H22A Engine - Rebuild do's 'n don'ts, 'n a bag of chips.

[LudeLuxury]

Say, for one moment of your life you owned a 4th Gen. '95 Prelude SRV with the H22A1.. Yeah we're talking vtec. Sounds alright? Then, some punk ass methamphetamine addicted 15 year-old kid steals your car from infront of your acreage house. It gets better... Let us just say for informational purposes that it happened after you had finished a full synthetic oil-change. Your car had 136,000 Kilometers at the time of oilchange. And when you finally got word to come and pick your precious up from the local compound, you find that it has no oil in it. You note an additional 1500 kilometers on your odometer from when you parked it. The police officer tells you the kids admit to having it Red-Lined at excessive speeds out of province and back(Canada). To put aside all of this, as if it were not enough; your local (only)insurance agency is trying to bend you over the table and tell you to have a nice day at the same time... They want proof. Proof of 'mechanical failure or breakdown' of the components on your car that you feel are damaged. In short, this is what has happened to me and I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.
1)Keep the 'lude and fix it; attempting to have Insurance cover the damage. Which is: a)difficult shifting into first and fifth gear due to clutch or synchro's. b) Excessive engine noise, loss of power, loss of fuel economy, and vtec seems to have little or no effect.
Or 2)Price out a new engine and tranny and ask the agency to Total the car.
Guys.... I need your help, if you so wish to offer your valuble information.
If my mechanic shop opens the engine at my discretion, What Damage Will They Find? and If I decide to rebuild the engine myself, God damn it sounds like fun.... Let me elaborate a little more on Rebuilding a H22a1 -
HONDATUNING - "Overboring for more displacement is also out of the question since the sleeves are so lean. Even if you machine-off enough material to avoid breaking through to a water jacket, you still have to deal with the softer untreated metal under the fiber layer. For these reasons it is recommended that H22 sleeves never be bored or honed, always replaced." Is this TRUE?

How should I go about rebuilding this puppy (ther H22) and what are your suggestions from an insurance stance on things? This car was imaculate, never smoked in and lady driven, never been over the speed limit until in my possession. What constitutes damage if the engine still runs and the car is drivable? Especially on a VTEC H22, if 4 and a half litres of oil DISAPEAR, what most likely needs replacing?
- Thanks -

[drdisque]

I would get a mechanic to write up an estimate on repairing the transmission, go to somewhere expensive, like a Honda dealership, the check for that should cover rebuilding everything yourself.

And yes, the H22 should never be bored unless you have it resleeved, which is expensive.

[Moppie]

Ouch!

I would be concerned with why it has no oil in it, and also make that your main point to the insurance company, as its clear that the little bastards who stole it also tried to destroy it.

If it was run with no oil in it then the low oil pressure warning would have tripped the ECU into safe mode, which disables VTEC, and also lowers the redline.
Another thing to point out to the insurance company.

Based on that they should then authorise opening the engine up.
You would have the sump removed and the big and little end bearings checked, as well as the rocker cover removed, and the cams and cam bearings checked.
Any competent mechanic will be able to do this in half a day.

Damage to the gear box is hard to prove, and woudl require stripping it down.
However if they have damaged the engine then its a given they have also damaged the gear box.
And again any competent mechanic will be able to tell regular wear from abuse.


I doubt however the insurance company will pay for the engine to be rebuilt.
They will most likely just pay for a used engine and gear box.
Not a bad deal really, as the easiest source is from Japan, and an extra 20hp never hurt anybody.

Rebuidling it yourself is a more challangeing matter.
The Gearbox is actualy the simplest thing to rebuild, only needing a press, a torque wrench and some basic mechanical skills. Parts unforunatly are not cheap.
The engine will require previous experiance, all the right tools, and fair bit of time.
The only good news is you only need to rebore it if the bores are badly worn.
You should get away with just a simple hone.

[RandomTask]

Originally Posted by LudeLuxury

Say, for one moment of your life you owned a 4th Gen. '95 Prelude SRV with the H22A1.. Yeah we're talking vtec.

This is where my story ends, I kill myself right here. May be your car getting stolen was a sign to get better things? God hates you because you drive a honda-- this is devine intervention Haha, just kidding, that does suck, Preludes are pretty nice. I would invest heavily into Louisville Slugger or Smith and Wesson. Either that, go after the kids/their parents in court... Best of luck!

[LudeLuxury]

At my discretion, I had my local shop rip the tranny apart. They seem to think, as do I, that we have found plausable damage to the 1st and 5th gear ring. The inner gear teeth (on the synchro's side) have been ground down and are chewwy(chewbacca). The clutch has some aparent missuse-wear markings on it, such as deep scratches and burn marks, as well as lightly caked on clutch dust. However, seeing that the center of the clutch is 'free-floating' it did not slam into the break-stops and scar them too much, there is some usual wear. (my terminology sucks) The synchro will need to be replaced due to some markings as well. So in all, I'm looking at getting funding from my insurrance agency for a new fifth and first gear ring, new synchro gear mesh, and hopefully new clutch. It looks promising.

Now on to the engine - At which I am having them rip apart to find the damage. That is, at my discretion. f'in insurance. So.. any ideas on the price of a new/used h22a1? and where from? thx moppie for your advice!
Oh, and I have included a picture of the tranny disassembled. If you guys want more, or a close up of the gear rings just ask, I will post them!

[beef_bourito]

try japandomesticmotor.com, they have pretty much any honda engine you can think of.