Upgrades/updates round 2!
Next up, setting up for new shocks. On the left you can see the old shock that came out of a DC Integra, and on the right its replacement out of a CB7 Accord. I went with KYB because it was the only brand I recognized on rockauto that wasn't outrageously priced. You can see my old strut is a little bit bent which was affecting its performance a little bit.
To test fitment and see my suspension travel I mocked up my strut with no spring, but otherwise complete and checked the clearance I got. 20.75" from the underside of the fender to the top of the wheel spacer (or caliper) at full droop.
So that's 7.5" of front suspension travel, a 150% increase compared with the stock 5", which isn't half bad using only OEM spec parts. I don't have a LOT of room for upgrading my travel any more, full droop is already the max my ball joints can handle (I even made some bump stops that go between the lower control arms and the skid plate frame to prevent my ball joints from maxing out), and full bump I'm pretty close to hitting the strut tower, even with 1.5" UCA spacers. 7.5" up front is pretty decent for a small and light car anyways.
I didn't have any pipe with which to sleeve my shocks with me, so we turned our attention to disassembling the old engine in search of answers. This is actually my first time ever taking an engine fully apart. In the course of my day job as a Refrigeration Mechanic I have rebuilt large reciprocating compressors which have very similar bottom ends to engines, the only real difference being the head. Speaking of heads, that was the first thing to come off. Having only taken D series heads off of engines before, the DOHC VTEC head on here was a bit of a pain. Eventually we got all the stuff on top of the cams and the cams themselves off, clearing the way to finally remove the head bolts.
First things first, the garage is a bit tight to work in with the Volvo parked next to me (I'm not complaining, buddy is letting ME invade HIS space, but it does make it hard to work sometimes.)
I've also had some conversations with people in the executive committee who have asked me to make my car look a bit less like a trashcan on wheels as it may present the image that safety is not a priority which of course is. With that in mind, I have decided to make my obnoxious widebody fenders slightly less obnoxious and step one for that is removing the spray foam, so off it came. Step 2 is a lot of grinder work so I left that for another day.
With these CB7 shocks combined with DC integra springs, I end up slightly overdamped as the accord is a heavier car than the integra and therefore has slightly more damping in the shocks. That is how folks in stage rally set up their cars so if they get a little air it doesn't bounce and make them lose control, you can see it watching videos as they fly through the air and then just hit the ground and squat down with barely any rebound. My setup is not that extreme, but has a slight amount of overdamping. 2022 season will show if that is beneficial in RallyX or not.
One last thing to note about the new shocks is as you can see, they do not have a full collar on the bottom for the fork to rest on, only a small tab held in place with two small welds keeping it there. This is unacceptable for a vehicle that will be used hard as the fork can and will tear that tab off and punch the fork up the strut. The solution to this is fairly easy, find some tubing or pipe with the same ID as your shock's OD, cut a length that allows the top of it to rest on the spring perch and the bottom to rest on the top of the fork, sleeve the lower shock with it, and if you feel it necessary, tack weld the top of the pipe to the perch. This makes the strut much stronger as it transfers all the force from the fork directly to the spring perch via the thicker sleeve.
And 13.25" underside of fender to top of spacer at full bump.
Off came the head and lo, no damage! Valves all looked good, seats all looked fine, nothing even questionable looking! This is wonderful news, the most valuable part of the engine appears A-OK!
I... Uh, I'm pretty sure rod bearings aren't supposed to be stacked like that. This is what the cap looked like.
Kept right on going just in case any of the other rod bearings were in poor shape, but that was the only one.
Tossed the crank pulley back on the crankshaft to see how screwed my mains were and lo, it spun amazingly, no resistance at all. So it looks like a set of rods (Or not even if I was REALLY in a pinch), a new oil pump, micropolish the crank and an oversized bearing, and the engine should live again. Of course I'm poor right now so that won't happen for a while, but it's nice to know that it will someday.
Here are some better pics of what that spun bearing did to the rod and it's cap.
Today, I leave you with a pic of the empty block, waiting to be reassembled. Just as I am waiting to come back again in a week and work more on the racecar. Stay frosty friends.
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