Once my timimg belt broke on my 89 Prelude, my valves got damaged. Im looking for a engine, or a rebuilt head in the Quebec, Canada area. I'm a student in High school, so I don't have allot of money. Luckly my father will do all the repairs, but it's up to me to come up if all the parts. I need help.......
Claudio.
Finding an 89 Prelude head (or engine) that's any good will be difficult, and its likely to need more or less the same work as getting your head reconditioned (ie surface grind, valves reseated, valve guide replacement or inserts etc). You have to factor in the costs of shipping a head or engine from whereever, and cross-border costs as well if applicable. These extra costs can easily be in the hundreds of dollars.
Have you had the head examined by a machine shop? OK, you have some bent valves: these can be replaced. Valve guide tips may be cracked, but these can be safely cut off in most cases. A decent machine shop can do the reconditioning, fit the valves, springs and cam(s), providing you with a complete assembly ready to drop on the block.
Only if the head is cracked or warped, or has been previously resurfaced such that an additional resurface is not possible, will you need a replacement head.
A machine shop may also have sources of replacement heads.
Don't even think about getting another head and dropping it on without reconditioning: it's a total waste of money and time, cause you'll have to do it all again in a few months, or worst case, immediately.
Stewart DIBBS
I had a "low mileage" engine from Japan dropped into my '89 Prelude Si a few years ago. Same thing happend - timing belt snapped doing 60mph before I could have it changed the following month. Bent valves. Started to nickle and dime me so I finally broke down and bought a new car.
The shop I took it to picked up the engine for me. Otherwise, you can do a google or yahoo search and find places that have them.
Fun car - interior was still in very good/excellent condition, but started picking up rust on the back wheel weels and a few other spots.
Try Google or Yahoo! and good luck!
-Dave
If the rest of the engine is in good condition, e.g., it doesn't burn oil, then just pull the head and replace the bent valves. There's usually no need to replace the head. Note that you will need to lap the new valves in to make sure that they seat well (be exceedingly meticulous about removing all traces of lapping compound afterward). Also note these older engines have a peculiar problem when the head is pulled. That is, they often start burning oil afterwards. It's believed that this is due to the crud in the piston ring grooves drying out and preventing the rings from seating correctly. The best way to avoid this is to put a small amount of ATF in the cylinders to cover the top of the pistons once you remove the head. This will keep things from drying out. Be sure to remove the ATF from the piston tops before the head is reinstalled. You should also consider replacing the valve stem seals when you have the head off. Only use Honda's OEM seals if you want to avoid problems further down the road.
By the way, when you replace the timing belt, it's a good idea to also replace the water pump, timing belt tensioner bearing, and cam & front crank seals. The front seal can be a pain in the ass at best to replace. The best way to do this is to cut out a rectangle from a clean plastic pop bottle and use it as a sleeve wrapped around the seal journal of the crankshaft. Slide the seal over the sleeve (make sure that there's grease on the inner lip) and remove the sleeve. Then get a flat washer that's about the same size as the seal and use it as a seal driver to carefully tap the seal into its bore with a hammer and punch. Tap the washer gently holding the washer against the seal and be sure not to get the seal crooked. Note that if you tap directly against the seal, then you will damage it. This is nearly unavoidable, that's why I always use some type of seal driver. Honda makes seal drivers specifically for this purpose but they're a bit expensive. I've found that a large flat washer (usually called a "machine washer" at the hardware store) will suffice as a substitute. Lastly, the cam seal is less of a pain but you should also use the plastic sleeve. After you get the cam seal into position, it can usually just be pushed into its correct position by hand (for example by carefully using the blunt end of a socket extension bar and there's no need to tap it in with a hammer).
One final thought, a factory service manual for your car can be obtained from
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