well i know its not the thermostat. i put it in hot water and it opened at 160 degrees farenheight. i also installed it correctly. with the right part facing the top of the engine. i also noticed that the previous owner installed the new radiator fan on backwards. it was blowing into the radiator not sucking though. also. are the 2 screws on the rotors necessary? the ones that are in there now im gunna have to drill out.

 

You should run premium. The actual Honda owner's manual for the 99-00 Si (the car that comes with an engine that is nearly identical to the one you have) says that regular is fine because the ECU has been programmed to be able to adjust fuel/timing maps to compensate for the lower octane, but your gas mileage and power will go down. I would stick with premium.

P.S. premium is unleaded.

 

alright well i put in a new thermostat, put it in hot water first to see if it was faulty. opened at 160. fairly certain that its the headgasket. i noticed what looked like antifreeze coming from the front passenger side of the block and head. but i dont know if it was runoff from when i had the bleeder open earlier.

 

i wiped it clean and will know if its a leak tomorrow.

 

well it was a leak and the head is almost off to replace the head gasket. i will be getting my head resurfaced as well just to be sure. i want to replace the waterpump when i have it all apart. should i got with the stock b16a waterpump? from del sol or civic si? i have also read that you can use a waterpump from a b18, i dunno which one, but it is better yet.

 

i found out today that my jdm b16a is the 1992 - 170hp 5th and 6th gen SiR, SiRII and CRX delsol SiR. this thread says that the first to serial numbers identify the engine and a 54 begining serial number is this engine? is this correct?

http://www.automotiveforums.com/t16608.html

 

well turned out my overheating problem was from a bad waterpump. i didnt think it was it because it wasnt making any strange noises, leaking, the gear spun fine. when i removed it the turbines fell right out. be driveable in a few days hopefully.