Out with the old

After gathering parts and planning for months, the time for the swap has arrived.  Actually it was helped along by the recent 750 mile trip I took in the CRX.  About 250 miles out on the return trip, the little guy started loosing power...down and down the speed went...80...70...60...over the period of an hour or so.  Finally at about 55 MPH top speed, the bottom dropped out...it would idle, but even flooring the throttle wouldn't raise the RPM above about 1100.  After a few minutes at the side if the interstate checking it out, I determined that the car had developed so much blow-by (which gets fed right back into the carb) that it was choking itself.  The quick solution was to pull the lid off the air cleaner...fresh air coming in from all directions and the car ran pretty good again...back on the road!!

I put in about 100 miles toward home and the speed started going down hill again.  Again I pulled over...this time to find the paper air cleaner was on fire and flaming bits were getting sucked into the engine.  I quickly chucked the flaming paper filter, cleaned the crud out of the carb and hit the road again.  Now only 60 miles out, I know the car is loosing power again, but I'm starting to run out of options...but working out the loss of power versus the mileage I'm covering, it seems as though I'll make it home...At 1am, I better, 'cause it doesn't look like anyone would come get me!

As I pull off the interstate, with only a few miles through town to go,  the car is making a terrible hissing noise, like an air hose that has blown a fitting, but I know it's just the blow-by.  In the faint glow of the streetlights, I can also see a burnt patch in the hood paint from the gasses erupting straight out of the fitting on the air cleaner housing.  After nursing the thottle to keep it running through several stop lights, I finally arrive at home...battered and burnt, but we're home!!

Needless to say, this is the last trip on the old D15...except for the short trip up the driveway and into the garage.  I've got some photos from the work done in the couple of days after my epic trip...Ill post more as time allows!



Here we are after the last trip.  You will note the burnt spot on the hood and the lack of air filter assembly.  The result of my "just get the dang thing home one more time" mentality.


The "changing of the guard" so to speak...they meet for the first time.  I don't plan to hot-rod the hell out of the new B, (yeah right!) so hopefully it will have a long and happy life!


Here we are just getting started pulling the old D engine out.  I got rid of a few things on my last interstate trip...air filter, filter housing lid, a few hoses...but now it's time to really get a bunch of junk out of the way.  Battery is first, don't want to burn down the rest of the car!  Vacuum boxes, hoses, connections...anything holding the D to the engine bay.  I always take the coolant hoses last...you can drain oil, you can drain tranny fluid, but you will never get all the coolant out.  Every hose you  cut loose drains more coolant out.  Laying in a pool of slimey green stuff to get everything else loose sucks...do them last and the only thing lying in coolant will be the dead engine!


A few hours later...ker-chunk!  The old D pukes out on the floor.


Allright...that's more like it...The next day, the 20 pounds of oil-dry has done it's job on the floor, the engine bay is stripped of most extra junk, and the "castrol super clean" test has been performed.  I tried out a few squirts followed by some scrubbing (notice the bright red patch on the upper center of the fire wall)  Now this is the cleanest spot on the car!  I just have to do the rest of the compartment.


The old engine is out, but in switching from carburetor to fuel injection, a few other areas that need attention...do you think I would trust these crusty gas lines with 40+ PSI of fuel pressure?!?  Not a chance...they will have to go, along with dropping the tank to install a high pressure fuel pump.


A couple of post-mortem shots on the D.  The engine burned so much oil that the combustion chambers were coated with layers of carbon.  I can just picture the little tips of each flake glowing red while the engine was running and leading to pre-ignition of the fuel.  It killed the head gasket, and I'm guessing probably killed some piston rings too.  This would account for the large amount of blow-by.  Also a quick look at why CV joints click...they don't seem to like a diet of dirt and water.  I would have fixed this and other problems long ago, but I knew this engine/drivetrain would be swapped soon anyway.  But anyone with clicking CV joints, take heart...mine clicked away for nearly 30,000 miles...just sounded like rice-crispies every time I turned...snap-crackle-pop!!