Pictures of some recent projects

[Mr_ET]

thx guys!

Have another project from last weekend but need to confirm if I can share with the owner first.

[Mr_ET]

This weekend I swapped out the headgasket on BigBearWest's turbo d16y8 ek.

Here are a few pics:


old gasket



new gasket

head just before it went back on


Compression is now the same across the board and she doesn't smoke under boost like she used to

[Primer_Drift]

Et tu, Roberto? Betrayed me for Etienne's superb work? lol..

Aaanyways, why was the headgasket leaking?

[Mr_ET]

It was only leaking under boost from what I can tell (white smoke only under boost). Compression on cylinder 4 was also lower.

The test I did gave me:

155 on 1
140 on 2
140 on 3
120 on 4

I was expecting 3 to be lower as usual but

The previous gasket was another oem tri layer metal headgasket and he already had arp's.

Possibly minor head lift as boost was building that went away under normal driving conditions?

Oil and coolant had not mixed.

[Primer_Drift]

Would I correct to assume you checked for deck warpage as well as head warpage?

IMO from the comp #'s I would speculate that the head was torqued incorrectly before ..easy to do with ARP's.

[Mr_ET]

I would say the same thing and I checked both surfaces and they looked pretty flat.

I also untorqued the head off in the specific service manual way to avoid warpage then and used the proper sequence when torquing back on.

I went 15 ft pounds, then 30 and now I'm at 62 with 30w oil. Would you suggest going to 65 ish after 500kms when we retorque them to make sure nothing moved?

[Primer_Drift]

Do not retorque ARP's.. they do not stretch like regular headbolts, making 62ft-lbs is significantly higher than stock because of this fact. After heat cycling, retorquing ARP headstuds will more than likely cause the head to warp.

[Mr_ET]

you're right I haven't retorqued ARP's in the past and that rating should be fine.

He will probably bend or break something else before the head ever lifts

factory bolts are only 49 ft pounds no wonder heads lift under boost...

I have actually heard of some folks torquing arp's to 70, 87 and I've even seen 100 once on a race engine. That's probably just about the point where you start destroying the threads in the block...

[Sugarphreak]

Looks good!

[Mr_ET]

Look at that perhaps you could post some better pics of those WR products? I have seen yours and they are much better!

[Sugarphreak]

haha, sorry I don't have any pics on hand right now

[Sugarphreak]

dlb post....

[Mr_ET]

looks good in the sun Nick, POLISHED

Worked on a few cars recently but didn't bring the camera

RSX-S with new Hawk HP+ pads and rbf 600 brake fluid
1997 ITR new exedy clutch and flywheel, new rotors, pads and goodridge lines, new clutch and brake fluid/
CRX new upper a-arms, inner and outer tie rods, sway bar end links, oil pan gasket and axles.

Tomorrow changing the rear drums on my civic, changing brake fluids and installing the donut gasket between the exhaust and header.

I'll be swapping out clutches in it very soon and have a few other projects coming soon!

[Neil4Speed]

Originally posted by ekguy
I think it's easy to see a lot of people have been helped by Etienne. I know he's going to be the first person I contact before I choose to get anything done in case he'll be willing to work on the Legend again haha. Think I'm going to make my next car something easier to work on.

Etienne is a great guy!

I am surprised that he touched another legend though! Apparently mine was a nightmare!

[Mr_ET]

Yours just didn't want to cooperate man. I would say ekguy's was just about as much of a challenge though, those cars just don't like to let their transmissions come out :P

Here are a few pics of another 2008 Fit I worked on this week.

Installed a T1R B52 max full coilover set that was 36 way adjustable with rebound and damping adjustement. Also came with some custom adjustable swaybar end links.

Not a bad piece but unlike some other kits i've installed I felt they could have done more to make this a true bolt on as it required trimming a lot of rubber pieces and even a few metal brackets to make it all fit.






Should be working on an EG fairly soon for another suspension install. Would have happened today but one of the rear lca bolts didn't want to play.

Good night all!

[Mr_ET]

Today we swapped a bum B16 transmission out of an SIR and swapped in a spare B18 transmission we had.

The owner has this as his DD and doesn't care about performance but needs the car to work. He was also on a budget so that is why this transmission was selected.

It was previously painted a heat resistant aluminium color to clean it up. We ended up having to replace the passenger side axle as the previous transmission was run with no fluid in it for some time and the axle fused in the transmission.

As always bare with my crappy picture taking skills


Old and busted in the back of EFHatch's EK hatch :P


new/old hotness



Forgot to take pics of new axle, best I could do with the car back on the ground


When we got the car towed here this morning it didn't go into gear even though it had plenty of clutch fluid and good pedal pressure. The clutch flywheel assembly looked in good shape so all we found was about 200ml of fluid in there instead of 2.5L and that stupid axle

All fixed now, good night all, more projects coming next weekend!

[EFHatch]

I sure hope we can get that axle out! I want that core charge back among other things.

[Mr_ET]

I've never put so much time and effort into trying to remove an axle lol. Even with the transmission out and me jumping on the pry bar it wouldn't come out lol.

[dj_honda]

put something in where the intermediate shaft goes that is small enough to fit around the diff piece and pound it out.

[EFHatch]

The axle is pretty much seized inside the trans. What has probably happened is its over heated (due to 200ml or less of MTF in the housing) and has fused to the bearing inside.

I'll get the torch on it and hopefully it will slide out without too much trouble.