Major Service

[duncan]

I am coming to the end of a major service, TB, WP, VVIS screws and all coolant hoses.
Below is not “how to do”, others have covered that elsewhere but my observations on parts of the process.
Whilst I have hand tools, jacks, stands and the like, I do not have a lift and I don’t have air.

CRANK NUT

Last time I changed the TB and WB, as preparation, I took my car to a local HGV garage. I removed the OSR wheel and with the crank nut held got them to rattle it undone with a 3/4” drive air impact gun.
Since then I acquired an offset Impact Bar [Sealey part No VS786] and have used it elsewhere for crank nuts and differential pinion nuts.
I found the motto, ‘don’t use force, use a bigger hammer’ worked. Car lightly jacked up, wheel removed and the crank nut retained against the ground; there is enough space to have the impact bar almost horizontal. As a precaution against a bending load on the crank, I pushed a block of wood between the plate holding the socket against the chassis.
It looks agricultural but it worked.

[duncan]

RADIATOR

My radiator wasn’t leaking but the fins on it were so old, grey and crumbly that they can’t have been much good. I had purchased a Mishimoto radiator a while back when the price was right was for me.

By observation 3 routes for aftermarket radiator exist; Koyo [£450ish], Mishimoto [£300] and an unnamed version on Ebay from Holland and from China [£110ish]

- Koyo is advertised as not needing the fan shrouds to be trimmed, a direct drop in and appears favoured by the community.

- Mishimoto: needs the fan shrouds to be trimmed [see photos] BUT additionally and more importantly I found that the bottom tank downstand with the lower outlet tube fouled the chassis. This was not initially apparent but the interference was enough to force the radiator solid against the chassis when bolted down.
The OEM Honda unit has a semicircular tanks, the Mishimoto tanks are square edged, hence the reduced clearance. A local aluminium radiator firm removed the offending corner with a fillet, cost £50, overall still cheaper but I could have done without the distraction.

- Un-named radiators, by observation they all appear to have similar advertising photos, so probably the same source, one of the Chinese suppliers appears to be Fluidyne which is a ‘known name’ in the US. I have no idea or can give commentary on these units.

If I did it again, I suspect that I’d choose a Koyo.

[duncan]

COOLANT HOSES and CLAMPS

If in doubt, don’t; however after 20 odd years I didn’t really feel I couldn’t.
For the clamps; amass all the pliers you have, the most useful for me were a cheapo cable operated pair, expensive locking Knipex pliers and a needle nosed mole wrench.
Take a note of the orientation of the existing clips. How I laughed observing the lower of the 3 main hoses going into the thermostat housing. The easiest direct access would be with the gearbox removed. I assumed that for the technician fitting the clip it was his last day on the job, but no, any other orientation and the ears of the clip foul other hoses and clips.
To refit the hoses, a trip to the Chemist for a tube of lubricant plus a mug of hot water to soften the hose end.

[duncan]

VVIS

A couple of months back, Lidl and their ‘Isle of Sh**e’ provided an inexpensive stand-alone boroscope. With the Throttle Body removed I was convinced enough that one of the VVIS screws to order in a gasket set for the inlet manifolds and VVIS chamber. With the VVIS chamber off and apart, it was a relief to see that whilst one screw was backed off and two were loose nothing had come apart.
As a repair, in three stages.
- All the screws were re-staked; a JIS screwdriver was held vertically in a vice to act as dolly for each screw in turn, a second pair of hands is needed to balance the VVIS body chamber assembly on the up-turned screwdriver whilst the screw ends are re-staked.
Then as ‘belt, braces and hands in pockets’
- I used Loctite 290, this is a wicking grade and designed to be applied after a thread has been tightened, I applied it after re-staking the screws and it didn’t appear to take up, if I did it again I’d consider applying it to screws before staking them down.
- My final precaution was to follow Kaz’s procedure and coat with both the head and tail of the screw with sealant. I used grey Dirko as opposed to HondaBond.

I had never previously checked my VVIS screws/plates, I can’t say I heard a rattle from them, but then again I never went listening. With hindsight I would recommend a check where no check is known to have been previously undertaken.
13656136571365813659

[duncan]

1366013661

Crank Locking part 2

Following a self induced mishap I needed to re-belted and re-tensioned the TB. The words from Kaz and others were to ensure the crank was locked, and could not contra-rotate. The ‘standard’ crank locking tool fits into the pulley, the pulley should be removed when fitting the TB, so not entirely suitable. Honda list a crank locking tool, this however is for use when a clutch is changed, as this rather pre-supposes the gearbox is removed, again not entirely suitable.
If the vertical dust plate that protects the lower part of the flywheel is removed (3 no 6mm bolts), a cut out/rebate in the gearbox casting [manual 5 speed] can be seen. A trip to B&Q for a length of angle iron and dexterous use of an angle grinder formed a suitable lock. It’s not the standard that Project Binky would achieve but it worked for me.
The lock gave a surety when tensioning the belt and subsequently removing the crank nut [lightly re-fixed to allow a rotation of the crank to TCC]. I’m not sure I’d trust it when removing a fully torqued crank nut.

[duncan]

Oil Strainer

Within the last year, the sump started showing signs of being rather incontinent. As part of the service, I decided to re-new the sump gasket. No big problem, drop the exhaust front pipe, remove the brace between the engine and gearbox, remove 22 number bolts. Unfortunately, the oil pick up strainer was not the happiest. The retained debris was black hard baked on plastic. I don’t know where from, my guess would be baked on sealant done prior to my ownership some +15 years, +60,000 miles ago. Pleased at least that this had been spotted and the pick up pipe could be replaced.

[duncan]

Valve Adjustment Tool

I replicated the OEM Honda tool with a shortened box spanner with a 19mm a/f nut brazed to the top and a cut down screwdriver with a knurled wheel brazed to it. [Shown against a grey background]
With use over the years, the box spanner [10mm hex] had started to flare out.
The spanner was replaced by an extra long 10mm socket [Laser tools 5709 for about £12] with four flats at 14mm a/f ground into one end. [Shiney new socket] The spanner can be used with either a 3/8square drive or 14mm end fitting torque wrench.

[britlude]

nicely done sir :)

[goldnsx]

Not sure if you complete all of the above within one day but very good work indeed, keep it going.

One question: was one of the screws in the VVIS about unscrew itself?

[britlude]

re. VVIS... was there a puddle in the bottom of the plenum? often wondered about mine!

[Silver Surfer]

http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=13656&d=1554152575
One screw is undone?

SS

[duncan]

Yes, the screw had backed out to that extent. Say 2/3rds of it was still screwed in and had jammed, I didn’t try to screw it out. The second screw on the same plate was loose, as was the plate itself and one other screw.
There was a coating of old sticky oil on the bottom of the chamber, I didn’t measure or photograph it - sorry.