This is intended to be a guide and I assume NO responsibility for YOU or your car. I do not guarantee the accuracy of this write up but I'm 99.9999999% sure of what I got here since this is almost typing this sh*t from the Helm. Use this write up at your own discretion.
Before I installed this stuff (mainly the cams and timing belt) I SEARCHED the web for a write up but all I found was B series articles. I found a bunch of pictures that showed what I would need to remove but no instructions or centralized location of these pictures. This article is meant to fill that void. (The pictures used are from different people and projects which explains the obvious differences in appearance.)
This was done on a 2000 Prelude but the process should be somewhat similar for you 4th Gen guys.
Parts list
Crower Stage 1 camshafts
Skunk2 adjustable cam gears
Spoon Sports low temp thermostat
Mugen thermoswitch (fan switch) (same as the Spoon Sports one)
Power Enterprise Super Strong timing belt
Golden Eagle camshaft seal
OEM o-ring for radiator drain plug
OEM o-ring for the distributor
OEM o-ring for the oil dipstick
OEM o-ring for the thermoswitch (Note: If you buy the Mugen thermoswitch it COMES WITH THIS, I don't know about the Spoon Sports one)
OEM water pump (This come with the gasket if you buy it new from Honda)
OEM camshaft seals
OEM power steering belt
OEM AC compressor (alternator) belt
OEM Honda coolant (2 gallons)
OEM washer for the sealing bolt by the rear balancer shaft
3/8 in. drive thumbwheel (optional but helps a lot)
Crank pulley holding tool (this is 1/2 in. drive)
Container to catch coolant with
Breaker bar(s)
Jack
Wheel chocks
Jackstands (3 of them, 2 for the car and one to rest the ratchet on if the impact wrench doesn't work)
Valve tappet adjuster (or equivalent if you think you can swing it)
Feeler gauges
Assembly Lube
Permatex Ultra Grey (same thing as Hondabond; herein referred to as Hondabond)
Gloves (because you're going to wreck some knuckles)
Cam gear holding tool (optional)
Allen wrenches or punches (optional)
Cam gear timing belt sliding tool (optional)
Piece of wood (optional)
Overview diagram
Timing belt removal
Pull the emergency ebrake.
Disconnect the negative terminal from the battery (10mm).
Place wheel chocks under both rear wheels.
Break torque on the lug nuts on the driver's side wheel.
Jack up the car.
Place jackstands under the correct jacking points on the chassis and lower the car onto them.
For step 8-12 you might want to use this thread as a guide which is the How To thread in the FAQ for accessory pullies.
Loosen the adjusting bolt, locking nut and mounting bolt on the power steering pump.
Now that tension is relieved from the pump remove the power steering belt.
Pull up on the power steering fluid reservoir to free it from its bracket and move it to the side to free up some room.
Loosen the adjusting bolt, locking nut and mounting bolt on the alternator.
Now that tension is relieved from the alternator remove the AC compressor (alternator) belt.
Remove the oil dipstick and while you got it out replace the o-ring if you have a new one.
Remove the driver's side wheel.
Remove the splash shield from the bottom of the car to expose the crank pulley bolt.
Place your jack under the oil pan with a piece of wood between the bottom of the pan and the top of the jack's saddle.
Pump the jack to support the engine a bit.
Remove the 1 bolt and 1 nut on the engine side, and the 3 bolts on the fender side of the side engine mount (one of the three is longer than the others so take note).
Let the engine drop down a little.
Be sure that the engine has dropped down far enough to let you insert the crank pulley holding tool.
Position the crank holding tool so that the hole for the 1/2 in. drive wrench is pointed at about a 7 o'clock angle.
Slide a pipe over the end of the breaker bar or ratchet (whichever you used) and make sure that it is resting far enough out so that the end of it would hit the ground if you were to rotate the crank pulley counterclockwise.
Place a 19mm impact socket through the crank pulley holder to reach the crank pulley bolt.
Using an impact wrench try to see if you are lucky enough to get the bolt out. If it works for you then jump to step #30 and be very happy you don't have to continue with the next steps.
Attach all your extensions to the socket and be sure that at the end of it all, the end of the last extension is outside of the wheel well (I suggest using impact extensions).
Place the third jackstand under the extension. Make sure that the height of the end of the extension is about the same height as the 19mm socket...basically make it level. If your jackstand is too short try placing something under it to raise it up (like planks of wood which I had to do).
Attach a ratchet or breaker bar to the end of the extension.
Sliding some piping over the end of the ratchet or breaker bar to get better leverage. The resulting setup should look like this:
Push down on that sucker REAL hard. The crank pulley bolt is by far the hardest bolt I've ever had to break torque on in my entire life. When me and my friend were at this step the breaker bar started to bend so much I was worried it was going to break and send metal pieces flying everywhere. I even put a tarp over the section that was bending in case this did happen but it didn't and we got the bolt off without incident. When the bolt breaks torque you will hear it making a loud ass snapping noise, almost like a firecracker so be ready.
Pat yourself on the back for getting this far.
This isn't a real step but I'm going to say it anyway: Be sure all the bolts you removed prior to this step are in a good organized place.
Now go ahead and remove the valve cover, sparkplugs and sparkplug wires.
Remove 2 bolts from the middle cover (part #3 in the overview diagram).
Insert the crank pulley holding tool into the crank pulley and turn the engine over to TDC.
Remove the crank pulley holding tool and crank pulley. Do not get any oil on the crank pulley.
At this point you can look down the side of the engine. You will see one 14mm bolt sticking out as well as another smaller one with a pin going through it.
Remove the pin.
Remove the rubber seals around the 2 bolts that are sticking out of the lower cover. (I was lucky enough to have my dealer NOT replace these when they fixed my autotensioner. grrr.)
Get under the car and look at the lower cover. Look to the far right. You'll see that the lower cover has a wire loom running through it. There's a snap in holder about midway up, pull that out of the lower cover (it just snaps in).
Go around the entire lower cover and remove all the 10mm bolts that hold it in. In the upper right hand corner there's a bracket attached to one of the bolts
Pull on the lower cover to remove it. When I was getting mine out I could only get half of it out at first. After getting half of the lower cover out I then jacked the engine back up a little and that gave me more room to get the rest of it out.
Loosen the 14mm bolt that holds the tensioner pulley for the balancer shafts about 3/4 - 1 turn.
Now push up on the balancer shaft belt pulley and while holding it up retighten the 14mm bolt to lock it in the up position away from the belt. You should now see something like this:
Obviously by pushing this up you've just relieved tension from the balancer shaft belt so now go ahead and remove that belt.
Pull off the balancer belt pulley while making sure the inner key stays in the crank.
Slide off the timing belt to remove it.
If you're having trouble getting the belt off you can remove the 2 bolts holding the autotensioner in place.
You should now have a belt-free H22A.
If you are going to replace the water pump continue on the next section, otherwise skip it.
Draining the coolant and installing the Spoon Sports thermostat, Mugen fan switch and water pump
Remove the radiator cap.
Place a container under the radiator to catch coolant.
Loosen the drain plug from the bottom of the radiator to start the draining process.
When the radiator is finished draining replace the drain plug and radiator cap.
Remove your intake to expose the thermostat housing which is right under your coil. You should have something that looks like this:
Move the container under the thermostat housing.
Remove the 2 bolts that hold the housing in place and then remove the housing (coolant will start to spill) and the old thermostat. One is shown in the picture above, the other is on the other side of the housing. The 2 bolts are at like 2 o'clock and 8 o'clock (situated diagonally).
Here's the housing cracked open after removing the 2 bolts.
The next few steps is just something I did to cut down on the mess I would have to clean up on the timing belt side of the engine block, you definitely don't HAVE to do the following steps that are highlighted in blue
Fill a tube up with water and snake one end through the opening where the thermostat was as far as it will go (In case you didn't know, the other end of that opening leads to the back your water pump).
Lower the other end and place it in the container to hold all your used coolant and siphon the coolant out.
Unscrew the fan switch and replace it with the aftermarket unit (I think it's 22mm, can't remember right now but it's pretty big).
Screw in the new fan switch (20 lbf/ft).
Place the new thermostat into the housing with the pin pointing upwards and reinstall the outer housing Make sure that the gasket is in place, the other side of the housing has notches for the 2 little bumps on the rubber gasket so that you know you put it in correctly..
Install the housing with the 2 bolts (8.7 lbf/ft)
Reinstall your intake.
The Helm now calls for you to remove the cam gears and the back cover before you can remove the water pump, I did this since I was replacing my camshafts anyway but you might be able to skip this if you aren't installing new camshafts.
For the next 2 steps refer to this picture.
This is obviously a block OUT of the car and with no head attached but it's the best picture I could find. Thanks go out to 2point6 from www.Honda-Tech.com and www.collectiveracing.net for lending me some pictures.
Remove the 14mm bolt and washer that holds the balancer shaft belt's tension pulley (Circled in green).
Remove the bolt in the middle of the arm for the balancer shaft belt tensioner pulley (middle green circle) and remove the arm as well as the little spring on the end (rightmost green circle). You'll be reusing all of these things so don't lose them, you're keeping everything organized anyway right?? Right. You should have these parts now off the car.
Remove the 2 bolts holding the timing belt tensioner pulley in place as shown in the following picture. (They are screwed INTO the water pump.)
Remove the timing belt tensioner pulley assembly. To recap you should've just removed parts #18, 19, 20 and 24 as displayed in the overview diagram at the top of this thread.
Move the container to catch coolant under the timing belt area.
Remove the 5 bolts that hold the water pump in place. Be aware that any remaining coolant in the engine will spill out when you pull it off so make sure that container is under the engine to catch the coolant on the timing belt side.
With the old water pump out of there, inspect the area where the gasket sits and make sure it's clean from dirt/debris.
Clean up any other spilled coolant that may have gotten onto the rear balancer shaft pulley and/or crank pulley thoroughly.
Put some Hondabond on the little rubber bumper on the lower right hand corner of the new water pump.
Install the new water pump. Be sure to torque all the bolts down to 8.7 lbf/ft.
Replace the back cover and cam gears if you had removed them before. The cam gears are torqued down to 37 lbf/ft.
Reinstallation of the tensioner pullies and new auto tensioner
Place the holding bolt back into the new water pump (This is the same bolt that had the pin in it remember?).
Hold the timing belt tensioner pulley in place and install the center bolt (Make sure the collar is on there first).
Place the balancer shaft belt pulley into place.
Place the "arm" for the balancer belt tension pulley into place and reinstall the bolt, spring and adjusting nut but leave the adjusting nut loose.
Push up on the balancer belt tensioner and while holding it up tightening the adjusting nut to hold it up there.
Install the new autotensioner using the same bolts that you removed from the old one.
Here's an old tensioner next to a brand new one.
(Note: When you buy a brand new one they come with the bracket you see on there already installed. Be careful not to prematurely knock that bracket off otherwise you will have to recompress the piston and get that bracket on there; this is a step I'm NOT covering in this write-up but the directions can be found on page 6-16 of the Helm manual and it isn't too hard but it's more work. I might add the steps to this later though.)
Camshaft removal
Remove the cam plates in the following sequence 2 turns at a time.
Remove the cam caps and place them on a clean surface. KEEP THEM IN ORDER and take note as to which way they face. If you look on the top of them there's an arrow imprint and number imprint. The arrow should always point to the timing belt side of the engine. You may have to pry them up with a screwdriver, just be careful not to damage the head when doing so. Also, be aware that the coil's mounting bracket is attached to the end cap above the cam seal that you will be replacing.
Here's a picture of my head halfway through the removal.
Remove the camshafts by pulling them up and out of the head. (Take note of how the key in the distributor is sitting, don't turn it all around though)
Replace the o-ring on the oil control orifice in the middle of the head. To do this you have to thread a bolt into the middle of it and then pull the bolt straight up. Replace the o-ring and then push it back into the head.
Remove the cam seal on the distributor side of the head at the end of the intake camshaft.
There's an o-ring you can now replace on the distributor if you have the o-ring.
You should now have an H22A head without any camshafts.
Inspect all the cam journals for any abnormal wear (gouges are bad).
Lubricate the cam journals with the assembly lube. I started with a bead of it and then smeared it around while wearing a latex glove.
While still wearing the latex gloves I had a friend put some assembly lube in the palm of my hand. Then I took each camshaft and smeared that sh*t all over the camshaft except the places where the cam gears slide on and the very end of the cams on the distributor side.
Place the camshafts into the head while making sure that the keyways are facing straight up on the timing belt end. Make sure that the exhaust cam's cut in the distributor end lines up with the keys on the distributor which should be in the same position as when you lifted the old cams out.
Take the new cam seal (part #38 in the overview diagram) and put some Hondabond all around it then place it back in its opening at the end of the head. Take note of the 2 sides to the cam seals. One side is a solid wall and the other side is open and you can springs in it. The side with the springs faces INTO the head.
The best picture I have to show this are the pictures of my stock cams with the cam seals and cam gears still on them.
Here's a general picture.
Here's a picture where you can see the cam seal's open side.
Lubricate the cam caps with assembly lube where they make contact with the camshafts just as you did with the head and put them in place. (Be sure to put them back in the same order you took them out.)
Apply Hondabond to the corners of the end caps along with assembly lube and then put those in place.
The shaded areas are where you should apply the Hondabond.
Apply Hondabond to the outer edge of the 2 cam seals and slide them onto each camshaft and into the cam caps. Make sure that they are seated all the way in against the ridge in the cam cap.
This is a picture of the cam seal in place on a B series engine but it's going to look the same for the H series.
Again make sure that the keyways are facing straight up.
Install the camshaft holder plates and torque done all the bolts in the following sequence.
Push in the 2 cam seals again to ensure that they are seated correctly.
Add the keys to the slots at the end of the cams and slide the cam gears on. Be careful not to drop the keys.
Torque down the bolts that hold on the camgears to 37 lbf/ft.
Reinstallation of the timing and balancer shaft belts
Be sure that your timing gear is at top dead center (TDC)
Snake the timing belt around each of the pulleys starting with the timing gear, then the tensioner pulley, then the water pump.
Look at your cam gears, they will not be at TDC because of the valvetrain. They should be pointing inwards a little bit. Take a wrench and turn your intake cam gear back to TDC and slip the belt on.
Next slip the belt on the exhaust cam gear. At this point the 2 cam gears will be really close to TDC but not perfect.
Have a friend grab the timing belt and cam gears as you pull out the holding bracket from the autotensioner to tension the timing belt.
Slip on the crank pulley and turn the engine over a few times using a ratchet and the crank pulley holding tool while your friend turns his hands along with the cam gears making sure that the belt doesn't skip teeth.
Turn the engine over a few times and check to make sure that when the crank is at TDC so are the cam gears.
If at this point everything isn't lining up correctly you have to redo the procedure to get the timing exactly 100% correct.
Next, look at the back of the engine near the rear balancer belt pulley and you will see a sealing bolt that you need to remove. (Once removed, a little oil will dribble out but nothing much.)
Here's the bolt.
Use one hand to insert a 6x100mm bolt through the hole while the other hand rotates the rear balancer shaft pulley. At a certain point the 6x100mm bolt will find a hole in the balancer shaft and enter the hole in the block even more. At this point the rear balancer shaft is locked into TDC.
Next you have to set the front balancer shaft to TDC. Rotate the pulley while looking down from up above. You will see a mark on the block that needs to line up with a mark on the pulley. (Mine was painted white.)
Set the crank to TDC.
Once both pulleys and the crank are set to TDC slide the balancer belt pulley onto the crank. (Make sure the key is still in the keyway.)
Take the balancer shaft belt and put it on the front pulley first.
Next slip it onto the pulley that's on the crank.
Lastly slip it onto the rear balancer shaft pulley.
Loosen the adjusting nut on the balancer shaft tensioner.
Push down on the pulley to give tension to the balancer shaft belt and then tighten the adjusting nut to 33 lbf/ft.
Remove the 6x100mm bolt from the block and replace the washer on the sealing bolt then tighten the sealing bolt into the block to 22 lbf/ft.
Reinstallation of the rest (a quick rundown because 90% of it is just the reverse of what I've written)
Install the lower cover. (Be sure to snap in the harness and remember the rubber washers and the lockpin).
Install the crank pulley and crank pulley bolt (tighten it to 181 lbf/ft.).
Install the middle cover.
Install the driver's side motor mount.
Install the alternator and A/C compressor/alternator belt.
Slide the heater temperature control lever to the "hot" setting.
Remove the coolant overflow reservoir and empty it.
Fill the reservoir up to the "Max" line with new coolant.
Replace the overflow reservoir.
Open the bleed bolt on the top of the thermostat housing.
Remove the radiator cap.
Pour in new coolant and watch the bleed bolt.
Close the bleed bolt when the coolant comes out of it in a steady stream. (7.2 lbf/ft)
Fill the radiator up the bottom of the neck. (leave the cap off)
Reattach the negative terminal of the battery.
Start the car and hold the rpms anywhere between 1000 - 3000 rpm for 10 - 15 minutes. NOTE: Different people will tell you different things when it comes to what rpm and how long you should "break" the cams in at. I've even heard as high as 5000 rpm. I suggest doing a search and deciding for yourself what you're going to use. I myself held the engine at 2000 rpm for about 13 minutes.
Hopefully your radiator fans will have come on twice during the cam break in. Check the radiator to see if it needs more fluid and fill accordingly.
Replace the radiator cap.
It was at this point I took the car for a 20 minute drive while being easy on the engine (shifted at about 3000 rpm and tried to keep the rpms in that vicinity as well).
Notes
The installation of ALL this took about 13 hours. We "started" at 7 and ended at about 9 o'clock. This would've been quicker if not for some small stupid things (like me dropping a rubber/metal washer from the valve cover into the open head and having to waste time fishing the f*cking thing out).
If I was only changing the timing belt this probably would've taken about 5 hours (not including a lunch break).
I read the Helm for 3 months every night before I went to bed to get acquainted with what was going on in the timing belt area.
I searched the web for any picture of the timing belt area of the H22A in or out of the car so that I could REALLY see what that area looked like. As much as you can study the Helm, the section about the timing belt has diagrams with the engine OUT of the car. Trust me, once you get in there with the engine in the car it's a bit tighter
Some people just let the engine hang there without any support under it which is why I said the wood piece was optional.
I have the DOHC gear locking tool but I didn't use it, I barely tried to use it to be honest.
I had a timing belt slider tool made for me but it turned out that I didn't need it. When you install a timing belt with the autotensioner compressed (be it new or used) the fact that it's compressed actually gives you enough slack to slip the timing belt onto the cam gears with a little bit of muscle.
I got a stack of Dixie cups, a pen and pad of small paper (Post-It note size). Everytime I removed a bolt or set of bolts I would place them in a cup, write down where they went (along with note to myself about anything I should remember) and placed the paper in the cup. Then I placed the cup in a location where it wouldn't get kicked/knocked over. You really have to keep these parts straight. Use this idea or come up with something on your own but the bottom line is to be organized. It would be a sad, sad day if you got 99% finished only to be stopped because you're missing a freaking bolt.
THANKS! (in no particular order)
THATPRELUDEGUY (Mark) for coming over so damn early in the morning and helping out. I truly owe you.
71dsp (Billy) for answering the TONS of questions I emailed him and for taking some time out of his weekend to stay on the phone with me and help me out.
2point6 (Scott) for letting me borrow some of his pictures.
98Luder (James) for answering questions via MSN Messenger late in the night.
Tony (Tony) for letting me borrow one of his cheater/breaker bars.
Keith (Keith) for letting me borrow and browse through his pictures.
OK this is now ready. This write up took me a few weeks to write but it's finally done.
When and if I find newer better pictures I will add them.
If anyone sees any typos or errors please let me know.
just to add an idea that worked for me on getting the crank pulley bolt off.
While the pulley is accessible, put the car in fifth gear, and have someone hold the brake as hard as possible. We used a 2ft breaker bar with a pipe on it and a lot of force. It came right off.
To add to this, we srayed an entire can of PB Blaster on it the night before and another half can right before we busted it loose.
Originally posted by Hobie1113 just to add an idea that worked for me on getting the crank pulley bolt off.
While the pulley is accessible, put the car in fifth gear, and have someone hold the brake as hard as possible. We used a 2ft breaker bar with a pipe on it and a lot of force. It came right off.
This will not work on all cars. We've run into 2 5Gens that had engines that would move so much on the engine mounts that the bolt would not break torque. Once we used the crank pulley holding tool, the bolt came right off. Big impact also didn't help.
This will not work on all cars. We've run into 2 5Gens that had engines that would move so much on the engine mounts that the bolt would not break torque. Once we used the crank pulley holding tool, the bolt came right off. Big impact also didn't help.
Yes, for once in my life being FAT was too my advantage. I was certain I'd get that sucker to break though, I just wish we had some video of the amount of deflection going on before it let loose!
I will be the first to say, this writeup should be FAQed. Its the best and most complelte that I have ever seen. Although I just finished my install of all the above mention parts, This write up is very close to how I did it, and i wouldnt change a thing!!!
Very nice, also i want to ask, if you have the manual tensioner. All you do is loosene the tensioner right and slip the belt out?
GOt 5th gen but a shop did atuo =====> manual tensioner however, the cam geamrs is wappling atm. I need to know more info before i'm going to tackle it
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