Rebuilding motor
08-17-2006, 05:03 AM
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Rebuilding motor
To make a long story short. My S2000 self destructed when my spark plug electrode broke off and bounced around the cylinder. Hondacare denied my claim because the spark plugs were Denso Iridium plugs. Best part was, the check engine light didn't come on until the motor was already severly damaged 
Now I have a car with a busted up head and pistons BUT...the cylinder walls look fine
Time to upgrade a little
I'm looking at purchasing an empty head from a friend of mine. I'm thinking about having Suja 1 Motoring port and polish the head for me. I'd like to transfer all of my good valvetrain over and purchase Spoon polished valves (since mine are bent in cylinder 3 & 4).
I dunno what pistons to go with but I want to run high compression pistons with thermal and friction coatings.
What kind of pistons do you guys recommend and what compression ratio can I get away with on 91-93 octain? 12.0:1 or 12.5:1?
Could I get away with just unbolting the oil pan and pushing the stock pistons out the top of the block (leaving the motor in the car)?
Does anyone make cams worth upgrading to?
Anything else I could upgrade while I'm at it? I was planning on running the Apex-i Neo AFC and buying a few gauges to monitor the motor this time.
What do you guys think?
Now I have a car with a busted up head and pistons BUT...the cylinder walls look fine
Time to upgrade a little
I'm looking at purchasing an empty head from a friend of mine. I'm thinking about having Suja 1 Motoring port and polish the head for me. I'd like to transfer all of my good valvetrain over and purchase Spoon polished valves (since mine are bent in cylinder 3 & 4).
I dunno what pistons to go with but I want to run high compression pistons with thermal and friction coatings.
What kind of pistons do you guys recommend and what compression ratio can I get away with on 91-93 octain? 12.0:1 or 12.5:1?
Could I get away with just unbolting the oil pan and pushing the stock pistons out the top of the block (leaving the motor in the car)?
Does anyone make cams worth upgrading to?
Anything else I could upgrade while I'm at it? I was planning on running the Apex-i Neo AFC and buying a few gauges to monitor the motor this time.
What do you guys think?
08-17-2006, 06:32 AM
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The stock block has FRM cylinder walls which severely limit your choice of pistons to OEM honda or maybe Toda. I don't know of anyone who has sucessfully put any other brand of piston in the FRM cylinders and had good luck. Most builders put in iron sleeves so that they can use any piston.
I would advise talking to a reputable professional such as Earl Laskey or Dan Paramore or possibly even Inline Pro since they are a site sponsor.
I would advise talking to a reputable professional such as Earl Laskey or Dan Paramore or possibly even Inline Pro since they are a site sponsor.
08-17-2006, 09:15 AM
#4
Have you considered just buying a short block from Honda? The price will probably be about the same or cheaper. You'd have a factory reliable motor too.
Some of the JDM swap places will sell you an entire motor or swap too. Buy a swap then sell the tranny. I believe a complete swap can be had for $4K something.
Some of the JDM swap places will sell you an entire motor or swap too. Buy a swap then sell the tranny. I believe a complete swap can be had for $4K something.
08-17-2006, 10:15 AM
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Or you can get a honda K24 crank, and H22 pistons and rods. this would turn the engine into a 2.4 liter. Check out the september issue of turbo maggazine for a set by step directions of how to do this. Also if you do a search, I posted this before. In that thread there is a link to a difforent forum where the guy who figured this out answered peoples questions.
08-17-2006, 12:43 PM
#7
Originally Posted by Ek9,Aug 17 2006, 02:07 PM
Yeah, turn it into an unreliable POS most likely. It's interesting and all but, they don't normally follow these guys 20K miles and see how reliable it is.
It would be nice to do to a project car, but never on a daily driver.
I have a project car and I have been considering it. This is acutally legal for the NASA Honda Unlimited class. 2.4 is the max and all mods must be OEM parts from any Honda, past of present.
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08-19-2006, 08:06 AM
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Originally Posted by hecash,Aug 17 2006, 03:32 PM
You're exactly right. They are FRM (fiber reinforced metal) cylinders.
Keeping the stock walls, there are only two concrete options and both are OEM. Before I go further, let me say that the OEM option is a very good one. When I first blew a motor, the very reputable shop (international reputation) that did the work for me called me in after the motor was torn down and the new parts (J&E) were delivered. They showed me how the new parts were, in fact, superior to the aftermarket parts. Even though it was going to cost them $500 profit on the aftermarket parts, they recommended going with the OEM.
The OEM options are to directly repalce the damaged pistons or to go with a .5 mm oversize. Honda sells the hone that needs to be used to size out the cylinder. It's not a bore, it's a special hone.
There is another option that may have come to market. When I did my motor, Mahle pistons (Forumla 1 and Le Mans supplier) said that they would soon (meaning?) have a set of pistons that used the FRM walls and an over-hone as well as varying compression options for FI and NA applications.
I went with the direct replacement and their very good reconstruction of the motor including some mild head work (they also said that the head was great). That motor ran stronger than any S2000 that I'd driven. The guys at Driver's Image (local tuner) took it out several times to try to figure out why that motor pulled so hard all the way to 9000 rpm.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that you ought to look at the OEM option favorably before making your final decision.
If you decide to go OEM (what I favor), you can get the parts through TheHardtopGuy, our sponsor.
Keeping the stock walls, there are only two concrete options and both are OEM. Before I go further, let me say that the OEM option is a very good one. When I first blew a motor, the very reputable shop (international reputation) that did the work for me called me in after the motor was torn down and the new parts (J&E) were delivered. They showed me how the new parts were, in fact, superior to the aftermarket parts. Even though it was going to cost them $500 profit on the aftermarket parts, they recommended going with the OEM.
The OEM options are to directly repalce the damaged pistons or to go with a .5 mm oversize. Honda sells the hone that needs to be used to size out the cylinder. It's not a bore, it's a special hone.
There is another option that may have come to market. When I did my motor, Mahle pistons (Forumla 1 and Le Mans supplier) said that they would soon (meaning?) have a set of pistons that used the FRM walls and an over-hone as well as varying compression options for FI and NA applications.
I went with the direct replacement and their very good reconstruction of the motor including some mild head work (they also said that the head was great). That motor ran stronger than any S2000 that I'd driven. The guys at Driver's Image (local tuner) took it out several times to try to figure out why that motor pulled so hard all the way to 9000 rpm.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that you ought to look at the OEM option favorably before making your final decision.
If you decide to go OEM (what I favor), you can get the parts through TheHardtopGuy, our sponsor.
08-19-2006, 09:56 AM
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not sure how they denied your warranty service, since I'm willing to guess that the Denso Iridium plugs meet factory specifications.. you could also work with Denso about faulty spark plugs and see if they won't pay for a new engine for you..
