped onto the crank.

If you pick up a helminc.com factory service manual, it will explain all of that.

 

I'm guessing you had to get the cylinders rebored to match the 75.5mm pistons? And yes I was planning on getting arp head studs. Did you reuse the bolts for the crankshaft cradle?

Oh ok, I felt like I was missing something, thank you.

 

At the time, I didn't want to go through the hassle of removing my engine to do the rebuild. I bought the bare block, already bored to 75.5mm from eBay. Yes, I re-used those bolts. They don't need to be replaced if they are still good. Besides the casting and bored sleeves, the bottom block is pretty much new. Fresh reman crankshaft, new Honda oil pump, new oil pan, Vitara pistons, SF rods, ACL standard bearings, etc....

 

do you know what your oil clearances were?

 

It's been over a year. Sorry I can't recall. They were within factory specs

 

So I emailed SpeedFactory asking when the combo with the no-cut rods will be back in stock, they replied with a few months out... So did some searching and found a kit including 75.5 mm vitara pistons and npr rings, p2p0 custom length rods (basically the same as the no-cut other than the shape and maybe will require cutting lol), and well as ACL standard sized bearings. Heres the link for that --> https://www.ebay.com/itm/YCP-75-5mm-...8AAOSwOL9ei5mk

My question is after the machine shop bores the cylinders with respect to the pistons, I should be able to use all the items in the kit? I bought some plastigauge to test whatever I get regardless but was just wondering if this is a safe road to go down. Thanks!

 

Since the SF kit is on backorder, the other kits should be fine. You will have to notch out the block to accommodate. The notch isn't much and can be done at home with a cordless/corded drill and grinding attachment. You can termporarily install one set of piston ring and rods so you can see how much metal needs to be removed from the block. Make sure to check the ring gap clearance with a feeler gauge. The piston rings need to be placed at the center of the cylinder, not at the top. You will need to use the plastigauge for the rod bearings as well as the crankshaft bearings.

I would highly recommend getting this tool as well. Once you use it, YOU WILL NEVER EVER want to use those crappy piston ring compressor tool again. Thoroughly clean the cylinder walls and generously lube up the sides of the cylinder wall with assembly lube. Clock the piston rings correctly and slide the WISECO compressor upwards from underneath the rod/piston...so you can read the labeling (Wiseco 75.50mm). Make sure the upper edge of the piston is flush with the compressor. The piston skirt will be exposed. Place the piston/rods/compressor into the cylinder. Once it's in, push down with your thumbs. That's it. If you installed the rings correctly onto the pistons, there is literally zero chance of ring damage by using this tool. It's tapered at the top BTW.

For Vitara pistons, the arrow "<----" points to the tranny side.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wis-rcs07550

 

This is the truth. I have 3 of these now - 75.5mm, 82.0mm, and 84.5mm.

 

One of the best engine building tools I have purchased in years.

 

Just a quick update for anyone interested. Got 75.5mm vitaras with custom p2p0 long rods, and a machine shop to match the bore with the pistons, as well as cleaning up the head. Still waiting on oem oil pump, oem headgasket, some gasket and seals, arp head studs, and a few other things before i can put it all together. Thanks all for your help, especially NVturbo! :D

 

any time. Glad I can be of assistance. I would get one of those large leave/yard garbage bags to cover up the entire block. You don't any containments in there.

 

Next Update:
Gapped all the piston rings, they all came within factory clearances, as well as the crank and rod bearings, for which i used plastigauge.

Notched the block, and spent more time cleaning the block than notching lmao.

New oem oil pump.

Re-assembled the rocker arm assembly, and after torqueing down the arp headstuds to 62 ft/lbs, set the valve lash for the intake to .008 and exhaust to .010.

While waiting for other stuff to arrive, stripped down the paint on the valve cover, and repainted with wrinkle black.

Finally to where I am today, reused the timing belt, water pump, and tensioner that was on the engine as it only had a few thousand miles on it. The engine is ready to go in my car, but just waiting on a few things for the trans and axle boots, cause they were split. Turns over super smooth all assembled, looking to get everything finished by the end of the week.

 

Looking sharp. Very nice job on the valve cover.

 

Thank you I appreciate that. Learned my lesson after two other times to let the paint cure for 2 days before messing with the letters or installing it, messed up the finish the last two times not doing so.

 

haha, I also ruined it the first time on mine by not letting it sit for 2 days. Had to strip it and start over. Came out great the 2nd time.

 

looks like great progress, man.

 

Woooo! Got the engine running today. Bled the coolant for around 20 minutes, and after that, replaced the breakin oil and filter for fresh breakin oil and filter, and now gotta get 500 miles before changing it again for whatever oil I choose, most likely Mobil 1 full synthetic 5w30.
https://www.facebook.com/marek.kazimierczyk.12/videos/2555705311336615/
Don't mind the exhaust leak, it's somewhere around the headers, I'll find it tomorrow. But the car does idle kinda low, any idea what it may be? No CELs, the only vacuum leak sound i hear is from the pipe going from the pcv valve to the intake. Is that normal?

 

Do the idle re-learn procedure detailed in the service manual. It honestly doesn't sound too terribly low...the tachometer may be reading off. The capacitors on the board are old and can cause the reading to be incorrect.

 

Is this the procedure you're talking about?
https://my.prostreetonline.com/2015/...ic-idle-speed/

 

 

Do not forget to verify mechanical/ignition timing before and after idle re-learn.