[iqraceworks]

I'm in the middle of tearing down an N54 I bought as a motor to rebuild. I'm in the process of pulling the head of. I've got all of the head bolts out except one of the rear 9mm bolts that takes the T50 socket. I broke the fist T50 using a breaker bar. Then I tried an impact with another T50 impact socket...and it just stripped out the inside of the head. Then I tried one of the sockets that grips the outside of a stripped nut head to get it out..and that just spun right off.

I'm going to get out my Mig welder tomorrow and weld a nut to the T50 head...and I'm sure it will come out then. Just wondering if anyone else has ran into this issue with seized up head bolts? All the rest just zipped right out with my 1/2" impact gun.....but that last one in the rear corner is being a royal pain!!

[HondaRC51]

The welding method works great however don't expect it to just come right out. The heat from welding only goes so far down the shaft and the head bolts are pretty long so the heat transfer may not work itself all the way to the threads. Just a heads up is all (pun intended). Worst case you would need to drill the head off the bolt, remove cyl head, then weld on a nut to the exposed shaft down closer to the mating surface for more leverage on the threads.

[AWD Addict]

Nightmare IQ. Sorry man.

I was going to ask why not drill it out but Honda beat me to it. Is the rear bolt hard to get at w a tool?

Are you logging the project for all us Internet project wh0res?

[iqraceworks]

Originally Posted by AWD Addict

Nightmare IQ. Sorry man.

I was going to ask why not drill it out but Honda beat me to it. Is the rear bolt hard to get at w a tool?

Are you logging the project for all us Internet project wh0res?

Honestly, I don't think it should be too big of a deal to get that last bolt out.

And yep.....I've been taking lots of pictures. At this point, I really need to get the head off of this spare motor to see what shape the cylinders are in. If it's really bad, I'll probably just pull the current motor out of my car that's got a cracked ringland.....and rebuild that one. If this one looks ok...I might just try rebuilding it.

Hard to really make any decisions at this point until I get the head and oil pan off. I'm busting out my mig welder tonight......hopefully that will get the last remaining bolt out.

[iqraceworks]

Well, got that bolt out no problem. With a little bit of heat from the welder, it came right out.

Pretty much found what I thought I would. This is a 5 cylinder. The cylinder with the missing piston is pretty beat up......not sure it's worth trying to salvage, it definitely needs to be sleeved. And head it all beat to hell also.

Think I'll just pull the motor that's in my car with the cracked piston and go through that one.

[HondaRC51]

A legit machine/engine shop could fix all that but to what cost is it worth it. Personally for shits and giggles I would experiment on the cyl head to see how to port/polish one of these and if it can be machined for fire rings. If there are no holes out the side, I would have the block sleeved, decked and cleaned and you should be good to go.

[iqraceworks]

Originally Posted by HondaRC51

A legit machine/engine shop could fix all that but to what cost is it worth it. Personally for shits and giggles I would experiment on the cyl head to see how to port/polish one of these and if it can be machined for fire rings. If there are no holes out the side, I would have the block sleeved, decked and cleaned and you should be good to go.

Yeah, at this point I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the block and head. Might just put it in the corner of the shop to keep for a later project.

I'm hoping that if the crank is still good, at least I can sell that. The cams are all in good shape.

[E93Seattle (Racerbruce)]

Originally Posted by HondaRC51

A legit machine/engine shop could fix all that but to what cost is it worth it. Personally for shits and giggles I would experiment on the cyl head to see how to port/polish one of these and if it can be machined for fire rings. If there are no holes out the side, I would have the block sleeved, decked and cleaned and you should be good to go.

greetings honda -
for the sake of the unlearned (that would be me)....what are fire rings??

[HondaRC51]

Originally Posted by E93Seattle (Racerbruce)

greetings honda -
for the sake of the unlearned (that would be me)....what are fire rings??

"A fire ring cylinder head has a small groove machined into the cylinder head around each individual combustion chamber. A stainless steel ring is then inserted into it. The ring creates an additional seal that contacts the outer edge of the fire ring in the head gasket. This provides a better seal around the combustion chamber. A cylinder head with a machined fire ring ensures greater reliability when put under extreme stress. This is a must for higher horsepower diesel engines."

I've seen people also do this for gas engines when they are running insane levels of boost and are afraid aftermarket head gaskets and ARP head studs aren't enough protection. Also helps prevent head gasket failure into the cylinder if your running big boost on stock head gaskets.

[E93Seattle (Racerbruce)]

Originally Posted by HondaRC51

"A fire ring cylinder head has a small groove machined into the cylinder head around each individual combustion chamber. A stainless steel ring is then inserted into it. The ring creates an additional seal that contacts the outer edge of the fire ring in the head gasket. This provides a better seal around the combustion chamber. A cylinder head with a machined fire ring ensures greater reliability when put under extreme stress. This is a must for higher horsepower diesel engines."

I've seen people also do this for gas engines when they are running insane levels of boost and are afraid aftermarket head gaskets and ARP head studs aren't enough protection. Also helps prevent head gasket failure into the cylinder if your running big boost on stock head gaskets.

thank you honda -
makes complete sense and would be a necessity for significantly increasing forced induction.

btw on a side note, take a look at my post today in the general section entitled "Rock Auto DCT Service Kit" and please offer your thoughts.