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I'm beginning to think more and more that every D17 out on the road right now with a head that hasnt been pulled yet, is vulnerable to a blown headgasket regardless of wether you're running nitrous or turbo. Our D17's just werent put together to handle that much stress. Replacing the head gasket and head bolts has almost become a must for anyone who wants a lot of reliable power out of their D17. Just ask around and see for yourself how many of us have blown our headgaskets. Its becoming common knowledge. That should tell you something. Its not anything you probably did wrong. Its just the engine and the way it was put together. I dont think anyone who has replaced their headgaskets have had any problems since....

 
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If you're wanting to pay someone to do it, be ready to pay out the *** unless you can find someone cheap like I did who does labor for $25 an hour. You're looking at about $150-200 for genuine honda gaskets and genuine honda belts alone which doesnt include the $90 for arp head bolts which I highly recommend and if you think that buying the aftermarket low grade cheap belts and gaskets is gonna be worth it for you in the long run, you have another thing comin, trust me

 
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Well I took it to a mechanic, and the warranty company is going to cover most of the work to replace the head gasket. The total for everything is around $780, that includes all the labor, milling/pressure checking the head, new timing belt, basically doing the job right I hope, not just pulling off the head and slapping a new one on...I'm gonna have to come up with around $320 which is what the warranty company won't pay for....$100 of it is the deductible and most of the rest is the labor for doing the timing belt...just thought I'd give all you that helped me an update...thanks again for all the help

 
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Nice going on the insurance $$

All and all you are getting off easy.
You may have to buy the ARP studs your self (highly recomended)

 
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Nice to hear that they cover some...

I agree, see if you can give them head studs to use, it'll be worth it....

 
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Well it's too late for the studs....I've already left town back to Vegas...I'm not going to run nitrous anymore so hopefully the stock replacements will be okay...I decided it's just not worth it to me right now to run nitrous just for fun...too much potential to screw something up...I just wish I would've been smarter before I put it in....

 
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^^You wouldnt have to worry about about blowing it again that easily if you went that route using the arp studs. As I said before, I dont think anyone who has replaced there headgaskets thus far have had any problems since and plus I can bet you that you didnt blow the headgasket simply due to the use of "nitrous" because the same thing has been happening to those with turbos. The headgaskets have been blowing because of the lack of clamping force between the head and the block to maintain a good seal.

 
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I'm Running 50 shot now....I wanna go 75 where can I get the "ARP studs" ????....are they hard to install? can you just swap them out without having to change your HG???....

 
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i have been running 5-6psi blind and not needed to get a new headgasket. catalist was running 14+psi with stock honda headgaskets along with other members. you just need to tune it right

 
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^^I blew mine on a 75 shot and I know I was never that far out of tune because I always checked my plugs after almost every single run I made using it and my plugs always looked like all 4 cylinders were burning good with no detonation. You made a good point, but its not just the tuning. Theres a pattern here with our engines. I see it and I know it. ...its funny how people still mention catalyst and you never see him post anymore and secondly wasnt he a representative of SF? Just knowing that makes me not trust anything he says anyway but thats just me.

 
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not to go off topic but cat was the cool guy from sf when the owner was fing around with getting my kit done i talked to cat and he told me the real story of why it was not done yet and what was actualy missing from the kit still that they needed to order.

personaly i think cat was a cool guy if it was not for him i would have never goten my kit shiped to me

 
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I know Catalyst and he's a kick *** guy. He got a bad wrap from SF and I think he got screwed from them too. Although I don't know the details. He's still here, but under a different name.

As to something being wrong with our head gaskets, I remember reading somewhere that honda doesn't usually switch which manufacturers it uses for certain parts unless there is a real problem with the part. (ie the switch from Ishino to Nippon)

 
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dang cat if you see this give me a pm man.

 
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I heard the same thing from majestic honda. I think they also said that the update took place on either the 02 and up, or the 03 and up model/year civics, however some 02 and up model year civic owners on this site have still blown their headgaskets in spite of the updated headgasket which probably means that the arp head studs are essential to further help prevent future blown headgaskets. Thats just my guess.

 
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Well it's probably too late for me to get the ARP studs....I should be fine with the stock shouldn't I? I'm never gonna run nitrous or any sort of F/I on this car again....in fact I'm not going to do anything else to it, I need it to last for me...I'm gonna leave the I/H/E and the VAFCII on....but there's no need for me to use aftermarket HG or studs running N/A is there???

 
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no, theres no need if you're staying n/a. Its just disappointing to see people become discouraged about our cars at the sign of the first obstacle when it comes to modding. Its your car though so you get to do whatcha want to it.