long story short: 99GSR

3500+ miles on motor
GSR head/stock
ITR stock NGK plugs/NGK wireset
ITR block/stock
GSR HG
GSR manifolds, IM ported secondaries
TB 70/60/68, portmatched to 68
ITR valvesprings, LMAs, Ti retainers
GSR cams 0/0, ECU, fuel system
coolant temp at 35% radiator leaking the
contents of the reservoir every 500 miles,
yet still holding temp
fuel pressure stock w/gague
ITR muffler, stock GSR exhaust
stock intake w/fresh air and better filter in box
18BTDC, 750 +/-50rpm idle speed
.007/.008 cold valve clearances
10-30w ATM Amsoil

after running hard, my stock header glows red. no doubt,
there is more going on in this motor than in the GSR motor
in stock trim. I anctipated gains, but not a glowing header
this early in the game. basic laws of entropy tells me that
heat/cold=expansion/contraction=eventual fatigue=leakage

how long until this thing could bust a seam or could it last
a while? would it be worth while to procure a comptech or
DC header for now until I can afford better? yes, I know I
need to also fix/replace the radiator...

thanks in advance

mike

 

I've only seen glowing headers on a B18c that was running extremely rich. Your setup looks solid, not sure why the head would be reaching these temperatures.

OT: Your valve clearances are on the tight side, is there an advantage with this setup?

TIA

 

VECI OEM spec is:

.17mm +/- .02mm / 25.4 for mm conversion is = .0067 (.006-.0075 is spec)
.19mm +/- .02mm / 25.4 for mm conversion is = .0075 (.0067-0083 is spec)

I am set at .007/.008

according to this, I am right in the ball park going by factory settings.
I may actually set the intakes to .0065 to allow for more time on the
pad and get a tad more duration out of the intake cam
this may buy me about 1-2 more degrees of overlap and make
a bit more power.

I dynoed today at 92.9 deg/29.92-.081 in.Hg. 96ft CF=1.02 RPM/MPH 91
in third gear: SAE Corrected power baseline of 158/121 and 118 at 5252rpm.
afr was about 15.7 at 3K and about 13.7 at 8K which is what the stock ECU likes
to do

 

Your header is glowing ? Is that 158 ? or 1158 ?

I'd wait until it breaks.

 

A glowing header means you are expelling a lot of heat, which usually means you are running lean or just for a long time, if it's a cast header you really don't have much to worry about, they will take the abuse, it it's a thinwall tube header, you will run into reliability problems, if it's thickwall, you should be ok. When you buy an aftermarket header you should find a very thick wall header and get it coated with a ceramic coating, it will help it, and everything around your header last a long time.

 

can't say this is true in your case. But usually when a downpipe glows on an FD, it means that your cat is clogged up.

something to look into maybe.

 

yea, it was pretty interesting seeing it for the first time. I was viewing this fom the hole in the heat sheild where the dip stick resides, not the downpipe but the header itself

 

correct... when the headers glows it means it is running lean. not enought fuel so to much heat.

 

my buddys was bright red after a night at the strip
its normal if you have been running the car hard.

 

I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing it out to me fellas.

 

The redder the header, the motor runs better. (as long as you have no detonation of course)

 

15.7 @ 3K with a line straight to -13.7 @ 8K is somewhat lean but acceptable, my GSR ran like this when it ran its best before the ITR block at this AFR w/stock manifolding, this is the AFR I am at now from what the dyno operator could show me. this place has a reader with a 5gas which he monitors during the pull. this place did not have AFR reading on the sheet... which is NICE. Oct.5th in St.Pete will be fun. I think I can get a bit of help upping my line pressure a few psi, yes the header only glows when I am FRESH FROM HARD DRIVING the eninge runs at 35-40% temp on the gague also, egts seem warm at idle to semi hot, sometimes you cant even put your hand in front of the exhaust. I remember
when I ran my car w/o a thermostat in it for a while and the AFR was RICH like:

14.5-14.0-13.5-13.5-14.25-13.0-12.8-13.2-13.2-13.2-13.2
3000 3500 4K 4500 5000 5500 6000 6.5K 7000 7.5K 8000
this setup was CTR cams, 10.6-8:1 w/ 2layer gasket, GSR muffler, endyn
28.5mm flat exhaust valves, ITR intake valves, same everything else.
most I saw was 163/125 with 122 at 5252rpm NON SAE corrected.
the dyno OP was like... hey you got a VAFC? I was like nope-- no thermostat

I figure if I run the car a bit cooler on stock fuel pressure, I will be fine... if I can get the temp into say 25-30% I can see more fuel getting in the mix, I have a
mugen thermostat and thermoswitch I can use, maybe I will see an improvement in the meantime before I put in my fluidyne or stock replacement radiator.



[Modified by MikeSarr_GSR, 5:16 AM 9/26/2002]

 

Rewire your A/C fan to run by switch, cool that header down.

Get a lower temp. thermostat and switch.

Flush radiator, refill w/ honda type 2 coolent.

Bypass your radiator t/b coolent lines; cools the intake manifold temps.

Make sure your intake is cold air, if not high temp paint, with coats both inside and out!

Don't cool down with water, it will crack...

Good luck, just a few of these steps should help, unless your just running too rich!?

 

thats stuffs along the line I was thinking too... good ideas. thanks man, also the engine is not rich currently, it is stoich which is lean for making power, for daily driving

 

I think your exhaust is not exiting properly...have you checked for a clogged cat or anything like that?

 

ahh, i saw 15.7 in your other post an was tripping. dude, running on the ragged edge of detontation is the best for power production when detonation/destruction/ultra-high egt's are avoided...., but you seem to be having a situation where your running very lean and then yes, @ higher rpm, its fattening up to 13.8, but that previous lean condition for however long is making your cylinder temps way high to be countered with that 13.8 af ratio. you really need to tune that bitch more and add some fueling down low....your heading for a a big boom sometime soon IMO, i like the simplicity of your setup tho, and i also like that you are tuning the hell out of it...that is the way it should be


[Modified by builthatch, 9:05 AM 9/26/2002]

 

yea man, I didnt see the run this dyno the guy had to monitor it through the pass. unfortunately... I dont have an actual printout. the afr reaches 14.5 at say 5.5K and richens out to about 13.5 or so, when I was fiddling with it at WOT I saw as rich as 12.8. Oct 5th I intend to tune the fuel pressure and we will see if we cannot help this ecu out a bit by the way, definately thanks for the props and the advice man. I believe in honda parts, when tuned correctly they can work great together.

my afr looks like this currently @ just shy of 18BTDC:

15.7-15.5-14.7-14.5-14.0-14.0-14.0-13.8-13.8-13.6-13.5
3000 3500 4K 4500 5000 5500 6000 6.5K 7000 7.5K 8000

for oct 5th, I will install my B&M FPR, mugen thermostat and fan
switch. hopefully, my radiator will come in soon, waiting on a
fluidyne from back order... grr.

I am thinking for my Base+2 I will do this:

Obd2 to Obi-Wan harness/OBD1 P72 ECU / hondata 2
proper cam gears
Comptech Ceramic 4-2-1 Header
270cc prelude injectors
mugen thermostat, thermo switch, fluidyne radiator
B&M FPR


[Modified by MikeSarr_GSR, 6:56 AM 9/27/2002]

 

i have a b16 and when i had my stock header...i wanted to see if i could make it glow so i drove on the freeway at speeds a bit higher than the limit ....i did it for maybe 5-10 mins and since the freeway is close to my house i drove home opened the hood and it was glowing...i think its normal

 

I think I also remember it doing this when I had my CTR cams and stock C1 block, milled head and mugen gasket. I just noticed it and was like... hmmm