Pin Heads
How do I get my shift linkage off? I took the bolt off of one side, but I can't seem to figure out how to get the other side off. There is a little pin or something like that holding it on-does it come out?
Bryan McKay
Tuscaloosa, AL
This pin is the archenemy of every Honda guy on the planet. I don't know one guy who has ever done an engine swap in a Civic or Integra that hasn't cursed this pin to hell for being the most stubborn part on the whole car.
I've seen many a tool used to try and press this pin out, the most prominent of which is a Phillips screwdriver. Unfortunately, the pin is hollow, so it will usually get pretty mangled by the 4 sharp points of a male Phillips head. A viable option for the budget-minded Honda enthusiast is an appropriately sized Allen wrench. This method works well because the Allen has more surface area than a screwdriver does. But if you hit the Allen wrench on the wrong side of its 90-degree angle, you'll end up with a pancake for a thumb.
The correct way to do this is to use a punch. There are punches out there made specifically for this purpose that can be ordered through a Honda dealership or one of the major tool companies (anybody with a tool truck). These babies push the pin right out, no hassle whatsoever, and they're only about $30. Buy one and save yourself the headaches.
Hype R
I've been thinking about swapping my '99 Si's stock B16A oil pump with Type R oil pump. Will it work with my block?
Travis Barba
Fountain Valley, CA
The answer is yes, you can put an ITR oil pump on your Si's block, but it is a waste of time and money. All OBD-2 B-series VTEC oil pumps are identical, meaning the oil pump on your B16 IS an ITR oil pump.
If you're having a problem with oil starvation, there are other things you should be looking at. The most obvious is your oil level. Obviously, if your motor doesn't have any oil in it, or is low on oil, or burns oil, you'll starve for oil under load.
Assuming you have oil in the motor and you're still having problems with oil starvation, you'll want to consider a baffled oil pan. Without baffles, hard g-loads, like drag launches and banked turns, can push all of the oil to one side of the oil pan, leaving the pickup area dry and your motor starving. A baffled pan has plates welded in it to keep oil in the pickup area so it will always be there when it's needed.
If you're running a baffled pan and you're still having problems, the next step would be an Accusump. An Accusump is a pressurized reservoir of oil that acts as a buffer in the case of brief oil starvation. If the oil pressure in the motor drops below that of the Accusump, the oil in the tank will be fed into the motor.
The last step would be a dry sump system, which keeps the oil in an external reservoir and pumps and scavenges via an external pump. This is the way to go if you've got the cash and you're building a crazy race car, but most of us don't, so we'll stick to baffled pans and Accusumps.