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**accordaffair** · 03-22-2005, 02:08 AM

From here I attempt to explain my intake manifold swap. I also did a coolant change, and an oil change, as well as an EGR port cleaning.

Q. What is an Intake Manifold?

A. My Chilton’s manual defines an intake manifold as “A casting of passages or pipes used to conduct air or a fuel/air mixture to the cylinders.” It is what the engine uses to get its air.

Q. What is an F22A6 intake manifold?

A. The intake manifold off the F22A6 series Honda engine.

Q. Don’t you already have an intake manifold?

A. Yes, but I have an f22a1 series engine.

Q. So what’s the difference?

A. Good question. The F22A1 and F22A4 series engines made less HP for one thing, and didn’t include the bypass valves.

Q. What are “The bypass valves”?

A. They are a set of valves that open at high rpm’s to allow more air into the engine and thus create more HP. Yummy! Here’s a picture of them alone.

Note there are eight holes, four of which have valves. The round thing on the side closes them.

Q. Why not just have eight open holes? Wouldn’t that be better?

A. As I understand it, short, small runners are best for torque, and lots of air flow is best for HP. Having the valves open will decrease low end torque, but build high end HP. So the idea is to use valves so they only open when needed.

Q. Huh?

A. Four holes good for torque, eight holes good for HP. You want torque at low RPM's, and hp at high RPM's.

Q. Is that like the vtec thing? This guy had stickers on his civic that said vtec and it had a big muffler, I want one like that.

A. No vtec involves the camshaft.

Q. How can I put vtec in my car?

A. Get an H22A engine and put it in your car.

Q. Can you tell me how to do that? I want to put stickers on my car.

A. No, refer to engine swaps at www.cb7tuner.com.

Q. What were we talking about?

A. Swapping in an F22A6 intake manifold.

Q. How much HP will that give me?

A. Mmm, feels like 3-5. I never dyno'd so I can't give you a solid number.

Q. How much does it cost?

A. Between $20-$130 depending on whom you buy from, and those are used prices. You also need gaskets.

Q. How much did you spend on it all?

A. About $161 including the coolant and oil/filter. About $100 without.

Q. How long will it take?

A. It took accordztech about 5 hours I believe.

Q. Ok how long did it take you?

A. 12 hours give or take an hour.

Q. That’s a long time.

A. Well this is the biggest thing I’ve ever done on a car, plus I did a lot of unnecessary disassembly. On top of that I’m a mechanical amateur, and I did a lot of stepping back/scratching my headJ. If you’re a nub expect that or longer!

Q. Is it worth it?

A. It was for me. The EGR cleaning really helped, and when it’s complete, the HP gains should also make it so.

Q. So what cars come with an F22A6 engine?

A. The F22A6 engine was only found on certain models. The 1991 Accord SE, the 1992 Accord EX-R, the 1993 Accord EX/SE, and I believe all the accord station wagons years 91-93.

*The following questions provided by my brother.*

Q. Did you have any problems?

A. In the end, no. At first some of the bolts were hard to find and hard to remove. I forgot to reattach some of the vacuum hoses, and at the end I had some extra bolts. But I found out what they went to and all was well.

Q. Why should I do it?

A. To tune-up and enhance your engine.

Q. Is there anything I should be worried about if I do it?

A. I suggest you drain and refill your coolant, because when you remove parts they will leak coolant anyway. Be careful not to over tighten and/or snap bolts. Support the car properly. Don’t let it frustrate you too much. Don’t spend too much money! Go in expecting no change/results, that way it will make you happy not mad! The reason I say that is because the changes weren’t huge, you’re not adding a supercharger here. But they help and that’s why you should be doing it. Several other people reported idle problems after messing with the intake manifold. I had some at first but they were due to user error, and I've fixed them.

Q. What do I do with the old parts?

A. I don’t know sell them!

Q. WWJD?

A. He would do it.

Q. What would Bryan Boitano do?

A. I think he’s dead.

Feel free to ask more questions that haven’t been covered, and be sure to visit www.cb7tuner.com I bought my manifold from f22a on accordtuner.com, after searching for one at a decent price for about a month. I had bought the plenum and throttle body from a CB7 member about a month before. I cleaned all the parts before installing. I found that carb cleaner is really the only option when it comes to cleaning the oil, grease, and carbon build-up off of parts. Before that I used 409, fantastic, engine degreaser, and considered oven cleaner. None of them really helped at all. Carb cleaner is t3h sh!t. That’s why I bought so much.

**accordaffair** · 03-22-2005, 02:11 AM

The essential parts you need are

1. The F22A6 plenum
2. The bypass valve assembly
3. The F22A6 throttle body (EDIT: The throttle body is NOT essential, it is the same as the f22a1's so you can reuse your old one)
4. The F22A6 Intake Manifold

The parts I didn’t have at the time, but you’ll need eventually to do it right are

-The IAB control box

-A PT6 ecu (5-speed or auto)

-Possibly an a6 intake manifold support bracket, you may be able to just rig that though. (EDIT: The support bracket isn't essential really, but you may warp the Intake manifold over time if you don't buy a new one. Buy an F22A6 Intake Manifold Support Bracket and it will bolt right up. Honda Automotive Parts link Go to this website and buy part number 16 "Stay, IN. Manifold" and you might as well buy 2 #50's (bolts) as well, though you can reuse your old bolts.

(EDIT: See above, please.) When I finished I found that the intake manifold support bracket wasn’t long enough so I’ll need to remedy that. It seems to be about 1-1/2 inches too short.

When you buy the manifold, the parts should all come together as one piece. I suppose it depends on whom you buy from. On top of that, you’ll need gaskets. The one between the plenum and valves, the one between the valves and the body, and the one between the IM body and the engine block came as a set. You’ll also need the throttle body gasket. I bought an EGR gasket, but when I disassembled the EGR I found there was no previous gasket. I suppose it’s not necessary, but I applied it anyway. Hey why waste my own money?

It took me a day to prep, and a day to do it. The first day I went out and bought all the stuff I needed.

I also used the first day to clean up everything and do the EGR port cleaning. To clean it, carb clean the sh!t out of it. For the EGR ports, I used a 3/16” metal drill bit. I tried to drill through half way so I could reuse them, but I found that the slide hammers screw threading was too wide to get a good grip on the caps. It could only get about 2 threads on it, and when I tried to pull it out it just ripped some metal but didn’t pull the plug. I decided in the end that I would have to drill through it completely to get the correct grip.

They are quite small, shown here next to a penny.

Here's the ports drilled through, don't push one through like my first one!

The procedure I carried out was to drill through completely. Be careful not to let the drill bit go too far or it will drill into the manifold. Aluminum is soft! I then used the screw you see on the slide hammer to thread into the port cap. I used the hammer to knock it loose, and then pull it up and out. Be careful not to knock it too far or it will be a pain to get out. I know because I did that to the first cap! After they’re up and out you will be able to see into the EGR ports.

They will most likely be a mess. I wondered how the EGR could ever even function with such clogging.

I used a paper clip to dig out some of it since I was inside the house at the time, but it would be best to go outside and use carb cleaner as well. Don’t use it inside huffer! You'll probably get carbon deposits all over the carpet like I did, so do it outside or on tile or something (!)

I carb cleaned them the next day. When you’re satisfied, it’s time to put the caps back. If you have replacement caps bust them out. I didn’t cuz Honda had to order them. *Sigh* The guy didn’t even know what they were. Here’s a break down of the conversation between me and the Honda parts guy.

Me: “I need some EGR service port caps for a 93 accord wagon intake manifold.” (I used that because it’s not for my car’s manifold, I was trying to be sure it was the a6 manifold)

Him:?? *blank stare*

Him: *pause* “I thought only the v6 accords had an EGR.”

Me: *Thinking “Wtf is he talking about? Haven’t all Honda’s used EGR since like the 80’s”* “I’m doing an EGR port cleaning and need these replacement plugs” *gives him the Honda number*.

Him: Where did you get this from? I don’t think they exist. *Looks all through his computer…minutes pass*

Him: No, there’s no such thing. *I ensure him they are real*

Him: *Getting frustrated, looks some more*

Him: *Scribbles the exact number I gave him* “Is this the part?”

Me: Yes.

Him: We don’t have it; I’ll have to order it. You have to pay now cuz we don’t trust you with $1.88 worth of parts. If you don’t come back for them we’ll go bankrupt.

Ok, that last part is half-truth

but I did have to pay for them and they’ll be ready the 14th. But that wasn’t going to stop me, I wasn’t waiting anymore. So on the way home I stopped by Wal-Mart and got some high pressure/high temp epoxy. I filled the old caps about half way with epoxy and let it cure.

Note: The egr cap in the bottom-right of this picture is an oddball. It's larger than the other six, you'll have to reuse it if you take it out, because the caps from Honda are only big enough for the 6 smaller egr ports. They don't have that one available to order as far as I know.

**accordaffair** · 03-22-2005, 02:13 AM

I then put the caps in and used the slide hammer to knock them down level with the manifold.

You can see that seventh egr port cap on the left side of the manifold in this picture.

Be careful not to tap too hard when it meets the manifold or you’ll dent up the aluminum. I was done with the cleaning, so now begins the procedure. Remember I’m doing a coolant drain, manifold swap, coolant refill, and oil/filter change in that order. Get a good catch pan for the coolant because there’s a pretty good amount in there. I used a Rubbermaid storage bin. Raise the car and put the pan under the radiator. Open the radiator cap on the top to let it breathe.

There’s a drain plug at the bottom, it looks a bit like a black plastic wing nut. There’s a square hole in the bottom of the bumper at the underside of the car to access it.

Now I realized that in order to unscrew the drain plug I basically have to have my hand right under the drain hole, so I got some tubing and put it on the hole. I just used some tubing I had left from when I did my brake bleeding.

At first there were a bunch of air bubbles in the fluid, I was thinking “That’s not good.” I realized later that I just had to open the drain plug more and open up the flow better.

After allowing it to drain completely I wanted to drain the reservoir too, but it’s kind of blocked by the battery. I removed the battery and the battery tray, and set them aside. The reservoir will slide up and out of the metal holder on its left side. I drained it and hosed it out, then set it aside. I also ran some water through the radiator with the garden hose. Just enough to where the fluid you’re draining goes clear. This will flush the radiator out. Leave the catch pan under the engine, you’ll probably be leaking until this is all done. You should probably remove your air intake system too. It will give you the room you need to work.

All those parts on the intake manifold can be reused. Remove all the vacuum hoses you see attached to it. I would suggest you label each hose and keep the bolts in order. I didn’t and had to basically guess. Luckily I got it right….at least I think I did…I disassembled each piece one at a time.

Here’s a picture after the plenum was removed. I removed the fuel rail and the injectors too. Before you remove the fuel rail go to the gas tank cap and open it. Set it on the trunk. Opening it will help relieve the pressure in the fuel system. This way when you remove the rail it won’t keep dumping fuel all over the place. I only lost a couple teaspoons of fuel, if that. After the rail is out the injectors will just pull out. Check the condition of the injector gaskets (more like o-rings) if they are in good condition you may as well reuse them. I reused mine since my old ones looked fine. It’s suggested that all gaskets/o-rings/washers be replaced when you disassemble anything though. Remember there are eight gaskets at the end of the injectors where they meet the head, four soft, rubbery ones and four hard plastic ones; one of each for each injector. When you have the injectors out clean them as well. Wipe them off (don’t touch the little injector port though! You don’t want to damage it!) and use carb cleaner on them and the holes where they meet the head. Not too much just spray some on a paper towel and wipe the edges out. You’ll see carbon build up where the fuel spray hits the walls, just wipe it away. Remove the old intake manifold by unscrewing the bolts where it meets the head. I believe there are 9 bolts to remove. The top four can be reached from above but the bottom five will require you to climb under the car. Reach your arm up past the axle and work those little buggers. Careful not to round off the bolt heads! The two on the far right (when looking from under the car, the two closest to the thermostat) will be somewhat hidden from view. At this point I removed the thermostat assembly to get to them. I know its difficult to get bolts off the engine, you only get a couple inches to get in there and turn them. If you have ratchet-ended wrenches this is where they would be useful, but I didn't. Once you are certain you have removed all the bolts, take a rubber mallet and tap it loose. It shouldn’t take much force, you may be able to just pull it off. If it isn’t giving, you haven’t removed all the bolts! Double check your work. Remember to remove all the old gaskets, you can’t reuse them! Get all the material off first, then apply the new intake manifold gasket. Put that bad boy on and hand tighten the bolts first, enough so it will stay put. Then tighten them down in a sort of star-pattern to ensure an even seal. Start with the top left bolt, then the bolt furthest from it, bottom right, and so on. If you can torque them down, tighten them to 16 ft-lbs. I found with the size of my torque wrench I could only measure one on top. I torqued it properly, then used a wrench to feel how tight it was. I tightened all the others accordingly. Apply one of the gaskets to go between the manifold and the valves. Apply the other on top of that, then put the plenum on. Bolt it down. Apply the throttle gasket and put the throttle on.

From here it’s just reattaching everything. If you labeled everything it should be pretty straightforward, if not you’ll be guessing by lining things up and just using your judgment. Double/triple check that all hoses are attached and clamped. Check that everything is bolted down. Is everything tightened? Are any electrical connectors not in place? Is anything just hanging around, like not in place? Do you have any extra bolts? I had a couple because the bolts that bolt the plenum down are of different lengths so you won’t be able to reuse them. Those should be the only extra ones! Oh and that darn IM support bracket bolt I have!

**accordaffair** · 03-22-2005, 02:15 AM

Put your coolant reservoir back and reattach the hoses.

You may as well clean off you battery tray, mines looking a mess. The reservoir is number one. It slides into that brown metal piece on its left. Reattach the battery tray, and put your intake back in.

I want to add that since I didn’t have the IAB and pt6 ecu that my valves would be stuck open. I would rather have them closed until I get all the parts, so I took some wire and wrapped it around the lever to tie it down in the closed position. Their position with no vacuum is open. (EDIT: see below in the Updates)

Is everything peachy? Good. Refill the radiator with new fluid. Use already mixed 50/50 or buy straight coolant and mix your own if you’re the weird type that claims “It’s ridiculous to pay for water, I can add my own…..durp”. Top it off and fill the reservoir to the ‘max’ line. Leave the drain pan because you may have leaks. I had two because I forgot two hoses. Whoops. I just attached them and clamped them down. Look under the car for about 10 seconds or so just to make sure there are none.

Do not leave the coolant out in the open and be sure to wash away any messes. Animals will try to drink it and it will KILL them. I had a cat that drank a neighbor’s antifreeze and died of kidney failure. It was a very painful thing to see her suffer and bear the pain until we put her down. It is not something I would want any animal to have to go through.

So your battery is reattached and everything is back in place, yes? Make sure now, don’t rush it, this is your car we’re talking about. It is? Put the gas cap back on. Get in and turn the key to the last click BEFORE ignition. You should hear things like the fuel pump getting fuel ready. Do this about three times (bringing the key from off and out to the last click before ignition) Now take the key out and get out of the car. Check for leaks. Especially fuel leaks. You don’t want that around a sparking engine! This is to ensure you put the fuel rail back on right and tight. There should be no leaks. If you are confident that all is well, get back in and crank it on. Did it start? All is good in my life WOOHOO! I was so glad it started when I was done. The whole time, I was thinking….its so dead now. But it started up a beauty. Don’t touch anything yet. Let the ecu readjust and relearn. Let it idle until it reaches normal temperature. I just wait until it reaches and stays at the halfway point, as that’s pretty much normal running temperature for me. Hopefully all will be well for you. I had some minor changes in idle speed. I later found out it was due to a vacuum leak. (See updates for more information) So shut down the engine. That part is done. Time for SEAFOAM! Get a funnel. Remove the brake booster line that attaches to the plenum. Remove it just before that white valve thingy.

Get your Seafoam ready and go start the car. Now the car will be mad at you! It will rev erratically, going up and down repeatedly. Start pouring the Seafoam slowly into the funnel. You will hear the engine howl at you! Have the ever snorted water up your nose? You wouldn’t like it either! But its all for the better. You will start to stall the engine if you pour too much at once. Put in 1/3 of the 1 pint bottle (1/3 pint). You can measure it out but I just guesstimated. Turn off the car. It needs to sit 5 minutes now, so remove the funnel and reattach the brake booster line. Put the line back into its little bracket if you took it off. Take the rest of the bottle and funnel it into the gas tank.

You can instead add half of what’s left over to the oil but I decided not to this time around. So five minutes has passed? Start her back up and let her clear her throat a bit. Go for a little drive. Don’t worry if you’re spitting white smoke from the exhaust, that’s normal. When you get back, check for leaks, and check the coolant level. It may need a bit more after sending it throughout the engine and such. That’s about it, it’s suggested to do it every other oil change or so. Just do it whenever you think you need a cleaning out. If you have a dirty engine it will dump a lot of carbon into the oil. If you recently changed your oil it will go from honey to tar! Well maybe not so drastic but you’ll probably see it change pretty dramatically. So it’s best to do it before you plan to do an oil change. That way you’ll get those toxins out and refill with fresh oil. Which is what I did the next day! Hurhurrr! I bought a fram filter, a 5 quart bottle of synthetic, which is important because I’m switching! I’ve always used dino oil in the past. I had heard that it will make your car leak oil. My mechanic said no, and I figured I’d give it a shot. It was $20 for a 5 quart bottle. Also I bought new crush washers. I’d suggest you replace them at every oil change. It will help prevent leaking from the drain bolt and they’re cheap so just do it! Raise your car up and put the collection pan under the sump.

Open up the oil fill cap to let it breathe properly. That way the oil won’t go ‘glug glug’ when it comes out, it will just pour…..smoothly. And it won’t splash you as much.

1. Location of the oil drain bolt.
2. The oil filter, which I'm changing as well.

Look at how dark that t-rex lubricant is! Let it drain well, give it a couple minutes, you want all the oil on the inside walls to work its way down. Like waiting for ketchup to work its way down the bottle. Wiggle the car side-to-side to convince it a bit. At this point since I have a 5 quart bottle and the car only takes 4 quarts, I pour about half a quart through while its draining to help flush it a bit better. There's no need to buy an extra quart to do it, especially at synthetic prices, but if you have extra and you need the bottle to store the old stuff then, why not? Pour some and watch for the fluid to change colors as the new oil finds its way to the drain. Ok now get your new filter, and your filter/strap wrench, and crawl under there. Position the catch pan so it will catch the oil that will come out when you remove the filter. There’s about 1/8-1/4 quart in the filter.

**accordaffair** · 03-22-2005, 02:16 AM

The catch pan I have has a notch to hold the filter, place it open side down on the pan so it will drain. Let it drain while you get the new filter. Dip your finger in the new oil and lube up the seal on the new filter.

Can you see the bolt where the old filter was? Try this pic…

Thread you new filter on correctly. You DO NOT want to cross thread that so focus if you’re the light headed type. It will slip on and thread very easily when you do it right. It has a fine thread on it and it’s a good inch to inch and a half long so it will take quite a few turns to bring it flush. HAND tighten it. DON’T use the filter/strap wrench to tighten it. JUST hand tight is all that’s necessary.

Get your crush washers out. You may need to pry the old one off, as it may be hugging tight to the bolt. I used a screw driver and pry’d it up all around the edge a bit at a time until it came free. The guy at Bennett auto supply said Honda suggests you use aluminum washers. As opposed to steel, copper, plastic, rubber, whatever. The old one looked like aluminum so it’s probably correct. Put the new one on and thread the drain bolt back on finger tight. Don’t cross thread this either! You don’t want to have to buy a new sump do you? No is the answer, not if you don’t have to. Use your fingers to ‘feel’ the thread ‘through’ the bolt. You know the procedure. Get your torque wrench and torque it down to 32 ft-lbs. Don’t over tighten it, you don’t wanna strip that sh!t. Get up and stick a funnel in the oil fill hole. (If you have the one quart bottles you likely won’t have use for a funnel, because they can fit right in that hole, but I’m using a 5-quart bottle which won’t, and I don’t want to make a mess.)

Put in 4 quarts. Check the dipstick. It should be between to two holes in the stick. Put the cap back on and put the car back on the ground. If you’re like me you’ll want to reset the ECU to learn the new engine habits, if any. But I tend to want to reset the ECU for just about any change. Let the car warm up, and as it does check for any leaks. Leaks, leaks, leaks, that’s all we do is look for leaks, do something, look for leaks, blah blah, but you don’t want leaks! Take the car for a test drive. I noticed a big difference versus the oil I had in there. It wasn’t too old but I had used Lucas oil additive. That stuff is thick like honey, and it seemed to have made the engine do more work. Like pulling your legs through a swamp versus through a pool. I’m sure the Lucas helps coat the engine better but this oil change was the most dramatic out of the say 3 I’ve done. Not necessarily better though because I don’t do any highway driving, which is where thinner oil is suggested. I do a lot of short distance driving (stop and go but not heavy) and a thicker oil is suggested in that case. So this may even shorten the engine life! I’ll decide at the next oil change if I want to go thicker. The end.

**accordaffair** · 03-22-2005, 02:17 AM

What's past is prologue...

So am I satisfied with the swap? Yes, in fact I am. Very satisfied the engine started! Seriously though, it feels like a different car. I�d say it feels like driving someone else's car. That�s probably the best way to describe the immediate reaction to the difference. It warms up a bit faster now. If we assume it takes 2 minutes to reach midlevel (normal running temp) which it doesn�t but lets just use it as a benchmark, then I�d say its about 10-15 seconds shaved off. The new coolant is more efficient I�m sure. The old stuff was kind of dark (for coolant) and less opaque than the new stuff. So far I haven�t had any leaks. No the oil�s not leaking! So at least for me the switch to synthetic has not led to leaks. Yet. I�ll update with new information when I get it. I�m convinced that I can filter out and feel the effect of the EGR cleaning. It runs �clean. It just feels..cleaner. The engine revs with less hesitation, the car accelerates with less hesitation. When I test drove it after the swap, I was accelerating with very little pressure on the pedal, keeping it in low revs, and�.the hard shifting was no longer there! Of course it returned after I returned to my normal style of driving. But it�s not AS HARD as before. So, some change under normal revving. I will be able to report more accurately after a month or so of driving, as that�s about how long it took to be able to discuss how the car had actually changed after my CAI install. And I still have more stuff to add to complete this a6 install. IAB and pt6 ecu, huzzah! I also need to study the IM support bracket issue. About the epoxy�d EGR plugs�I don�t know if I�m up to swapping them immediately. They seem to hold up pretty decent with the epoxy. I�ll think it over.

**accordaffair** · 03-22-2005, 02:18 AM

Updates

I fixed my idle issue. I had thought I needed to adjust my idle and FITV valves, but it turned out to just be a vacuum leak. You see, when I bought my a6 manifold it didn't come with bolts. The original a1 manifold's bolts were too short, of course. I called Honda, but AS USUAL they didn't have them, and to order them you have to go down there and pay first. Doesn't that sound like BS? A place that fixes cars doesn't have bolts? Anyway, I'd then have to drive all the way back there when they come in. That's a big 9-er buddy. I decided at least for the time being, I would go to a hardware store and buy an appropriate bolt. Its a metric M8-1.25, about 2.5 to 3 inches long. I needed three. When I installed the manifold, it only had two nuts to hold it down. It need 5 total, but I figured "That's good enough, right?" Wrong. It left a small gap, enough to create a vacuum leak. It wasn't a catastrophic difference, but it was still incorrect. It had an erratic, higher idle and had abnormally higher torque. How much higher? Well I had it in drive, and pulled up the E-brake. When I let off the foot brake, the car still pulled forward, so it was stronger than the e-brake. That is not how it acted normally, even though my e-brake isn't very tight. With the leak, the car also had more 'growl' and a bit more 'go'. Those are usually plusses, but if its due to a leak its a bad thing. Now that I put the bolts on and torqued them down, the car is acting like it did before the swap. Well, idle wise anyway. So that problem is fixed!

B = New bolts I put in

N = original nuts that were installed during swap

S = Solenoid for the bypass valves

If you can see it, I put a red line over the vacuum hose that runs from the solenoid to the port on the plenum. Hopefully that way you'll be able to see it.

I took the advice I got on www.cb7tuner.com, and ran a vacuum hose from the solenoid to a port on the plenum. I used a leftover vacuum hose from when I swapped out my stock air box. I had a couple left over, good for me! When the engine is running, there is a vacuum in the manifold. The solenoid can use that to shut the bypass valves. Pretty clever, eh? And I'm told that around 4700 rpm or so, the vacuum drops and the valves will open. I haven't tested this for myself, but I do know that the vacuum is sufficient to close them. I just haven't revved on it enough to get them to open.

Update: I never confirmed the vacuum hose to manifold solution even opens the valves, and I wasn't satisfied with it. After hearing an idea from a cb7 member I took the Intake Air control valve leftover from my CAI install and used it as a temporary IAB. I ran some wires from the plug, which is by the left headlight and ran it back by the butterfly solenoid, I just set the valve assembly in some open space under the hood, I didn't attach it to the chassis anywhere. I hooked up some leftover vacuum hoses and started the car. By manipulating the throttle with my hand I confirmed that it will open the valves. Woohoo! Although I can't tell when because I can't see the tach from under the hood...but supposedly the intake control valve opens at 3500. To me that's too low and sacrifices your torque, but it's a temporary solution.

Hmmmmm, about these replacement EGR caps...I don't like them. Why couldn't they just have left them like the old, original ones? Not only are they ugly, but how am I supposed to remove these for cleaning?

As you can see they're bowl shaped...bleh. I'll keep thinking them over. The old ones are epoxy'd and they seem pretty good as they are to me. It seems that if I drill through these they won't be thick enough for the screw on the slide hammer to grip. I'd probably have to find/make a new contraption to remove them. Another cb7 member mentioned the same thing in a post, I'm not sure if he used them, but I don't think he cared for them either.

Summary:

***Problem: Idle problem

**Cause: Vacuum leak due to not bolting manifold down entirely.

*Solution: Bought M8-1.25 bolts and bolted rest of manifold down.

***Problem: Bypass valves need control

**Cause: Haven't installed pt6 ecu / iab control unit

*Solution: (Temporary) Attach solenoid to plenum using vacuum hose.

*Alternate Solution: (Temporary) Use Intake Air control Valve as an IAB.

***Problem: EGR caps are unsatisfactory

**Cause: Poo design by Honda

*Solution: For now I'll leave the old, epoxy'd caps in place.

**r0gergcm** · 03-24-2005, 07:20 PM

And I'm told that around 4700 rpm or so, the vacuum drops and the valves will open. I haven't tested this for myself, but I do know that the vacuum is sufficient to close them. I just haven't revved on it enough to get them to open.

yes it does open them.. im not sure if it's 4700 rpm but this method works and is what I am using until i can locate an IAB

**accordaffair** · 03-25-2005, 12:41 AM

I think maurico might have another one, I just bought one from him, but haven't put it on yet.

Yeah, using the vacuum hose method, I never could confirm visually that it worked, that's why I was focused on replacing it. Using the idle air control method, I could confirm for myself that they opened. Now with the IAB I should be able to use them as they were intended by design.

**accordztech** · 03-27-2005, 11:42 PM

this deserves a bump! job well done. i wish i was still a mod so i can put it under the f22a6 faq

**accordaffair** · 03-28-2005, 12:04 AM

Thanks, I'm sure it would show up if anyone were to search the "key phrases", assuming they search in the first place

. Anyway, I just finished up wiring up the IAB with the PT6 ECU, so that should be added to it soon.

**starchland** · 04-03-2005, 04:02 PM

nice write up

**SoySauceCb7** · 04-03-2005, 04:27 PM

holy DAM you are a beast with yoru camera and typing dam you crazy man!!!!

**bruno8747** · 04-04-2005, 11:54 PM

Nice Wirte up. I have a question on the a6 manifold. Is there any way for you to know when the valves are open. I seen that you can hook up a light to show when vtec is on and I am assuming that you can do the same with the a6 manifold. Is there anyway?

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ENG:F22a6 intake manifold swap; coolant refresh; seafoam job; oil/filter change #2

ENG:F22a6 intake manifold swap; coolant refresh; seafoam job; oil/filter change #2

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