Subtopic	Posts		Updated
	Squeezing HP from a 1300	1		02/25 05:05pm

By dennis singley (65.101.0.165) on Friday, November 02, 2001 - 09:08 pm:

If anyone is interested, here's some info on how my EL-1 (U.S. EK-1) build-up is going. I ordered U.S. spec oversize pistons (77 mm) & rings & select fit bearings from my local Honda dealer. My machine shop bored the block with the proper clearances & pressed the pistons on the rods. I found 1200 rod bolts from ARP fit perfectly! The engine was from an auto car & had the oil cooler 2-stage oil pump. U.S parts fit except the screen which was from the 5-speed single stage pump! My wide ratio 5-speed transmission from my '80 Civic 1300 DX bolted up perfectly. I did have the flywheel machined to fit the 1.8L crank & the bolt holes drilled out. The motor measures 1894 cc, I guess I can call it a 1.9Litre. The 8-valve head is currently being ported & polished in my spare time, while I am locating valve train parts. I think the valve springs from a '79 prelude 2-port are the same, but I have only the outer intake springs at this time. I have a source ordering my other springs through a Honda dealer in Canada. Thanks to Keith at Honda Auto Salvage in Phoenix for his help!! Webcam took the original cam & fixed a flat lobe & re-ground it to a more performance spec. I port-matched the intake & will run a Weber carb. The stock exhaust manifold will have to do at this point until I can find a header for an '82-'83 Accord. I am hoping for 120-130 HP. It will go into my '80 Civic 1300DX. I originally built this car in 1990 with an '83 1500 Lazorlite motor. I drove it for 7 years then sold it so we could get a '97 CR-V. We always missed the little car & recently re-purchased it with a blown motor. It has wagon brakes but will probably get upgraded to Prelude discs. I am also getting some Koni's (in 1st. gen Prelude struts). Are we havin' fun or what! DENNIS

By michael (24.94.234.57) on Monday, November 05, 2001 - 11:33 am:

I'm building up a first gen Prelude. It's a 1981 model. so far, i've put some 10:1 pistons in it. I purchased a head off an 83 accord which has bigger valves and ports. it is being ported, polished, milled by .030", valve springs shimmed, three angle ground seats, etc. Man, there's no reason you should not get 130hp. There's an old man who runs a honda shop about 20 miles from my house who used to juice 150hp out of near stock ek1's. I'm running an 83 civic right now that's got about 95hp, just with intake, exhaust, and ignition. I'm hoping to put 150hp ON THE GROUND with my prelude. The stock engine is @~90hp. I'm bumping the compression up from 8:1 to 11:1. Yeah, I'll be blowing head gaskets often, but it's worth it for that kind of instant-response torque. I'm bumping the red line from 6500 to7500 which will make the portwork worthwhile. And to feed the beast, my brother and I are rebuilding the stock 3-barrell rejetted and flow-ported. I don't have an exhaust manifold for the accord head, but i've got an exhaust guy that can do head-back for about $325.00.
Next phase will be to shave the flywheel down and put a performance clutch in. possibly replace the brake system... oh yeah, you said something about koni's? Do tell, where can i get some?

By John S. (207.160.161.221) on Friday, November 09, 2001 - 02:11 pm:

Dennis are you building an early EL, or a later EL. If it is an early one do you have, or can you locate an extra intake/exhaust manifold set to match it. I need one for my project. I guess I should ask where you are located.

By John S. (207.160.161.221) on Friday, November 09, 2001 - 02:15 pm:

Micheal, you better check to be sure your 83 head fits your 81 block, I'm guessing it won't. You need an 82-83 EK block to use the 82-83 head as the head bolt spacing is different. You can use your earlier crank and rods and flywheel etc., though.

By dennis singley (65.101.2.176) on Saturday, November 10, 2001 - 04:44 am:

i believe it is out of an '82 accord. i don't know if that is early or late. i don't have much for extra parts other than worn out springs & rockers. i have just about given up on finding a header, so i got the cast manifold out & started to check it out. it is a 4-2-1 style & actually looks like it will flow ok.
does anyone have a source for quality head bolts other than honda?

By Anonymous (208.60.186.161) on Sunday, November 11, 2001 - 10:49 am:

What kind of carb does the EL series run stock? How could one find an EL head/manifold, or even a complete engine in the states?

By John S. (207.160.161.162) on Monday, November 12, 2001 - 10:53 am:

Question one, Have you found adapter to fit the Weber to the stock later EL manifold?
The rear discs appear to require the use of at least 14" dia wheels. I have checked this with parts on hand.
The Koni inserts may still be available from a couple suppliers on the link side of Richard's (this) page.

By dennis singley (65.101.0.34) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 08:21 pm:

john, i am ordering the weber this week from worldpac. it is supposed to fit non cvcc cars. if it doesn't fit my manifold, i will modify the manifold to fit the carb. i want to run without an adapter plate. as for the wheels, i have upgraded fron 12" to 15" already. arizona btw. dennis

By dennis singley (65.101.1.155) on Thursday, December 06, 2001 - 08:53 pm:

still confused on carburator adaptors, worldpac claimed ignorance, Pierce manifolds didn't have an adapter that matched. Someone posted they put a 1200 adapter on an EL. If I can get an answer about 1200 baseplate configuration I can move on with this. To anon. the stock carb I have is a Keihin 2 bbl. I have reconditioned the ex. manifold by port matching & opening it up to 2" at the outlet. I also sandblasted & painted it.

By quikrick (63.204.16.66) on Friday, December 07, 2001 - 10:14 am:

Dennis, NOPI's website (not sure of the knowledge of their sales people) also shows a Weber set up for the Canadian 8 Valve. Don't give up! When you find it, you will be the coolest kid on the block.

By quikrick (63.204.16.66) on Friday, December 07, 2001 - 12:26 pm:

http://www.nopionline.com/check_out.asp?ProductID=321745
This is a complete carb set up, not just the adaptor plate.

By John S. (12.100.167.100) on Saturday, December 08, 2001 - 08:31 pm:

I'm betting that will not fit the Canadian late EL head. I have one, and it had a totally different carb mounting flange from either my Canadian EG head or my USA EM1 head. I think you will have to build a custom adapter. Best way I can see is weld up the two oddball holes, and redrill them to allow clearance for those necessary to mount the Weber.

By John S. (207.160.161.162) on Sunday, December 09, 2001 - 02:48 pm:

One thing I have confirmed, the alloy camcover from the USA ED or EF1 head will fit the Canadian EG head. So a few minutes with my 5" grinder, and it said CVCC no more. THe earlier alloy covers do not leak, and you can rebuild the vent assembly. Now if I could just find an alloy cover for my 1751(1600)Canadian EL. I hate those cheeezy steel covers. You know Honda only made the change to save money...and then they changed back to alloy again, probably because of too many complaints about the steel ones leaking.

By dennis singley (65.101.1.187) on Sunday, December 09, 2001 - 04:07 pm:

My 8-valve EL head has HF-D in the casting & a couple more "D's" cast in elsewhere. It also has a K8 ink stamp on it. How can I tell if it is an EG head? Dennis

By John S. (207.160.161.162) on Monday, December 10, 2001 - 05:10 pm:

The later EL head has exhaust ports that are separate from one another. They are eiieeiie. The EG 4-port exhaust head is ieeiieei.We will get this straight one of these days.

By Eric (208.60.186.215) on Monday, December 10, 2001 - 08:41 pm:

Hello all. What is the best head for a US EK1? I know that there are many varieties of manifold styles and such....I will probably be making my own header so that's not a concern. If I am correct, aren't the 4 port heads the best? And on that motor he had a head.....EIEIO!!!.....Thanks all, Eric

By dennis singley (65.101.1.71) on Tuesday, December 11, 2001 - 06:50 am:

my ports are EIEIIEIE ! dennis

By John S. (207.160.161.234) on Tuesday, December 11, 2001 - 12:33 pm:

and a quack quack here...

By John S. (207.160.161.164) on Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 02:25 pm:

Oh by the way Dennis you are right...that is the same pattern as my late 1600 head. that's what I get for trusting my off the wall memory and not double checking first. That head has the best layout of all the 1600/1751 heads, and the least custom parts avaiable for it. Figures, huh?

By dennis singley (65.101.0.105) on Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 07:50 am:

Picture of EL-1 block & GJ trans in my 1980 Civic 1300 DX.

By John S. (207.160.161.161) on Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 02:44 pm:

That car is going to be a cruisemobile with the gearing in the GJ gearbox, try around 2700RPM at 80 MPH. I'm going to use the same box behind a hopped up "canadian head" EF1... but you will have more torque with the 1751. Looking good. It's a shame how few people realize how good the 80-83 Civics are...but then again, maybe it's a good thing.

By dennis singley (65.101.1.51) on Saturday, December 29, 2001 - 06:44 am:

Yeah John, I'm a big guy & I am a lot more comfortable in a 2nd gen. than a 1st gen. I would like to play with a 1200 motor if I fit the car!

By John S. (207.160.161.235) on Sunday, December 30, 2001 - 12:17 pm:

Dennis,
Are you doing a Koni insert conversion on your car?

By dennis singley (65.101.2.47) on Monday, December 31, 2001 - 07:12 am:

Yeah, that seems to be the hot ticket. I never did care for the KYB's, too soft. It may be awhile though as I am "between jobs"! I should probably snag the Prelude Koni's before they're gone. Getting the engine done & the car back on the street is the 1st priority though. Dennis

By John S. (205.184.191.161) on Tuesday, January 01, 2002 - 12:10 pm:

You will also need the strut housings from a 79=82 Prelude as they are openable. and also need good frt lower control arms form the Prelude as the stub for the ball joint is bigger i.e. stronger on the prelude, sized to fit the Prelude upright and of course the matching Prelude uprights.

By dennis singley (65.101.1.142) on Saturday, January 12, 2002 - 05:08 am:

Here's a picture of my EL-1 head.

By quikrick (63.204.16.66) on Monday, January 21, 2002 - 05:21 pm:

Dennis sent me these images of his EL1 head. VERY nice work!

By John S. (205.184.255.64) on Tuesday, January 22, 2002 - 05:05 pm:

Dennis,
You need to taper those ports back at least an inch to an inch and a quarter. It needs to be more smooth a transition, other than that suggestion they look great.

By dennissingley (65.101.3.109) on Friday, March 15, 2002 - 05:47 am:

Update, I cc'd the head & the volume runs from 47.4cc to 48.0cc. I assume I need to open up the 3 smaller ones to 48cc. If anyone has any experience in this area let me know. The head has never been milled so I can choose my comp. ratio, I just have to figure out Don's program. Does anyone know what the comp. ratio on an '82-'83 Canadian El-1 engine was? I want to raise it some but still want to run regular if I have to. My new job as a service advisor at an Acura dealer is going well so I should be able to crank this project back up soon! Until then I'm doing detail work that doesn't cost much. Quickrick sold me a spare intake manifold so I can cut it up & modify it for side draft in the future, thanks Rick!

By dennissingley (65.101.3.109) on Friday, March 15, 2002 - 05:51 am:

P.S. I also have access to a flow bench, would it be any benefit on a street engine to flow the head. Would I be looking for even flow cyl. to cyl.? dennis

By Don (209.181.52.58) on Friday, March 15, 2002 - 07:02 am:

A flow bench without the proper bore adapter provides no information. Your honda head flowing air into a 4" bore will flow very different than the flow with the proper size bore. Most people dont or wont spend the money ($400-1000) for a bore adapter for the less popular stuff. I do have several smaller bore adapters, but there not for rent. You have to send your head too me for flow testing.