ScottL

Hello. A couple buddies had a civic worked on by a brother than a shop. I got the car with the harness hacked up and the starter in pieces plus other issues. After spending time getting the car ready to start the starter would engage the flywheel and clunk nothing. So i pulled the new starter and tried manually rotating the engine. It's stuck; I asked my buddy about the engine. He said they purchased a low milage d17. Got impatient with the mechanic and installed it themselves. So i asked if they remember turning the crank or flywheel/pressure plate. No memory or recallation of rotating. So my question is there a chance they installed a long bolt that is holding the rotating assembly to the block?

Slumpertcivic

I would see if I could move the engine backwards with just a little effort. If it starts to move backwards easily then you likely have a timing belt / dropped valve issue.

If it won’t move either direction then you really should consider a replacement engine..