[EFB055]

Picked up some bits i need from the wrecker for my AC conversion, some lines to play around with to work out what's going to fit best and an EK compressor bracket which i've pulled the mount off the side of. The idler bearing was shagged though on the tensioner pulley so i picked up a newy to swap it over.

Got my cables all hooked up, alt fitted, engine harness fitted.. it was a bit tricky making sure the fuel filter and lines didn't foul with anything, but i think they're going to fit mint.

Intake mani on....

so KEEEN to get this going

 

[EFB055]

Finished off all the coolant line routing for the intake manifold, and got the harness all connected. Dumb thing, i forgot the carb models run a soft line straight from the booster to their intake box, whereas the EFI models run a hardline along the firewall. So now i need to find a replacement for that:

Mounted up my new AC compressor, only to realise that the EF bolts that hold the compressor must be 5mm too long, because they all bottom out before seating (lame):

Got my RT washer bottle fitted, on the RT bottle the filler neck is a separate part and was missing, so i modified one from an Accord Euro which fit real good:

New condensor fitted:

 

[EFB055]

I'm going to give repairing this a go too, the top right mounting point is missing and the bottom right hole has a nasty crack. The material is two layers of paper thin stamped mild steel, but surely i can't make it worse 😂

 

[slo_eg8]

a tig machine will be your friend lol.....or jb weld.

 

[EFB055]

Yeah gunna try tigging the sucker, see how it goes.

 

[EFB055]

Came out p. good:

Will have to paint it on the weekend.

Also, one of my favorite free maintenance things to do on old shitters that i buy is to clean the points on the dizzy cap. They build up with scale and scunge, and using a fine file or sand paper brings them back up mint. The car pulls noticably smoother with clean points.

 

[Soul Engineering]

Dedication!

 

[EFB055]

Dedication!

If all goes well this weekend, i should be able to fire it up

 

[EFB055]

Well, all did not go well this weekend, lol. First off, i couldn't figure out why i couldn't get the PS pump that i rebuilt to mount on the block, i just couldn't seem to figure out the orientation.... And then i realised i had rebuilt the DOHC pump off the track POS instead of the SOHC pump off the Concerto. SOB.

The confusing thing is, the PS pump is made up of 3 housings, 2 outer and an inner. on the SOHC pump, all 3 housings are stamped PM3. On the DOHC pump, the outer housings are stamped PM3 and the inner is stamped PM7. So when i checked originally, i must've just checked the outer housing said PM3 and thought sweet, all g.

Anyway, got it fixed up pretty quick and got that fitted. Then i went to mount the exhaust manifold and while i was finger tightening the nuts on i sheared off another exhaust stud! What a joke. That's two now.

I made a bit of a mess of the first one i tried to get out, so i priced up the tools to extract it properly and itd set me back nearly 200 bucks. So i'm going to hit up a few mobile guys to come out and do it for me, hopefully it'll be cheaper.

That meant that i couldn't fit up the radiator though, beause i'm guessing they'll need the clearance to fit drills in. LAME.

So instead i made up a new booster line out of one that i picked up from an ES civic from the wrecker, fits pretty close to OEM:

Filled up all engine, trans oil, threw a battery on it to check the electrics are working. All my power windows and mirrors work sweet, but it wouldn't prime. Tested the fuel pump and it's ded.

And i forgot because i was using a JDM PM6 (the factory ECU from my white sedan), it runs ELD, while the harness and fuse box i'm using from the Concerto does not have ELD, so it's throwing a code 20.

Sigh.

 

[Oldcivicjoe]

Bummer 😥. I was excited for you, but I guess I'll just have to stay excited a bit longer, lol. It's always those little details like the eld I over look and they end up biting me at the end.

 

[EFB055]

Bummer 😥. I was excited for you, but I guess I'll just have to stay excited a bit longer, lol. It's always those little details like the eld I over look and they end up biting me at the end.

There's aaaalways something, haha.

Got my exhaust heat shield finished off, turned out pretty good:

 

[drtalon123]

while i was finger tightening the nuts on i sheared off another exhaust stud!

While finger tightening?! Holy fucking finger muscles Hulk's cousin!

 

[EFB055]

While finger tightening?! Holy fucking finger muscles Hulk's cousin!

Yeah just a socket on a short extension with no ratchet, using my hand to get all the nuts started i noticed that one not tightening like the others. I marked the stud because i thought it might be spinning with the nut, nope, nek minnit - pulled straight out.

 

[EFB055]

I got someone out to pull the snapped stud and helicoil the one i tried to pull myself, apparently those two studs are renowned for snapping because of the tension in the manifold constantly heating and cooling.

New fuel pump came in, swapped that over:

Decided i didn't like the black header shield. The OEM carby shield is black, but it's more more of a matte finish compared to the satin that i'd painted. The imports were silver and i much prefer the way it looks:

Tried to start it again and it wouldnt fire, didn't even sound like it wanted to start tbh, no stumbling just straight cranking. I checked spark, doubled checked my lead order all seems fine. I have a feeling either the injectors are seized or another f*cking spider has made another nest in a fuel line.

I've got another set of injectors that i know where working good that i can throw on, but i was wondering can i just jump the injector by connecting it straight to 12v to see if it fires/clicks?

 

[drtalon123]

I've got another set of injectors that i know where working good that i can throw on, but i was wondering can i just jump the injector by connecting it straight to 12v to see if it fires/clicks?

Yes! Just make sure you pulse either power or ground to the injector, rapidly so you can really hear the pintle click and get em exercised.

Dont hold solid power/ground on it for extended periods, it can overheat the coil when no fuel is flowing through it.

 

[EFB055]

Long time between posts, life happens sometimes. Manually pumped the injectors and 2 of the 4 were stuck, but freed up after a few pumps. Also now i had the motor cranking i decided to comp test it:

60- 175-155-175

Basically saw that and lost interest for a while.

After having a think about it though, i started to think that it seemed likely that a ring was stuck from sitting for so long (the motor had been sitting for a couple of years at this point), so the plan was to get it running, warm it up and see if it re seats.

So last weekend i got it fired up, and it ran like a bag of d*cks for a while, but then as it warmed up it was idling noticeably smoother. Turned it off and let it cool right down again, comp'd the dud cylinder and:

Hellooo compression. It's still cranking a bit longer than it should to start, and when its cold it stumbles before revving cleanly when you gas it. I'm hoping it's just in the ignition timing that i haven't set yet.

Other than that though, i swapped the ECU for a non JDM D16 so now i don't get an ELD light on the ECU, no other codes. No leaks either that i've noticed.

Keen to get back into it now.

 

[Oldcivicjoe]

i started to think that it seemed likely that a ring was stuck from sitting for so long

If I suspect a stuck ring this is my go to

I first tried it by accident, couldn't find my air tool oil and it was the only thing handy, a few spins and compression was peachy on retest.

 

[EFB055]

Mint. If warming it up didn't kick it into life, i was going to try soaking it in something.

 

[Soul Engineering]

Glad to see it's trying to come back

 

[EFB055]

Here's something else i've been having a bad time with 😂

Can't remembered if i mentioned but some some ridic reason i thought it'd be a good idea to convert to R134a and run an EK compressor. So i bought a brand new Denso pump and was reading a few threads on custom lines on H-T. Biggest problem being that all the info there is for LHD cars, which route the AC lines to the opposite side of the engine bay compared to mine. So first i went to the wreckers and grabbed a few lines to play with, i'd read that you need a mix of CRV and EK:

This was my first attempt, EK high side and low side. The high side usually wraps low under the fan and then joins the condensor at the top just behind the headlight. I couldn't figure out what was going on here but it absolutely didn't work. Also the low side hose was touching the power steering pump feed line. I'd grabbed the CRV low side, but for some reason hadn't grabbed the CRV high side, so i had to go back to the wrecker.

Mocked up the CRV high side and you can see it routes down off the compresser instead of up. This allowed me to loop it under the fan like stock... This is where it gets shit, so there are 3 different factory AC lines on the RHD EF's and of course my wagon had a rare version that has a huge aluminium block fitting right where the lines wanted to run. The lines i needed were off a prefacelift ED. Luckily one of the Concerto's that were parted out had the right line, and my mate was able to drop it off and once it was fit up it routed so much nicer. I also ditched the EK Low side and was now running CRV high and low lines because of the better clearance on the PS pump. I took the lines to get chopped and rejoined so the high side is CRV>EF and the low side is CRV>EF. Bolted up it now looks like this:

Everything is tight AF, but nothing is touching and there's good clearance off the header heat shield.