Drax's JUN Prelude: Papa Smurf edition

Post by **Drax** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 3:36 pm

well after some faff with sorting the horn, some lights, a code 6, various leaks, the cam gears catching on the new cover it looks like i'll hopefully attempt an MOT for her next week

toadster · Post by **toadster** » Thu Feb 17, 2022 5:12 pm

Lo

Good luck

Cheers

Toadster

Post by **Drax** » Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:58 am

so in a nutshell, since February she gained an MOT ok

i then attempted to take her to japfest for the first time in many years buuuuut she let go at just before Shrewsbury, big oil leak from the front balance shaft delete that had popped off

limped her home by throwing in oil every 10 mins and then replaced the balance shaft delete with a new one, and new cambelt as that had started to become damaged.

back on the road i took her for some short local drives out, a local car show and then attempted to take her to Tunerfest at Outlon Park - made it all the way until 5 mins down the road from OP where oil & steam started spewing out of the rocker vent and she wouldnt restart

got her recovered home and not had a chance to look at her yet....

Post by **Merlin** » Wed Jul 20, 2022 1:53 pm

I hope it isnt anything serious!

Post by **Drax** » Thu Aug 11, 2022 3:51 pm

second nutshell update on this, managed to have a look and the first suspect was a loose (ish) cambelt, so the guess was the belt had skipped a tooth in vtec.

took the head off and all valves & pistons are dandy. so. next step is the get the head skimmed just in case it's that, but then run a leak down test on the head as well. if all is well, put it back on with a new HG and then make sure the H23 manual tensioner is tighter this time (suspected it may not have been) and put all back together and give it another go.

Post by **Vtecmec** » Thu Aug 11, 2022 4:11 pm

Anything obvious on the gasket itself?

Scott560 · Post by **Scott560** » Fri Aug 12, 2022 8:55 am

If the head is coming off, you'll be using a new HG anyways. I once had the misfortune of doing a HG on a renault clio. The cambelt had previously broken. Head was taken off and valves replaced, but they reused the HG. Turns out the HG had been damaged slightly causing overnight coolant into bore. If you drove it every day it was fine. Leave it a few days, hydrolocked.

I'm sure you will get to the bottom of it, keep us posted!

Post by **Drax** » Tue Aug 16, 2022 1:37 pm

Vtecmec wrote: ↑
Thu Aug 11, 2022 4:11 pm
Anything obvious on the gasket itself?

looked all fine

Scott560 wrote: ↑
Fri Aug 12, 2022 8:55 am
but they reused the HG.

ooo no i never re-used a HG. this was a brand new Honda one

Post by **Drax** » Wed Oct 18, 2023 2:39 pm

sooooo over a year later.

after putting everything back together with the refreshed head, it still didnt start. gave up again for a while then i nabbed a leak tester from a friend and that shows piston rings. even though they were new, i may have blown (my load) too early with harsh driving straight after the last build...maybe....best guess so far anyway.

i recently jacked the lude up, out onto ramps, removed the lower crossmember and as i already removed the head again a few months ago ive taken the sump off, ready to remove the girdle and take out the pistons.

ive since remove this and got to the pistons but not removed them as i need to wait until dry weather & time catch up to me again.

watch this space. or not. makes no difference, ill fix this damn thing either way.

oh and ive sold the 5G and bought this to keep me ticking over, my 90's rally itch