breaking in h22 vtec cam...

[johnnyo032003]

i am about to start breaking in a jdm h22 prelude engine... i was wondering i asked honda and they said it would be ok after 500 miles but i wonder if i should like break in the low cam on the first 500 like honda said then break in the vtec cam since it won't even be used in the first 500 miles... i am being a little anal about this engine i know but i want it to be perfect when i do give it hell...

[jhondayaaj]

the engine should already be broken in already if it a used one from japan.

[NAiL05]

vtec cam what??? You put a new cam in the motor or what if its stock just drive it. Take it easy for a few days and make sure everything is in tact thats all you need to do.

[slammed4thgen]

it should be fine if it doesnt break something in a couple hours of driving your good! and like stated above its not brand new or anything! unless you did a new clutch you dont need to break anything in. just watch your fluids especially coolant because it will drink alot out of the radiator on first start up and drive then fill it again and your good bro! let us know how she is!

p.s. i did a 5spd swap h22 into mine and not 5 minutes after i left the garage i got on it like an sob! it startled me...in a sexy way haha. drive it 300 miles change oil and tranny fluid with all new goods.

[highmilage]

lol its a used motor.it'll break u in before u come close to breaking it in. all it requires u to do is to just drive it. lol

[deevergote]

If you replaced anything with new parts (like the cams) then follow the manufacturer's specs for breaking in. If you just put a used motor in your car, believe me, it's broken in. Drive it easy for a little bit to ensure that there are no glaring problems (no burning oil, no burning coolant, no leaks) then go to town. It's new to you, but it's not new.

That's like marrying a whore and assuming she's a virgin because you've never had sex with her.

[johnnyo032003]

ok...

well i guess i won't be doing anymore breaking in till i fix what i have broken... motor mount inserts i ordered weren't the right ones, so the car was on bad motor mount inserts... engine shifts into the driver side frame rail right on my damn new underdrive pulley... i can get the inserts swapped out but... i wonder how much damage it did. i got 100 miles on the thing... at least the shop is swapping me even for the inserts... save some money, but it'll be a few more weeks till it's finally driven again. getting it towed... 150 bucks... then labor to swap the inserts, and i am also gonna swap out the ball joints cause they are bad, then get the wheels balanced and put on...hopefully for less than 800 bucks...

[deevergote]

How bad were those mounts? What shop would do a swap on totally thrashed mounts? That's absolutely idiotic!
For the mount to allow the motor to move that much, it must be totally gone. That's like a shop putting bald tires on new wheels. Stupid.

I don't know what's going on with everyone paying to have simple work done... If you have a place to jack up your car and a few tools, you can do pretty much anything.

As far as I know, there are no mount inserts for anything but the front and rear for our cars. You can replace them with new mounts, or fill the old ones with urethane. uslspct and ceelooboob are currently selling some in the classifieds section, I believe (uslspct will find mounts and fill them for you if you need) Put a jack under your engine with something to pad the oil pan (like a good book). Then you can undo one mount at a time without having the engine fall out. You can adjust the jack to ensure things are lined up properly. VERY simple.

Upper ball joints should be replaced with the upper control arm as a unit. Lower ball joints require the entire knuckle to come off, and the wheel bearing to be pushed out a bit. Not too hard to do, but time consuming. You can get the new joint in with the use of a vise and a large socket to tap it in. OR, you could just take the front knuckles with the joints to a shop and have them do it for you. Cheaper than taking the whole car.


I assume you have new tires on your wheels... if so, mounting and balancing should cost you about $50-$80 depending on where you go.

AT MOST, the ball joint replacement, if done by a shop, should cost $200. Parts would be about $50 new from Honda. I wouldn't trust aftermarket ball joints. Get em from Honda. Ball joint failure WILL destroy your car, and could potentially kill you. Don't cheap out there.

You could honestly do all this yourself, including the price of parts, for under $250 total (including having a shop balance your wheels, since 99.999% of the members here are NOT equipped to do that themselves!)

Once everything is done, get an alignment... or those tires will be goners.



It just saddens me so when I see people saying "My shop is going to charge me $300 to install my intake" or some bull like that. These cars are not mysterious. They do not require an IQ of 400 to work on. Paying for a shop to do your work is a waste of money for most things. I overpaid for my H22 swap myself... and I learned then that those mechanics were barely more qualified to do the job than I was. The only time it's worth paying to have something done is when you can't physically do something yourself (like mounting wheels, or perhaps rebuilding a transmission)


Finally, if the underdrive pulley you mention is the crank pulley, and it's been hitting the side, it's probably damaged. If it's damaged, it's out of balance, and can (and probably will) do some serious damage to the internals of your motor. If it was an inexpensive ebay pulley, you're better off removing it anyway. The only underdrive pulley I'd trust for the H22 is Unorthodox Racing. Underdrive crank pulleys are rumored to do damage even when they're in good shape, such as causing the oil pump to fail. I've been running one for over 3.5 years with no problems, but I know of at least one car that has suffered oil pump failure that may be related to the pulley.

[wed3k]

generally on our domestic motors, we put in Brad Penn Break in oil...start it, check timing and blah blah.

once warm, we keep the idle at 1500-2k for the cam for about 5-10 minutes? The oil nowadays do not have the additives since 2006. supposedly cheverolet is having problems with their camshaft due to the new oil policies and laws. (lead content?)

but yea...jdm motors are used, lol

[esskater892]

damn that was a long response...but yeah
john if ya need help ill help... all i need is a manual or something for that motor and im sure its not hard to read haha.