AusS2000

And a new ECU and...

Come on guys, correct me if I'm wrong but Marcon wants to restore his S2000 to running condition, not create a huge project for himself.

jbu88

Yeah I looked at a rebuild but the scores were deep so it needed to be sleaved. Reasons I didn't go ahead were, more expensive, uncertainty over the quality of the rebuilders and most importantly was the extra time it would've taken. My car was already off the road for 3 months, I was offered a used motor with less kms, had ap2 retainers and good compression test #s. I may still rebuild it in the future with low comp for FI

AusS2000

And hey, this is a P plater legal performance car. There will be plenty of block available from donor cars.

Marcon

Hey thanks everyone for your input - its a massive confidence boost to know that there's one heck of a community around Dropped the car into the shop this morning and now will wait for the pull-apart for results.

In response - I haven't done any of the preliminary investigation myself. Honda noted that the plugs were loose and incorrectly gapped, so I assume they were quite a ways off. As for fuel, its always been BP Ultimate.

As for where I want to go with this, my primary goal is indeed to get this car back to great running order in the best way possible - so not necessarily the cheapest way, nor the most complex way... I was eyeing off stroker kits (that was by far the most impressive one Adrenaline =D) except they're looking to be too expensive once all the auxiliary work (ecu etc) is considered. Should I need bore work + rods + pistons etc, I will ask my mechanic for a quote tho

In any case, she's now coming apart.. I'll update as soon as I know what the damage is.. with pics if I can get any

chris_barry

Your quickest and most effective option would be to move your head onto a new short motor. If Honda Australia have one in stock ask your spare parts supplier to make an offer on it. My local honda dealer parts dept said they made an offer on one a few $K under the list price on one and Honda Australia did them a deal.

AusS2000

That assumes no valve damage as per jbu's.

chris_barry

Valves can be replaced and are not expensive items from Honda.

Marcon

Well the head has come off, and for the first time that I have seen - there is no apparent damage.

The electrode is nowhere to be seen, and there is no apparent scoring on the bore. There is not a single mark on the piston, nor the valves or the head. So far as I can tell... it got pushed in and immediately out, before it could cause any damage... or it was magically disintegrated as at the event. The retainers are somehow uncracked.

What was found were some dreadfully worn valve guides and similarly stuffed valve seats - both on the exhaust side only. My mechanic is of the persuasion that this may be an indication of the car running lean and generating extra heat... which may be part of the reason why the previous spark plug broke down.. (even though it hadn't whitened like others I have seen)

I was too slow to get in for pics of the guides and seats, I got in today and they'd already put new sleeves in the guides and had cut the seats back (awesome ), but everything else is looking okay. I've got someone looking at the injectors today and will see if there was an issue with some of them. All else is to be cleaned up and checked and I'm hoping to have the head back on by the end of the week.

As another note.. the engine threw 2 CELs, a knock sensor and a C02 sensor, with the replaced plugs in it. I suppose I'm also gonna have to find out if these were the cause or the symptoms..

Mark

chris_barry

You haven't found any reason for the lower compression on that cylinder.

I would do a leakdown as soon as the head has been torqued down ( before they start fitting the cams/rockers etc, to check there isnt any underlying problem in the bottom end. The leakdown tester uses compressed air to pressurise a cylinder. it measures the amount of leakage, you can listen to the ports and sump to work out where the air is going.

AusS2000

Can't bad valve seats cause lower compression?