Ok so I've been seeing some extensive down time due to a blown head-gasket, but no big deal -- shit happens to everyone.
Due to not being able to drive my whip, I figured it'd be a good time to take care of a few other odds & ends (literally).
I had an OEM 92-95 Civic manual steering rack collecting dust, so I finally got to install it with brand new inner & outer tie-rods (not OEM but they look more durable than the stocks ones that came out).
Power steering to manual steering conversion is complete.
I've always preferred the feel of manual steering over power in a Civic hatch, plus removing all of that power steering crap frees up a lot of bay space (boost could be in my future...).
While the head was off, I cleaned off the top of the block and pistons. It's only about 80k miles on the dirt slow d15b7 so the cylinder walls still look good and the tops of the pistons cleaned up pretty well.
I also installed a brand new aftermarket 94' Integra RS brake booster to complete my "DC Integra brake upgrade" (the price for a brand new OEM bb almost brought a tear to my eye).
I got the head cleaned, pressure tested, and shaved.
Before reinstalling the head with brand new OEM timing belt, head gasket, and water pump -- I figured I'd replace the valve guide seals since I noticed it smoked a bit on start-up once or twice. I should've got OEM valve guide seals but I didn't because I was in a rush. The ones I got seemed to sit flush after installation though so hopefully I have no issues. I re-seated all of the valves w/ a suction tool and some grinding compound.
I got the motor to TDC, and installed my BNIB ARP headstuds & OEM head-gasket. (I should've did a better job on that last piston but I was being lazy
).
I torqued down the head in the appropriate pattern (20 ft/lbs, 40 ft/lbs, then finally 60 ft/lbs). Next up all I had to do was reinstall the camshaft w/ that red lube stuff (forgot the name of it), then torque down the rocker assembly. However, upon cleaning the rocker arm in my usual OCD type fashion I noticed more gaskets to ruin my life (the first one was that damn distributor O-ring seal).
See those o-rings? They temporarily put me in a very bad mood. They are the main reason my spark plugs kept getting soaked with oil (that and my 'spark plug tube seals?...' weren't all that great). I now have new OEM gaskets on the way because my local Hondaland didn't have all of them in stock. Three 91301-PJ7-000's, the funky looking double gasket is 91302-PJ7-003, and that distibutor o-ring seal I mentioned is 30110-PA1-732.
Hopefully someone see's this before they run into the same nightmare.
Happy wrenching!
Peace
