$2015 Challenge entry - 88 Accord LXi

Man, I thought my current Subaru was bad for blow-by, but it pretty much went away when I did the PCV. When it was really bad you could unscrew the oil cap two turns and it would blow itself off the pedestal at idle.

Surprised the head was as good as it was, I guess the tropical storm inside the crankcase helped keep the carbon down.

Aaaaaaand...subscribed. :-)

Can we nitrous this thing for the 1/4 mile challenge?

volvoclearinghouse wrote: Aaaaaaand...subscribed. :-) Can we nitrous this thing for the 1/4 mile challenge?

Let's get it running first and see where the budget lies.

nitrous is always a good idea!

I have decided something..

When I work on the truck, it's like a lovable puppy: "What are we gonna do today, bud? Are you gonna fix me good? Yeah, I bet I'm gonna be a lot better off after this, huh? You sure do take good care of me, bud."

When I work on this thing it's saying: "touch me and I'm going to try and kill you."

So... it's a cat. This is bad. It likes to fight dirty, too. I got another nasty cut. Two in a row. The truck hardly ever hurts me.

The exhaust manifold, distributor, water thermostat neck thing, and a few other odds and ends are off.

Tuna, Do you have friday off? I need to coordinate with the boss. My sister and her issue might be coming up Sat so I figured I'd see if friday would work better to help you out?.

Warning I might have a filter mask on. My allergies are going NUTS this year.

tuna55 wrote: I have decided something.. When I work on the truck, it's like a lovable puppy: "What are we gonna do today, bud? Are you gonna fix me good? Yeah, I bet I'm gonna be a lot better off after this, huh? You sure do take good care of me, bud." When I work on this thing it's saying: "touch me and I'm going to try and kill you." So... it's a cat. This is bad. It likes to fight dirty, too. I got another nasty cut. Two in a row. The truck hardly ever hurts me.

I've had cars that fit both of those descriptions. Trucks are like dogs. Hondas are like cats.

Mad_Ratel wrote: Tuna, Do you have friday off? I need to coordinate with the boss. My sister and her issue might be coming up Sat so I figured I'd see if friday would work better to help you out?. Warning I might have a filter mask on. My allergies are going NUTS this year.

Nope. I'd welcome the help any weeknight around 8pm though. Weekends get booked up pretty quickly. This past weekend I had the kids turn the key and watch the gauge for the compression test, but otherwise work doesn't happen in the daylight. Ever.

"Your sister and her issue"?

Derick Freese wrote: A blue wrench is what's needed.

I got the exhaust manifold out and left the EGR screwed into it. I had to do more disassembly to make this happen, but it wasn't budging easily and I don't own the right open end wrench.

I clamped the manifold into the vice and tried to get it off with a crescent but no-go. I ended up breaking it loose with a [redacted] (I know!) but oddly enough I was able to get it about three or four turns before it stopped completely.

Also, my floor jack broke on the minivan yesterday, so it's awfully low in the garage right now.

You guys know how mild mannered and positive I am.

Well, not for the next ten minutes.

I actually as able to pull the crank pulley bolt without even owning a jack, get the accessories out of the way, and get started on the intake manifold, which I intended to leave hanging while I get the had off.

OK, here goes.

You guys know that I'm not exactly a hack with this stuff, so it's not like I just can't figure it out. What the berkeley was Honda thinking with the intake bolt pattern on this thing?? I looked at it for like five minutes in silence before uttering "This has to be an April Fools joke!".

Take a look (no, it's not mine, mine is still on the car)

The middle lower two bolts are inaccessible from the top. They are on top of the transmission, below a hard pipe, below a wire loom, and above the crossmember.

I got very close by using electrical tape on a 3/8" universal attached to a standard 12MM socket. I needed the 6" 3/8" extension, and since that's the end of my 3/8" stuff, a 1/2" adapter, and about 18" more of those extensions, getting at it from under the car. Hilariously, since I have no jack, I have to assemble this in situ from under the car and behind the crossmember. I got very very close, but no dice. It's late, and I hate this stupid car. Moving those lower bolts about 1/2" to the right each and I'd have the head off an hour ago.

Yes, it's the suxxors. Did you remove the upper plenum? If not, do that and take off the injector rail and EGR too. Makes life a whole lot easier getting the rest of the Intake off. Once those are out of the way, i've had success using a short or medium length wobble extension, for one of those bolts and a ratcheting wrench for the other.

Most of us leave it attached to the head and pull it as an assembly. It makes the jub much easier.

And to think, you could have been working on this instead...

tuna55 wrote:

Mad_Ratel wrote: Tuna, Do you have friday off? I need to coordinate with the boss. My sister and her issue might be coming up Sat so I figured I'd see if friday would work better to help you out?. Warning I might have a filter mask on. My allergies are going NUTS this year.

Nope. I'd welcome the help any weeknight around 8pm though. Weekends get booked up pretty quickly. This past weekend I had the kids turn the key and watch the gauge for the compression test, but otherwise work doesn't happen in the daylight. Ever.

"Your sister and her issue"? i.e. her kinder. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issue_%28legal%29

having worked on Porsches, I dont see the problem. Looks easy enough. come back to me when you jb weld an allen wrench head (just the 3/16" end of it.) into a 4mm wrench so you can set your valves blind at the back of the motor... Mostly b/c you do not want to buy the 150$ tool porsche made specifically to do the task...

Derick Freese wrote: Most of us leave it attached to the head and pull it as an assembly. It makes the jub much easier.

Ugh.

I was trying to leave it and the seven million vacuum/wiring connections intact in the car. I guess I'll spend a few more hours on the intake bolts before giving up and doing that.

I've really only had three two-hour sessions with the poor thing so far, I guess I shouldn't be so willing to burn it to the ground just yet.

tuna55 wrote:

volvoclearinghouse wrote: And to think, you could have been working on this instead...

How's that shift kit install going? Enjoying that ten bolt? I hope your 15 mpg doesn't get expensive. Also, if you ever pull those exhaust manifolds, every single stud will snap nearly flush with the head and you know it. I've been there!!

I'm going to pay a local mechanic to install the shift kit- a small price to pay for peace of mind. While I'm at it, I'll have him fix the A/C leak. How's the A/C in that Honda work?

The rear end is a piece of cake to work on. As soon as the jug of RedLine oil gets here it'll be ready to go.

If I pull the exhaust manifolds, it'll be to swap to a set of Vortec heads, at which point I'll install headers and a dual exhaust, and Mrs. VCH will be the envy of the neighborhood, cruising in Black Betty.

15 mpg? Meh. Her Jimmy Gets 20...maybe. My F350 gets 15- and that's on diesel. It's not like any of these vehicles are going to be daily drivers.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse:

Ugh. I have to stop responding to you in threads.

Anyway, getting back on track, I expect to play again tonight. The head will come off, because this is ridiculous. I'll just take pictures of everything I take apart and remove stuff even though I don't want to.

This is making me think I should have done something wacky like pull everything out of the bottom end and leave the top intact. Some of this stuff is designed in a wacky way. I am still learning, I've only been as far as a timing belt on a Honda before this. Some stuff truly is neat, but some is awful.

Is there a trick for getting the crank pulley off? I got the bolt out but the pulley is stuck tight.

The timing belt looks old enough to warrant immediate replacement, even if the immense amount of work required to get there isn't already enough. The water pump is fairly new, though, so I'll likely keep it around.

Mad_Ratel wrote:

tuna55 wrote:

Mad_Ratel wrote: Tuna, Do you have friday off? I need to coordinate with the boss. My sister and her issue might be coming up Sat so I figured I'd see if friday would work better to help you out?. Warning I might have a filter mask on. My allergies are going NUTS this year.

Nope. I'd welcome the help any weeknight around 8pm though. Weekends get booked up pretty quickly. This past weekend I had the kids turn the key and watch the gauge for the compression test, but otherwise work doesn't happen in the daylight. Ever.

"Your sister and her issue"? i.e. her kinder. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issue_%28legal%29

You're welcome to swing by Friday night if you want. Or Thursday night. Or Saturday night. Etc...

tuna55 wrote: In reply to volvoclearinghouse: Ugh. I have to stop responding to you in threads.

Why, because I have an answer for everything, or because you're possibly the only person I know who's more stubborn than I am?

I know you're having a tough time with the Honda. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have busted your chops.

volvoclearinghouse wrote:

tuna55 wrote: In reply to volvoclearinghouse: Ugh. I have to stop responding to you in threads.

busted your chops.

Because that's -all- you do

For the rest of the internet, I know VCH in real life and can talk to him like that without being a jackass.

Derick Freese wrote: Most of us leave it attached to the head and pull it as an assembly. It makes the jub much easier.

Thanks. I feel like this could be useful information in the future.

mazdeuce wrote:

Derick Freese wrote: Most of us leave it attached to the head and pull it as an assembly. It makes the jub much easier.

Thanks. I feel like this could be useful information in the future.

Your engine is a B18, yes? This may be different as it's an A20.

Personally, with my experiences with my crx, I don't believe honda engineering pkanned for much more than routine maintenance with the engine in the car. Everything is a pita with it in, and super simple with it out. Even removal of engine is well thought out and relatively painless.

Jyst my thoughts.