yea.... thers green stuff comin out the front btw the head and block. very little, but i should just do it anyway. i was thinking of putting in some arp head studs while i was at it. are there any other mods that can be done while i have the head off? im going to do my timing belt soon too...

 

You could take the opurtunity to put in a Hondata intake manifold gasket while you're at it. They're reusable and lower your IM temps considerably. If you're doing the timing belt, you might want to conisder changing the water pump if it has high mileage on it.

 

If your going to take the head off... Now owuld be a great time for some new valves! Also consider a p&p job...

 

yea... i was gonna change the water pump for sure too. dont think i have $$ for the p&p tho =P

ill probably just take a drill and wire brush to clean off the carbon deposits

 

Once the head is off, what is the proper way to remove the carbon and gunk deposits on the cylinder head? Should anything be done about carbon buildup on top of the pistons while the head is off?? Just curious...

 

Be careful cleaning the tops of the pistons off. It is easy to end up with a bunch of carbon grit stick down along the sides of the cylinder walls and chew up the cylinder and rings. I would just carefully wipe them off with a paper towel and leave it. If you use a wire wheel to clean the chamber/ports at least use a brass wheel that won't remove a lot of aluminum along with the carbon buildup. I prefer to use a scotch brite pad. What I do is use a 1/4" mandrel and cut about 1" down splitting the end of it open and slide a piece of scotchbite about 1" by 3" into it. Put it in a die grinder or drill and have at it. Helps a lot to do it in a parts washer to keep washing out the nasty stuff but you could probably do it in your driveway and take turns spraying it with degreaser and water to clean it out. Not a bad time to take it in to a shop to have the valve stem seals replaced and talk them in to cleaning it for you...

BTW I would HIGHLY recommend having your head surfaced while you have it off. If you blew a head gasket, odd are the head isn't straight. Even on the good ones I typically see .005-.008" high/low spots that you might not catch with just a straight edge and a feeler gauge.

 

I recommend (like inspyral):

New Timing belt
New Tensioner
New Water Pump
New head gasket (duh)
New ARP head studs (about $100 from Summit - ask for Kip)
New Hondata Intake gasket
New exhaust manifold gasket
New header collector dohnut gasket
New Valve cover seal
New spark plug seals

and, if you can afford it:
Deck/mill the head

Sounds like a lot, but that's really all the stuff to replace all the old crap.

 

its an sir-1 motor so i bet its seen its fair share of miles. thanks for the tips guys. im gonna order the parts next week so i can have them ready for spring break (last week of march). sounds like lotsa quality time with the car h:

ok... so im goin to get the head gasket, exh mani gasket, can valve cover seal from hondaautomotiveparts.com and water pump from kragen ($20 cheaper w/ lifetime warranty)

but where should iget the hondata i/m gasket and arp studs? isnt summit kinda expensive?

 

Hey, just ordered my b17 headgasket and arp studs from Inline4.com... the studs were $145, the gasket $72...and thats shipped to my door. Contact Hondata from their website and they will tell you the closest distributor. I highly recommend it too, i have it and its way better than the stock crap. Ive heard that my have out an exhaust manifold gasket as well? anybody know? Also, is it acceptable to use engine degreaser and water to clean the combustion chambers? thanks

 

If you go on Honda-Tech at all, PM 2K_TEG. His name is Kyle, and he's a Hondata and ARP dealer. I got my IM gasket from him for $62 shipped, and ARP studs for $120 shipped. He ships FedEx, so it gets to you pretty quick. This is his website:
http://www.ks-motorsports.com/