Project Hazmat '09 Honda Civic Si

In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :

That's awesome Pete. Glad it all worked out. I was looking forward to seeing you and Ronald at a rallycross but maybe I'll make my way to an Austin area one some day. 

I need this project to continue. I get all the best information about 8th gen Civics from this thread so I'm glad things have more than turned around for you. Congratulations!

I joined the 8th gen FB groups so that I can try to clutter your thread less and... Wow do I mourn the loss of forums. FB is so very painful. 

In reply to clutchsmoke :

always feel free to ask questions, because they'll be google referenced in the future. 

 

clutchsmoke said:

I joined the 8th gen FB groups so that I can try to clutter your thread less and... Wow do I mourn the loss of forums. FB is so very painful. 

aint that the truth.  the signal to noise ratio is off the charts with those groups, especially for these cars.  the 8/9th Civic Official Road Race/AutoX Group is solid though.

Great to hear about the job Pete!

Ok, AAA came by this morning and towed the car to the shop. 

I'm hoping some of the championship mojo of the other cars rubs off on Hazmat. 

Ladies and Gentlemen.... Surgery has begun.  

Let the fun begin. 

Well guess who's in the market for another 8th Gen Si after going through this thread. 

This 10th Gen lacks the raucous and visceral nature that the 8th gen provided. Sure it's modern and plush but it's also numb and sterile. 

Good luck with the rest of your build can't wait to see what you do next !

In reply to DirtyBird222 :

I mean you were previously, but... One of us, one of us, one of us 

Making progress. 

Front of the engine is fully exposed. And all the wiring is out of the way. 

Next up is the exhaust manifold once we get back from dinner. 

Alright, got the cat and midpipe off after dinner and pulled the manifold heatshield  but then couldn't get the lower 3 bolts loose for the exhaust manifold. 

Factory exhuast manifold has a divorced collector that actually continues the split into the pipe into the cat for about 3 more inches. A pretty neat design in my opinion. 

Packed it in for the night to review the next steps of the process which involves supporting the motor with a jack and wood to pull the motor mount to gain access to the timing cover. 

Now the real invasive stuff begins.. 

Got the head off after lunch today. 

Put a new head gasket in and started going back together. 

Rocker arms are a pain if you dont have the factory service manual and don't pull them correctly. 

Also skip the zip ties some people online do to keep the 3 rockers together. Wide Rubber bands. That's the ticket. The zip ties are hard to get tight and hard to remove.

I messed up the install and had them zip tied as shown from the disasembly. Started cutting zipties before i realized I had the internal shafts clocked wrong because i didn't use the journal bolts to hold it all together. You use the inner 2 bolts from journal 1 and 5 going through the lower portion of the journal to lock the assembly together so it doesn't all slide apart. But you have to individually wrap the 3 rockers together for each cyl on each side of the head. If you don't clamp the rockers together the VTEC pins will shoot out because one of the 3 has a spring in it on the pin. 

We pushed through the issues and got the cams on, phased correctly and got the new tensioner on and pulled the pin. I forgot to order new seals for the timing cover and valve cover gasket and they need to be replaced. so i need to go gethget those in the morning to get them installed on the timing cover and get it back on with permatex grey tomorrow. So I can assemble everything else and then fire the motor on monday once the permatex sits for 24 hours.

Today was a long day. But we ended on the opposite end of where we started on the disasembly portion, and now we're pretty well into the assembly portion. So I'm pleased. 

Killer progress! Looking good!!!

In reply to MazdaFace (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks, there's a steeeeeep learning curve to figure out what the factory service manual fails to tell you. Like the fact that if you finagle the lower portion of the motor mount out on the passenger side. Between the AC lines and the brake lines going to the Abs unit...Then you can easily access the mounting bolts for the mount on the engine. The FSM doesn't mention removing that part of the mount on the chassis side.. but once you do... The bolts are waaaaay easier to get to on the motor side of the mount..and then when you remove them you realize how large they are and then it's like... Oh... That chassis side base mount HAD to come out to remove those motor side bolts with the motor in the car. 

Once we got over that hurdle things started to go smoother and we steadily picked up pace till about 8 when the rocker arm incident occurred and then that took an hour between me swearing and just fighting it all and not being sure how to use my buddy who was there to help me. Once I cooled off I was able to direct him properly to help me get the journal bolts in and help me align the rockers as we lowered them in and it all started going smoother after that. The rockers wanna get in the way as you lower them so a second set of hands to help keep them level with the ground as you lower the rocker assembly onto the head reeeeeeeeally makes a difference.

In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :

Nice progress!  No visible issues other than the head gasket then?

So on the k20, the rocker arms cover up the head bolts I'm guessing?  

In reply to Number1Gaza :

Yes, it's a royal pain. 

Hazmat is officially back together and has started briefly. 

We are out grabbing coolant and fresh oil now. 

This is exciting, hope all is good!

spacecadet (Forum Supporter) said:

Hazmat is officially back together and has started briefly. 

We are out grabbing coolant and fresh oil now. 

Excellent!!!!

Hazmat made it home! 

Looks to be some residual coolant&oil milkshake in the oil passages.. but no milkshake on my oil cap so far and it went 35 miles to get home! 

I'll try to do some writeup with some tips when i get the chance. I took a little video today about a trick that makes getting the chassis side of the passenger side engine mount easier.... which that is actually the only engine mount per se.... The other side is a trans mount and the other 3 pieces are technically called torque mounts by Honda. 

Excellent news!  Now, just get a KA24 to build at the house!

In reply to Thinkkker :

Too soon?  :-)

In reply to Number1Gaza :

Now it just seems like there is more time available to put it together!

Was super excited to find out hazmat successfully made it home. I'm glad one of us got to do the needed work on their car lol. 

Thinkkker said:

Excellent news!  Now, just get a KA24 to build at the house!

No this is actually a thing.. basically if this motor is ok now.. basically start saving for a K24. 

There are a bunch of things to do to the K24 before it slots in, and you're basically a K motor expert now, which should make all of that a walk in the park. Awesome job.