Cylinder head welding

has anyone ever had this done? and what were the results? and where did you get it done if close to NY state or PA?

why reweld it theres like a million civic heads laying around the us. im sure everyone has a spare or 2.

I think he's talking about welding in material into the combustion chamber to increase compression, not a repair job.

exactly.. adding "quench" area to the combustion chamber... compression is just a side effect... but I want to reshape the combustion chambers in this head.. if I can, and it's somewhat cost effective.

I think instead of going through all the crap to get it welded, I'll just clay the combustion chamber and send the clay cast to someone to make some pistons from it.

I can get a set of pistons forged for just over $200 USD.

ahh i see well doing that is something ive ever typically heard of. most people up there compression with flat valves and domed pistons or well some kind of high compression piston. i dont think welding is cost effective unless you cant affort to pull the motor or rebuild it ect.

well, I'll explain this to you, but you'll think I'm crazy.. have you ever looked at a Y8 head?

If you use a Y8 head, and Y8 pistons, you can stick them in a Y7 block, get like 12:1 compression, and it will still run fine on 89 octane... with the Y8 ECU... the reason for that, is the "quench area" in the head... the pistons match up to it, which effectively "pushes" the air/fuel mixture into the center of the combustion chamber, meaning that you can effectively run higher compression, taking advantage of the "free octane" that the quench area provides...

The purpose of welding the head was to get more "quench" area, then have pistons made to match it... problem is, there isn't much space that you can add the area to that will actually not deter airflow, so it's basically a give/take equation in this head.

Instead, what I'll do is clay the head, and have a piston maker forge me a set of pistons that almost perfectly match the head casting, except for the area just at the top of the dome.. I'll have that flattened out, that will provide adequate quench area to run high compression (12:1 or higher), and make it easier to tune a fuel curve for it using 87 octane..

I know, I'm insane, and this will never work...:screwy::screwy::screwy:

But, when it does, I'll make sure to completely document the build, so everyone can copy it.:smokin:

well its always good to watch some one pioneer this kidna stuff. ive never heard of this so its new to me.

I understand the concept you're theorizing. But to save you some grief and money you should really find a d16a1 (89 integra) and pull the p29 pistons. These pistons can be put into a d16 (or d15) and up the compression from the stock 9.1:1 cr to 11.5:1+ cr. I know this because I had an engine built this way. I used 93 octane with an ignition system with a main and secondary trigger and 8.5mm wires and +2* cam timing on a regrind. The car was never dynoed because it burned oil so I never felt the need to spend the money for that. But the low end torque was no slouch. Anyway, I tried 89 octane once and there was some pinging so I syphoned it out and put 93 back in. That engine was so nice. It was a sad day when the dizzy failed and the engine blew, catching the whole exhaust on fire and the bottom of the car, essentially burning off the undercoating and filling the car with smoke. I just ditched the engine because it was so depressing. But what was more depressing was giving up the p29 pistons I could've used in my new d16a6 I replaced the blown engine with. Anyway, be careful dude. You don't want to end up with a burning car in a church parking lot like I did. :lol:

Oh, wait, did you say something about a '89 D16A1? Hrm... it seems that the head I'm trying to get welded IS a D16A1 head... 43.8 in the CC's bud.. no dice on upping compression like that w/ stock pistons.. I'm going to try to use F-series rods @ 141mm-145mm length and some really small custom pistons to get the compression I need/want. :D

Figure 212mm Deck height, (crank centerline to deck)
141-145mm rods
90mm stock stroke
then I just need to have piston package made to fit in the remaining space.

Ugh! p29 pistons in a D16A6
p29 pistons in the d16a1 (stock 89 integra engine) are useless. You can do all that work on that dohc and make maybe as much as a d16z6 or d15b
OR
You can take the p29 pistons and put them in an Si sohc non-vtec d16a6 (sohc non-vtec zc) and have almost as much hp as a stock b16 with no vtec and one cam...

Or, I don't have to do alot of work to it, short of welding the head, which I'm not going to do, and spend the same money I would have spent before on upgraded parts, except w/o the purchase price of a base engine to start with.

BTW, do you know anyone that wants a Z6 w/ like 4-5 extra solenoids? Friend has it, doesn't want it anymore.

Rods will only cost me about $8 bucks each for whatever rods I want, as long as they're stock pieces.

It would actually be closer to my original plan to use all stock pieces if I could find a piston that very closely mirrors the combustion chambers, instead of taking clay molds and having something made... problem is that I have to start checking compression height of each piston, b/c of the R/S ratio that I wanna keep, and the rods that I wanna use on a 90mm crank. (1.65 - 1.75) Although from the OEM, it's only 1.58.

And BTW, the A1 and ZC ARE THE SAME ENGINE. The only reason teh ZC is mo' betta is b/c it has more compression, making slightly more power, and bolts right into a 4g, where the A1 has slightly diff front mount and trans bolt pattern... neither is a problem.
I can have anywhere between 11:1 and 13:1 or higher, depending on what parts I wanna put into it. Since I already have the engine, and it's not THAT hard to put into a 4g, there's no real reason not to do it, and it's not like Im looking to make 300+ HP from it, although that would be nice... I'm looking for more low-end actually.

I want the torque peak around 2k RPM... and the HP between 4-5k if I can get it there, but the TQ peak is more important to me... and I have a HF tranny, so I have the gearing to make it move, even if the redline is 6k, I can still hit the highway in 2nd gear :D

And BTW, the A1 and ZC ARE THE SAME ENGINE. The only reason teh ZC is mo' betta is b/c it has more compression, making slightly more power, and bolts right into a 4g, where the A1 has slightly diff front mount and trans bolt pattern... neither is a problem.

There is dohc zc that resembles the A1
AND
There is the sohc zc that is identical to the usdm A6 (with maybe 2 pts. higher cr ;-)

:useless:

lol

DOHC ZC... I won't touch a A6/ZC if you paid me.. I hate having only one cam as it is... why would I want less gas mileage, a slight high-end power increase, and to spend $600 for the same thing I have now?


I NEVER refer to the SOHC engine as a ZC, b/c it's not. Period. It's not.

In all the times it's been mentioned, I've NEVER seen someone actually post a pic of a SOHC engine w/ a ZC tag on the block, and until I SEE IT, it doesn't exist...

Foosh, it must be permanently worthless then... b/c there are no pics, I never got the head welded, and don't plan on it anymore, I have other things that will do exactly what I want them to do, and probably cost me less.