I've got some questions and they're not about wheels and hydroplaning!!! :-)
I've got an '87 CRX Si that's pretty heavily moded - suspension, brakes, interior, etc. Only engine internals haven't been touched (was raced in SCCA). Well now it's my street car and now the head gasket is blown (leaking coolant on the exterior). I've been researching replacing the head gasket and I see I have some options. But despite my web browsing I've still got lots of questions. It looks like stock head gaskets go for around $45 for the "set". But HKS makes a metal head gasket for $140 or so. Are there any other options that I should be aware of besides the HKS metal gasket and the OEM style gaskets? I was hoping I'd find a thinner head gasket to help increase the compression a little. The HKS gasket is 0.7 mm thick, anyone know what the spec is for the stock gasket thickness? Is there anyone who makes various thicknesses of gaskets for the 1st gen CRX? Also, what all usually comes in one of these head gasket "sets"? I know Robert just did this job on his car and had some machine work done to flatten the head. I was thinking about decking the head slightly and then combining that with the thinner gasket to get slightly more compression. I know not to over-do it, I'd stay within the factory recommended min. for decking the head. I just figure that if I don't deck the head right down to the minimum, then there will still be some steel left for the future in case it ever needs to be machined again. Sound logical? About how much should I pay for the machine work? I seem to recall that Robert was paying in the $200 range, right? I'll get a good look at the engine once I've got the head off and see what all needs to be freshened up. This is probably the first time it's been cracked open. Is there anything that really, really, really should be done while I've got it apart, like replacing the valve seals, etc.? I'm still broke from Christmas, so I'm hoping to just clean out the carbon deposits, deck the head, and reinstall everything with new gaskets - which is what I see as the cheap route. The timing belt and water pump were just replaced last year, so I wasn't planning on replacing them again. I know, I know, lots of questions. But hey, I love this car and just want to make sure I do things right! Kirk Bristol [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
