I have a 2003 Honda Civic EX 4-door, it has lost compression in cylinder 1, and is constantly running rich. I called around locally to see what type of motors I could use to replace what I have and most received a response of "what's already in it."

I do a considerable amount of highway and interstate driving and I'm looking for something with a little bit more power. I'm getting ran off the road out there! Any help is greatly appreciated and also what kind of price range I should be looking at.

Thank you for all your help.

easiest, most straightforward swap would be a D17A2 engine, considering that's what's sitting in your engine bay right now. Another easy swap would be a D17A1, but you'll suffer power loss due to lower compression and loss of VTEC (which will likely make your current ECU not happy)

If you want more power, the go-to swap is a k20 (be it a k20a3/a2/a from a civic si/rsx/rsx-s/rsx-r), but that does take a good amount of work and money

If you buy a scrapyard engine you won't know if it is about to blow, or already has.

It would be safer and possibly cheaper to have the engine you own rebuilt or rebuild it yourself. Get quotes for both.

put some decent internals and a clutch (if manual) in it and add boost.

Gee. When I say something straightforward like this, people think I'm an azzhole.

LOL, no one likes the truth =D

The cheapest route would be to buy a JDM d17A from one of those JDM ebay vendors. That is where I go tmy replacement from. They claim they import their engines from Japan with only 45-55k miles. I opened the engine up and inspected it very clean inside the heads and crank, no sludge. Added new rear main seal and headgasket, and its running smooth.

Assuming you have the d17a2 motor, the JDM d17a is a direct swap, the only thing to bring over from te old motor is the vtec solenoid and oil pressure switch. Go ahead and replace the headgasket, timing belt, water pump, and rear main seal while you are at it. It cost me $500 for the longblock with free shipping.

K20A or a K20A1?? i think the K20A1 fits in 7th gen, or so I've heard.

any k20 (a, a1, a2, a3, etc) will fit the 7thgen... with modification. Motor mounts, for one. Though, I should note that the -a1 isn't readily available in the US. If someone decided to go with anything other than the k20a[x] series engines, they'd need to convert to a drive-by-wire system since the 7thgen civic uses a cable throttle.

Maybe if the engine ran on all 4 cylinders the OP could keep up with traffic.