thanks to all who helped me out with this and all the wellwishers on various boards. And btw the soontobementioned Carchitect (SN on G2IC) is the one doing the majority of the work- a good friend and a tenured acura tech.


http://www.g2ic.com/forums/showthrea...threadid=37667 in case you werent following my dilemma- the previous thread pretty much explains it- theres also a link down that thread a bit to even previous info on it so there ya go



waiting for Carchitect I decided to reloom the wiring harnesses the best I could- wasnt nearly as brittle now handling the wires and looks 10X better IMO- heres one more quickly


and here is where the fun fun stuff begins



this is a very scary thing to see done- we took a caliper and measured the amount needed to be drilled out- if you look carefully you will see a red stripe around the drill bit we marked to tell us where to stop drilling- although from what carchitect (Joe) said it was obvious where to stop just by feeling the bit, we wanted to take ever precaution available



and that was the end of the drilling- now comes the rethreading:



heres the tap that was provided in the timesert kit- not really sure why the member from honda-tech had to weld on the socket- i think he used a larger size socket than he was supposed to in a six point when a 12 point worked perfectly- oh well- put electrical tape on the bit to make sure it was as snug as possible and it wouldnt come loose while in the thread holes




WD-40 sprayed every time so that the aluminum would thread perfectly and the tap wouldnt tear through the metal




.......

 

althought the depth of the hole where the thread is could not be photographed properly, the tap threaded the top of the hole as well so you can see how precise the cuts are- and need to be for that matter.

we cleaned the block off- compressed air works wonders- and ready to put the threads and inserts in



for those like myself who had trouble visualizing what the inserts were by just a description, this might clear it up for you. heres another



all the studs threaded into the block perfectly- the machining of the inserts was obviously flawless



before installing the new headgasket we mated the old headgasket to the head to see where it failed





anywhere where the headgasket had come apart by the layers or bowed out away from the surface we applied hondabond to the new headgasket



and here's a quick pic of the oil line we blocked about a year and a half ago for the ls/vtec conversion



......

 

the head went on just fine- a little more of a pain since the new threads are a bit taller- but no worries- here Joe aka carchitect is putting the washers down before the studs are torqued down



torquing the studs down was flawless- started at 15lb/ft and went in 10-15 lb/ft incriments until we got to 70- and every stud moved the same distance when we increased the torque- which was a very good sign that all was well.



distributor back on valve adjustment done- not that necessary though cuz only four valves were off and not by much- after 25k miles not too shabby



did my best to get a pic of the studs



finishing up here- new valve cover gasket and spark plug seals installed as well as a few new coolant hoses. New dist cap and rotor installed after the theives for some dumbarse reason decided to cut it open.

so its all done- everything went smooth

and the final test:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?i...7401694&idx=17

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!

the car smoked for a good half hour out of the exhaust- just billowing out white smoke. We at first thought cracked head- AAAAGGHH- but drove it around up and down the neighborhood and soon went away- we then changed the oil so if any metal shavings got in the oil pan from cutting the threads they were soon removed- all is well and she will be tearing up the streets once again-- for now obd1 conversion and new tranny are next up to bat- she will be parked outside my apartment- took out the steering wheel and drivers seat among other things so I think her days of theft are over(knock on wood)

:bow:

 

Whoa, you did all that with the block still in the car?
I'd be afraid of all the shavings getting into places, but compressed air is your friend, as you said.

 

My thought's exactly, but hey, if you're not going to tear down the whole engine , all you can do is be careful.

Very detailed post :thumbup:, what kind of studs/inserts did you install?

 

ARP head studs for B18c- and all the shavings got out just fine