Turning A Perfectly Good Zetec Into A Firebreathing S2000 Build Thread

[thos]

If I were you, I'd be looking at another engine on eBay. Buy it today, delivered by Friday and installed over the weekend, you'll be back out driving this time next week.

 

Take your existing engine and have it rebuilt (or upgraded) over the summer with no rush, no pressure, and either sell it to recoup funds or swap them back around.

 

Mightnt be great on cash-flow, but for blood pressure and enjoying the car coming into the nice weather. I know what I'd be doing.

[Speed Freak]

im in Germany and engines cost more over here... so it wouldn't be 2500quid but more like 3500quid for another engine... and then the hassle of getting the new engine number added to the v5-dont forget its Germany, nothings straight forward.

the liquid gasket problem is kind of down to me.... when I bought the dry sump kit from r.e.d they told me to get hold of some liquid gasket (quoting the actual one I got), saying I needed it to seal the pan. Hence why I bought the stuff-when I had the guy do the work, I told him to use the stuff, and gave it him..... to be fair, I was only doing what I was told-

Ive been to speak to him today- he wont hold his hands up, but he was very happy to talk to me about options... Ive agreed to take the engine to him, and he'll take it apart with me there to inspect-then we'll come to a decision-hes not happy about me taking it apart myself, as he wants to be the one to do it, and to find the reason behind the metal- he made a good point tho--- some metal I got out of the oil with my magnet, cant be aluminum, ie must be something other than my bottom end,as its pretty much all aluminium (I think). hes thinking its parts of the pump.-- he wants to open it up and have a look.

Im feeling quite positive that hes going to take it apart with me- hes said itll only be 2 or 3 hours work max to strip it down (he said hed do me a good price considering the circumstances), and Id rather his expert opinion about the whole thing.

[Norman Verona]

Liquid gasket, if used at all, should be used very sparingly. Remember if you apply it evenly and some squeezes out the outside of the flange than some will be squeezing out the inside,

 

Just be aware that he may try and use bulsh1t to baffle brains.

 

Anyway, it sounds like you're moving forward.

[Speed Freak]

you or they should not use liquid gasket you should use the propa stuff its called honda seal ,it goes rock hard and does not get into the engine like instant gasket etc that stay soft , 80% of the engine uses honda seal instead of gaskets

I think I'll look into this. thanks steve!

I found one piece of liquid gasket stuck to the mesh on the sump pan plug, so it didn't get in... but the other piece I found was in the oil that drained.....! Who knows maybe the stuff blocked the pump-or atleast partly contributed to the issues.

one thing that was slightly reassuring- Ive drained the rest out of the oil tank, and had the car up and down , side to side, to get all the coolant and rest of oil out-and don't think any more metal cam out with the rest.

[Speed Freak]

oh forgot to mention- the engine builder does have a parts cleaner- says no problem, getting it all sparkly, but then again, he would say that

[Norman Verona]

Is it a Pace oil tank, the one that splits into two?

[Speed Freak]

no, a&h fabrications... welded middle, with aeration top.

like this:

http://www.ahfabrications.com/product_info.php?cPath=19_6&products_id=109&osCsid=cg1f3i5oeulp48uau1a2qehkc1

[Norman Verona]

That's difficult to clean. I've seen one like that and it had 1/2" of sludge at the bottom. Took me ages to clean and even then I wasn't happy with it.

 

My Pace tank splits into two and is easy to clean. In fact when I've drained the hot oil, cleaned through all the oil system pipes, oil cooler and oil thermostat, opened and cleaned the tank and refilled it's difficult to see the fresh oil in the sight glass. (clear plastic pipe).

[Speed Freak]

one way or another I'll get it spotless

my connectors are somewhat larger than the ones on the picture-this will make it a little easier, as when cleaning it the oil remnants will flow out quicker leaving less residue down the sides. might just take a lot of rinsing. 

[mhc]

In reply to all those advocating not to use a liquid gasket you seem to have forgotten that the F20 engine was assembled by the manufacturer (Honda) using such a gasket .

Methinks there are to many experts on this thread !

[Norman Verona]

Mick, the difference is that Honda developed a liquid that set hard. The silicone based liquid gaskets used heer do not. So you can get drops of flexible silicone dropping into the sump. 

 

You can use the silicone based products as long as you know not to apply too much and keep a gap on the inside of the flange being treated so it doesn't squeeze out and drop into the engine.

 

From what I've seen most apply copious amounts with it going everywhere.

[mhc]

Mick, the difference is that Honda developed a liquid that set hard. The silicone based liquid gaskets used heer do not. So you can get drops of flexible silicone dropping into the sump. 

 

You can use the silicone based products as long as you know not to apply too much and keep a gap on the inside of the flange being treated so it doesn't squeeze out and drop into the engine.

 

From what I've seen most apply copious amounts with it going everywhere.

Norman. The liquid gaskets used by Honda are very similar if not the same as those made by ThreeBond in the 1100 series.

Any gasket that sets hard ceases to be a gasket.

It then becomes a cement definately not a requirement for two parts that may require dissasembly .

 

Tim. I used ThreeBond 1105b.

Its an old tube so it may have been updated.

[Speed Freak]

thanks mick will check it out.

[SteveD]

well-engine is freed up and ready to be taken out-its not such an easy job as with the normal engines... the clutch fork cant be pulled out the bellhousing as the bulkhead chassis rail is perfectly in the way-meaning that the gearbox/prop has to be removed and brought forward with the engine, then the fork removed, then the gearbox placed back into position minus engine, then engine removed--.----  done it now a few times tho, so all part of the routine... Just annoying that the majority of you can get the engine out in a couple of hours, and it takes me nearly a whole day. (just getting the intake manifold off takes about 1-2 hours!).

 

one other thing- my oil catch tank seems to contain a lot of oil- so much so that when I removed the lower hose, oil came out-

Ive had to change the system as Im not allowed a filter on it with the vapors going to air- so Ive got the lower hose coming off the oil tank, and the above hose for the gases going back to the intake manifold... any reasons for such large amounts of oil in the catch tank?

 

 

ps, mick you've quoted norman but haven't written anything-

pps steve said something about Honda seal- Im not sure Im finding the right thing on tinternet-anyone got a link to it?

yes tim its called honda seal i have some here as mick says and i said earlier half the k20 and f20 is held together with it , when i ordered it it came in a tube and compared to hylomar etc it dries hard

[Speed Freak]

found a couple of different ones here steve. do they look familiar? Is it the red one or the blue one?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=hondabond&_sop=2