91 Civic Si Track Build - B18C-R|EF9 SIR Converted

[Presidential_Detailing]

Thought I would take a few minutes to share my newest member of the family. After racing the BuyBrakes.com CRX Time Attack Car, I fell in love with the classic EF chassis and wanted one for myself. I was going to find a shell and build up from scratch, but i came along a deal I couldnt pass up that had all the same parts I intended to purchase and MORE, for about half the cost as building from scratch. Sure, not as fun, but financial ly, it made way more sense to pick up this one. It will need a little work and some personal touches, but it has a ton of great parts in it already.

I flew from FL to IL to buy the car, drove the car 9 hours straight from Chicago to Knoxville, TN the first day. Unfortuna tely on the second day of my trip I decided to go through "The Dragon" and spun a rod bearing. I was able to limp it to Atlanta with a very mild rod knock, while one of my good friends made the 6 hour trip to pick me up and trailer the car home the rest of the way. More details on the motor soon..


Heres a video of my leisurely drive through Deals Gap aka Tail of The Dragon (Minutes Before Spinning A Rod Bearing)
"EF9 SIR" CIVIC WITH B18C JDM ITR @ Deals Gap aka Tail of The Dragon

A few shots of the car from my trip back home.

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After taking apart the bottom end to see what damage had been done, this is what I found. All journals seem to be in great shape still with very slight wear on the #4 journal which had the spun rod bearing. I still need to remove the engine from the car to pull the crank for further inspectio n.

Cylinder #1


Cylinder #2


Cylinder #3


And finally, the dreaded #4.


All next to each other.
Cylinder #1


I also removed the girdle and the main bearings that come with it.


From left to right..

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Decided to clean out the garage so I have room to work on the car, she needs a bath though! After I get the motor built, im going to have the bumpers and bumper fillers painted to match.



Got a little work done last night. Removed the head, and confirmed that I do have legit ITR cams. Looks to be a fresh head gasket and water pump. ARP head studs, still has perfect cross-hatching from a hone. Such a shame this motor didnt hold up, it was running so well and looks to be a very fresh rebuild. They just botched the rod bearings and ruined it all. Will hopefully get around to removing the block from the car so I can remove and inspect the crank and rods.

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Got some more work done. The parts table keeps growing.


Finished taking the motor out of the car so I could start tearing it down.




Cross hatching still looks fresh. Such a shame I had to take this one apart, the compressi on was PERFECT.


Here is CYL #4 which is the cylinder that spun, doesnt look too bad! Dont mind the blue stuff, it fell from the shelf above when I was moving stuff around.


And CYL #1 for reference .

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Decided to take a couple pics of the interior. .I need to learn how to take good interior photos, I cant get a nice one for the life of me! Probably just need to take them when the car is outside in natural light for the best results. Its a bit dirty, I havent touched the interior since I bought the car. Once the car is running again, Ill go through everythin g. Also plan on adding new black carpet and floor mats.

Plans for interior:
Momo Steering Wheel
Lower Optional Console
Black Carpet
Floormats

[Presidential_Detailing]

Brought the block over to a friend of mine at Apex Motorspor ts to have everythin g measured out before sending it off to the machine shop this week. Mains were a little oval'ed out so were going to do a minor align hone on it, along with a few other things.

Getting done this week:
Bore/Hone Cylinders
Align Hone Mains
Micropoli sh Crank



Good news, the crank is still well within spec. It actually was perfectly round. No major scouring or gouges, just a very small brownish colored streak about 1/4" long which will probably be removed with a micropoli sh.

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Picked up some oem SI carpet for cheap, hopefully it will clean up nice enough to be put in the hatch.

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Motor is back from the machine shop! Crank should be back this morning. The entire engine is being blueprint ed by a good friend of mine at Apex Motorspor ts, FL. Just need to order rings, bearings and ARP fasteners for him to start putting it back together. If anyone in the central FL area needs engine work done, give JD at Apex a call, he will take care of you and make sure its done right!

APEX Motorspor ts - FL
Apex MotorSpor ts - Facebook

Block Decked
Cylinder Bore/Hone
Align Hone on Mains
Crank Micropoli sh




(the dark upward spiral is just oil)

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Crank just got back today, Ill be ordering all my parts on monday. Then its assembly time!

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I planned to prep and paint the block, but after cleaning the block, I think i have decided I am just going to leave it bare aluminum. Not perfect, but certainly not bad. The car is being built more for function than to look pretty, so Im not stressing too much over it looking entirely perfect. Although I still like it to look nice!

Before.


After.


Another shot of the cylinder cross hatching.

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Parts are starting to come in! Honda Piston Rings and Oil Pump come in tomorrow.






Few more parts came in today. Now I have everythin g I need to assemble the bottom end.

Honda Piston Rings
Honda Oil Pump

[bigdare23]

I am subscribi ng to this build thread!

We haven't had a good one in awhile! 


Good luck with the build!

[rbwdriven]

Very clean looking car.

Just wait Dare.

Things are coming:)

[Presidential_Detailing]

Thanks guys! Should have some more stuff coming in this week. Hoping to have the block assembled by the end of the week.

[Presidential_Detailing]

Got some more parts in today from Honda. Going to start assemblin g the bottom end tomorrow night.

OEM Headgaske t
OEM Bottom End Gasket Kit
OEM Oil Pan Studs/Bolts
OEM Oil Pump O-ring
OEM Block orifice O-ring