Cal Club Autocross Forums

As many of you know, I had some noise coming from the bottom end of the S2000. I replace the shortblock, but I was curious about what caused the noise. It sounded like a spun rod bearing at the time, and sure enough it was. The crank appears to be unscathed. Can I just replace the bearings if everything mics out?

if surface finish is good and it all mics out good then yes you can just throw in new bearings. the tolerances are pretty small though so you better have good measuring devices.

even if the crank surface is bad you might be able to have the crank fixed for pretty cheap and then put new bearings.

Emery cloth and a shoestring to polish up the journals???

Steve Ekstrand wrote:Emery cloth and a shoestring to polish up the journals???

could be done but i'd be very concerned about concentricity. I mean i've done the emery cloth deal when i spun a couple bearings in the pt cruiser coming back from big bear...but this is an s2k motor. the pt didn't rev to 9k rpm.

The emery cloth method shouldn't remove material, just prep the surface polish.

We did it on pretty high strung drag motors facing Saturday night Ramada rebuilds...


But yeah, George isn't in a hurry and those kinds of Machine Shop services are not expensive.

You were serious about the emery cloth and string? I assume the emery would be to just break the glaze on the crank for seating the bearing? And the string? Inquiring minds want to know.

Looks like the bearing got pretty hot. It was still in the basic shape but thin. Some of the bearing material had formed a razor like slag perpendicular to the bearing. And of course there were the obligatory shavings in the oil pan. But overall the motor looks like it's in pretty good shape.

Having heard great stories about the reliability of Honda bottom ends, I think it's safe to say that I'd be extremely cautious about tinkering with that crank.

If it's the same as my CRX was, there should be letters stamped to identify the specific size bearing that fits that particular journal. Honda goes (went?) to pretty great lengths to make extremely flat journals and measures each to fit a bearing instead of trying to make them all the same size. Because of that, I'd be very, very leery of any rework operation on the crank - it would be preferable to get a new crank and err on the safe side for a motor that's so highly worked, even in stock form. I agree with Marshall - the tolerance of each bearing size is in the micron range.

If it helps any, the best Honda wrench I've ever met is Gary Egeland @ H&A Auto in Costa Mesa. He doesn't build race motors, but will keep any stock Honda in perfect condition and is a rare breed with a signed doc from Soichiro himself on the wall.

i would have the rod checked too. something caused it...

Jason Flores and Stephen Yeoh have a pretty good Honda motor man. ;)

That would be Mo in the Middle:

Moe definitely gets my vote

Thanks for all the input guys. Truly appreciated. Could I trouble you for phone numbers of the wrenches.

$740.56 for a new crank from Majestic Honda - www.hondaautomotiveparts.com Not cheap...

There's seven bearing sizes for the S2K - there were four for the CRX. Something tells me that the difference in sizes is very, very small. That longblock prolly has tolerances that would make a Swiss watchmaker blush. 'Course, that ain't sayin much.

And the string?

You wrap the the cloth around the journal then loop the shoe string around the cloth and pull back-and-forth on the string. Makes for even surfacing.

Regards,

Michael Sullivan wrote:

And the string?

You wrap the the cloth around the journal then loop the shoe string around the cloth and pull back-and-forth on the string. Makes for even surfacing.

Regards,

"even" being a relative term.

Stephen Yeoh wrote:Moe definitely gets my vote

Yup. I second the vote for Moe. He helped me with my civic..

Even if you pop the money for the new crank, you still have to pick the right one of seven thicknesses on the four individual rod journals. And same dilemia for the mains.

Sounds like a job for a machine shop that has experience with very high end motors though few even super car makers are as anal about tolerances as Honda.

Also I'd be just as or more concerned about the big end of the rod. I'd just trash that rod and buy a new one. Micropolish the old crank. Use the same bearing size. And pray.