I would love to travel to Japan one day but at this time its out of my price range for me and my family.
Thanks for sharing the pictures
Thanks for sharing the pictures
A passion that traveled across international boarders
Honestly, I don't know where I should start. Maybe a little bit of background first!
I have been messing with honda's for years, almost 15 to be exact (since I got my license). Many of the honda's I have owned and help friends repair in my youngeryears were the starting point of knowing what line of work I wanted to be in.
I love cars (anything with an engine really), more specifically diagnosing really difficult drivability issues with them. Getting stuck on a problem really pushed me to learn more about things I was unfamiliar with. Through my diagnostic experiences as a vehicle technician, I have learned an incredible amount of internal combustion engine theory and operation including all of the additional systems that support their overall operation and the mechanics at work which ultimately couple the engine output to usable work at the wheels (the full circle if you will).
UNFORTUNATELY, like most people can probably attest, I'm not made of money, I don't have lots of money, I can't spend lots of money all the time (unless I want my wife and son to starve and have no home), I really had to think hard 5 times before spending $50 bucks without jeopardizing something of a higher importance, but that honestly never stopped me from continuing to pursue learning about so many really cool tips and tricks related to Honda's on the countless number of member driven community forums out there (the last year and a bit have been right here!).
I've tuned honda's, built engines/transmissions for honda's, done stupid/cool things with honda's, and most of the time it has always been with someone else's money. All I have ever been truly able to spend on things was time, and I took full advantage of a learning opportunity when it presented itself on someone else's dime.
I am at a stage in my life where money management is still a HUGE part of my responsibility for my overall family goals (as I am still not made from it), but over the past two years things have started to get, dare I say it, slightly "easier" (knock on wood) for me to have like an extra hundred bucks or so every month to put towards my hobbies and things I like to do.
Like most people here, working on their cars is therapeutic and stress relieving. Often times it can turn into downright addiction! I think I'm in the stress relieving group, as I spend time and money on my projects but it's not the end of the world if I have to not touch them for weeks/months at a time.
So without more boring self introductions, I wanted to share an ongoing project that started in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and ended up in North Carolina.
Here she is, the d-series honda platform that has continued to be my hobby that started 2 years ago: the 1999 Honda Civic SI (Canadian, EX in USA) with a low mileage D16Y8 installed by the owner who wanted to get it back on the road eventually (original engine blew up). He lost interest but had money to buy newer toys to pass the time. This car sat in the back of a truck shop for almost 2 years, and the owners of the place were threatening the owner to tow it away if he didn't move it. So I bought it for $200 bucks from him because the engine ran and it was at least worth that by itself, and had it towed to my house.
I have been messing with honda's for years, almost 15 to be exact (since I got my license). Many of the honda's I have owned and help friends repair in my youngeryears were the starting point of knowing what line of work I wanted to be in.
I love cars (anything with an engine really), more specifically diagnosing really difficult drivability issues with them. Getting stuck on a problem really pushed me to learn more about things I was unfamiliar with. Through my diagnostic experiences as a vehicle technician, I have learned an incredible amount of internal combustion engine theory and operation including all of the additional systems that support their overall operation and the mechanics at work which ultimately couple the engine output to usable work at the wheels (the full circle if you will).
UNFORTUNATELY, like most people can probably attest, I'm not made of money, I don't have lots of money, I can't spend lots of money all the time (unless I want my wife and son to starve and have no home), I really had to think hard 5 times before spending $50 bucks without jeopardizing something of a higher importance, but that honestly never stopped me from continuing to pursue learning about so many really cool tips and tricks related to Honda's on the countless number of member driven community forums out there (the last year and a bit have been right here!).
I've tuned honda's, built engines/transmissions for honda's, done stupid/cool things with honda's, and most of the time it has always been with someone else's money. All I have ever been truly able to spend on things was time, and I took full advantage of a learning opportunity when it presented itself on someone else's dime.
I am at a stage in my life where money management is still a HUGE part of my responsibility for my overall family goals (as I am still not made from it), but over the past two years things have started to get, dare I say it, slightly "easier" (knock on wood) for me to have like an extra hundred bucks or so every month to put towards my hobbies and things I like to do.
Like most people here, working on their cars is therapeutic and stress relieving. Often times it can turn into downright addiction! I think I'm in the stress relieving group, as I spend time and money on my projects but it's not the end of the world if I have to not touch them for weeks/months at a time.
So without more boring self introductions, I wanted to share an ongoing project that started in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and ended up in North Carolina.
Here she is, the d-series honda platform that has continued to be my hobby that started 2 years ago: the 1999 Honda Civic SI (Canadian, EX in USA) with a low mileage D16Y8 installed by the owner who wanted to get it back on the road eventually (original engine blew up). He lost interest but had money to buy newer toys to pass the time. This car sat in the back of a truck shop for almost 2 years, and the owners of the place were threatening the owner to tow it away if he didn't move it. So I bought it for $200 bucks from him because the engine ran and it was at least worth that by itself, and had it towed to my house.
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This is a Google map tracing of everywhere I walked around Tokyo my first day there (it was about 10-15ish miles. I walked all day until sundown):
I walked through Hibiya park (a location favored by many an anime lol):
I walked from Hibiya and the Imperial Gardens up through Ginza all the way up to Akhibara:
A Maid Cafe (I'll let you do your own research on this lol):
I walked through Hibiya park (a location favored by many an anime lol):
I walked from Hibiya and the Imperial Gardens up through Ginza all the way up to Akhibara:
A Maid Cafe (I'll let you do your own research on this lol):
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A random sweet NSX that you could hear coming way off in the distance:
You wouldn't be in Japan if you didn't at least run into one of these somewhere:
A random GT3 outside a shop:
A random F430 16M Scuderia:
I wonder what kind of botany these folks specialize in lol (again, funny english stuff):
For a fee, you can actually dress up as super mario characters and drive go karts around Tokyo lmao:
You wouldn't be in Japan if you didn't at least run into one of these somewhere:
A random GT3 outside a shop:
A random F430 16M Scuderia:
I wonder what kind of botany these folks specialize in lol (again, funny english stuff):
For a fee, you can actually dress up as super mario characters and drive go karts around Tokyo lmao:
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Here is what an Eneos and a Shell gas station look like within Tokyo:
I swung through Tsukiji fish market area:
Here is Rainbow Bridge that goes to Odaiba:
A few days later, I took the bullet train to head to Sapporo in Hokkaido (I quickly realized that you can't take pictures of anything on a bullet train because you are moving too damn fast lol):
I swung through Tsukiji fish market area:
Here is Rainbow Bridge that goes to Odaiba:
A few days later, I took the bullet train to head to Sapporo in Hokkaido (I quickly realized that you can't take pictures of anything on a bullet train because you are moving too damn fast lol):
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A local train at Shin-Hakodate station:
The countryside was beautiful, and looked much like small town places you would find across the US. Nothing was really green, because at the time of year (late April) in Hokkaido the snow was almost finished melting (there were snow banks everywhere):
The countryside was beautiful, and looked much like small town places you would find across the US. Nothing was really green, because at the time of year (late April) in Hokkaido the snow was almost finished melting (there were snow banks everywhere):
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Getting off at Sapporo station:
A communication tower downtown Sapporo:
A view from my hotel room in Sapporo, having a Sapporo beer IN Sapporo that you can only get from within Hokkaido:
Heading back to Tokyo, it was kind of a crappy rainy day but the mountains were beautiful:
Lunch at Freshness Burger:
A communication tower downtown Sapporo:
A view from my hotel room in Sapporo, having a Sapporo beer IN Sapporo that you can only get from within Hokkaido:
Heading back to Tokyo, it was kind of a crappy rainy day but the mountains were beautiful:
Lunch at Freshness Burger:
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This store was called Telescope (you think?):
Vending Machines (you see the one that has Tommy Lee Jones sitting in a tube holding a can of coffee? I still never got this advertising campaign lmao):
Street shots:
Vending Machines (you see the one that has Tommy Lee Jones sitting in a tube holding a can of coffee? I still never got this advertising campaign lmao):
Street shots:
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Funny signs:
(I still don't know what this business sign was trying to portray lol)
Yes, they have Denny's in Japan! I tossed aside the "special" foreigners menu that had English translations for everything, and looked into their regular menu and there were so many more choices! I had beef with rice and egg, with miso soup. It was freaking bomb!
Main gates to Tokyo University:
A Toyota Rent-A-Car location. See the tall black tower in the background? That is the storage area for the rental cars! Instead of having a parking lot, this thing is a lift system that stores the cars vertically and the operator can call down a car at any time:
(I still don't know what this business sign was trying to portray lol)
Yes, they have Denny's in Japan! I tossed aside the "special" foreigners menu that had English translations for everything, and looked into their regular menu and there were so many more choices! I had beef with rice and egg, with miso soup. It was freaking bomb!
Main gates to Tokyo University:
A Toyota Rent-A-Car location. See the tall black tower in the background? That is the storage area for the rental cars! Instead of having a parking lot, this thing is a lift system that stores the cars vertically and the operator can call down a car at any time:
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A park with swan boats:
Festival in the park:
A sweet looking James Bond river boat:
The other capsule rooms from my capsule view:
Festival in the park:
A sweet looking James Bond river boat:
The other capsule rooms from my capsule view:
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I said in the last post I scrapped the 99-00 canadian coupe, keeping the D16Y8 and a bunch of other good parts off the shell.
After getting back from Japan, I headed over to my buddy's house to pick up the hatchbacks and other goodies I bought from him.
$1200 got me two 92-95 EG roller shells, one an SI with 4 wheel disc brakes and the other a DX. Both were in decent condition in terms of the bodies (no rust) but they had been sitting for almost 3 years exposed to the elements. The SI was also unfortunately primer grey and you could obviously see that the mirrors were white, the hood was green, the body was black, both bumpers used to be red, the fenders were an unknown mix of black/orange/red, needless to say this was going to be fun. I HATE body work.
I only had room at my house for 1 car, so my buddy let me keep one of the shells at his house until later so I brought the SI home:
After getting back from Japan, I headed over to my buddy's house to pick up the hatchbacks and other goodies I bought from him.
$1200 got me two 92-95 EG roller shells, one an SI with 4 wheel disc brakes and the other a DX. Both were in decent condition in terms of the bodies (no rust) but they had been sitting for almost 3 years exposed to the elements. The SI was also unfortunately primer grey and you could obviously see that the mirrors were white, the hood was green, the body was black, both bumpers used to be red, the fenders were an unknown mix of black/orange/red, needless to say this was going to be fun. I HATE body work.
I only had room at my house for 1 car, so my buddy let me keep one of the shells at his house until later so I brought the SI home:
2
One of the first things I did when I got the car home was strip the interior. I wanted to start from shell and work my way up. This meant removing harnesses, dashboard, everything against the firewall, subframe, suspension, etc. everything had to go!
It is my process when I get something weathered like this to take it all apart and see what I have, clean and lube everything along the way and reinstall what I could salvage.
I went ahead and began to remove the sound deadening material to inspect for any additional rust, as well as to just remove the sound deadening material. The best way I have found to remove this material is dry ice and rubbing alcohol.
I went to a local industrial gas supplier and bought 40 pounds of pellet dry ice for about $25, then I went to walmart and bought a $10 dollar cooler to keep it in (it was the hottest days of summer while I was doing this) as well as 4 quart bottles of 91% isopropyl alcohol.
Take a sturdy bucket and put about 5-10 pounds of dry ice into the bucket. Pour in a quart bottle of the alcohol. Use a garden trowel and chop up the dry ice pellets into small pieces. The dry ice will gel the alcohol, creating a really wet cold slurry that actually pours like a thick liquid when mixed together.
This slurry allows a constant contact of really cold solution to coat the entire surface of the sound deadening tar material. Grab a shovelful and plop it on a spot of tar material. Within seconds, you will begin to hear it crack and pop. Leave it in place for about 2-3 minutes, then take a hammer and smack it. It will break apart into large chunks. Scrape it away with a pry bar, and continue to move the dry ice slurry around to a different area of sound deadening material.
Continue until all tar material has been removed. DO NOT smoke or use anything flammable while you are doing this! Wear a respirator if you have one, or just use common sense and keep the air moving through the cabin.
Doing it this way, you can strip all of the sound deadening material in the car in about 45 minutes with very minimal effort. Because you are using dry ice and alcohol, all of your mess will evaporate entirely by the next day. Use a shop vac to vacuum up all of the tiny pieces and mess left over once it has all evaporated.
It is my process when I get something weathered like this to take it all apart and see what I have, clean and lube everything along the way and reinstall what I could salvage.
I went ahead and began to remove the sound deadening material to inspect for any additional rust, as well as to just remove the sound deadening material. The best way I have found to remove this material is dry ice and rubbing alcohol.
I went to a local industrial gas supplier and bought 40 pounds of pellet dry ice for about $25, then I went to walmart and bought a $10 dollar cooler to keep it in (it was the hottest days of summer while I was doing this) as well as 4 quart bottles of 91% isopropyl alcohol.
Take a sturdy bucket and put about 5-10 pounds of dry ice into the bucket. Pour in a quart bottle of the alcohol. Use a garden trowel and chop up the dry ice pellets into small pieces. The dry ice will gel the alcohol, creating a really wet cold slurry that actually pours like a thick liquid when mixed together.
This slurry allows a constant contact of really cold solution to coat the entire surface of the sound deadening tar material. Grab a shovelful and plop it on a spot of tar material. Within seconds, you will begin to hear it crack and pop. Leave it in place for about 2-3 minutes, then take a hammer and smack it. It will break apart into large chunks. Scrape it away with a pry bar, and continue to move the dry ice slurry around to a different area of sound deadening material.
Continue until all tar material has been removed. DO NOT smoke or use anything flammable while you are doing this! Wear a respirator if you have one, or just use common sense and keep the air moving through the cabin.
Doing it this way, you can strip all of the sound deadening material in the car in about 45 minutes with very minimal effort. Because you are using dry ice and alcohol, all of your mess will evaporate entirely by the next day. Use a shop vac to vacuum up all of the tiny pieces and mess left over once it has all evaporated.
2
This is what I was left with:
Oh yea, here are some pictures of the B16A and the GSR transmission that came with the shell purchase:
Oh yea, here are some pictures of the B16A and the GSR transmission that came with the shell purchase:
6
I drilled strategically placed holes in the lowest points in the floor boards for water to drain out of, and I hosed the entire interior of the car down and scrubbed the shit out of it with a car wash brush and car wash soap.
My neighbors were looking at me like I was fucking crazy washing the inside of my car haha.
I was curious if my ready-made fuel cell bracket for the 99-00 coupe would fit in the spare tire well of the hatch, so I test fit it:
THEN I found out after thoroughly reading the governing rules for the racing class I was going to participate in, they did not allow these SFI certified fuel cells to be mounted in the car without a custom built stainless steel firewall OR I needed to buy an FIA certified cell (those are f****** 1000+ dollars!).
Needless to say I decided I was going to stick with the stock fuel tank for this class lol as the stock tanks were fully allowed.
After it was washed, my first task was treating and prepping that spare tire well. I went to harbor freight and bought an angle grinder and a bunch of wire wheel attachments, cutting and grinding discs for it and an extension cord. I stopped off at walmart and bought some Rustoleum metal bonding primer, some flat black paint and about 5 cans of Rustoleum "bed liner".
The fact that it took me longer to treat, prep and paint the spare tire well than it did removing the sound deadening material with dry ice is further validation why I hate painting and body work. I don't have the patience to wait for paint to dry lol.
In either case, I felt I was successful in prepping the interior and coating it with bed liner:
My neighbors were looking at me like I was fucking crazy washing the inside of my car haha.
I was curious if my ready-made fuel cell bracket for the 99-00 coupe would fit in the spare tire well of the hatch, so I test fit it:
THEN I found out after thoroughly reading the governing rules for the racing class I was going to participate in, they did not allow these SFI certified fuel cells to be mounted in the car without a custom built stainless steel firewall OR I needed to buy an FIA certified cell (those are f****** 1000+ dollars!).
Needless to say I decided I was going to stick with the stock fuel tank for this class lol as the stock tanks were fully allowed.
After it was washed, my first task was treating and prepping that spare tire well. I went to harbor freight and bought an angle grinder and a bunch of wire wheel attachments, cutting and grinding discs for it and an extension cord. I stopped off at walmart and bought some Rustoleum metal bonding primer, some flat black paint and about 5 cans of Rustoleum "bed liner".
The fact that it took me longer to treat, prep and paint the spare tire well than it did removing the sound deadening material with dry ice is further validation why I hate painting and body work. I don't have the patience to wait for paint to dry lol.
In either case, I felt I was successful in prepping the interior and coating it with bed liner:
5
After I got the interior somewhat the way I wanted it, I went to town doing the same scrubbing of the engine bay and under the front fenders. THAT completely depleted my supply of elbow grease, and I was spent. There was so much freaking grease to remove it wasn't even the slightest bit funny.
I wrapped up the day of scrubbing down the engine bay with some actual fun, I test mounted and fit the intercooler to the front bumper support to see how much trimming I would need to do to the bumper:
After all that, I wanted to further have some fun and see what my engine might look like with the turbo mounted to it on the engine stand. I threw the dirty D16Y8 long block on the stand and put both manifolds on it to see:
So sweet
I wrapped up the day of scrubbing down the engine bay with some actual fun, I test mounted and fit the intercooler to the front bumper support to see how much trimming I would need to do to the bumper:
After all that, I wanted to further have some fun and see what my engine might look like with the turbo mounted to it on the engine stand. I threw the dirty D16Y8 long block on the stand and put both manifolds on it to see:
So sweet
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The next day, I started to remove the original fuel tank for inspection. Using a homemade A-Frame that my buddy built, I hoisted the rear of the car into the air for easier removal of the tank and better room to run in case of finding a black widow nest lol (3 years of sitting, you never know what you might find on top of a gas tank!):
No black widows, but tons of other spiders. I sprayed the whole damn car down with bug killer when it was in the air. This has kept the car free of bugs since!
Looking inside the old tank, shit... I was definitely going to need a new one:
It's ok, a new one was only like $75 bucks! (way cheaper than an FIA approved fuel cell!)
No black widows, but tons of other spiders. I sprayed the whole damn car down with bug killer when it was in the air. This has kept the car free of bugs since!
Looking inside the old tank, shit... I was definitely going to need a new one:
It's ok, a new one was only like $75 bucks! (way cheaper than an FIA approved fuel cell!)
6
After removing the fuel tank and marking down on my parts list that I was going to need a new one, I decided it was finally time.... to tear down the D16Y8 engine and the D16Y7 transmission!
I had been waiting a while to do this, mainly because I was really busy before this point but I wanted at least an uninterrupted 4 hours to focus, teardown and inspect everything I could to document anything serious right away:
The D16Y7 transmission in all of its 35mm diff bearing glory. I was looking around for a rebuild set for this transmission, and I'm really glad that Synchrotech offered a really nice carbon synchro set for this trans as well as the 35mm ID diff bearing M-Factory LSD! I honestly didn't know an LSD was offered for this transmission until I started looking.
I decided to mark both the carbon kit and the LSD down on my "to-buy" list, as something to seriously consider.
Finished tearing the transmission apart:
I had been waiting a while to do this, mainly because I was really busy before this point but I wanted at least an uninterrupted 4 hours to focus, teardown and inspect everything I could to document anything serious right away:
The D16Y7 transmission in all of its 35mm diff bearing glory. I was looking around for a rebuild set for this transmission, and I'm really glad that Synchrotech offered a really nice carbon synchro set for this trans as well as the 35mm ID diff bearing M-Factory LSD! I honestly didn't know an LSD was offered for this transmission until I started looking.
I decided to mark both the carbon kit and the LSD down on my "to-buy" list, as something to seriously consider.
Finished tearing the transmission apart:
8
D16Y8 after teardown:
My ghetto parts washer, conveniently filled with high quality 3 year old gas tank parts washing fluid
Got the head, block, crank, oil pan, oil pump, crankshaft main bearing caps/brace and transmission housings cleaned and dried, ready for delivery to the machine shop.
I had the machine shop hot tank everything, spec the crankshaft, cylinders, valve job and just overall replace anything they thought needed to be replaced.
Keep in mind, this engine was rather new as it came from the 99-00 coupe. The previous owner put in an engine that the engine seller said had less than 60,000KM on it.
The machine shop said the valve guide clearance was good, valve faces and seats were not pitted, cylinder out of round and taper was good, and magnaflux did not reveal any cracks or major defects.
Overall, they honed the cylinders, did a valve job (lapped valve faces and seats), installed new valve stem seals, milled the head and block head gasket surface flat, shaving them as little as possible to bring them back flat. This left the cylinder bore in STD tolerance with a good hone, and the head back clean and to stock spec.
My ghetto parts washer, conveniently filled with high quality 3 year old gas tank parts washing fluid
Got the head, block, crank, oil pan, oil pump, crankshaft main bearing caps/brace and transmission housings cleaned and dried, ready for delivery to the machine shop.
I had the machine shop hot tank everything, spec the crankshaft, cylinders, valve job and just overall replace anything they thought needed to be replaced.
Keep in mind, this engine was rather new as it came from the 99-00 coupe. The previous owner put in an engine that the engine seller said had less than 60,000KM on it.
The machine shop said the valve guide clearance was good, valve faces and seats were not pitted, cylinder out of round and taper was good, and magnaflux did not reveal any cracks or major defects.
Overall, they honed the cylinders, did a valve job (lapped valve faces and seats), installed new valve stem seals, milled the head and block head gasket surface flat, shaving them as little as possible to bring them back flat. This left the cylinder bore in STD tolerance with a good hone, and the head back clean and to stock spec.
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