About my very first rebuild

[SOHC-FTW]

Which is more or less what i told you haha.

It even says to let the engine decelerate on it's own hints why i told you to lock it in 2nd gear. Then it goes on to tell you to use second+ gear's remember you're on the street at 5500 you should be around 55-60mph in 2nd. You've been given good advice but yet you always resort to some other source wither right or wrong, i'm not saying thats a bad thing but when it says around about what we've said it gets old.

Yes you should have pre lubed all bearings and journals if not it can cause premature wear.

[Mishakol129]

Yes you should have pre lubed all bearings and journals if not it can cause premature wear.

I lubed the rod and crank bearings but what are journals?

I just forgot to put grease in the oil pump.

[Mishakol129]

Some updates*

I had a pretty bad oil leak from the valve cover gasket but its fixed now, I got a new one in a kit by fel pro. I lost one of the cover nuts though. I had a spare nut and used that but its not the same as the stock one's. I don't think it will hurt anything.

I just bleed the brakes and it made such a huge difference, they work good now.


Its about at the 120 mile mark and I think the rings are seating or starting to seat.


Its a joy to drive i'll tell ya. All that's left for me to do is put a working window in the driver side and then paint it.

[dj_ender]

Some updates*

I had a pretty bad oil leak from the valve cover gasket but its fixed now, I got a new one in a kit by fel pro. I lost one of the cover nuts though. I had a spare nut and used that but its not the same as the stock one's. I don't think it will hurt anything.

I just bleed the brakes and it made such a huge difference, they work good now.


Its about at the 120 mile mark and I think the rings are seating or starting to seat.


Its a joy to drive i'll tell ya. All that's left for me to do is put a working window in the driver side and then paint it.

Yeah, the nut doesn't matter, as long as it works. Good job on getting her running.

[SOHC-FTW]

Yeah, the nut doesn't matter, as long as it works. Good job on getting her running.

Good job to cb7t and it's members for helping throughout the entire rebuild an many threads is what i think, but maybe that's just me thinking out loud again lol.

[Mishakol129]

Good job to cb7t and it's members for helping throughout the entire rebuild an many threads is what i think, but maybe that's just me thinking out loud again lol.

Yeah, I agree, I would have a harder time without you guys. Honda-Tech and other forums are also available, but CB7 tuner is one of the best since in my opinion it has more people willing to give answers.

Its been a whole lot of work though, I appreciate the complements.


Now i have another question. When I measured the piston to bore clearance it was about 0.05 mm, the spec limit. While I was at the machine shop dropping it off I asked them if they needed the specs for boring it out and the guy there said they already had them. After I got the block back after it had been bored, i asked the manager (the owner basically) if its been bored to specification he said "yes", "we measure the pistons and bore it out accordingly".

If that is the case, why did it measure 0.05 piston to wall clearance? Know that I was using feeler gauges to check it out. Is it possible my measuring technique was inaccurate?


"It is more blessed to give than to receive"

[SOHC-FTW]

So you went with over sized piston's? or do you mean they honed it?

You could have very well measured wrong again we weren't there so we haven't the slightest clue if you did it right or wrong. Or the machinest slipped up, it's a little to late now either way unless you want to tare it back down. The old saying measure twice cut once comes to mind, i'm very very meticulous about clearances i will quadruple check them on a engine.

[Mishakol129]

So you went with over sized piston's? or do you mean they honed it?

You could have very well measured wrong again we weren't there so we haven't the slightest clue if you did it right or wrong. Or the machinest slipped up, it's a little to late now either way unless you want to tare it back down. The old saying measure twice cut once comes to mind, i'm very very meticulous about clearances i will quadruple check them on a engine.

Yeah, I got OS pistons and rings, 0.50. I measured the piston to block clearance with a feeler gauge after I got it back from the shop.

It'd be a waste of money and time to tear it back down again. There's no way to safely re-bore out the block too since I heard anything over 0.50 OS is stretching it on F22's.


I want to believe that the guys at the shop did it right, I should call them and ask them again. The only way I think they could have messed it up is if they did not bore it out according to Honda spec's, which is really untrustworthy for a machine shop to do. I even had the honda manual in my hand and was going to show the guy the spec's but he said, "we already have the specs".

[SOHC-FTW]

Then don't concern yourself with it. Like i told you before when you asked about P2W clearances, and i gave you a short answer to what you can expect if you beat on it regularly or when it gets into higher mileage.

[Mishakol129]

Then don't concern yourself with it. Like i told you before when you asked about P2W clearances, and i gave you a short answer to what you can expect if you beat on it regularly or when it gets into higher mileage.

So it won't really affect performance or gas mileage then, it may just affect oil consumption and slightly lower the longevity of the motor?


But could it be that I did not measure it right? I was reading on another place that feeler gauges are not the most accurate thing to use when measuring piston to block clearances... The manager at the machine shop told me they measured the piston and then the block and bore it out by that. I don't understand how they could have failed on the specifications, they seemed like a professional shop. They even engraved my rods for me with numbers (1, 2, 3, 4). They knew what kind of motor it was and told me they had the specifications.

I trusted they had done it right even after I checked it with the feeler gauge. That's why I finished the job.

[SOHC-FTW]

Actually on the right performance based build it can help due to expansion.

They're many ways to measure. The best is to measure the bores and pistons when the engine's not yet assembled. The feeler method works just fine and is a common method, if you had doubts or complaints you should have contacted the machine shop before going any further or ask on here about measuring. Reguardless it is to late now to worry yourself with it, if it was done properly it will last.

[Mishakol129]

Actually on the right performance based build it can help due to expansion.

They're many ways to measure. The best is to measure the bores and pistons when the engine's not yet assembled. The feeler method works just fine and is a common method, if you had doubts or complaints you should have contacted the machine shop before going any further or ask on here about measuring. Reguardless it is to late now to worry yourself with it, if it was done properly it will last.

If what was done properly, you're saying my car won't last?



There's nothing I can do now except leave it in god's hands I guess.


Godspeed... lol

[SOHC-FTW]

If you put it together properly it will last all clearance's up to par mainly bearings all journal's were true and round not heavily worn, same goes for the rod caps.

It's your first ever rebuild is all i'm saying look at all of your threads on basically the entire process from start to finish. I hope it last for ya! If you have faith in your work why second guess it?

[Mishakol129]

If you put it together properly it will last all clearance's up to par mainly bearings all journal's were true and round not heavily worn, same goes for the rod caps.

It's your first ever rebuild is all i'm saying look at all of your threads on basically the entire process from start to finish. I hope it last for ya! If you have faith in your work why second guess it?

It has brand new rod and crank bearings, and thrust washers. The rod bearings wre made by Sealed Power and the thrust washers and main bearings were made by Clevite.
I checked the roundness of the main bearings and rod bearding. The crankshaft was checked and found to be well in specification.


You're right, if the clearance was really that much out of spec I would hear piston slap on a cold start up. I even checked it for piston slap before I put it in the car and could not get any lateral movement from the pistons. Plus, I hear no such slapping, it runs and purrs like a kitten.


I know it is my first rebuild, I should not except perfection, that is kind of unreasonable. I will just have to do better next time and learn from this. Not that this first time isn't good enough, it is amazing that I was successful in making the car run like it does. It runs great, the cat-back exhaust is amazing too, its a real performer.

[Mishakol129]

I almost forgot that I have pics of the pistons in the bores. Check them out and see if the clearance looks bad or not.


















For some reason the piston clearance looks much smaller at TDC, but when it goes back down it looks bigger. Could it be the way they bored out the cylinder? Maybe they made the top smaller than the bottom.