WonderBart

I've already put my D16Z6 block together and spec'd the bearings but if you need more info on this, here is a link to D-Series forum post that explains it a little more. Click Here for the link. ... Read More

Part 2 of building the bottom end was more interesting as it was starting to look, more like an engine. The reason I inserted the pistons in first is because you can't secure the crank shaft from falling out without the main caps bolted on if the engine is right side up. And while the main cap girdle is bolted on it's really hard to bolt up the rods caps. I made sure all the bearing surfaces were clean before I added on the bearings to the rods and block. I used the red assembly lube to lubricate all the bearings including the thrust washers. It really helps to get some grease on the thrust washers as it will make them stick to the block easier so they don't fall off while inserting the crankshaft. I also put a bit of grease on the crankshaft where the thrust washers sit so this is lubricated till the first startup. Once everything was ready I inserted the crankshaft into the block and put on the rod caps. I used ARP Molly lube for the threads and under the head of the bolts for the rods to get the proper torque feel. I ... Read More

Last weekend I had some more time to work on the engine so I started by pulling off the masking tape from the block and cleaned up any tape residue from the paint job. After that I washed the block with some soap and hot water, and then  quickly dried it off with compressed air. I then used a paint stir stick rapped with Bounty paper towels to clean the inside of the cylinders while I sprayed some WD-40 on the cylinder walls. I did this till the paper towels did not show anymore dirt from the cylinder. As you can see in the image above the engine block looks great after some fresh paint. I dried the inside of the cylinder walls with paper towels and sprayed WD-40 to lubricate the cylinder and to clean out any left over dirt, dust and minor surface rust After the block was clean I disassembled the pistons from the rods and washed everything thoroughly with hot water and soap. After everything was clean I assembled the pistons back together with assembly lube and put on the piston rings. When putting in the piston C-Clip's make sure your using the proper C-Clip pliers ... Read More

Getting the rings to the proper spec was actually easier then I thought, all I did was oil up the cylinder walls, inserted 1 ring at a time and pushed it down 1" with the piston head, then I used a feeler gauge to check the clearance. If the gap was too small I took the ring out and filed it down on the special ring filer tool I borrowed of a friend. I was very careful not to file down too much at a time so I had to do this a few times per ring. I separated the rings into the 4 cylinders and made sure not to mix them up. I used .018" gap  for the top ring and .019" gap for the 2nd ring, I left the oil rings are left as they were because they did not need any filing. Here is a great link for info about setting the ring gap by Theoldone In the picture to the left you can see me using a piston to push down the piston ring currently being gapped. In the picture to the right you can see me checking the gap using a feeler gauge. In the picture ... Read More

After bolting on the connecting rods I bolted on the main cap girdle and noticed that I have very little room between my ARP rod bolt and the girdle so I had no choice but to notch the girdle. As you can see on the image above the space between the ARP rod bolt and the Main Cap Girdle is not very much. I used my new Dremel Tungston Carbide Cutter bit to notch what I needed. Up top on the right you can see the first step of my notching process and then the the final job on the right. I didn't want to take too much off at first so I notched only a little bit of the girdle but then after bolting it back on the engine, I realized I needed way more and went back to notching it. As you can see in the images above that I have way more room for the bolt to clear after notching which makes me feel a bit more at ease when pushing so much horsepower through this engine. ... Read More

Last weekend I had some time to check the connecting rod bearing clearance which was again interesting to do. All 4 of the rod bearings were in the .0013-.0015" clearance range which is a bit on the tight side but still within limits for this turbo build engine. Just like the main bearings I placed a piece of plastigage on the crank journals and tightened up the rods bolts slowly. I made sure I did them evenly to make sure the rod cap went on straight. I already had ARP molly lube on the threads and head of the bolts from the machine shop so I tightened the bolts up to 25ft-lbs first then to 43ft-lbs. I loosened of the bolts with a 2 stage process and knocked of the caps with a piece of wood being very carefull. I then used the Green Clevite's Plastigage to check the rod bearing clearances which were all around .0013 to .0015".  On the right is another picture of my bottom end with my rod caps on. ... Read More

Last Sunday I got around to checking the main bearing clearances and got some good results. All 5 of my main bearings were in the .0013-.0015" range which is within the limits of what it's suppose to be. I had some time today so I posted how it all went. I wiped off the area where the bearings sit in the block and placed the new bearings in place. I then used the Green Clevite's Plastigage to check the clearances I cut a small piece of the plastigage and placed it across all the journals I then put the other half of the bearings on the main caps.  As you can see in the picture on the right the plastigage is barely visible. Two of the main cap bolts in the D16Z6 are longer then the others so I made sure I inserted them in the 2 middle holes on the main caps. I remembered to lubricate the bolts and the washers in oil for better torque feel. Working from the middle I started finger tightening all the bolts first, then to 18 Ft-lbs then to 38 Ft-lbs. Once they were all tight I loosened all the bolts in the ... Read More

I finally got my D16Z6 engine block back  from the machine shop yesterday and took a bunch of pictures to post up the blog.  As you can see the Block Guard is nicely installed in my D16 Block. The machine shop did a very nice job on boring and honing out the cylinders. After the top of the block was decked you can see the sleeves are more visible. The main bearing cap is nice and clean after hot tanking process. The main bearing bores were checked by machine shop to make sure they are true. The Crankshaft was micropolished and looks really nice now. The FJ R SPEC Connecting rods and Vitara Pistons look really sharp in these pictures. My next step will be to plastiguage the main bearings. ... Read More

My D16 Engine block should be back from the machine shop soon and one of the steps that I will have to do is gap the piston rings. I found a great link on how to gap the rings. Click Here to for the link. ... 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

My D16Z6 Turbo build parts finally arrived today and man did I have a smile on my face after opening the box. The Vitara pistons and I-Beam rods are of great quality and craftsmanship and the block guard looks nice too. I have all the gaskets that I will need to redo the bottom end now and with the pistons and rods here, I just need to finish chasing the treads on my block and it's totally ready for the machine shop. I will have to see if I can squeeze in the machining before Xmas but if not then early January is fine too.  D16Z6 Full Gasket Kit and BlockGuard 75.5mm Vitara Pistons, FJ R SPEC I-Beam Rods, ARP Rod Bolts, Rings, Bearings, Water Pump and Timing Belt   Vitara Pistons and FJ R SPEC I-Beam Rods Great Craftsmanship on the pistons and Rods   FJDistributors D16Z6 parts are of great quality and an affortable price. FJ Distributors.com   ... Read More

After 2 more hours I finally finished notching the cylinders yesterday. I went through a bunch of grinding bits as some fell apart from cheap glue and others just got used up after intensive grinding. The I-Beam connecting rods should work fine now with the vitara pistons but if needed I can always touch up any cylinders that might need it later. For anyone else that might be considering doing this job, my suggestion is to get yourself a respirator and a good pair of eye goggles. The metal shavings fly everywhere and without the proper gear it's not safe. I used a dremel drill with a flex cord attachement, but I believe that if you use a die grinder you might be able to get the job done faster. Here's a picture of me notching the other side of the cylinder and also a picture of the finished job. ... Read More

The next step while waiting for my pistons and rods to arrive is to chase all my threads and to notch the bottom part of my cylinders. The notch is 3/4" wide, 1/4" deep and 1/4" down the cylinder wall. The reason I need to notch the cylinders is because the I- Beam connecting rods are a little bigger and thus would hit the cylinder walls. Click Here for a link to a website that shows what exactly cylinder notching is all about. ... Read More

I sand blasted my D16Z6 block, cylinder head, intake manifold, and valve cover today and man do they look sweet now. Once I do the machining and put the bottom end internals in I intend to paint the block. I haven't picked a color yet but I'm thinking of a high heat orange-red, but this is still up for grabs.   I ordered the Vitara pistons with a full gasket kit, I beam connecting rods, and a block guard from FJDistributors yesterday so the parts should be here in about a week. My next step will be to notch the cylinder walls after dry fitting the pistons with the I beam connecting rods. ... Read More

I finished masking all the parts that need sandblasting tomorrow so this should help keep the key areas from getting damaged,  although I know that some of the tape might get ripped off which is OK. I also cleaned the old gasket of the intake header surface that mates with the cylinder head. I used a razor blade scraper and brake cleaner and it worked like a charm. It took about 30 minutes to prep the entire surface and after that I took 400 grit sandpaper and a block of wood and gently sanded the surface to make sure it's completely flat. As you can see the intake header surface is really clean and should mate well with a new gasket. ... Read More

Last night after work I disassembled the D16Z6 cylinder head with the help of my friend Tracey. I pulled everything off the head including the rocker assembly, VTEC Solenoid, valves and springs. I tried to pull off the valve seals but couldn’t do it by hand so I left those on for now. I later checked on the net and you can use pliers to take those off. While disassembling the cylinder head my friend Tracey labeled my zip lock bags so all my parts were all organized and kept my valves and their related pieces separated. Being organized while taking it apart will be very useful when I start putting it back together as I will know where each part if from and don’t mix any screws or parts up. Down below you can see how I labeled my zip lock bags to separate the individual valve parts, I did this also with the engine block parts. After the head was completely bare of any parts I used some degreaser spray and a plastic brush and cleaned the head of any remaining oil. I was careful when cleaning the area where the camshaft makes contact not to damage this surface. ... Read More

I've been busy with other interests and hobbies so I haven't had to time work on my engine build this week. Tonight I went into my shop and decided to cleanup as it was muchly needed. There is nothing worse then trying to do a good job and you can't cause your tools are unorganized or your tripping on engine parts. I cleaned up the shop and now I am ready for some more D16Z6 engine building. My next step will be to disassemble the cylinder head and the intake manifold of all sensors. Then the block, head, rocker cover and the intake manifold will have to be degreased and dried out. This will have to be done in order to be ready for sand blasting this Friday. ... Read More

Before I send out the block to the machine shop I need to order my pistons and connecting rods. Once I have the proper parts I can send the block and the parts to the machine shop and get everything fitted and the necessary parts machined. Click Here for the link to my bottom end parts page on my site. ... Read More

I was busy with some other things the last few days so I didn't have time to work on my engine but yesterday after work I decided to go at it. I called my friend Tracey to come over and help me label my parts bags and help me disassemble the motor. I first took of the exhaust manifold and then followed by the intake manifold. Once those were off the engine was easier to maneuver on the engine stand.   I then unbolted the cylinder head and placed it in a plastic tub to drain any oil that was still in it. Once the cylinder head was off it really started rolling then. We unbolted all the external brackets and accessories of the block and drained the oil. Once the oil was drained I flipped the engine over and started to pull the oil pan bolts off with Tracey's help. After that Tracey pulled off the water pump and the front engine mounting bracket and I pulled off the oil pump and the rear seal bracket. I then started to loosen the main cap bolts using the cross pattern. I only loosened them up a little at a time and once I got to the last one, I went back to the first bolt and loosened ... Read More

I found a website today that shows the extensive engine build for a 1989 civic. Now this is the model older then mine but still have losts of great information about the B series Engine. And whats even better is the main website that has even more information. ENDYN Energy Dymanics ... Read More