if iam not mistaken, many Honda engines are interference engines, by that i mean if the timing chain breaks the pistons could potentially hit the valves. Anybody know if the F20C is an interference engine?

 

The F20C is the only Honda engine I've had with a timing chain. My previous 7 Hondas had timing belts. Timing belts are much more likely to break. If a belt or chain breaks, there will be serious damage, but I really haven't heard of a chain breaking. I think the chain will stretch and become noisy long before it breaks.

 

The chain appears to be very strong and is lubricated constantly. I imagine the chain would outlast the engine. If the chain did break however it would probably cause hell the break loose.

The pistons are domed and the valves are relatively large, therefore that leads to be believe that yes, it would be considered an "interference engine".

Chris

 

Yes, the engine is very much an interference engine. Domed pistons and large valves don't necessarily make for an interference engine, but ours with the high CR certainly do.

 

yes it is. Most engines with high cr's are due to the domed pistons

 

Wouldn't valve float from high rpms due to a miss-shift be more likely to cause valve/piston contact than a broken timing chain?

 

Same thing in either case. If the timing chain broke, the valves would not be in sync with the piston movement.

 

Yes, of course - but I was talking about the likelyhood of the two different causes happening. The discussion so far has been about the chain breaking, but there's more than one way to mess up an interference engine.

 

of course, mis shifting is a much more common way to tap the valves than breaking a timing chain.

 

Ah yes, the wonderful mis-shift. I knew this guy that had a Camaro (he obviously isn't that smart...anyway) he downshifted instead of upshifting. Small block chevy's aren't supposed to do 12k rpm, so his engine sustained, shall we say....lots and lots of damage **giggles**

moral of the story, don't use crappy shifters, and it's better to take an extra few hundredths of a second to put it in the right gear than explode your engine!