Xan's 1989 CRX(an)

Mmmm rod bearings

the honda valve train is pretty noisey.

I adjusted my valve lash (526 times lol) on my old B16A. I did it on the tight side to quiet the noise down. It was nice and quiet but got up to running temp in less than 2 minutes....no bueno. Loosened them up a little and was good to go.

But I'm worried it's a rod bearing on the way out. Hard to tell in my Internet chair.

.... gut the distributor?

are you going to run an MSD SCI?

Not being rude in the least but if I had to guess it's a rod bearing I'm sure the previous owner revvd that D15 to the Moon and back but the car and Chassis is still worth it throw a LS motor in it

Nah its definately a valve tap. The alternator was bad and that was the source of the terrifying noise I heard (I knew it sounded like it was outside the motor) so I installed a new one today. But my battery also decided to start leaking out of the vents and my poor towel I keep in the back of the car got melted in half. RIP. I did a valve adjustment as well and replaced the valve cover gasket, and spark plug seals. I gotta get a new battery and some terminals and I'll be good to go hopefully. Cap and rotor gets here tomorrow so that will be tomorrow's project. Neal seems to think thats the source of my problems.

Your not supposed to have a vented battery in your trunk its bad for you, and dangerous , and the fumes will slowly destroy your interior, do yourself a favor and get a sealed battery

I took a little mental break from the CRX this past week. Saturday I went to a car meet in Orlando at King's Performance and edited some videos and this week I haven't really touched the CRX at all recently it's just such a source of frustration lol.





Friday night I'm gonna get back into it. My new alternator was only putting out about 13amps instead of 14 so I need to get that exchanged and then I'm gonna recheck the timing and check for a vacuum leak because after everything I've replaced the motor still falls flat on its face when you try to launch it and acceleration is very choppy.

Met a guy at the car meet I posted the video of... he's the master tech at that shop and does all the engine building. He suggested a cost effective N/A build for my CRX and offered to do all the work for free and let me help if I bring him the parts. So I figure the gentleman thing to do is give him 100$ and tell him to take his wife out for dinner.

Today I picked up a Z6 block to match the head. It has Eagle rods and Vitara pistons, which I'll be swapping out for a set of 12.5:1 pistons. It looks pretty clean, I got lucky and stumbled upon a D series turbo build that the guy was parting out because he's going K series in his EG coupe.

Meh not really a super budget way to go n/a build, best bang for buck id slap new rod bearings in it, rehone the block at stock bore and put high compression p29 pistons in it , shave the head .010 and deck the block and that should put you around 11:1 , also you wont be able to run pump gas on 12.5:1

You need dohc zc in your life

P29 pistons on order, eagle rods from the block checked out, so my next step is getting the block bored to the piston rings. Moving along with the build again.

My coworker and I were discussing during break. He made the comment with all the work (forged rods, race cam, aftermarket springs/retainers, balanced and machined crankshaft) I should be able to raise my redline significantly. This is something I hadn't previously considered. I still don't have a lot of seat time with a D series motor and my CRX's mini me hasn't ran properly since I bought it so I shift around 4k almost

I'm leaning more towards the Stage 2 cam, which makes peak power at 7500 and redlines at 8k, because I still want some decent drivability. It's a very fun car and I wouldn't want to take that away.

Block
Balanced D16z6 crank
Eagle rods
d16z6 block .5mm overbore
P29 pistons .5mm overbore

Head
Crower springs/retainer
Crower Stage 2 camshaft
D16z6 head

Would this be a safe build to run up to around the 7.5k-8k neighborhood or am I missing something?

@dilbeckskate I'm going to swallow my pride and ask for your experience, seeing as you know a thing or two about D series.

That should be fine to rev to 8k but its not going to make power that high, also any hbeam rods require block and cradle notching , get a nice set p29 high comp pistons (like I got for my dohc zc build) and use stock rods, will be completely fine at the power you will make

I'd install new valves while you have it apart.

also, your tune is going to be key here.

Yes I agree on new valves, same reason im going full motard on my zc build, dont want to drop a few stacks on a motor and drop a valve ersumshit

Tbh I don't own a set of stock z6 rods lol the Eagles were in the block when I got it so it's already "set up" for them I believe

Then do you boo boo even better but make sure you buy floating Pistons

P29s got here this week. Goes to the machine shop Monday. Time to set some money aside for the cylinder head

block and pistons dropped of at the machine shop, everything looks good.