This might interest some of you

[Slavvy 0]

Well my friend's 96 civic decided to act like it had a blown headgasket. After a HUGE amount of fooling around with people who didn't know what they were doing, he finally just gave in and trucked it to me, so here I am picking up someone else's mess.

The idiot who started -but didn't finish- pulling the head off decided to undo the headbolts going from left to right, bottom row first. So the car sat with one side of the head under full pressure, and the other loosened off. Furthermore, noone thought to drain the coolant from the motor, so when I finally pulled the head off three of the bores were little green swimming pools.

The factory head gasket is a multi-layered steel jobbie and has no breaks anywhere, so I'm currently assuming that the head warped due to overheating (the car overheated a couple of times right at the start of this debacle), and this let the gasket delaminate very slightly and allow coolant to start getting sucked into the cylinder. Note: there was next to no oil contamination, the breach is only from the cooling system to the combustion chamber(s?). Furthermore, the head has no visible cracks, so the plan now is to strip it, send it away for leak testing, then have it skimmed. I'll rebuild it, stick it back on the motor and see what happens.

Here's some pictures, I'll update this when I take more pics or make any further progress.

edit: posted this here cause I didn't want to clutter up the bmw areas with this stuff.

Edited February 13, 2010 by Slavvy

[e30ftw 396]

What is a civic?

[Slavvy 0]

What is a civic?

A dreadfully boring little car made for old women to save petrol with

edited for some bmw-related content, david and goliath shot:

Edited February 14, 2010 by Slavvy

[Docile 64]

mhahaha..

my 2 door coupe civic is a d16y8.. peppy lil engine !! just loves to scream !! although it needs a headgasket change.. damn coolant !!

[Creaver 55]

Loving the comparison shot

[M3_Power 636]

I'd just throw in a B18C or B16A and be done with it ...

[Slavvy 0]

I'd just throw in a B18C or B16A and be done with it ...

You'd do an engine transplant that isnt quite bolt-in on someone else's daily driver?

[Docile 64]

lol dont think its a good idea to bold on a d16a into a civic with still has drum brakes at the back

[M3_Power 636]

You'd do an engine transplant that isnt quite bolt-in on someone else's daily driver?

It's bolt in .... and believe it or not it'll run on the stock ecu even .. just not very well : )

I've done plenty of Honda transplants in my life time, so I know what I am talking about (if you doubt me head over to nzhondas and have a read)

Honda's are like Legos ... actually better than legos - you can make almost anything fit provided it is from a Honda.

Drum brakes aren't an issue - easily solved with a prop valve swap and rear trailing arm swap.

Honestly it's a waste of time rebuilding that engine back to stock - probably more expensive too if you account in labour costs.

You can pick up a B16A for next to nothing these days and if you wanted more power go for a B18CR. Loads of options - personally I'd probably pick up a B20 vtec conversion for the most economical and biggest bang for buck. But for the easiest engine implant and cheapest, just do a B16A.

You'd need a B series gearbox though, unless you want to buy a D to B adaptor.

Edited February 15, 2010 by M3_Power

[Docile 64]

the civic just had a engine transplant. a 1993 d16a - 1998 d16y8. an straight bolt on. running on old ecu

[antil33t 90]

I'd just throw in a B18C or B16A and be done with it ...

I'd push it off the nearest cliff and replace with a BMW. ;]

[Slavvy 0]

It's bolt in .... and believe it or not it'll run on the stock ecu even .. just not very well : )

I've done plenty of Honda transplants in my life time, so I know what I am talking about (if you doubt me head over to nzhondas and have a read)

Honda's are like Legos ... actually better than legos - you can make almost anything fit provided it is from a Honda.

Drum brakes aren't an issue - easily solved with a prop valve swap and rear trailing arm swap.

Honestly it's a waste of time rebuilding that engine back to stock - probably more expensive too if you account in labour costs.

You can pick up a B16A for next to nothing these days and if you wanted more power go for a B18CR. Loads of options - personally I'd probably pick up a B20 vtec conversion for the most economical and biggest bang for buck. But for the easiest engine implant and cheapest, just do a B16A.

You'd need a B series gearbox though, unless you want to buy a D to B adaptor.

I'm doing the labour myself so that isn't really an issue, however it's nice to know a B series will bolt in. This might turn out to be a viable option if the engine shop tells me the head is full of cracks. The rest of the engine is in pretty good shape, all of this will only end up costing him around 250 dollars. That's accounting for leak testing and skimming, cost of head gasket (already bought previously), and miscellaneous stuff like new oil and filter, seals etc.

[Slavvy 0]

Alright, after much delaying and running around I went hard yesterday and got the car done. Set the timing, flushed the oil, bled the cooling system etc etc and now it runs! It even drives! Unfortunately, there's one last nagging issue.

When it sits there idling the idle surges rhythmically between about 500rpm and 1500 rpm...if I unplug the MAP sensor or TPS it idles perfectly, and if everything is plugged in it drives perfectly. It works fine in every respect, except for the idle surge.

I'm not particularly familiar with hondas and I don't really know what the cause could be. I'm 100% certain there are no vacuum leaks, unplugged sensors or other issues. Everything looks to be fine. Does anyone know what the issue could be?

[Greg111 13]

Never heard of a B18CR? Sounds quicker.

[Docile 64]

had that on the b16a integra i had before which was sitting in the garage for quite a long time. all i did was i gave it a good uphill trashing up at waitakere ranges then it idled perfectly after. let it cool and started it in the morning it was all good again. probably moisture related? or moisture in gas tank.

OMG !!! just finished doing the headgasket on my civic as well!! literally just 10 mins ago. just finished the port and polishing 2 hours ago heart pounding if it will start. started first time and idles good. but problem. massive grinding noise under the valve cover. :/ prob coz i had it machined and they removed the lifters and i didnt adjust? not quite sure though. thoughts?

[Greg111 13]

Pull the cover back off and and see what it was, if the noise was grinding you should see what it was.

[Slavvy 0]

had that on the b16a integra i had before which was sitting in the garage for quite a long time. all i did was i gave it a good uphill trashing up at waitakere ranges then it idled perfectly after. let it cool and started it in the morning it was all good again. probably moisture related? or moisture in gas tank.

OMG !!! just finished doing the headgasket on my civic as well!! literally just 10 mins ago. just finished the port and polishing 2 hours ago heart pounding if it will start. started first time and idles good. but problem. massive grinding noise under the valve cover. :/ prob coz i had it machined and they removed the lifters and i didnt adjust? not quite sure though. thoughts?

Maybe your lifters are too tight? Are you sure the cam can spin freely, or maybe you've left something loose in there? Having one of the cam cover bolts missing can also make it sound that way, the hole acts like a resonator and magnifies the sound (ask me how i know haha).

[Docile 64]

how you know? LOL!! ill try and check the valve clearances when i get the time. gotta find my filler gauge first . i re tightened the lifters according to the service manual + added 2ft of torque as i reused the bolts. ill re double check everything. ive got the cover off now. on the plus side. the engine starts!!! woot. was worried that i stuffed up the cambelt. aside from that other minor probs like forgot to hook up a radiator hose and the o2 sensor and bolt up the exhaust down pipe:P sounded like thunder in the garage lol but all fixed now

cant wait to see my lil vtec run after the port and polish + new performance intake, headers downpipe and exhaust my daily driver gonna own up 316 318i 320i

but yeh try and run the car hard and put new gas in the tank. also WD40 + electric contact cleaner + carb cleaner.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Docile