Rep Power: 193

Looks exactly like my EX, only not "magnesium metallic" or w/e the color is, its friggen grey.

Stock Civic's are rare these days it seems....

Just make sure the JY uses OEM parts for the timing belt.

Ask them for the vin of the engine your getting and then car-fax (or vehiclehistory), they should have the mileage of the donor car when it was totaled.

The JY may have the title as well, this would be another way to verify. Match the vin on the title to the vin on the engine.

If things start getting screwy I'd be wary of letting them work on your car, if they have nothing to hide they would have no reason to withhold this information.

 
Rep Power: 0

I really do love it. Couldn't have asked for a better first car, despite this issue, especially at $3000.
Thanks a lot for this advice; this kind of stuff is really what I need at this point, any other tips from you or anyone else??

 
Rep Power: 253

IMHO the price of the motor and labor is way too low.. Make sure you KNOW what you are getting before paying anything.

 
Rep Power: 0

I agree to an extent, but I've been thinking about it; if they got a salvage car for a low price themselves, I pay 1100, they get my old motor to rebuild and sell, and they already make most of the profit off the engine, I only have to pay for the direct cost of about $50/hr for labor. It seems like maybe a really fair price, or something that's way too good to be true, but that's why I'm bringing someone I can trust who'll look everything over before any money is spent.

So, say we decide it looks legit and they go ahead and do the engine swap. I get there, we look the car over, start it up. it's running like brand new, everything's put back right, I drive it home 5 hours, and still everything's fine, I keep an eye on the fluids and a close ear on the engine, is there anything that could go wrong at this point, or more importantly, after the 3 months is up? Obviously there's always stuff that could go wrong, but isn't a pre-existing issue with the engine/installation issue going to pop up pretty early?

 
Rep Power: 518

Not always. Some stupid human tricks take years to discover.


Seems like whenever a hack quits and moves on (they don't stay long, or they get ate alive with comebacks) we discover and have to unscrew their work for at least the next 2 years, on regular customers.



Not trying to scare you, just saying.

 
Rep Power: 193

Yeah I'm sure they would just part out the old motor, they're really only selling you the bottom end.

It does sound super cheap but not unrealistic, the JY would make more money if they did the work and kept the old motor instead of just selling it and you keeping the old motor.

See if they'll give you the vin and go from there...

 
Rep Power: 0

Ok, that makes sense.

This rabbit that you hit at 95 mph, is it possible that it dented the oil pan in and messed up the oil pick up leading to low oil pressure and then grenaded bearings? Take a peek under the motor.

This thread really make me want to not rev any where near 6K now. Which is sad since that is where you're getting all 120 or so horses.

 
Rep Power: 0

I know exactly how you feel. I do everything right as far as maintenance on this thing, yeah, I probably drive it a little harder than I should, but I would think that it shouldn't be taking a **** at this point even given that fact. Something must have happened in the past for this car to do something like this. And when I took a sample of the oil, I didn't inspect the thing, but I think.i.would have noticed a dent that caused something this substantial to.happen, plus, a little jackrabbit really isn't going to.do.damage to a car's underbody. I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but the car has been making a noise for a long time now; seems it was only a matter of time before it detonated. like I said, at least it didn't happen while I'm living in adormm room.

 
Rep Power: 193

Going to 6k isn't a problem on a healthy motor. The OP said the motor had a slight knock when he bought it, the high rpm/load just did it in.

When I drive my car hard I usually shift around 5-5500, sometimes 6k in 1st, I just don't keep it there.

 
Rep Power: 0

Haha well like I said, there must have been something wrong with the engine to begin with, because I took it to 100+ twice since I had it, and other than that, I drove the thing so that it shifted around 3-4k, 4.5k when I was feeling fast, and every once in a while 5-5.5k when I'm in the city. I'm just kinda disappointed; it's a honda, that's kinda why I bought it, it should be more reliable than all these stupid problems suggest.

 
Rep Power: 518

Probably not the cars' fault.
Some people can turn ANY vehicle into a POS in a short time.
No matter how reliable the car might have been in the beginning.

 
Rep Power: 0

Yeah. We're thinking it was probably run low on oil at one point, so hopefully after this engine, the thing'll be solid till I'm finished with school.

 
Rep Power: 253

Unlikeley the pan is cast aluminum it would of cracked not bent.

 
Rep Power: 0

It most certainly can at 95 MPH. The oil pan is the lowest piece under the front and the oil pick up is only like 7-8" inches off the ground with only thin metal separating it from the road. Even less if you braked at the last second before hitting it. You would have head quite the thud if that happened though.

But oh well its a far fetched scenario any way. Glad you got the car running again.

 
Rep Power: 253

I pretty much said that in the beginning. Hehe

ANY car with "rod knock" is on its way to doomsday..EVEN if you dont beat on it. Beating on it is just speeding the process.

Just out of curiosity how old was the previous owner?

(30+ or under 30)

 
Rep Power: 0

she was like 60. But she told us how right before she decided to sell the car, she had taken it cross-country and was talking about how good the car was going 90 a lot of the way, not sure if that's what it could have been, who knows.

 
Rep Power: 0

I wish I had but it doesn't look like I'll be taking it to Sacramento till sometime next week. Kinda sucks, riding my bike to work at 530am, and home again in 95°+ weather, ha, but it seems that I'll be doing that for about another week at this point.

 
Rep Power: 0

So now we've got my grandpa in on the situation and he thinks I should look for a new/reman long block so we at least know what we're getting. Anyone have any advice as far as where a good place to find one would be? I'm willing to pay shipping as long as the price is right.

 
Rep Power: 0

Just an update: I finally ordered an engine that my grandpa approved of. It's imported from Japan, 45,000mi, should be here Monday or Tuesday. Now I'm finally making some progress!
I just did some research and found out that the Japanese d17a2 has only 123hp as opposed to 127, do you think it'll be noticable?

 
Rep Power: 0

So, we finished up the replacement yesterday, ended up replacing the following items:

Intake Manifold Gasket Set
Timing Belt
Water Pump
Valve Cover Gasket Set
Oil Pan Silicone
Spark Plugs
Coolant, with Honda blue
Oil and Filter (Obviously, but will switch to Synthetic in a couple hundred miles)

Overall, it took a while but went very well; we ended up being able to pull the engine without having to pull the transmission or radiator, that may have been the reason why it took us about three full days to pull it off, but we also took our time. It runs noticeably smoother than it did even long before the bearing completely went. I was afraid that it'd have less power than the old engine, as Wikipedia states that JDM D17A2s have 123hp as opposed to 127, but it actually seems like it has more low-end 'grunt' (if it can be called that). It was great, though; we had not even a little nut left over, and after cycling the fuel pump a couple of times, she started right up. I couldn't be more happy with the turnout, and after this experience, I may just start treating the car a little bit nicer than before.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do with the old engine?