Lonewolf Online

Engine blew up in my Honda Civic

Monday 19th December 2005  

My new B16A2 engine conversion that I have had completed for about a month now has broken down - terminally.

The swap itself was plagued with problems, not least was a mechanic who couldn’t fit an engine. It took two MONTHS to get finished, with lots of hassle from me. When it was finished I had still more problems - incorrect (undersized) injectors fitted, wrong distributor, some bolts were loose and many more things wrong with it. 4th gear is shredded, 3rd and 5th are bad, but not unusable, syncros melted in gearbox, bearings collapsed, metal everywhere inside. The engine lacks power and has done since it was installed - I suspect head cylinder overworked. There are also plumes of oily blue smoke from the exhaust so suspect piston rings or oil seals. I took the car back to the mechanics, where after speaking to the manager I reluctantly agreed to let them fix all their mistakes. When I went down there they had a new mechanic who was keen to prove his skill by sorting my car out, so they are willing to completely rebuild the engine with all new parts from Honda. While the gearbox is out I’ll supply and have fitted a Quaife ATB differential and some Skunk2 valve springs ready for some fast road cams.

Comments: No responses yet

This post is filed under Honda Civic by Lonewolf at 3:34pm

Problems with my new engine swap

Wednesday 14th December 2005  

I popped into Interpro yesterday and asked if they could have a quick look at a few noises that were coming from the gearbox and clutch. First gear when slowing down would whine and when the clutch pedal was lifted in neutral you can hear a loud grinding noise. One of the mechanics took it out with me and could hear the noises, but said there was nothing to worry about as long as they don’t get worse.

Yesterday the noises got much worse and as I was driving along the A38, 4th gear popped out and into neutral. When I tried to re-engage it all I got is a grinding of metal. I booked into Interpro to have them take a closer look at it, but by today the whining noise is even louder, in first, second and third, fourth gear will not engage at all and I also have trouble getting out of first.

Unfortunately the 1000 mile warranty is long past, and with all the other problems I had with Karma I am very reluctant to let them have the car back to work on again. I have contacted Trading Standards for advise and I had a lengthy discussion with my brother-in-law about the issues, and decided to phone Karma and tell them all about the problems had been having and that I did not trust them to do the work. I enquired if there was something we could work out, if they would be willing to help cover 1/2 the cost for Interpro to look at it. They were unwilling to do this, insisting that they would fix all the problems at a discount labour rate for me. I said I would be down on Monday for them to LOOK at the car only.

Comments: No responses yet

This post is filed under Honda Civic by Lonewolf at 6:14pm

Interpro work their magic…

Thursday 10th November 2005  

I went to Interpro to have new tyres fitted (the old ones were below legal because of incorrect camber adjustments) and I had a further diagnostic run on the rolling road. I also asked them to check the timing as I wasn’t convinced that it was done correctly. I dropped it of at 9am and they got on with the work, changed the front tyres, changed the oil and filter, inspected engine and started looking at the tuning.

It looked like Karma had trouble fitting the distributor to the block because the VTEC solenoid was in the way, but instead of getting a distributor that fitted they rotated it round a bit and bodged a fitment by machining it. As such the timing was even more out and the distributor wasn’t functioning correctly. Timing was still out because the distributor was incorrect - it made the timing light useless. Interpro were able to sort out the timing for me as best they could but recommended I get the proper part. They also found that the lambda sensor was faulty, and that the lambda sensor fooler was installed incorrectly and broken anyway (probably because it had been hooked up to a 12V source instead of a 1V source). Driving back from Interpro there was a definite difference in power and driveability; I think there was probably a larger power increase from Interpro sorting out the tuning on the engine properly, than Karma made by swapping in the new engine!

At the end of the day the car made 152.5bhp at the flywheel (110bhp at the wheels) and this time I had a torque run and made 122 lbft @ 5750rpm. Still a little way down on power it should be 158 for a standard engine, add some for mods. I know that engines loose power as they age, but this one was supposedly rebuilt, and it is running with induction kit, uprated exhaust manifold, de-cat pipe and cat back exhaust system.

I went back to Karma on the Friday and explained that the engine still wasn’t making the power it should - they were completely unable to explain why. If they could think of a reason they would call be. I didn’t hear back from them.

Comments: No responses yet

This post is filed under Honda Civic by Lonewolf at 5:14pm

Having a Quaife ATB diff fitted

Wednesday 9th November 2005  

I took my car back to Karma again on Monday, the new mechanic is still working part time during evenings and nights, and when I phoned up that evening they said that they hadn’t had chance to look at it yet, but it will be the first job tomorrow. He told me that it would be ready to pick up on Wednesday morning. So at 9.15am this morning I arrived only to find my car still on the ramps.

Apparently they were uncertain as to which gearbox oil to use with the Quaife diff and they wanted to check with Quaife when they opened. They also wanted to replace the thrust bearing and a split pin on the wheel hub. I explained to him that he would have to drop it off to me when it was done as I was running out of lifts. He phoned at about 8pm to say he was on the way and shortly after they arrived and said that the diff was in and good, timing had been sorted and the other bits were done.

I took it for a quick test drive after they went and overall it was slightly better, not much more power, but the diff was defiantly working.

Comments: No responses yet

This post is filed under Honda Civic by Lonewolf at 11:02pm

Injectors fitted

Tuesday 1st November 2005  

I dropped the car off again and they said that it would be the first job and they would deliver it back off to me when its done – which they did. When I asked about the timing he said that they didn’t have the right tool, but would look at it when I went in to have the diff fitted (again?)

I have also booked in for Interpro to sort me out with some new tyres (Toyo Proxies) and to have another diagnostic run.

Comments: No responses yet

This post is filed under Honda Civic by Lonewolf at 6:59pm

A new twist in the saga

Monday 31st October 2005  

I haven’t heard anything from Karma, so this afternoon I popped in to find out the injector situation. They have got the injectors in, but they also told me that their mechanic had upped and left, they had just hired a new one who is working part time during the evening until his notice from previous employer is up. I left my car with them on the promise that they would drop it off to me at home by 10pm.

I just got off the phone from them to find out if they had called me (my mum had been on the phone for a while) and he explained that they had not started mine yet, they should have the one they are working on done in the next hour, and allow an hour for mine to be worked on – he should be able to drop it off at about 12 midnight. Being on the early shift (5.30am alarm call) I wasn’t prepared to stay up till that hour, he said I could bring it back up the next day and it’ll be the first job, so I collected it and will bring it back tomorrow afternoon.

Comments: No responses yet

This post is filed under Honda Civic by Lonewolf at 9:30pm