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View Full Version : EK1 weber swap have a few ?s



LazloZ28
08-21-2013, 04:55 PM
I have an 82 accord 1.8l EK1 manual. It ran ok but chugged going up hills when hot and idled at 1800-2500 rpm. It also smoked like a locomotive and shook violently when on the brakes. It's on stands in the garage now getting fixed up. Head gasket, valve seals, rack and pinion, brake booster, 4 corner brake job, and all belts/hoses/ignition. I did buy a carb rebuild kit but after checking over the system of ancient and somewhat superflous valves and whats its I ordered a 32/36 kit. I have searched and read all the write ups and such but still have a few ?s.

1st - what to do about the crankcase vent? I believe it should have one, but not sure how to pull it off, the stock system doesn't make alot of sense to me. I mean metered manifold vacuum I get(fixed orifice), condensation chamber(see catch can) is actually kinda awesome for this vintage of car, feeding to the air cleaner at high rpm I get, but there's no check valve or anything so wouldn't the manifold vacuum just pull from the air cleaner at idle doing nothing for the crankcase and simply causing a vacuum leak? I'm used to chevys and I know a proven system is breather on one valve cover, pcv valve connected to manifold vacuum on the other draws fresh air through the crankcase and the valve controls vacuum. Is there any source for fresh air in on these? I found a pcv valve listed for an 83 prelude, should I just hook that up to manifold vacuum? Or just run a breather?

2nd - I would like to keep the Evap system. It was removed from my truck when I got it and the smell of gas was just too much so I pulled junkyard parts and hooked it back up. I think I have it figured but double check me on this one. Control valve port goes to ported vacuum(or would it be venturi vacuum?), "purge" port goes to manifold vac, "carb" port is just a vent for the bowls in the stock carb when engine isn't running and I should just cap that, right? What is the big hose on the bottom, it's not in the service manual and it just disapears into the fram rail? Do I need to run the control port through the thermovalve?

3rd - secondary air or suction valve assy. Service manual says this keeps the cat from overheating, kinda like an air pump except it seems to run at exact opposite times as modern air pumps. Manual says it runs after thermovalve closes and only above 15mph. Also that the negetive pulses from the exhaust pulls fresh air from the air filter. Do I need this to keep the cat heathly? Will it even fit with the weber on there? Also kind of a side note but if it's bleeding off the negetive pulse from exhaust wouldn't it prevent any kind of scavanging in the cylinders(which we now know is very beneficial)?

4th - cruise control and A/C. Do I need any of the black box crap to run these? I doesn't appear so I just want to make sure. I know the a/c idle bump will be gone but thats not such a big deal is it?

Also on another side note, it appears that the vacuum system on this car works backwards from what I would have thought. Mainly with the air filters in the black box and the thermovalves being open cold to bleed vacuum instead of opening hot to supply vacuum. Wouldn't all this just be a bunch of vacuum leaks when the motors cold? If so I'm assuming the carb is designed for this but not sure how, or is the black box sealed and basically just a big vac can with valves inside?

Sorry for the long post, just trying to figure out these very strange systems that seem poorly designed and over complicated. I wonder if honda engineers were genuises and we still do things wrong, or they just didn't yet know how thesse things worked the best for emissions and performance. You gotta give it to them though the cvcc is a quite impressive solution compared to our smogged out 80hp V8s of the time.

2oodoor
08-22-2013, 03:31 AM
Very good questions and you seem very knowledgable so you're going to be ok. I will try to address these asap. First, if that is NOT a CVCC engine you should be ok chevy style on the pvc.
Black box completley removed on 2.0 so not sure about 1.8.
AC kicker will need to be vac cont 12v solenoid or just streight up 12v solenoid on the throttle. Thing there is in warm weather the idle mix is much more forgiving so you may not need a kicker, but you may need anti deiseling hack of some kind, like shut down with AC on. The initial idle set up should focus on the least amount of throttle opening as possible so the idle jet(s) work properly so deiseling wouldn't likely be too much of an issue in a oerfect world.
Ign timing can be bumped up considerably with this carb so that is a factor too.

Evap, zomg Evap... You will be smelling gas time to time regardless ok. Some Webers have what appears to be ported vacuum but not always functions as such. You use manifold vac for vac advance... Yeah I know, Makes no sense. If you have a cannister, maybe use one of the vac switching thermovalve sensors for source since you won't need that otherwise.
I gotta go now but will help later.
Btw Honda were genius, they detuned the engine for USA smog and engineered systems to improve drivability and smooth super smooth driving BUT 1 or 2 components fail then the system creates drivability issues. They didn't intend on us to be using these cars still in 2013! I was around and driving in the 80's and I remember driving and riding in friends Hondas and thinking they were outta this world. Compared to Tempos, Sentras, Cavaliers, plymouth Breeze or Acclaim... Honda were not bogging down rotten egg sulfer sprayers right.

LazloZ28
08-23-2013, 12:33 AM
It is a cvcc 1.8l. Also tested the evap can today and the control valve is shot, big shocker almost all the vac diaphrams are shot in this thing, no wonder the idle was so high. So do I just unhook the vent hose from the tank or what. Suppose i can hit the junkyard and grab a charcoal can. So the carb itself won't have ports except manifold vac? That's kind of strange, I've been through many V8 carbs and they've always had multiple vac ports.

2oodoor
08-23-2013, 04:02 AM
The idea behind ported vac is to control vac advnce on cars that do not need advance at idle but at part throttle. These cars, some Fords ive worked on do have vac adv at idle.
The Weber Progressive carbs have a port but from what Ive seen it is not real strong. I think you could use a charcoal canister for collecting fumes but I don't think you could have full vacuum on it, it should pull from cac reservior or temp controled vac switch , thermowax valve.
Webers put out fumes, especially cuz of the type breathers used with them. I got a 5.25 adapter for my 38 so I can use aby four barrel breather configuration, that can help.
You really don't need ported vac on the A or B20, I don't know much on cvcc. Others here do and quite knowledgable in them.
Your best option anyway I can think of is swapping to a Weber, except strict Cali. Emmissions testing :(
Cats, well I have to study that if you want to keep it.
Definatley keep the intake manifold warm with coolant temp transfer or hot air from the exhaust, Weber life is easier with warmed air mixture.