On a side note, seems like this forum became some sort of official "My Honda won't start forum" :)

Anyway, I decided to buy a new engine head for my (you guessed it) Honda Civic, and am wondering what I should do to rebuild the engine head. It seems reasonable that I should change valves (maybe not all, those that seem wrong only?), and those rubber pieces around them valves (don't know how you call those things in english).

Oh, I have a Civic 91 DX and am planning on putting on a Civic 96 head on it.

Would someone who has done this care to explain what I should do? What to look for when buying a head, what to do once I get the head (wash it throughout with carbon cleaner... )? The reason I'm asking this is because we don't have many Hondas here in Croatia, and finding a 96 Civic head is hard enough, and I don't believe I'll have much of a choice.

Thanks,

Kresho

I have always left rebuilding heads to a shop. You may not have that luxury. Big thing to look for are warped and cracked heads. Warped is fairly easy to check with just a straight edge. Just make sure the straight edge doesn't rock on high places or have a gap under it in low ones. If it is warped, any machine shop can mill it flat. That will increase your compression ratio unless you use a special, thicker head gasket.

You may not be able to find cracks even with a magnifying glass. Magniflux is a process of using a dye to make the cracks stand out. I may not have even spelled it right, and can't tell you much more.

Look at the valves. They should stand up above the seats. The edges should be smooth. If not, they must be replaced. I have never removed a valve. You must compress a very strong spring and remove little pieces of metal that hold them. They make tools for the job. It may be a very tough job without them. Look at the springs too. They may be broken.

Rebuilding a head is a real challenge, beyond what I can give the help you need. The rubber things are valve stem seals. They should come in a head gasket kit. You may need to try to find a real Honda website.

Thank you for your answer.

I will try and get some older car for like 50$ or so (there are quite a few of those around... ) and try to remove its head and play with it. If it turns out well, I'll give it a shot with my Honda head.

Btw, the prices are nuts here. Shops are asking like 500$ to rebuild the head. And its just rebuilding, not doing any sport modifications.