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D16Y7 Z6 minime build

13K views 152 replies 13 participants last post by  bnun 
#1 ·
Hey guys, I'm new here. Posted this on honda civic forum and no one seems interested so I hope I can get some appreciation here. Bought my 99 civic for 900$. Got the Z6 head and crankshaft as well as vitara rods and YCP pistons all for 250$. I pulled the engine and just stripped down the short block. Please let me know if you have any concerns or suggestions.
 

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#4 ·
Hey guys, block is currently at the shop. Need to get motor mounts wondering if anyone has heard of Precision Works and if they are of good quality. The kit is fairly cheap -$134.

Also, should I stick with the stock z6 cam if I intend on going turbo? I do think I ought to get an adjustable cam gear.

I've done some research on sleeves and block guards. Sleeves seem to be out of the question for my intentions. However block guards seem to have mixed views. I honestly think I wont go with one unless someone believes the contrary.

Thanks!
 
#7 ·
sql- I have heard that block guards can slightly alter the position of the stock sleeves. When you say you've been running a sleeved and block guard set up, I imagine you mean either your sleeves have a guard on them, or you have after market guard less sleeves with a guard machined out specifically for them. Excuse me if my terminology or thinking is inaccurate on this topic.

Flip- I think Ill stick with the oem z6 cam, but still get an adjustable cam gear for altering my timing if need be when I get to the turbo stage further down the road.

Thats another thing, I totally forgot to mention I intend on going with boost later on. This is my first ever build so I want to make sure I get everything done right before I start investing in pieces for turbo.

For the older posts:

Robgoof- thanks for making that comment, that is something I completely overlooked.

Sailor- I love Volvos too. Issue is they are a pain in the ass to work on. Do you intend on tuning that 240?

Anyway, block is still at the shop, since I overlooked notching the block, I guess Ill do a layer of masking tape and some subsequent layers of duct tape on the cylinder walls as to protect them from metal shavings when I do the notching. Thanks everyone for replying, some of the advice may seem little to you guys but chances are it will be of great help to me.
 
#10 ·
Hey guys, got the block back, notched it and the girdle. Pistons and rods are in. Gapped the top ring to 0.019 and second 0.022 then oil rings to 0.025. Rods have clearance.





Also, from the P2P0 -Performance 2.0 website, the instructions say that if you don't have a stretch gauge, torque the ARP 2000's to 55 ft/lbs. I've looked this up and yes some others have said this, but damn that seems real tight. And yes I did apply the ARP high torque lube. Anyone else got something to say about this that differs?

I made a silly decision to buy a skunk 2 intake manifold and adjustable cam gear off of a guy today. However I am not 100% sure if they are clones or not, cam gear would be a tuner series before skunk moved to pro series. But I cannot find any pictures of the old ones. If you google "real or fake skunk2 cam gear" there is a thread where someone has the same gear in a different color but only one guy says its legit -I don't trust one reply.





As for the intake, team integra has a guide, but it is for a different manifold. From what I can see it looks the same from the one on skunk's website, and the inside does look correct compared to team integra's guide, but reassurance is good. If anyone has one, or knows the correct size of the throttle body port would you tell me the diameter?







At the end of the day, if they are clones, I will still use the intake, but definitely not the gear. It's on me for not doing more research if I got ripped of :frown:
 
#11 ·
Head is ported and polished. Sent it to the machine shop to have the valves and seats reground.






I still need to port the oil pump. I will not be buying a new one and using devcon. If anyone knows where I can get a custom plug made or what to buy if something already exists, a member by the name 007 had a port guide where that was his method to smooth the passage. If not I will be skipping that part of the port job. I feel that my power goals (350 whp max) are not high enough to justify it. I will port the hole that goes into the block and the port beneath the gears. I will not shim it initially, maybe when I get to the turbo stage further down the road. Also the port that connects to the pick up is that same size as the hole on the pick up tube so I do not believe I will be touching that. I dont know if thats how all y7 pumps are but it seems people had to port this hole on other pumps

Should I drill this hole out a little bit?



Also heres another picture of the block with the pistons in. Got it on the stand and I think it looks nice

 
#12 ·
You had the post about the cam gear a few posts up:

Although I can't comment on its authenticity, it does look like a decent unit. It's good the hub drive is steel and provides a full backing against the aluminum gear. This means the bolts will also be driving into steel rather than aluminum offering a much better clamp and less thread stress.

The only thing I would do to help it out a bit is get some wider good quality steel washers to run between the hex bolts and the aluminum gear to spread out the clamp load over more aluminum than just the tiny bit around the elongated adjustment holes.

Another thing, if you go with thicker washers here, you should get longer bolts so that the bolt engages the entire length of the threaded hole in the drive hub. You don't want short fasteners in those holes! It looks like it should work well, but if in doubt the stock gear works very well.

On our engines, adjustable cam gear is useful if you had the head/block decked a bunch and need to re-align your cam/crank timing, but that's about it honestly. The gains from trying to adjust your powerband on the stock cam under boost will be minimal. You won't see too much advantage from cam advance/retard until you get a turbo-specific profile as the Z6/Y8 cams were profiled for N/A so there will be "some" scavenging built into the profile especially during VTEC. Going with a turbo cam will get rid of the scavenging, keep VE higher, and increase spool time, and allow you to take more advantage of advancing/retarding cam timing in regards to your powerband requirements.

Read this article, best straight-and-to-the-point cam timing article ever:

https://www.hamotorsports.com/cam-gear-tuning.html

Build looks good! You have more patience than I do to port and polish. I'd rather spend 20-30 hours doing f*** all and less carpal tunnel... lol
 
#14 ·
You had the post about the cam gear a few posts up:

Although I can't comment on its authenticity, it does look like a decent unit. It's good the hub drive is steel and provides a full backing against the aluminum gear. This means the bolts will also be driving into steel rather than aluminum offering a much better clamp and less thread stress...
Thanks for the insight, I guess my main fear is the bolts not holding and the gear shifting - I read a review for a blox cam gear on amazon and thats what happened to the guy. It ended up destroying his head. I appreciate the link you sent.

Anyway, I ported the pump, not going to deal with the issue of devcon or a custom bolt. Waiting on a couple other parts to finish up the short block.
 
#15 ·
Got my head back, installed the valve springs.



When I picked up my rocker arm assembly, one of the vtec pins slid out, and I noticed that I am completely missing one.



I cannot find anywhere online to buy one. My local junkyard had one car that had a z6 engine in it and its completely stripped. Should any other vtec engine have the same pins? All the shops Im calling seem to be unable to fabricate one for me. Anyone got any solutions?
 
#18 ·
Yeah I have the z6 crank in there.

Any way, I got some similar pins from a D17 rocker at the junk yard since the only VTEC d16's they had were completely stripped. The pin was a little longer but the same diameter so I just dropped them off at a shop to have shortened down to length. Funny because the engine I got the pins from was a non-vtec engine.

I just ordered my timing belt and a genuine skunk 2 cam gear. I also ordered a comp stage 2 clutch and comp flywheel. Does any one recommend getting those ARP fly wheel bolts? Or should I be fine with the OEM fly wheel bolts?
 
#20 ·
Engine is back in, had some complications: ordered an innovative two post mount kit from speed factory and they sent me a there post mount kit. Allegedly couldn't get it exchanged until December cause innovative was changing buildings. So innovative sent me a three post mount to try to help me out, too bad it wouldn't fit. Anyway they tried to fix the problem so whatever. I put a genuine skunk 2 cam gear on it, using the clone manifold. Im using the tranny and rear mount from the kit and the oem drivers side mount. Using the ac bracket mount and tranny bracket mount cause why not.

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Engine Auto part


I got a d15b7 fuel rail with injectors from the junk yard. I want to verify that for the injector clips: it is brown, red, blue, yellow, for the wires from cylinders 1-4. also I got some obd1 injector clips from the junk yard, I read some where that it doesn't matter which wire goes to which but I figure Ill plug in the clip and solder the wires in the same orientation that the obd2 clip plugs in at.

Picked up a p28, converted it to manual. There is a lot of conflicting information about what plugs and plays OBD2-OBD1. I guess I can verify what does and doesn't. One of the issues I have ran into is that people aren't willing to re-pin connectors or splice in different connectors, so they brush it off and then go and say that you cannot do it entirely. I intend on seeing if the 3 wire IACV will work with the 2 wire IACV ECU, of course re pinned at the plug. I may try to use an OBD1 IAT since it plugs into the manifold.
 
#21 ·
There is a lot of conflicting information about what plugs and plays OBD2-OBD1. I guess I can verify what does and doesn't. One of the issues I have ran into is that people aren't willing to re-pin connectors or splice in different connectors, so they brush it off and then go and say that you cannot do it entirely.
Builds looking good but whats with the purple rad hose?

curious about iacv but why?

most people have no clue but what is conflicting about it?

are you looking for a howto?

it can't be done!but don't be mad ...


:)
 
#24 ·
FF Squad or something similar, has a write up on converting between 3 and 2 wire IACV. It is possible, though I forget if its only repinning some wires, or if anything is added.

OBD2A and OBD2B vehicles can both receive a simple repin to hook OBD1 ecu plugs directly. Just a tiring process for most. BUT since most cheap jumper harness's end up being full of issues, the repin idea is generally your best bet for reliability.
 
#25 ·
FF Squad or something similar, has a write up on converting between 3 and 2 wire IACV. It is possible, though I forget if its only repinning some wires, or if anything is added.
I ended up just swapping the plug and going with the two wire -I had to extend the plug so i figured why bother with the three wire. Still had to repin anyway even with the jumper harness I got.

Started the car and it runs. However the idle is high, couldn't tell you what it is because my tac isn't working for whatever reason. It was working before I pulled the engine. I doubt it, but maybe it has something to do with the fact I haven't wired the v-tec solenoid yet?
 
#26 ·
blue wire at the distributor plug should be tach output if memory serves me correctly. test for proper conenction to its designated ecu pin.
 
#27 ·
Interesting. For the dizzy I followed the guide from spdweb which instructed to move the yellow/black wire from the second plug to the empty spot on the big plug (from the dizzy). Blue wire was left on the second plug which was left unplugged. I sort of remember the tach working when I first started it, but that could be a false memory.
 
#28 ·
Alright, so I re-adjusted my valve lash, still ticks but not as bad. Ive seen two methods to do this, rotate the crank to TDC, do intake and exhaust on cylinder 1, rotate 90 degrees do 3... I did this the most recent time. Other way is to observe when the valves open then rotate the cam 180 degrees away then adjust the lash on those rockers. I did this twice before attempting the first method. Specs I went by the first two times were 0.09-0.011 in. on exhaust and 0.07-0.09 intake. The third time I watched some video where the guy specified 0.2 mm intake and 0.25 exhaust. Honestly I may be over-concerened about the ticking noise, as I got some other things to figure out.

I ordered a new IACV, the two wire one I had I had gotten from the junk yard, cleaned it and no difference. The issue is the high idle.

Also, the car smells like its running rich, I have OBD1 injectors from a b7 from the junk yard, the header started glowing red within minutes of idle. Not sure if this is due to it being a crappy eBay product, or from running rich.
 
#29 ·
I wouldnt trust junkyard injectors. They tend to get stuck from sitting.

Perhaps try cleaning them DIY style. There is a video on youtube I see every once and a while. I think its wratchets and wrenches, he uses a 9v battery, some wiring, and carb cleaner (no brake cleaner!) and gets them spraying much nicer.

Ive had many ebay headers over the years. Outside of horrific uneven flanges that need to be sanded smoother, and the occasional cracking at welds, they never glowed red or even orange at idle.


Un burned fuel is a bitch to deal with, you cannot always nail down whether its injector related or ignition related until you dig in.
 
#30 ·
I wouldnt trust junkyard injectors. They tend to get stuck from sitting.

Perhaps try cleaning them DIY style. There is a video on youtube I see every once and a while. I think its wratchets and wrenches, he uses a 9v battery, some wiring, and carb cleaner (no brake cleaner!) and gets them spraying much …
Thanks for the suggestion I’ll do this when I can work on the car again. But would dirty injectors cause the car to run rich?

Today I tested the TPS and found it was 0.01v at the closed position. I pulled it off to find that the two metal tabs on the throttle body we bent so I revert them to the original position they should have been and recalibrated the TPS it now idles noticeably lower.

I learned that you can read codes off the car by jumping the service plug and observe the CEL flashing. Right now I’m throwing a code for the IAT, vtec oil pressure switch (not wired in) and primary oxygen sensor heater. Codes 10, 21 and 41.

Car still smells like it’s running rich so I’ll try cleaning the injectors. I read on another forum that a guy just ignores his code 41 (primary oxygen sensor heater. And hopefully 21 will go away when I wire the vtec solenoid in. I am going to chop the old IAT plug and wire it to the older IAT which plugs into the manifold.
 
#31 ·
Cleaned the injectors - not the problem but its good to mark things off as issues. I forgot that I had to block off the IACV on the throttle body. Its odd, because the high idle turned into a idle surge - fixed by blocking off the old IACV. But now, it has a on and off mini surge like 900-1100 rpm. Yes I bled the coolant.

Is it possible that the TPS is bad even if it has the correct voltage readings? 0.49v at fully closed and at wide open is a little less than 4.5, 4.39 I believe but I can't remember. The car has a steady idle when the TPS is unplugged.

Also its still clicking! I've done the valve lash many times but the clicking is still very audible, could it be the injectors? How much clicking do you guys have on your engines?
 
#32 ·
I wired in the vtec solenoid today. No more CEL! I wonder what happened to my code 41 for the o2 sensor, that disappeared a while ago though. I did my valve adjustment again, .007 on intake, .009 exhaust. Its weird, the clicking isn't there as much when the engine is cold, but when it reaches temp its back.

Cold:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Warm:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
#33 ·
Figured out the source of the clicking, bad LMA's. As in: I had no LMA's at all! Lol. Did my first 50 miles and changed the oil:
No coolant or obvious metal chunks so I'm happy
135500


I still have a surging Idle. I cannot figure out what it is, no vacuum leak: car dies when TB is covered.
No leak through the old IACV port: when the hole inside the TB to the old IACV is covered no change.
MAP sensor is good: car dies when it is unplugged.
TPS is good: correct voltage readings at CT and WOT.
It may possibly be the IACV, but it is a new one - not OEM honda some Chinese brand off of amazon, I have an OEM honda one from the junk yard, I think I'll try that tomorrow.

I have bled the coolant, but if anyone has any other ideas Im open. oh and the injectors are not clogged.
 
#34 · (Edited)
I’m back! Put about 6000 miles on the car. Only major change is that I installed a Hondata s300 in the p28. I’m honestly not sure what the ecu came out of but since I uploaded the d16z6 base map it’s running way better at idle.
Motor vehicle Vehicle Automotive exterior Bumper Car
Electronic engineering Computer hardware Electronic component Electronics Electrical network

I’ve made a lot of purchases lately. Got some FIC 1000cc saturated injectors. Currently waiting on my Walbro 255.
Green

Oh an I also picked up a y8 oil pan from the junk yard and cleaned it up.
Auto part Vehicle

You can probably guess where this is going...
hopefully I’m making 420 whp when I hook up the injectors and fuel pump.
 
#35 ·
Got my emusa kit and I’m staging it on my old y7 head.
Machine Auto part Engine Machine tool Vehicle


What I’ve read in this kit is that people have a hard time with the oil inlet in that you have to run a 90 degree fitting to get the hose to clear the manifold. And that it’s a good idea to run an oil restrictor. However the kit came with an “improved” one. Looks like they have the hole at the bottom pretty restricted already and the paper that came with that part of the kit says you can drill it out up to 5mm. Currently it is 1.62 mm according to the paper. So as far as I’m concerned I don’t need to run a restrictor.
Auto part Hand

Finger Bumper Hand Lock


However the problem is that the feed line will not feed through the manifold straight enough to align straight with the inlet flange.
Auto part Metal

I’m thinking that I’ll go to Home Depot and see what they have, a 45 degree fitting would work best so I could feed it through the middle of the manifold.

What’s your thoughts on the size of the hole? Too small? Any of you get this kit with the “improved” inlet flange?
 
#36 ·
Id open the hole up a bit. Thats not gonna provide enough oil flow. 1/8" drill bit should work great. If the turbo pukes oil with a 1/8" hole, the turbo is junk anyways. Could start with 3/32" or 1/16" if you want to start smaller and see how things sound first. As is, that hole is too small in my opinion

With the hole left that tiny, you are going to run into oil coking and clogging that hole really fast.


Have you tried loosening the turbo cartidge up a bit and clocking it slightly? Most turbos will be fine with upwards of 15-20* of offcenter rotation.
 
#37 ·
Thanks for the input about the hole. I’m thing about drilling it with a bit some where between 1/16th and 1/8th.

As for clocking the turbo I rotated it forward and I can hook up the line. Another thing I forgot to ask earlier was if it’s ok if the feed line is as close to the manifold as it is. I suppose I would wrap it.
Auto part Engine Vehicle Tire Automotive wheel system


The drain line fitting looks like it’s going to hit the block.
Auto part Tire Vehicle Engine Car


This guy fitted a 90 degree elbow to his drain fitting
 
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