CyborgGT: Mild H22A Build

[CyborgGT]

What would you like to see? The head might, surprise surprise, be on hold again. I don't know if I'm moving again in April so I might have to hold off on engine parts to put towards security deposit + first month's rent in my own place. I'm really getting sick of my roommate, but at the same time hanging on to cheap rent for another year would really help long-term .

Gotta get snow tires for the daily next month.

The guy went ahead and did a low-resolution print for that last image I posted and showed sent me some photos, but in the 3D computer image, I didn't notice that the R was so thick. I told him I wanted the thickness to match the "Aero" letters, and haven't heard back yet.

He's got a 3D printing business, but does a lot of body stuff:

Brake cooling ducts:


Widebody (the coloring was for his school, to mark the custom pieces):

[CyborgGT]

R thinned to match the Aero. I think it's good to move on to a high-res print and get it chromed & painted. Thoughts?






Plans right now regarding the H and the RSX: the RSX needs snow tires and a new cat this month (while it's at an exhaust shop, I may as well finally have them remove the resonator at the same time, like I've been meaning to do for ever now; but the CEL came on for a bad cat and some cat clean stuff I tried didn't work). Going to save up the money for a January purchase of the rest of the H22's head parts, then approach my roommate on whether or not she wants to do another year in our current place. As much as she gets on my nerves, I'd like to keep my current rent (and the garage) for one more year. It would be nice to finish off the H22 parts collection before damn near doubling my rent to live on my own again. If she wants to stay, I'll finish off the head. If not, I'll probably be able to get a few parts and then put the rest towards deposit+rent on my own place. I just don't know if I'll be able to get the garage that I kinda need, between all the tools I've been accumulating and the fact that I do all my own work so long as it doesn't require welding.

[CyborgGT]

I just found out about DDTech cams, then did some looking around over at H-T. Sounds like an incredibly solid company. Recently I'd been thinking S2 Pro 2s might be better for my 11.5:1 compression, but now I've got more learning to do. I'll probably contact them in January when I have the money together to purchase the rest of the head parts I was planning on getting anyway. If I go with DDTs, it'll mean my Supertech springs might have to be swapped out. 80lb seat pressure, from what I've read, is beyond what S2 recommends for their cams, but isn't quite enough for DDTs (@ "85lbs"). We'll see...

It's probably for the best that this build is taking so long. I'll get to thinking and doing random searches every now and then, just to discover something new.

[CyborgGT]

Literally a dream come true here, it's been maybe three years since I first thought this up. This is arguably the most important single piece in the build, too, because it more or less defines the theme of the whole thing. I'll clean them up a bit, try to get the last four parts for the head (valves, keepers, cams, gears) in January as planned, then look for a chroming place come Spring. I'll see what I can do about painting the face of the R red while leaving a chrome ring around the letter like OEM. There is a very slight lip to it, you can kind of see it in the first photo. All this, against some BMW Monaco Blue Metallic, is going to look crazy.

"Performance Tech" > "Naturally Aspirated" > "Cyborg's engine build"

Fuck it, I'm not sure I want an MRT for this car anyway.

Engine stuff coming soon...

[baracuda]

You made the wide body? The custom emblems are super fucking legit!

[CyborgGT]

No, the guy that made my emblems did. Keele wanted to see something, so I found "something" interesting to post. Personally I'm not into that extreme styling, but I do enjoy watching people come up with original designs. However, I do want extended fenders for my wagon so I can fit some wide tires. I'm a big fan of the M&M CL7 Euro-R, but I don't think I'd go quite so wide.

[KeeleDesign]

[KeeleDesign]

More updates?

pronounced like the keele of a boat. kill with the eh sound instead of ih

[CyborgGT]

Uh... I got distracted again . I was going to get cams and probably the crank damper this month (thereby finishing the head and focusing on the block), but an online friend is getting rid of his RSX and I really want his Mugen strut bars. Being Mugen, they're going to be kinda pricey. So, cams in April.

[CyborgGT]

Milestone update: the cams (Skunk2 Pro 2s) came in today, marking the last of the head parts.


by D.Flinn, on Flickr

The number of brands used was kept to a minimum (two, to be exact, excluding the head studs) to make sure that everything works as it should with every other part it interacts with. Valve train is 100% Supertech, but the springs have more than enough seat pressure to handle the S2 cams, having a higher rating than Skunk2's own recommended Pro Series springs. There is a risk of increased valve train wear because of that, but that's why I chose the less aggressive of Supertech's two spring options.

I've got to get warm-weather tires for the RSX next month, and then it's back on the H in June.

It's chuggin' along. I'll only be doing these "milestone updates" from now on, but the first post is kept up to date with each new individual part added.

[CyborgGT]

Took care of a few things on the RSX before getting to the last of the Accord's electronics - at least before I buy the car. The ECU will come when I'm ready to tune. This glove box cluster has been sitting around forever with two empty holes, and I finally filled them with fluid pressure gauges:

(don't mind the dirt, it's just a junkyard box I used to get the design down)


by D.Flinn, on Flickr

[CyborgGT]

Milestone update: FPR arrived; fuel system is complete!


by D.Flinn, on Flickr


by D.Flinn, on Flickr

- Rosko rail
- RDX injectors
- Walbro 255
- AEM FPR
- AEM electronic pressure gauge

[sonikaccord]

I need this thread. I'll have to go back and re-read everything.

[CyborgGT]

Eh, it's not very interesting in all honesty. Pretty much just parts collecting up until this point, so I haven't been able to get into the real tech stuff yet. That, and I knew absolutely nothing about what I was getting myself into when I first started, so it's kinda noobish . I think the thread started as some questions I had when I began considering a build, and then I made another thread when I started picking up my first parts, and then one of the mods combined the two (which I don't disagree with). I wish I could delete everything start fresh with a clearer mind, but it's just whatever now. When I get the wagon and start an MRT, that thread will be more carefully done and I'll hope this one slides off into oblivion.


But I'm giving myself a bit of a project for a little while. When I originally pulled the engine and stripped it down I took tons of photos documenting disassembly. Well, something happened to whatever I was storing the photos on and I lost everything quite a while ago now. Since the timing side of the block is pretty complex with all the little pieces involved, and now that I'm reaching the end of my new-parts collecting, I'm finally getting around to a sort of mock reassembly. I did my best to organize and label everything as they came off, so between that and the factory service manual, I'm hoping to put together another photographic reassembly guide for myself while double-checking that I still have everything.


by D.Flinn, on Flickr

[CyborgGT]

PLM Power Driven H-series Tri-Y Header
*Out-Of-Car Review

If you've actually been following this build, you know my header decision has been very back-and-forth. "I'm going to do this," "I'm debating that"... I'm sorry! The original plan was for a Bisimoto header, simply because I am absolutely in love with its look. I still am, and would love to pick one up some day. At one point, I was three days away from getting a real one used (I was in communication with the seller), but just before I had the cash he sold it to someone else. A while later, I was under the impression that Bisi stopped making them new when he seemed to dip out of the Honda scene. More recently I've noticed that the headers (as well as many of his seemingly dropped Honda products) are back on their website, but now they're costing about $300 more than I remember. I'm not paying $1300 or whatever it is for a header I'd only use half of. Then I saw that PLM makes an excellent-looking replica. That is, they did. They changed their design, and not only does the collector look like absolute shit now (not that it would have mattered for me, since I'd change it from a 4-1 to a 4-2-1 anyway to try and fix that weak mid-range), but for some reason they felt the need to add an additional cut to the primaries, necessitating an additional weld. It just looks ugly now, and the whole point of me getting that spaghetti header was for looks. The photos at PLM's website of a sleek-looking header are not current but I've e-mailed both PLM and dealer JHPUSA, and got confirmation from both that the photos at JHP are indeed current. Maybe Bisimoto came after them for ripping off the design and that was how they solved it... just like all those Chinese brands (in any industry) that blatantly rip off the aesthetics of other successful products and get away with it on the grounds that "it's not the same." You can check out that header here if you're interested. For the record, when I e-mailed PLM, I asked if they'd be willing to match JHP's $50-cheaper price. Because on PLM's site, they do say "e-mail me a better price." I did, and they told me to just buy from JHP. There's a company that's interested in its customers .

After that Bisi-rep disappointment, I decided to 'settle' and just get their HyTech rip-off. At PLM, it's listed at the same price as the Bisimoto rep: $500. JHP's got it for $279 shipped. I wasn't about to waste my time asking PLM for a price match! And at that price, I'm willing to take the risk of buying something from a brand that is notorious for hit-or-miss fitment. It's worth noting before I even opened the box that I don't trust slip joints in the slightest, and plan on completely welding this thing up. It's going into a street car anyway.

RANT: Seriously, what is the point of price matching another seller? I'm not just talking car parts here, either, but for anything. At the same store, comparing their own online to in-store pricing is fine. But if I see a cheaper price for the same product at another store, I'll buy from them. Being able to say I bought from a given company name doesn't get me off. It wastes my time. If these companies are going to do anything about price adjustment, they should be bidding for your business and going lower than the competition. I digress...

Straight out of the box, I took some measurements. For the curious, let's go top to bottom.

Flange thickness:




Inlet size:






First step-up diameter:




Secondary diameter:




Outlet diameter:




The tubing is 18-gauge 304 stainless. I would have preferred thicker, since I hear it's good for sound-suppression (makes sense), and it offers an obvious advantage in heat-retention. I'll probably look into local ceramic coaters at some point.

The welds certainly look pretty, but I'm no welder so I can't judge penetration just by looking at it. I will say that when I was taking these photos in my garage, I was using a case of bottled water to stand the header up. At the end, I lifted the water, stupidly forgetting that the header was still standing, and the flange swung down and hit the bare concrete. It sounded like a heavy whack at the time. No dent or chip in the flange, no cracked welds. On first impressions, it seems to be put together pretty well .












The slip joints, as you probably expected, are where things get bad. I've wrestled with it, I've taken a dead-blow to it, I've tried lubricating the metal with engine oil, and I've tried adjusting the joints in tiny amounts and assembling them in different orders. As a whole, the pieces aren't all aligning. You have to wonder if they weld it all up while it's even assembled. With mine, I think the problem is in the middle pieces that bend to go under the oil pan. It looks like one of the female tubes wasn't welded onto the collector at the right angle.

Here are some photos of that problem, off and on the engine, given that the secondaries are properly seated into the primaries. You can see that not only are they at different angles, but also slightly different positions in terms of how far back they reach - not that that would matter much hidden inside the slip joint, but the difference is there to show how far off the 4-into-2 collectors are.






Left as-is, I can get the final collector on about half an inch. It's enough to weld, sure, but eventually you know that stress is going to crack a weld somewhere. Rather than trying to deal with a replacement header, I think I can fix this myself by cutting a narrow pie-cut relief into the bottom of that one tube that hangs lower... or the top of the higher one... or both... whichever. That should free up some movement in the joint and get rid of any stress. From there, it can be sealed up through welding.

These photos are also starting to show off the over-abundance of oil pan clearance...






Bringing the secondaries closer to the oil pan is an easy fix. I'm sure I can pick up a cheap pipe cutter from Harbor Freight or somewhere and take about 3/4" out of those first slip joints.




On a personal note, I want to swap out that final collector. For one, it doesn't provide any choke to benefit scavenging (at least, from what I've read on collector choke). Second, I have a V-band clamp to replace the donut flange. And third, I'll be using both the stock O2 sensor as well as a wide-band sensor for an A/F gauge, and I want a bit more spacing between the two sensors than the current tube allows for with its O2 bung already welded into the middle of it.

Still, she's looking pretty, ain't she? I've only got a few more parts to pick up for this build, then it's on to some fairly serious saving for machining, tuning, and of course the perfect wagon to put this in...