91 ef sedan
 

hello,

I bought a 91 civic about a month ago, it is my first honda so i dont know anything about them. When i bought it it had a problem starting with a hot engine and it backfired and did a lot of odd shit. first i took the distributor off the car and disassembled it, it was filled with red dust and everything in it was oxydated. thanks to ezone, i got that shit fixed.

the next issue was the emissions. it had white smoke coming from the exhaust, at first i didnt make a fuzz about it, but when i started bleeding my coolant system, the air just kept coming. So i figured it had to be the head gasket.
I took the cylinder head apart from the block(which was a headace). the gasket looked like it was second hand or something, pieces of it were floating in the coolant system, i was suprised the car even worked as nice it did.

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

so i fixed the fender by adding some bondo and spraypainted with colourmatched paint. It looks a lot better when it did did before, but the whole car needs a paintjob and it will get it eventually.
damn i cant insert thumbnails anymore? would like to post some pictures.

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

Nice. Most of those older cars have rusted away in my area, it's rare to see anything that old.

License plate ---you are in *squints at tiny print* Estonia?


For pics I use an image hosting site like tinypic or imigur, upload pictures there then grab the URL direct link and copy, then come back here and click the https://www.civicforums.com/forums/i...nsertimage.gif icon and paste URL into the popup box. Click OK and the image is inserted in the post.

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

Yes, i live in Estonia.

I was wondering, do i need to change the head bolts? I read that all of them dont strech out, but how do i identify if my bolts are the strechy kind or not. I have the d15b2 engine. Two of the bolts i took out had some sort of resin all over them, is there an easy way to clean the bolt holes in the block, blowing compressed air into it just does not seem enough(or is it?)

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

ID by the torque spec.

What is your spec?
Regular bolts have a regular ft-lb spec. (or N-m, or Kg/m, etc.)
TTY will have a very low ft-lb value followed by "plus X degrees" additional rotation or some such.

Cleaning, brake cleaner, wire brush if caked with tar. I don't try to retap or chase threads, spray cleaner and compressed air is usually sufficient unless there was some thread damage.

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

Hey!

I replaced the head gasket a few days ago. Its still smoking white, but not so much i guess. The exhaust gas is sure smelling better, it used to have that sweet coolant smell to it. some water is dripping from the muffler too, which tasted sweet before and now it does not. The gas is not escapeing through the cooling system anymore, so i guess i got that thing sealed up (it was my first headgasket job so im kind of sceptical about the results). The main reason for the job was that the car would not pass emissions, so I hope i got it done good.
I will go and get the car tested in the next few days and hope to see some changes. I just bought the car and i dont know how long did the old owner drive with the faulty gasket, im just glad i only drove it for 5km and in low rpm. The exhaust system seems to be rusted away from the insides too, because when i gave it some gas a fingernail sized chunk flew out of the tailpipe. maybe the coolant has been flowing into the exhaust system for some time now and has messed up the whole thing, but that is just my logic.
I wont do any decisions until i get the emissions checked, i will base them on the changes of the results, until then im hoping for the best

Cheers.

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

A real bad head gasket leak can leave liquid coolant in the exhaust so make sure to blast it down the freeeway a while to make sure it's all out.

Make sure ignition timing is on spec...
Plan on needing (or them telling you you need) a catalytic converter, just in case it has gone bad.

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

At last, I got to the emissions test, which showed no changes at all. I didnt get the timing set, could it be the reason that CO is 3 times higher than allowed?

When i drove to the emissions test, i noticed the increase of power. Before the gasket replacement it didnt do anything compared to now. Went to the freeway and let it rip as you advised, still giving me that white smoke. At least I had a lot of fun doing it :D. The catalytic converter seems like a obvious problem to me right about now and im going to check that out next, before that im going to get the ignition timing set. I have to go to a shop to do it, because i dont have the tools, and i was hoping that I wont have to pay anyone to work on this car, but i guess its inevitable.

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

Welcome =D.

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

Enough of the problems for now, time for some pictures.

This is the fender I fixed and painted with colourmatched spraypaint.
http://imgur.com/OAtF2C3
http://imgur.com/fj5aoQm
Its a little less glossier than i expected it to be, but I didnt waste much time with the rubbing compound, when i do i think its going to be better.

While the head was of the engine, i had some time and painted the valve cover.
engine bay when I bought it:
http://imgur.com/qAahdRC
engine bay now:
http://imgur.com/Uw1pTxD
It looks a lot nicer with the fresh cover and brandnew distributor. It will get more touchups on the way.

the car is somekind of special edition, I dont exactly know what makes it so special, but it has 4x power windows, so thats something they usually dont have, and they all work perfectly.
http://imgur.com/xr2OonP
http://imgur.com/FuykJP0
The interior is quite well preserved, the drivers seat excluded, which you can see has two splits in it. Nothing too bad, so im not going to replace it just yet.

The whole car need a nice wash from top to bottom, inside and out.
Other than that im very happy with the body condition, it has a little rust on the rear wheelarches, nothing a little work cant fix.
http://imgur.com/KQCr7Rd
http://imgur.com/R1YaH60

I like the car because It can easily fit 4 persons in it with enough legroom in the back the feel comftrible and without the hassle of the two door. The trunk space is huge considering that the car weighs under a ton. The engine isnt nothing fancy but when driving alone it pulls you to the seat quite nicely.

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

hey,

Some good news! honda passed the inspection with flying colours. Catalytic converter was empty, replaced it and all was well. now its time to think about the suspension. Would like to make it lower and stiffer, anybody got some ideas for me?

made it shine! :D
http://imgur.com/9y2Bpv2

Cheers and thanks for the help !

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

I guessed pretty good there LOL

Congrats, looking good

Try searching the forum for suspension ideas if nobody responds to this

Re: 91 ef sedan
 

hey!

The EF is running fine, its not leaking any fluids and the coolant level stays on point. Ive put about 800 km on it by now and everything is working fine. I changed the oil about 500 km ago, I went with 5w-40, but i dont know if it was the right choice, maybe should have used 10w. the engine sounds healthy, no clicking, cold engine rpm is 1500, when it heats up, drops to 700. finally all the work paid off.

Rear bumper was a bit crooked, it was tilted to the left and the plate holder didnt hold the plate straight anymore. Took it all apart just to discover that the bumper bracket/guard was rusted away along with the plateholder
http://imgur.com/oJ3mAqm
http://imgur.com/MwoK7p3
http://imgur.com/eEj5d0S

body was a little rusted under the bumper, nothing serius and it didnt penetrate the metal. used a wirewheel to get it all off there, primed it with epoxy and painted it black to make it last even longer.
http://imgur.com/p6Utc6a

since I couldnt find a new bumperguard that was in decent condition, I decided to make it myself. I got some metal from a local hardware store and stickwelded it all together, It cost me 12 euros.
http://imgur.com/mYQYxb7

Now the bumper sits straight and is sturdier than ever, so im happy with it. I think I need to do the same thing with the front bumper too, if I cant find a guard that isnt rusted away.
http://imgur.com/J3X78Ou
http://imgur.com/t03GMug

Thanks...