project engine 90 accord ex

[alb_accord]

hi i am new in this forum so if i am in the wrong place let me say sorry right now.
ok i just swaped a 92 f22a accord dx engine in my 90 accord ex and hopefuly idid a good job and the engine is ok(hope no oil burns.)but now i have the old accord ex engine out<< what should i do with it. let me tell u some of its problems
its a 90 f22a accord ex engine. it has 150k in it. i bought it when it had 100k. but 2 years later that sh*t kept breaking the exaust valve on #! piston. it did it with two different head engines. someone at honda-tech told me that it might be the rods. so i am deciding to rebuild it<<<<<< what u think should i do it???
what i need to know from u guys are?
1. i need to know why my engine kept breaking the exaust vavle(timing was ok)
2.i will be doing all the fixing from my house so i need to know where to begin and what to look for while i am doing this. whatever u guys have to say just say it and i will try to do it,,,pic will help(no experience with engine rebuilding.)
3.whatever i need to know about the f22a engines(90-93 accords) like the weak parts or whatever just tell me about it. any hints or whatever i need to know while i am doing it. even the most stupid shit that anyone should know just say it(it will remmind me)
pic pic pic since i am a beginer in engine rebuilding please post pic so i know what u guys are talking about(i am not good with names)
hopefuly i get more answers here becouse i didn't get a whole lot on other forums.
please keep this post going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MRX]

Guess i'll give it a shot. First welcome to the forum . Now onto your questions, the timing is the only thing i could think of that would bend valves twice, maybe incorrect installation of the head or valve train could have been a problem but thats something that you'd have to go more in depth on like were you racing and they bent or were u idling, you description was more than vague please elaborate. The best thing you can do for learning how to build an engine is reading...no not the forum, we can only help you out so much. Buy engine building books, blueprinting books, various honda engine books and then come back to us after you've read and learned everything your brain can handle. Most of the important work (sleeving, Porting & Polishing, angle jobs, balancing, i.e.) have to be done at a shop. The amount of tools you'd need to do everything out of your house would surprise you. The prices will suprise you even more. The weakest part of the f22a IMO is the rods, the pistons hold up fine and so do the sleeves. There are plenty of others but you really have to be more specific and learn the names of the engine parts. Theres alot of reading you have to do, study other ppl's setups and ask specific questions because yours are very very broad and thats probably why no one ever answers your posts

[alb_accord]

thanks for the reply. that is what i am doing right now. i am reading the manual and i am serching the net to find out if anyone wrote anything about rebuilding a f22a 90-93 accord egine. i am opening the engine and see what't going on in there. that will give me some experience.
in the end if i can't make it,,,, there are a lot of people who would like parts or the whole engine. i don't wanna leave that engine at the junk jard. i probably give it to someone who is in the east coast.
thanks for the reply again

[HondaFan81]

What are your specific plans with this 90 EX engine(ie. rebuilding it to stock spec, all-motor performance, forced induction?)

I assume it's a F22a4, is it? What tranny you have with it?

About the exhaust valve, assuming your timing it set right like you stated and that the engine internals and cylinder head/valvetrain are all stock. I would lean toward your connecting rod bearing(s) being worn down enough that there was play in that cylinder(s), smacking the piston into the valve. But if that is so, why only the exhaust valve & not the intake as well?

Was your valvetrain setup correct? (especially on exhaust side..)

When you put a different cyl head on the 90 EX engine, you said it still bent/broke the exhaust valve...did you reuse the same camshaft in doing the replacement? I assume if you or anyone did the work, they'd notice if your camshaft was jacked up...this is prolly out there,but your exhaust lobes could be deformed somehow, but I've never heard of that on stock camshaft. Or the camshaft bearings are worn causing the valve throw to be off.

The camshaft in the original cyl head & replacement one...were they stock or aftermarket?


Hit us back with comments regarding what I said. I want to know more details.

[MRX]

great questions hondafan81, but alb you shouldn't be reading the manual as much as you should go to the book store and buy an engine building book or engine blueprinting book. There are books called "honda performance" and i also have one that has a 477 hp turbo b18 on the cover (can't remember the name). These books should be used to enlighten and formulize your own ideas and theories on engines. You don't necessarily have to take their word for everything (cause they'd probably tell you to get another car regardless). Just learn how things work and how to increase their performance. This isn't gonna be a week long process either...this is gonna take years to learn. I've only been studying engines for about a year and i've learned a great deal from asking mechanics, these guys on the forums, reading books, and digging around my own engine. So don't be hasty, learn your shit, and have a blast building the engine, which ever one you choose

[alb_accord]

oh cool replys. i knew i came to the right place.
my engine is stock. i didn't do anything in the car since i bought it.
from what i learned my engine is a f22a (90 honda accord ex) if it is a f22a1 or f22a4 i have no idea.
i was looking at a website (howstuffworks) and i saw the way that the engine was working and i came to the same conclusion as hondafan81(might be the road bearing)
when i bought my second head i didn't use any parts from he old head engine. all the parts from the second head were all stock. when i bought the second head i didn't mess with any of the vavles so i don't know if the vavletrain was set up correct or not.
MORE IMPORTANT what i forgat to tell u guys.
MY ENGINE always broke the exaust valve everytime i came out of the highway.
it happent to me first when i got of interstate 95 and i was doing about 70-75 mph. The second time it did it to my bro but i am not sure how fast was he going but i think he wasn't going more than 70 mph.
so what do u guys think???????
thanks again for the replys

[MRX]

I can't really comment on the rod bearings but you should have a f22a4 engine...look near the starter and there should be stamp right by the little rubber piece that covers the flywheel assembly. Clean that up and you should be able to see the f22a4 code. glad to have you with us just do lots of reading and remember to search b4 every question because most have already been answered

[HondaFan81]

So your 2nd cyl head was complete in itself and fully stock. Well, by deduction it seems the problem most likely lies in your engine block somewhere or improper installation.

I'm still going with the connecting rod bearing theory because you can't see it by removing the cyl head, it's located in the engine block that's been constant throughout this ordeal & if gone bad will affect your piston throw possibly hitting your exhaust valve(s). Maybe by engine design, our exhaust valves would get hit first before intake...I'm not sure on that.

Questions:

Who installed the 2nd cylinder head & did the miscellaneous labor involved?

When the cyl head was pulled off, anything odd noticed in viewing the block from the top? (ie. piston cocked?)

How many exhaust valves broke each time?

[alb_accord]

i did the instalation myself. there were a couple of guys who supervised me. one of them finished a tech school about cars. when i took the head off i didn't see anything odd with the block or the cylinder. everything was ok as it should. before instalation of the new head i just cleaned everything with with a clothe and carosene.
there is only one vavle getting broken all the time. i haven't actualy seen the second head but i am preaty sure that it is the same valve. i am driving tomorrow just to get the engine and bring it to my house so i can begin to find out what went wrong with this last one.
one more thing.
i drove around with only 3 cylinders for a while. did it do any major damage to the car???? (when the valve broke). when it was very cold here the car didn't have any difficulties to start in the morning.(three cylinders working only)
and
before the vavle broke<<<<<< when i started the car in the morning i was going to smoke the whole block for 1 min. after than no more smoke. it did this everymorning when it was cold.
after i broke the vavle it didn't smoke in the morning like before(conclusin #1 piston ring is fucked right????? might that have anything to do with the vavle????????
thanks again for the replies guys

[alb_accord]

anyone else. come on help me out here

[Jarrett]

Those are pretty much all the theories we can help you with right now. We won't know anything else until you take your motor down. When you take your motor down look at all of the roda and main bearings. Don't excuse any damage as being "oh that's not THAT bad", because it is. Check for any part that has cracks, bends or anything of that nature. It will need to be replaced during reassembly. I'd use genuine Honda parts during reassembly. Although expensive, you know that the tolerances on those parts are exact. I know that the head is probably not the problem because the same problem happened with two different heads but you may want to consider rebuilding the head as well. No point in leaving it alone now and throwing it on top of a fresh block. Let us know what you find when you take down the motor and we can go from there.

[h22sparkle]

Exactly how much did you spend on this engine ex of yours. Cause if it was like 500 that could have went to a h-series swap.

[alb_accord]

ok so i am putting the finishing touches on my new engine(used one) and i waned to open the old one at this place where i swaped the other engine. so i asked this guy who is supposed to be a good mechanic and here is what he told me:
"the rod nuts or the rod itself probably has been consumed a little bit on the #1 piston arm. then everytime i go in the hight way or accelerate fast the piston would go up faster thet it should and hittting that exause valve" then i asked why only one why both of the exaust vavles. he said" because the piston ring is fucked up in that #1 piston and that acutaly fuckes up the jurney of the piston leading to hit only one valve." and as u guys said i have to open the motherfucker engine and verify this idea. but since i used to drive this engine only with 3 pistons for a while he said that it's not RECOMENDET to rebuild this engine because working only with 3 cilinder would have fucked the whole engine. so what do u think about this last one. is he right.
all my costs for the new engine or the heads that i bought before are as follow
1. 1 head engine----$125
2. new engine $250
3. distributor $75
4. labor $300
all-----------------------
$750
as h22sparkle said i probably should have gone with a h series swap. but since 7 months ago i didn't have any idea forums like this existed or swaps or whatever might be done to my car i just went on buying new heads and putting money for nothing on my car. but anyway at least i learned a lot about honda engines. lol

[MRX]

lol...i don't think the engine is toast quite yet. The cylinder walls maybe be but if u get it sleeved and honed, with new pistons and rods you won't have that problem again i'd suppose. The only way the engine is worthless is if the block has a crack in it. If the sleeves are just messed up then there is still hope.

[alb_accord]

how much will all of what u told me cost me??????