WonderBart

Note: This procedure is the same for a 1992-1995 Honda Civic CX, DX, or Si Tools Needed: 8mm Socket Wrench or a Phillips Head Screw Driver Step One: Open up your hood and make sure you secure the hood post in it's proper place. Step Two: Use an 8mm Socket Wrench or a Phillips head screw driver to undo all 4 screws holding down the top of the airbox. I would use the 8mm Socket Wrench because it will not strip the head of the screw as easily as a Phillips head screw driver. But if you don't have a 8mm socket wrench then a Phillips head screw driver will do just fine with some do care. Step Three: Make sure all the screws are totally unscrewed from the bottom part of the airbox. Then grab the top of the airbox and lift it up, if you are having trouble check the screws again but this should lift up with very little effort. Step Four: Lift out the air filter and replace if needed. Honda recommends to replace every 48,000Km or sooner under severe driving conditions, like driving on dusty roads or near construction sites. Step Five: Once you put the new air filter in it's place align the top part of the airbox with the bottom half and tighten all the screws. DO NOT ... Read More

If you ever wondered what's inside a VTEC Solenoid assembly then here you go. I cleaned mine out from my D16Z6 engine and snapped a few pictures for reference.  As you can see in my pictures below my pressure switch has a broken plug socket so I will have to replace that before I mount it back on my engine. The pressure switch gives the go ahead to the ECU when the oil pressure is high enough to engage VTEC. Once the ECU sends the signal to the VTEC Solenoid it opens a valve and feeds oil to the VTEC Assembly, this engages a higher torque cam lobe and gives you more power. ... Read More

Today at lunch after eating my friend and I were driving around and spotted a small pet shop that we haven't been in before. We decided to stop and walk in to check it out. We went inside and asked the clerk where the fish were held. The pleasant clerk pointed us to the back of the store to where the fish tanks were all setup. We walked to the back and started looking at the different fish he had in the store. Then I noticed that he had a large female turtle in one of the tanks. She was roughly about 4 years old and looked a bit neglected and was in a 10 gallon tank with only about 5 inches of water. I was gonna tell the clerk to add more water but he probably would of told me to shut up and get lost. I know it's not entirely the store owners fault of the conditions that she was in as she was probably dropped off at his door step by someone that was bored of turtles and the store owner did the best he could with his small aquarium setup. PLEASE! PLEASE! Think twice before you buy ... Read More

Today I had some extra time after work so I went ahead and setup my parts washer and filled it with 2 gallons of solvent. I started washing the exhaust valves first one by one and made sure all the components were accounted for including the valve, valve seat, spring, retainer and keepers. I used a small plastic container for each valve set to make sure everything was properly organized. If you look on the picture below you will see how I organized the parts after cleaning them with solvent. Once I got all the exhaust valve parts clean, I turned off the parts washer and dried everything off. After drying off one valve set at a time I put the parts in their own ziplock bags for storage. I repeated the process for the intake valves and also cleaned the VTEC solenoid. I used 16 small zip lock bags and named them exhaust 1, exhaust 2, exhaust 3, all the way up to 8 and then the same for intake. With this method I will keep all the parts organized and easier for assembly later on. Parts washer with 2 gallons of solvent. Washing a valve spring in my parts washer. Organized ... Read More

I finally got around to getting some work done on my D16 block today. I sprayed degreaser on it again and pressure washed the left over shavings from doing the cylinder wall notching last December. I also got around to using my new tap and die set and did some thread chasing on the smaller threads. I didn't touch the top head stud threads and the bottom main cap threads because I didn't want to mess those up just in case I made a mistake. I've been lacking on doing any updates on this build as I haven't really done anything since mid December '08 but I'm hoping to get it  going forward again very soon. My next step is to drop off the block, crankshaft, main bearing cap, Vitara pistons, connecting rods and bearings at the machine shop to get everything all matched up and machined, and  hopefully assembled before end of February. Tapping threads on my D16 Block D16 block with cylinders showing slight surface rust. Image of my crankshaft and my main bearing cap. ... Read More

Lets face it building or rebuilding an engine is not cheap, lots of time, money and sweat have gone into your precious engine so why treat it like crap. Always do a proper break in by NOT USING synthetic oil, change the oil and filter after first 25kms and make sure you have proper cooling. But hey don't listen to me and kiss your new engine good bye, it's up to you!. Here is another great link on what to do and what not to do on an engine break in. Click Here for link. ... Read More

I stopped by Pet land after work today and picked up a 100watt heat lamp to replace the heat bulb they broke last night. This ceramic one should have a longer life span and also not burst when cold water hits it as I suspect that's what happened to my other bulb by one of the turtles. While I was there I also picked up some algae wafers and shrimp pellets as I was out of both of them. I give the wafers to my Plecos every other day or a few times a week to cut down on over feeding them. The shrimp pellets are for my crayfish and my small algae eaters. These particular shrimp pellets are good for keeping your tank cleaner as they don't make as much mess as some other brands while they get consumed. After screwing in the ceramic heat lamp I changed the water in the turtle tank.  This water change was larger then usual as I wanted to suck out as much of the old water as possible and any bottom debre using my gravel cleaner. 100w Ceramic Heat Lamp Algae Waffers and Shrimp Pellets ... Read More

OH MY! I was just about to go to sleep when I noticed some funny looking things on the bottom of my turtle tank. I looked closer and I was like what the heck, there are pieces of glass in the tank. I looked around and was confused, how did pieces of glass get into my aquarium. Then I looked up and I saw the turtle heat bulb all broken and not working. I quickly disconnected the power and grabbed my net and started to scoop all the glass out of the tank. I got it all out and tomorrow I will do a water change and make sure there is no more there. I think the the bulb must of been really hot and the turtle splashed some water at it and it exploded. I tell yeah turtles are like kids they get into lots of trouble. :D ... Read More

I bought the 2009 Ultimate Buyers Guide last night and man this thing is a must for any car tuner enthusiast. It's got everything from from body kits to clutches, steering wheels and turbo chargers. If your looking at buying any after market parts for your Honda Civic this summer then you better pickup a copy as there are lots of products listed that will fit your Civic. If you want a custom racing seat then turn to page 118 and BAAM! you got the picture, pricing, website and phone number of the manufacture so you can get your self setup. The magazine has a parts reference guide starting on page 10 that lets you know whats available for your car whether it being a Honda Civic, BMW or Toyota. So go to your local store and pickup a copy and save yourself the headache and the cash this summer. ... Read More

I went to my favorite hobby shop today at lunch and picked up some parts for my Blade CX2 helicopter. They weren't anything special just some parts to get my heli back together. Last fall I flew it into a tree and it got stuck so I gave it full throttle to get it out and it kicked the heli out of the tree but I couldn't stabilize and it crashed nose first into the ground. The core parts of my Blade CX2 were ok but the nose cone was badly damaged and the landing skid had a crack in it too. I changed the nose cone and the landing skid tonight so it should be ready for the next flight. Damaged nose cone on my Blade CX2 Heli Parts for my Blade CX2 Heli ... Read More

I took the day of work today to heal an eye infection so I had some extra time on my hands and decided to get the water changed in my 29 and 45 gallon tanks and also to clean my main filter in my 125 gallon turtle tank. The water changes were easy as usual but I noticed that my 45 gallon tank had a hint of green water while draining so I suspect an algae bloom in that tank. I also noticed that the glass had traces of algae on it so I cleaned it with scratch pad. One of the bulbs that I have in my T5 light is meant for plant growth so I might pull that out and see if that helps curb the algae growth. The 29 Gallon tank was really easy to clean and while cleaning it I was wondering if maybe in the next little while I should get another crayfish. If I do get another crayfish I think I will get a rainbow one like before. The main XP4 turtle filter cleaning was needed as the inside of it was really dirty but that's expected as it wasn't cleaned since October 24, 2008. Now this ... Read More

Ursula Mayes Wallpaper courtesy of SuperStreetOnline.com Pick your screen resolution 800x600 - 1024x768 - 1280x1024 ... Read More

I was driving home tonight after work and the rain started to fall. I turned on my wipers and all I got was smudge after smudge after smudge, my visibility was bad. Why was it bad you ask? Because my wipers are dirty and my windshield needs a wash. This is especially bad when you are driving in the dark and you get the glare of oncoming traffic on your windshield. My solution for this is to clean your wipers with isoprophenol alcohol and the windshield with Windex. This will help the situation for now and when you get a chance purchase some new wipers if their a few years old. ... Read More

I finally got around to cleaning both my XP3 filters for the 29 and the 45 gallon tanks. The 45 gallon XP3 filter was changed not to long ago but the 29 gallon has been running since October which is way too long. With this years winter being so snowy I just stayed home and played World of Warcraft which made me very lazy when it came to my filter maintenance and water changes. I will create a schedule for the filter cleaning and water changes and try to keep on top of this from now on. It only took about 30 mins to clean each filter which was way faster then I remember as I haven't done it for a while. ... Read More

Have you ever seen an import car like a Honda and wonder why it's muffler looks like it's crooked? Well it's not. The theory behind it, is that the less 90 degree bends in the exhaust the more power you will gain. To make this work the muffler is attached to the car in a such a way that it looks like it's crooked and pointing to the side but actually it's suppose to be like that.  I found a link to a forum post on D-Series.org that explains this a bit more. Click Here for the Link. ... Read More

So all I keep hearing is that everyone is getting the Nintendo Wii cause it's so fun and entertaining. Well I don't like it. The graphics are from 10 years ago, the game play is boring and who the heck wants to jump around when playing video games. If you want some exercise go play some soccer or go get a workout at the gym. I have a PlayStation 3 and love the graphics and the games are more entertaining then ever. Plus you might pay more upfront but you get a Game system, Blue-Ray Player, Upconverting DVD player, Media player and more. With Wii you might spend less in the beginning but once you add on all the stupid additions like the Wii Fit and Wii Tennis racket, Wii steering wheel and Wii this and that it's ridiculously expensive. OK so they made the graphics and game play for smaller kids but tell me 1 kid in your neighborhood that can afford to buy all these damn accessories. My 2 cents is if your gonna get a game system get a PS3 or even an XBOX 360 atleast your getting more for your dollar. ... Read More

I was surfing the net today and found an interesting use for a D16 Honda engine, a kids dune buggy. This guy built a dune buggy from scratch and used a Honda 16 Engine and it actually looks pretty good. He used an automatic transmission with the drivers side drive shaft for the back two wheels and the passenger side drive shaft for the front two wheels, a very good idea if I may say so. Links Below Page 1 Inital Setup Page 5 Rollcage Page 7 More Rollcage Pics Page 10 More Pics ... Read More

Tools needed: Oil drain pan, car jack, jack stand, 17mm wrench, rag or paper towels, oil and oil filter Step 1 - Place a jack under the appropriate jack place on the drivers side of the car and raise it up. Once your Civic is raised place a jack stand under the frame for added safety. Step 2 - Place an empty oil drain pan under your Civic and use a 17mm wrench to loosen the drain plug and let the oil drain now. Step 3 - Loosen off the old oil filter from the back of the engine from underneath of the car. Once the old filter is out take a new filter and coat the rubber seal with new oil and screw it back on the engine. Step 4 - Tighten the oil drain plug back up with 17mm wrench and wipe off any excess oil around oil pan. Then remove the oil drain pan and jack from under the car and lower the car back down. Step 5 - Add 3.5 Liters of oil into the engine using a funnel so not to spill. Oil Grade will depend on where you live and what temperatures you drive in but I use 5W30 ... Read More

I found this video on Youtube about the old NES game Zelda II - The Adventure of Link. It shows how to get through all the bosses, check it out it's a retro moment from the 80's. ... Read More

Well I just found out that the 4th installment of the Fast and Furious movie series will be out April 3. Paul Walker and Vin Diesel are back and it looks better then ever. Click Here for 2 great trailers that are available on The Fast and The Furious website ... Read More