Opinions Wanted 91 CRX - How Bad Is This? Head Gasket and Block

[UfoTofU]

I ended up dropping the head off at the machine shop. It was indeed warped a little bit according to them I just now got back from picking it up. It looks much, much better. I ran my finger across the machined surface and it feels a little rough to me, like hills and valleys. They assured me that it would be fine with the MLS gasket that I got.

Pictures of the head to follow after my girlfriend gets home with the digital camera.

I've been cleaning the block off by hand and have the vast majority of the gasket off of there. I ended up buying Permatex Gasket Remover and a steel chisel.

I was going to use a razor blade but it was too bendy, even with a holder so I decided to go with a chisel. I was very careful , used a low angle when scraping and took my time so as not to gouge the block at all.

Before :



As of now :



I still have more to do.

[djenyc]

UfoTofU, nice job on the block! If you ever get tired of scraping it by hand, for $20 this tool saves a lot of time when doing gasket removal:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93157

I've been using it for a couple years with good results

Ross

[UfoTofU]

Originally Posted by djenyc

UfoTofU, nice job on the block! If you ever get tired of scraping it by hand, for $20 this tool saves a lot of time when doing gasket removal:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93157

I've been using it for a couple years with good results

Ross

I Wanted to try ti by hand rather than using power / air tools and any type of sanding disc or anything like that.

This is the first head gasket that I've done on any car and don't mind getting my hands dirty at all. I still have more to do on the block itself.

I also wanted to get opinions from members here in the forum about how the head turned out. Pictures should be posted in a little while.

[GasSavers_JJW]

Once you are done cleaning that block, get yourself a real straight edge and a set of feeler gauges. A ruler or something wont do, you need something with an accuracy of a few thousandths at least. Place the straight edge against the block face and with the feeler gauges check for any warp or low spots. Your manual should tell you how much is acceptable. If you measure any warp you'd be better off machining the block than putting it back together. If you do you'll just end up redoing it anyway. Also, I'm not sure with Hondas, but on most engines I've worked on you'll need to find out how much metal was removed in the whole process and choose a gasket of the right thickness to keep the compression the same.

[UfoTofU]

Pictures of the resurfaced head. You can see where there was some corrosion pitting.

Does this surface look too rough for a MLS (all metal) head gasket?

[GasSavers_DaX]

Ufo - your head looks nice. The pitting isn't great, but it should be ok, as it's not really close to the combustion chamber, only the water jacket. With a new MLS head gasket, I wouldn't worry about it. BTW, look at the picture I attached, I circled in red the indicator on your head I was talking about.

[UfoTofU]

Thanks to everyone for the replies : JJW, Gary Palmer, DaX, Big Dave, Danronian, Mr. Mad.

Everything that I have read on MLS gasket and mating surfaces is that it should be like OEM. Cleaning the block off by hand has been time consuming but it will hopefully be worth it.

Under the gasket that I have cleaned off of the block the metal is really, really smooth, in contrast the metal on the machined head is rough, with hills and valleys.

[EH3]

IMO use a genuine OEM honda head gasket. for engine critical parts, OEM is the way to go. spray some copper seal and it will be fine.

[UfoTofU]

Originally Posted by EH3

IMO use a genuine OEM honda head gasket. for engine critical parts, OEM is the way to go. spray some copper seal and it will be fine.

The new gasket that I did get is OEM. I had been pointed to a Honda Service Bulletin by a member of Honda-Tech about the new MLS style head gasket that Honda was now recommending / manufacturing for my d15b2 engine.

I just have better peace of mind going with OEM when it comes to the engine.

[UfoTofU]

Exactly how clean does the block have to be?

I've got it to this point now, a little bit better in fact since I have put a bit more time into it since this picture was taken.