This is an Evo forum. Not sure anyone cares about your civic rear end conversion.

 

I kinda regret the previous owner of my 8 putting arp head studs in because now I have a rounded head nut and can't get it off. Looks like I'll be using a dremel.

 

i've just spend the past 11mos with a nightmare engine build. i had 125k on the engine and it ran GREAT but had 90psi compression on cylinder 3. i got the bright idea of, "hey... instead of a hone and rings.. why not go forged?!".
so... i did. i'm not sure if the rods i got weren't right.. or the pistons weren't (neither JE nor Eagle could find info on the parts- they were used) but with a 5% leakdown, i still only had 163-165psi of compression on all cylinders. the car made 30-50whp less than it should, but oddly enough, was handling 27psi of boost from an HKS 7460 with NO knock. it sounds like i had low-compression pistons.
anyway.. due to another issue, i spun a rod bearing and am now rebuilding it with the OEM parts.

i should have left the engine alone. my mottos are "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and "never open an OEM engine". this is what happens when i don't listen to myself x2 LOL

 

i had a similar experience. see: Injen Intercooler Piping LOL

 

My thoughts exactly, as I was reading this the other day I could have sworn that was a Honda thing. I just did not care to Google it.

 

Yes and no, my evo was awesome to drive but once i got coilovers wow what a stiff ride not suitable for the city. Also my 3" exhaust is very loud even with dynamat in trunk. Im thinking about switching to high flow cat or even downgrading it even more and take the performance hit

 

LMAO, I was just about to get an Turbo XS exhaust. thanks!!!

 

I regret ripping apart my short block to put in forged internals. Nothing but trouble, since.

 

Fixed.


Sorry, I had to...haha

 

Just out of curiosity, what kind of problems are you seeing?

 

Had i know how my engine was going to be built (lack of blueprinting), I would have had it done, that's for sure. Definitely not something i could have done myself, unfortunately, or I would have. In fact I actually COULD have built it the way the shop did. LOL

Nothing related to building a forged short block per se. Short version:
Engine was built to poor standards. Spun a rod bearing. I put the stock stuff back in. Now the crank doesn't seem to sit right. Frustration ensues. LOL

I really should have left everything alone. The stock block is fine for my power levels. In my experience, deviation from OEM starts a domino effect of stuff to change out, that never seems to end. I'd rather have another OEM engine that will last 100k miles.

 

The older I get, the more I fall into this line of thinking "Can I leave this stock internally and still have fun with it?" lol

Im almost on the fence about going ahead and building my spare block, or just sourcing a factory engine and freshening it up some..

 

If I could find a brand new, OEM short block, I'd have to buy it. It would solve all my problems and keep me happy for the life of the car. I will never, ever build another engine. From now on, I only want what ever power levels the OEM engine can tolerate . The one exception would be any muscle car from the 60s.

 

I rebuilt my SR20 with factory stuff and it had at least 10k miles on it before I got rid of it and my friend put at least another 5 k on it and it was still solid.
I wouldn't hesitate to do the same to a 4G63. as long as you can measure tolerances and take care to clean off mating surfaces, should be fine if the block,crank and head aren't hurt.

 

My regrets aren't with the mods so much as the shop I chose to do the mods. They were great for the basic stuff, but after my stock motor blew, and all the issues I have had with two built motors blowing on the exact same issue as the stock one, and now after 2 years and thousands spent I STILL don't have a reliable car...talk about a pain in the ***.

I was never one of "those" customers either. I told them to take all the time they needed with the car. I also told them repeatedly to look the car over from top to bottom and ANYTHING that looked like it MIGHT give me an issue in the next 5 years, let me know now and I would replace it while the car was down. Tried to do everything to ensure the car would be built for reliability, and it still wasn't enough.

Every time I shipped the car off it was spotless, and with all body panels, etc intact. Every time I got the car back I was missing clips, or full undertrays, car was filthy inside and out. Oil hand prints all over the interior, scuffs on the seats that weren't there before, scuffs on the paint...

Then other more serious **** like the turbo manifold being held on by two bolts that were tool tight, the rest weren't even hand tight, and one was completely off. The radiator fan wasn't hooked back up, and caused my stock radiator to blow. My OEM oil temperature sensor line was severed, so that doesn't work anymore. Had a brand new tactrix cable in the car when it left, comes back with no cable, then I get sent some cable from who knows were that doesn't even work in the mail. Paid for a professional alignment, and when I got the car back it was pulling and handling so bad I brought it to an alignment shop, and the before was so bad you'd think the car had been in a wreck recently, so that professional alignment I paid for never happened. Then I get the car back this time, and it's handling the exact same way, so it needs another trip to the shop for that.

Did I mention that after all of this time and money spent (the car has run under its own power for maybe 5 months total in the past 2.5 years, but has been driven reliably less than a month in all that time, at a cost of close to $9000 with the build/shipping back and forth) I still have no answers, or even suggestions as to why the motor blew 3 times on the same issue in the first place? Not to mention the fact that the car still isn't reliable.

I'd already replaced just about everything that could break over the years either through modding, or preventative maintenance, so I've decided to replace all the **** that never got replaced. Just recently replaced ever pulley on the motor including the crank pulley, fuel rail, fuel pressure regulator, alternator, and I'm waiting on new injectors, new wideband, and then I'll have the car retuned and HOPEFULLY it'll be good to go after that.

The motor build I bought was supposed to be good for 600whp. My motto is overbuild, and under tune. All I want is whatever I can get out of the stock turbo safely along with the mods I have. A stock motor should really be able to handle what I'm throwing at it. The car peaked at 385whp on virtual dyno, and still blew up. On a dyno dynamics the car is putting down 354whp right now, but I don't trust that at all until I get the rest of the parts and a new tune.

I'm a simple man. All I want is a reliable EVO again, and it makes no sense that after all this time, and patience that I don't have one.