Somebody help me please. I just found out that I got some big problems with my teg. I have a 92 GS with a B16A swap that was done by the previous owner. I now have some big problems, my mechanic says it’s either the head gasket, the valve seals or the piston rings. I dont know what to do as I am a bit of a noob to the Honda game. How much is a B16 rebuild? Will that work? My mechanic said that my best bet is to swap back to a B18. Is that true? I love that VTEC man. Someone please help me out.
Err… the problem is what?
ls is never the right choice. you have low compression from the sound of it. have your mechanic do a leakdown test, then fix it. answer a few questions for us.
- how much does your car smoke?
- what color is the smoke?
- does it smoke all the time, or only in vtec?
What if it only smokes in VTEC? I have this problem, I’ve heard it’s a common thing… but it’s pretty annoying.
Basically, the car smokes all the time. It smokes like crazy, to the point I can’t tell if anybody is behind me. It’s white smoke too. I don’t really know if a compression test was done. I guess that wll be first thing on my agenda.
White smoke = blown headgasket most likely.
Take off your radiator cap, and see what your coolant looks like.
If its dirty, or has brown crap in it, or foamy or bubbly, then its almost definitely a blown head.
listen to this guy. thick white smoke that gags you is blown head gasket. most of the time your antifreeze will be the wrong color too.
fix the problem now. do the timing belt and water pump while your t-belt is off too.
list of crap to do…use all oem honda shit:
-b16 headgasket.
-vtec valvecover gasket.
-b16 timing belt.
-vtec water pump.
then if you got extra money, have your head milled and get a valve job with gsr cams and fresh seals. that way you gain a couple horse out of this whole thing. 
btw if you know how to do basic mechanic stuff you could do the job, just make sure a shop assembles the head for you.
Replace with JDM b16, or LS vtec, then you would walk away with hp gains.
Coolant will apear foggy or milky if head gasket is blown. Leak down test :werd:
how do you know he doesn’t have a JDM B16?
new, another, not blown one
and strikeback03
the intake is before the intake manifold
the im acts as … velosity stacks…oooooohhh…aaaahhhhh
why?
what are you talking about, that crack dun fuct u up somethin awful
I think he is replying to this thread. and again, a race motor will have a velocity stack on top of the throttle body. an intake (short ram or CAI) will have a resonance point where it will help move air into the enging - that is the reason for the hump in a CAI dyno curve. velocity stacks are short on race motors so that the resonance is at high RPM.
another B16 might not give any HP gains, he might have the 170 HP version already. And LS/vtec is expensive.
ahahahahahahaha. these n00bs are crazy!
y didnt u goto the palisades meet?
Dont take the advice of the person saying to buy another b16. If youre somewhat mechanically inclined, pick up a chiltons or helms shop manual, and it will give you step-by-step directions on how to change your HG. Youll save alot of money this way. If your uncomfortable doing it yourself, take it to a shop. Id also reccomend resurfacing the read to ensure you wont have problems, but no need for gsr cams, theyre the same
-steve
Actually, I would just buy another B16. The cost of the rebuild - and I assume this is your daily driver - and the time for the rebuild vs. the cost of a motor and putting it in. I would just get a motor from hmotorsonline.com - best out there I think, and longblock prices are $600 or so - and put that in, then rebuild the other b16 at a later time. Now, if the headgasket is just blown, then I would consider just having the head pressue checked and plained for even bottom, then slap it back on - cheap fix, it’ll work until you can get another engine.
dunno about Canadian emissions laws, but in the US the engine would have to be the same year or newer than the car. Can you get 92 or newer B16 longblocks for $600? Either way, if it is a headgasket, it is still less time and money to just replace it.
no, I didn’t go to Palisaides. A friend was getting married here that day.
A rebuild would be better in the long run, but cost more.
Ca emission laws say that all usdm smog must be installed from same year or newer, not the block. The refs want a bill of sale or something to prove it wasn’t stolen. Thanks MoonScryer for understanding.
so you are telling the board and me, that you can swap a motor in less time than a headgasket? you are full of shit. i dont see how motor swap would be cheaper or less labor intensive?
At this time, the motor he has doesn’t seem to be working to well. Proper diagnostics [leak down] are needed.
2 hours @ $60 = $120
then…if just head gasket…
3 hours to remove head @ $60 =$180
$400 so far…
the machine shop will want money too…$50 - $100 to resurface the head, and if he needs valves or a valve job…more $$$, and they are not a one day turn around, if the shop is any good, they will be buisy, expect 2-3 days [do not rush your machine shop, they don’t care about your schedule]
head gasket kit …$200
now two steps most people don’t do… use new head bolts and check block to head mating surface for warpage, these last two if not done and remidied will lead to premature head gasket failure. more $$$ either way.
If the block has warpage, it will need to be removed and sent to machine shop for surfacing … removal time plus macining …$$$
and then it all has to be put back together…wich takes even longer than taking it apart [ all the extra torque sequences and valve adjustment ]
this is with low ball figure on hourly rate and parts prices [ h/g kit from honda runs $265]
it goes on and on…
motor swaps are easy and require intake/exaust gasket. With so little money spent on parts, the shop doing the work will make more $$$ doing a simple motor swap [ all work done in house ]. If you find a shop that will do it for a flat fee, expect to pay about $600 labor for the swap and 2-3 days turn around. And if you buy new parts that are going to be swaped anyhow [clutch, flywheel, starter … etc] they should not charge much if any to install them, ask before any work has been started.
it gets even cheaper if you have some friends with tools to help swap the motors.
that is why it is cheaper.
edit $300