Update: It started and hasn't gone boom yet, read my last post!
This is going to take a while to post because of the pic per post limit.
Background:
My parents' 91 civic hatch engine died. I haven't diagnosed what the actual cause of it was yet, but that doesn't change the fact that it is dead. I decided the best and least expensive course of action would be to rebuild another engine and drop it into the car. Since they acquired another vehicle as a DD, they weren't in a hurry to get the civic back up and running. That took considerable pressure off me as I have never undertaken anything like this before. Some of the stuff I have to do was pretty ghetto and I highly recommend seeking out the right tools and or the right methods for doing things.
Tools you need:
10, 12, 14, 17, and 19mm 6 point sockets (deep well preferred)
17mm 12 point sockets for the flywheel bolts
Ratchet
Valve spring compressor
Ring compressor
3" (76mm) Bottle Brush Hone
Variable speed drill (cordless preferred)
1qt. ATF
Empty 2L soda bottle
Engine stand
Brake or carb cleaner
Plenty of BOUNTY paper towels (Bounty is stronger, has less lint/fuzz and lets you see if stuff is REALLY clean unlike other shop towels)
Paint mixing stick
Mallet
Two flat pieces of wood or thick metal
Bench vise
Catch pan or tray to keep your floor mostly clean
Container to organize the valve train parts
Long-handled and nosed needle nose pliers
Parts you need:
Assembly lube (usually red Permatex stuff in a small squeeze bottle)
Top and bottom end gasket kit (Paying for the OEM unnecessary)
Timing belt
Timing belt tensioner
Water pump
Permatex gray gasket maker
Copper gasket pray (optional)
Thermostat
So, lets take a look at what we have to work with!
Here we go at the humble beginnings of tearing it down to inspect it for what it would need and to see if it was even useable.
There it is, up on the stand. Yay! Lets get to work!
First, I had to take off the flywheel to mount the head of the engine stand to the engine. Most flywheel bolts aren't too hard to get out, but it helps to have some method of locking the flywheel so it won't spin while you
take it off. What to do? Make a cheap, effective tool!
Here it is:
Here is a close-up of the end of the tool, my apologies for the fuzzy pic.
The car this engine had come from had probably had a newer clutch put on at one point in time or another as there was thread locker on the threads, which was another reason why I had so much trouble getting the flywheel off.
I then mounted the head of the engine stand onto the engine using 12x1.25mm bolts I found at Lowe's. Another method is to just buy a length of threaded rod from McMaster and cut it to length. Also, I would
highly recommend getting a tap and die in this size. This makes like less frustrating, as having messed up threads in this area will ruin your day (life) for a while. There isn't much extra material around most of these bolts for the transmission, so ruining the threads there makes using a helicoil or other type of thread repair system that much more difficult. You won't find this size tap and die in most hardware stores, though. I had to buy mine through a tool company in New Jersey. (I call Staten Island home.)
I then Took off the valve cover to find this crusty mess:
That was pretty typical of most of the innards of the engine.
The valve train was in decent shape from the visual inspection conducted with the head still on the engine.
Take a look at how I kept the mess contained:
This is going to take a while to post because of the pic per post limit.
Background:
My parents' 91 civic hatch engine died. I haven't diagnosed what the actual cause of it was yet, but that doesn't change the fact that it is dead. I decided the best and least expensive course of action would be to rebuild another engine and drop it into the car. Since they acquired another vehicle as a DD, they weren't in a hurry to get the civic back up and running. That took considerable pressure off me as I have never undertaken anything like this before. Some of the stuff I have to do was pretty ghetto and I highly recommend seeking out the right tools and or the right methods for doing things.
Tools you need:
10, 12, 14, 17, and 19mm 6 point sockets (deep well preferred)
17mm 12 point sockets for the flywheel bolts
Ratchet
Valve spring compressor
Ring compressor
3" (76mm) Bottle Brush Hone
Variable speed drill (cordless preferred)
1qt. ATF
Empty 2L soda bottle
Engine stand
Brake or carb cleaner
Plenty of BOUNTY paper towels (Bounty is stronger, has less lint/fuzz and lets you see if stuff is REALLY clean unlike other shop towels)
Paint mixing stick
Mallet
Two flat pieces of wood or thick metal
Bench vise
Catch pan or tray to keep your floor mostly clean
Container to organize the valve train parts
Long-handled and nosed needle nose pliers
Parts you need:
Assembly lube (usually red Permatex stuff in a small squeeze bottle)
Top and bottom end gasket kit (Paying for the OEM unnecessary)
Timing belt
Timing belt tensioner
Water pump
Permatex gray gasket maker
Copper gasket pray (optional)
Thermostat
So, lets take a look at what we have to work with!
Here we go at the humble beginnings of tearing it down to inspect it for what it would need and to see if it was even useable.
There it is, up on the stand. Yay! Lets get to work!
First, I had to take off the flywheel to mount the head of the engine stand to the engine. Most flywheel bolts aren't too hard to get out, but it helps to have some method of locking the flywheel so it won't spin while you
take it off. What to do? Make a cheap, effective tool!
Here it is:
Here is a close-up of the end of the tool, my apologies for the fuzzy pic.
The car this engine had come from had probably had a newer clutch put on at one point in time or another as there was thread locker on the threads, which was another reason why I had so much trouble getting the flywheel off.
I then mounted the head of the engine stand onto the engine using 12x1.25mm bolts I found at Lowe's. Another method is to just buy a length of threaded rod from McMaster and cut it to length. Also, I would
highly recommend getting a tap and die in this size. This makes like less frustrating, as having messed up threads in this area will ruin your day (life) for a while. There isn't much extra material around most of these bolts for the transmission, so ruining the threads there makes using a helicoil or other type of thread repair system that much more difficult. You won't find this size tap and die in most hardware stores, though. I had to buy mine through a tool company in New Jersey. (I call Staten Island home.)
I then Took off the valve cover to find this crusty mess:
That was pretty typical of most of the innards of the engine.
The valve train was in decent shape from the visual inspection conducted with the head still on the engine.
Take a look at how I kept the mess contained: