How To: D15B7 Rebuild (minus rings and bearings)

StilAHondaFreak

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Ok guys, this is my first ever how-to, and I'm doing it all from my phone, so sorry if the pics aren't the greatest.

This isn't going to be a flood of pictures with every single bolt, but should suffice if you've never built an engine.

I am an ASE certified former Honda technician, and building engines is my bread and butter, so feel free to ask any questions you might have. (pm me please, don't muck up my diy, I wanna keep it clean and on topic, thanks.)

On with the pictures!

First and foremost, you CAN reuse your head-bolts, but, use your common sense, if they look like s**t, it the threads are boogered up, get new ones.

This engine had 129k original miles, and the head bolts cleaned up nice, so I reused them.


Now, you want to make certain that the block is squeaky clean, and free of any traces of old gasket or oil. Also, make sure it's flat, if you don't have a machinists straight edge and feeler gauges, take the block to the machine shop and have them check it. You'll be there anyway to drop the head off.

Block is ready for new gasket and machined head.


Notice I got new head dowels, I ALWAYS replace these, they're super cheap, do it.


New dowels and MLS head gasket installed.

Now, on to the head. I can not stress this enough: RESURFACE THE HEAD! I also got a 3 angle valve job, and new valve seals installed.


Now it's time to install and torque the head bolts. Get your container of choice, and pour enough oil in it to submerge the bolt heads while holding the washers back, then let the washers slide down. You want to do it this way so the washer gets completely covered in oil. Not doing this will cause the bolts to "hop" and you will get false torque readings.

I thought I took a pic with the oil container siting on top of the head, but apparently not. sorry.

Now torque the bolts, in the proper order, in 2 steps. 22 ft lbs, followed by 49 ft lbs. (do all 10 bolts, then go back and do them again, following the proper order.

Here is the head, properly torqued.


And that's where I'm at for now, stay tuned...

Next I will be removing the oil pan to replace the rear main seal and holder gaskets, front pump seal, pick up tube seal, and oil pan gasket.

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StilAHondaFreak

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Ok, so you have the new head, dowels, and gasket installed. Time to pull that oil pan and get it cleaned up.

Just a bit of advice, pull the pan from the bottom, it'll make things easier. Once it's pulled, clean up the bottom of the block of any traces of old oil, then rotate the engine like this:

Wow, that's gonna need a lot of clean up, I don't have time for that, nor am I going to put water in my engine, that's just asking for trouble. I have had success in the past by using seafoam in the oil to clean up internals, but more on that later.

In the meantime, set your oil pan outside, angle it up so it'll drain into a drain pan. I forgot to take a pic of this, but basically you want it standing up on end and angled so the traces of old oil will drain out into the drain pan.

Now onto that rear main. You have 2 options here, I'm going to go with the one I almost always use, and recommend. Remove the seal and holder completely from the block.

This is the rear main and holder for those of you that don't know:


And here is the block and crank with it removed:


Clean up any oil that may have spilled, and get the block and crank squeaky clean ( I follow up with rubbing alcohol)
Next get that old rear main out of the holder and scrub the holder til you're satisfied with the level of cleanliness.

Here's mine:


Now you want to press in the new rear main. Some people like to use oil to assist the installation, I don't. Patience and a steady hand prevail.



Again, we come to a point of personal preference. You can either use a paper gasket (if you have one) or, use Hondabond (grey rtv lol) to seal the holder to the block. I have the paper gasket, and I'm slap out of Hondabond so I'll show the paper method.

LIGHTLY coat the back of the holder on the INSIDE of the shiny part. Just enough that it'll hold the gasket in place. DO NOT get any rtv in the bolt holes. Then stick the paper gasket to the holder, like this:


Now, LIGHTLY coat the same area on top of the paper, again, avoiding the bolt holes. Lightly coat the inside of the rear main with oil (the part that contacts the crank) Time to stick it to the block:


Torque the bolts to 108 INCH lbs. The gasket is going to squish out a lil bit, that's normal, and why we used the minimal amount of rtv to adhere the gasket. This is where you should be:


Walk away, drink your beverage of choice, smoke a cigarette, just kill some time. You want to give that rtv time to cure.

That's where I'm at for now. Next instalment will cover trimming the gasket we just installed, removing the old oil pan gasket, and installing the new oil pan gasket and oil pan. I'm also replacing the pick up tube gasket, because I have one.
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StilAHondaFreak

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Sorry for the delay, my son woke up about 15 minutes after I made the first post, and hindered my progress. The second post is about to be edited to show the pan removal, and rear main clean up and replacement. That's as far as I could get for now. Today is his birthday, so I'm not planning on doing much, we have a party at my mother in laws house here shortly, and I might get to do some more work afterwards.

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StilAHondaFreak

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Should be done tonight, forgot to take a few pics, but I'll word everything as best as I can. Updating this post upon completion ;)

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StilAHondaFreak

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Welp, one of the punk ass kids in this ghetto ass apt complex decided to steal my hard line (the tube that runs between the water pump and thermostat) so, the build thread is dead, again. Depending on when I get out of work tomorrow, I'm hopefully going to make it to p.a.p. In time to grab another one, along with the thermostat housing and sensors that go on it (I just unbolted the thermostat housing and pulled the whole thing off as an assembly)

Oh, and to top it all off, they set my portch on fire before they ran off with my s**t.

I come home from walmart after going on a diaper run, and that's what I find waiting for me. Little bastards.
I'm moving asap.

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MistahJuice

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No offense to you but whats the point of doing a "full" rebuild with the block completely out and not replacing the rings, bearings and honing the cylinders? When the engine wears out after 200k+ miles (not yours particularly but Hondas in general once they lose what little power they have somewhere above 200k miles) often its the worn rings that do it. Or did you just not take pictures of replacing the rings and stuff?
 

StilAHondaFreak

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No offense to you but whats the point of doing a "full" rebuild with the block completely out and not replacing the rings, bearings and honing the cylinders? When the engine wears out after 200k+ miles (not yours particularly but Hondas in general once they lose what little power they have somewhere above 200k miles) often its the worn rings that do it. Or did you just not take pictures of replacing the rings and stuff?
The sense is: It only has 129k on it, I'm on a budget, and everything was within tolerances "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" plus, I'm probably going to swap it eventually anyway ;)

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StilAHondaFreak

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Thanks! I hope to have it done today, went to p.a.p. And fit the missing pieces I need =) can't get motivated though :/ we'll see, then maybe I can get a mod to clean it up for me :thumbup:

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TokyoSkies

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Tuned in for more! I've done builds before, but never from the ground up. Bout to pick up a b18c or b18 (haven't decided yet) for my EJ8, and I'm going to put it on an engine hoist and tear it apart to build.
 

StilAHondaFreak

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Engine is basically done. Gotta get a distributor thursday after work, and since yet another order got messed up, I have to get a timing belt too :/ why's it always gotta be my personal vehicle when the orders get jacked up? Oh well, I landed an awesome job today, with benefits, weekly pay, and paid holidays :D

Engine will be completely done, installed, and running thursday evening :thumbup:;) I'm going to try and update the build thread and pictures up to date, but I don't know if tapatalk is going to allow it. I'll update again if the edit goes through ;)

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StilAHondaFreak

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Ok, so the rtv on the paper gasket/hondabond (whichever method you chose to do) is dry. I forgot to take a pic, but you want to carefully trim away the part that is sticking out where the oil pan is going to sit.
After you've done that, apply a very small bead of rtv in each of the 4 angled parts where the oil pan gasket meets the rear main holder and the oil pump, and also put a tiny bit over each "hump" then install the oil pan gasket. I forgot to take pics of the rtv too, but I pointed out the areas for you.
Here is the oil pan gasket installed:

And here are the 2 points where you should have added the tiny bread of rtv on the rear main holder:

And the 2 points on the oil pump:

The super thin layer of rtv should go in between both points I pointed out, DO NOT put rtv/hondabond all the way around the gasket. You WILL over-torque the bolts/nuts and squish the gasket out, and the next person to pull the oil pan will curse you lol.

Now that the gasket is on, we have one more, technically 2 more steps. Put another very thin later of rtv/hondabond on top of the gasket over the same 2 "humps" I didn't point this out or take any pics, but it's the same 2 ends, and they have little ridges on them.

Now put the oil pan on:

And put all the nuts/bolts in place, finger tight:

Once they are all on, set your torque wrench to 10 ft lbs, or 120 inch lbs (I use a 1/4" inch lbs torque wrench for all the small stuff, I find it easier and more accurate) Starting with the middle nut closest to you, and going back and forth, then opposite "corners" tighten each nut/bolt 1 turn at a time until the one you started with gets to torque. If you don't understand what I mean, pm me and I'll try to word it better.

Once they're all torqued, it should be even, without any parts of the gasket squished out. If you followed my directions, you should be fine.




Now it's time to put the crank pulley back on, but don't forget to put the timing belt guide back on, the dished side goes toward the oil pump, like this: oil pump ) crank pulley.


Now we're fine with the bottom end, rotate the engine back over with the head facing up.
I don't have any pics of the next few steps because this was the point that I realized the company I ordered my gasket set from sent me a D16Z6 set, so, although the head gasket, oil pan, rear main, and front main worked out, the kit didn't include the seals that go in the bottom of the rocker arm assembly :( I was really pressed for time, and couldn't wait for the rings from honda, or a replacement
gasket set, so I got this stuff:

And cleaned all the oil off the bottom of the seals and put a thin later of it over each o-ring, avoiding the bolt holes.

Again, I missed a few pics (I was pretty angry that I had to improvise, and I felt rushed.) I don't remember the torque specs (I'll add them later, sorry) or the exact order to torque the bolts in (you should have a helms manual anyway ;) but if you don't, don't worry, all of the torque specs can be found online)

Before you put the rockers in place, you need to put oil on each of the cam journals, again avoiding the bolt holes. Then place the cam in the journals, and carefully put oil along the length of the camshaft and also on the tip of each valve.
Basically, you don't want any dry metal to metal contact points.

Once that's all done, and you have the rockers torqued, it should look like this:


At this point, I realized that someone had made off with a bunch of my parts, and set my porch on fire :eek::mad::confused:
I came home from a quick trip to walmart for diapers to find this:

Back on topic, I had to go to pull a part the next day to pick up what they stole. Here is what I picked up after I washed everything (no, I didn't buy a used water pump, I just washed it because it was all oily when it came out of the box.)

And here's a bunch of stuff strung up and masked for paint:

And after:

Moving on, time to mount the hard line and thermostat housing, get these 2 gaskets (hanging from the intake manifold studs) and put one on each end of the hard line:

And mount the hard line and thermostat housing, it can only go one way. Torque the bolts to 108 inch lbs:

Get your breather box, the o-ring for it, the pcv tube and clamp ready:

And mount the breather box:

Again, 108 inch lbs. Now slip the clamp on the pcv tube, put the pcv tube on the breather box, and slide the clamp to the end:


Make sure the mating area for the intake manifold is clean and free of oil and put the gasket in place:

Put the intake manifold on, and hand tighten the nuts, the torque them, from the middle out, to 204 inch lbs, I believe. (again, I will edit this after I get done) Once they're all torqued, it should be even with no gaps anywhere:


At this point, I realized my valve hover grommets were "gold" can't have that on a silver valve cover :rolleyes:
Before:

After:

If you hadn't noticed yet, I'm using a Z6 intake manifold, but have to use the automatic B7 throttle body and IACV, for now:

There is a method behind my madness, it's a quest for 50+ mpg :p

At this point, I realized that yet again, my order got mucked up, I received a 114 tooth timing belt, I need a 106 tooth :banghead:
Wasn't even close, with the bolt hand tight and the tensioner spring completely closed, the belt came right off. Looks like I'll be getting another refund, and making yet another trip to the local parts store :rolleyes:

I'm ready for this thing to be done, I already have to borrow my wifes EM2 to get to work thursday since I need a distributor, but, I devised to put all the covers on for a few beauty shots ;)

I'm contemplating painting that intake, it looks so dirty behind that immaculate valve cover lol


And that's where I'm stuck, until thursday evening :(

If I decide to mask and paint the intake, I'll be sure and take pics, otherwise, I'm finish this diy thread thursday evening.

Thanks for looking, it's been fun educating you ;)
 

StilAHondaFreak

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Just ordered a timing belt and distributor for my B7, should have it done by next weekend =) I'll be sure and take pics of the timing install ;)

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StilAHondaFreak

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Timing belt and dizzy are "out for delivery" yaayyy I'm honda have a surprise for the wifey when she gets home from work tonight :D:thumbup::thumbup::D

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StilAHondaFreak

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Ok, so I got the timing belt and tensioner on and set. Forgot to take pics, but it's pretty straight forward. I did take pics for reference as to alignment of the cam gear, because this is typically done wrong because people get confused.
This is easy:

As long as the arrow on the oil pump housing is pointing to the b***h in the crank gear, this will line up. This mark is for your MECHANICAL timing. The other three marks to the left are for IGNITION timing. More on that once I get the damn thing in the car lol

Moving on, there are multiple marks on the cam gear, because it is used on several engines. This is where the B7 needs to be set:

UP is up, obviously, however, you need not worry about the single pointer on the backside timing cover (the one that bolts to the head before you put the cam hear on) you need to line up the 2 lines at "3 o-clock" and "9 o-clock" with the top of the head, as pictured.

When doing so, the mark at roughly "7 o-clock-ish" SHOULD NOT LINE UP with the pointer:


If it looks like that ^^^ congratulations, you just set your B7 perfectly.

I also installed my new distributor, but that's self explanatory. One thing though, I had to take the piece that gets driven by the cam off my Z6 distributor because the one that came on my B7 distributor wouldn't fit in the end of the cam :/ whatever. I'm gonna try and get a partial refund our something, but I'm not going to hold my breath :banghead:

That's it for now, gotta be at work in a few hours, I'll post more when I install the engine.
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StilAHondaFreak

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For the few of you that are following this, I took a few pics on my way out the door for work tonight:




All buttoned up and ready to go in:D

I'll update again once it's in and I set the ignition timing :thumbup:

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StilAHondaFreak

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Pretty self explanitory. Got the engine back in, finally. Basically done, still gotta hook up the PS and AC, put the belts on those, finish hooking up all the hoses, and hook up a few sensors, and set the ignition timing. I also have to get new crush washers for the fuel rail. Thats it though LOL

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