I was up and working on my car before 06 yesterday. I had hoped to just slide spacers between the head and the block to make it easier to put back together, but I could not make it work. I brought both the head and the block back to TDC, bolted on the head, and put the timing belt back on. Then I made my brother's breakfast and this for me:
It was delicious!
I could not remember what was next, so I watched the video again, but strangely, the video was back before putting in the head bolts. I swear that it was an hour later that I remembered the next step according to the FSM, all of this:
Apparently Honda believes in big steps. There are seven steps for the head gasket installation before #1, one of those refers to another section with 11 steps, and of course that refers to other sections.
I had printed that and left it on my car, but all that I had left to do was bolt the EGR chamber on again.
The Fel-Pro kit does not contain the EGR valve gasket, even though Honda says to replace it.
I made an effort to clean out the EGR system, but could not find my wire brush. It had plenty of carbon, but was not plugged like the last time.
The next step is to install the exhaust, but there is a crack on my manifold. I looked into welding it and
this page by Napa says that welding iron is extremely difficult, but their extreme temperature paste is easy to use!
I had another problem, some of the threads on the intake manifold studs are stripping. It took me a while to get the nut threaded on one of them, but one is just too messed up, and I do not have any idea why. The threads are flattened!
I did not even know what the studs were called. I figured out that and then read about using a die to fix the threads
here.
They said that Napa sold the kit, but I could not find anything relevant in their inventory. I wanted to run there before my appointment, but I did not have enough time, so I was early [for once]. I tried to end the session right on-time and hurry out of there, but the family needed to discuss scheduling. Also, what size die did I need? What is the thread pitch?
I hurried to Ace, which also closed at 1800, and discovered that a 10mm bolt is 7 x 1.0. I didn't have time to go to Napa, so I found the die, but it was closing time, so I put it back.
It is an inch in diameter and I did not think it would fit. Google said that Lowe's had a kit for $24.98. I like Lowe's, they automatically give me a Veteran's discount!
The site said the kit was on aisle 59, bay 13, which only had measuring tapes and sharpies. I looked through the entire area and everywhere else I thought it might be.
Nothing.
I did not see a single employee, either.
Forget these guys! I went to Home Depot!
As I walked in I realized that I did not even look up the kit. I walked up to the first place I decided to look and they had a $30 kit right on the end. I couldn't find a cheaper kit, but it had half-inch dies, which did fit, although the handles and stuff would not. They did not have the JB Weld, so I sat down to figure out who did. Their website did not show it, neither did Lowe's, Ace, Autozone, O'Reilly's, Advance, Cal Ranch, or even Napa.
Wait, what?
If you search Napa's site for JB Weld Extreme Heat you do not get anything. In fact, Google only shows it being sold on Walmart's marketplace, Amazon, and eBay, but Napa has a page about it!
That linked to the product.
Napa was closed and it said you cannot install the part for 24 hours, so I really wanted to take care of that immediately, but the universe does not care about my timeline.
I bought the kit, but I could not fit the die onto the threads. I tried to figure out the rest of the steps and decided to write out all of them, but I got lost referring to different sections. I bought the JB Weld this morning and could not find my drill, so I tried to use a grinding bit with my cordless screwdriver, but the battery quickly died. I do not have any idea when I last saw the charger. I ran to Ace and bought a file, not realizing that I needed to purchase the handle separately. It was a 6" taper file, so I was supposed to buy a Type B handle, but that was way too big, so I dropped the battery from my cordless screwdriver, and used that as a handle.
I counted 2,000 strokes. It was about the 1/8th of an inch wide that the instructions required, but that just did not seem adequate.
Then I remembered the Dremel that Mom had me buy her, even though she refuses to use it. I wore out six tips, but in ten minutes I had a beautiful channel a quarter-inch wide.
You know how it says to wait 24 hours before installing?
I installed it and then added the putty--after reinstalling the exhaust pipes. So far, I am missing:
One nut for the exhaust manifold, one nut attaching the exhaust manifold to the first exhaust pipe, one bolt attaching the exhaust to the bracket, and two more nuts attaching the second pipe to a second bracket.
Hopefully at least some of those turn up. I already replaced one nut on the exhaust manifold and I believe that fits the last two, so at least I have the part number.
I also had two bolts under the car. I do not know where they go!
With my exhaust installed with all of the fasteners that I had on hand, I changed a glove, and opened up the JB Weld.
Apparently you need to move that into a larger container. I cut the top half off a paper cup and used that. It seemed to want to stick to my glove more than the manifold, but I felt that I had it packed in pretty well.
Unfortunately, I was twenty minutes late for my appointment, half an hour away. I called, apologized, and asked if we could reschedule. The mom said she was too busy, saying she would just see me next week.
Now what do I do?
The next steps are to adjust the valve clearance and install the head cover and gasket, but is it okay to work on the engine while the putty is curing?
Well, it cures in 2 - 4 hours, you just cannot install the part for 24, so hopefully I can resume work this afternoon.
Harbor Freight has a die kit for $16.49 and that includes an 8 x 1.0 die, so hopefully that fixes the threads enough to use my DeWalt die.