Valve seals are done on the current head so my brother is giving me the one off his motor. Now is there anything that I should be doing to the head other than having it cleaned, decked and have new valve seals put in? are there any other parts that I should replace in the head while its off? is the machinst going to know how much to mill off of the head? I rather get everything out of the way now. ANd am I better off replacing the head studs with ARP ones… thanks for the help
Valve seal, valve guides, and springs should all be evaluated while you have the head off and replace or machine as required. All o-rings, seals and gaskets should be replaced.
What he said^. Also so you know the machinist will usually inspected all of these items when it is cleaned and resurfaced. They will only mill off enough to get a flat surface. ARP head studs are a good idea but if this is just a stock motor then the stock head bolts will do just fine. It would also be a good idea to put a water pump, timing belt, and tensioner on when you reinstall the head if they haven’t been changed before.
As of right now im replacing these items:
Head (obviously)
timing belt
waterpump
headgasket
tensioner
intake manifold gasket
header gasket
cam seal
valve seals
valve cover gasket
and most likely the distributor cap, rotor, plugs and wires.
anyone see something not on this list that is A MUST to replace please let me know
Distributor o-ring, spark plug well gaskets(should come with valve cover gasket), and don’t forget to put a bit of anaerobic sealant under the end cam caps. Inspect pcv valve and injector orings and replace as necessary.
I feel like ARP head studs are a good idea. I had to replace the head on my last LS and I did it cheaply and I blew the head gasket like 9 months later which led to a rod knock. Although it is embarrassing to admit, here are the things I did wrong:
- Cheap no-name head gasket (because I was poor)
- Reused old head bolts
- Did not run a tap down into the block to clean up the threads for the head bolts.
What resulted was a poor head gasket seal. Both because there was probably crap down in the holes so the proper torque on a torque wrench wasn’t actually giving me the clamping force necessary and the fact that the stock bolts can stretch a bit with time, also not providing the clamping force needed.
Because the ARP studs are studs and not bolts, you don’t have to make sure the threads in the block are super clean because you have a little leway by design.
Does that make sense? I’m not trying to say that they are “a must.” Certainly many people have re-used the stock head bolts with great success - and who knows, my assumption about why that gasket failed may be wrong and it did not fail because the head wasn’t on tight but because it was really just that crappy. Either way, it ended up being the downfall of that engine which eventually led to me having to sell that car (because of my financial situation at the time) and I only just recently able to find a suitable replacement.
You might also want to check the coolant hoses that run around the back side of the engine to see if they need replacement. Most aren’t that expensive from the dealership and it is much easier to replace them now than later. Again I say that based on personal experience. I had a little pin-prick hole in one of those hoses that I couldn’t locate back there and I kept replacing the wrong one. I eventually just replaced them all…but if money is tight, I wouldn’t worry about those things for now. It isn’t impossible to do those things later.
And finally, to add to what 90da9teg said above, there is also a hose that is part of the PCV system that will invariably crack and fail when you try to take the old PCV valve out (assuming that hose is 10+ years old). I always forget to order that hose when I am working on a old Honda…
i just want to add that if the holes aren’t at least blown out, the fastener can hydraulic with the coolant left inside from pulling the head. it could potentially crack the block
[QUOTE=Poopy;2186032]As of right now im replacing these items:
Head (obviously)
timing belt
waterpump
headgasket
tensioner
intake manifold gasket
header gasket
cam seal
valve seals
valve cover gasket
and most likely the distributor cap, rotor, plugs and wires.
anyone see something not on this list that is A MUST to replace please let me know[/QUOTE]
you might as well add a main seal to that list since your in that deep
buymysoul has a good point. take the time to clean threads and honda sells a head gasket kits. this comes with everything you are going to need, minus that main seal
I have to disagree about the main seal. Maybe I’m just patient enough, but in my experience it is kind of a pain to remove that seal while the oil pump is still on the car without messing up the soft aluminum on the pump. To remove the pump so you can get out the seal in a reasonable way, you have to remove the oil pan and oil pickup. A year or two ago I had the pleasure of removing the oil pan gasket from my block and the oil pan and, on these 20 year old cars, it was not fun at all.
If it is leaking, it is worth the effort, but otherwise, just leave it alone and check it in 80k miles when you change the timing belt again…
true enough. if it aint broke don’t fix it. it may actually cause a leak. that goes for cam seals as well, IMO. you can use a small slide hammer and sheet metal screw to pull it though. no need to remove the pan and cover. i know it sounds dicey with the crank right there. but as long as you’re careful…
thanks for all the insight. im going to be slowly gathering the parts, its kinda hard to do with christmas 2 weeks away. i’ll update everything that i replace and/or upgrade once im done
I never had a problem pulling that seal out. with the right tools it comes out with minimal to no effort and puting a new one is even easier. it might not be broke but why risk having to take it all back apart:shrug:
Part of the problem is I had forgotten the screw-into-it trick but I do remember having some troubles getting one at some point. Never seen one leak either…I dunno; I go back and forth on that stuff but perhaps you are right that I gave the impression that it is more of a hassle than it actually is.
i dunno. IMO, seals that aren’t leaking, are best left alone. but that’s just me