Engine Rebuild Time

[conozo]

Well.... with around 182,500 miles my engines had it. I took it into a shop today because i was thinking i was hearing a knock and they told me its either a rod knock or a main bearing knock. Partially what i expected. I'm sad, it wont make it to 200,000 miles before i get it rebuilt which was what i was trying to get to. Im getting married in a month and our honeymoon is a road trip from indiana to the grand canyon plus a bunch of places in mountains so i dont want to make a drive like that with a bad engine. I think i could make it but i dont want to pay for an engine rebuild for some random shop in new mexico or something.

I have put a lot of money into the car and i just wont go for just slapping in a different junk yard motor. I want it done properly since this is my business car and daily driver that i put 20,000 miles a year on now. Im sad that it needs to be rebuilt now, happy to have a "new" engine in a couple weeks, and not really wanting to put in that much money for the rebuild. Its just so expensive.

Now its time for a little research on how i want it to be rebuilt. Im looking for at least equivalent gas mileage to what i have now. And i want to get good use out of my weber and exhaust at the same time.

[Dr_Snooz]

I'm right there with you man. I had to rebuild mine at 170k because the seals in the oil pump went bad and I lost pressure far far from home. I drove home with no pressure and worried about the mess when I got back. I just swapped a JDM A20 in and it was still ferocious expensive. Oh well. I sure don't want any other car, so the red car gets the love.

Good luck with the rebuild!

[Vanilla Sky]

If you can afford, have just some minor head cleanup done. Maybe look into a bit of port matching, but don't go overboard. Possibly look into a camshaft regrind (if you don't already have one) and stronger valve springs, such as the A18 prelude springs. Bumping up compression may require higher octane, so you may want to shy away.

A really good stock rebuild will really be all you need. Get top-shelf parts, and make sure things are done right.

[MessyHonda]

check compression first.

[conozo]

Its in the shop now. The only performance thing i will be adding is a reground cam. Im not looking to get crazy power and i already have an entire new exhaust and weber.

I went in the other day to look at the engine and it was fairly worn. Nothing you wouldnt expect for a engine with about 185,000 miles. My cam was pretty pitted tho. The shop is going to clean all the parts and engine bay then paint the engine black. Im looking forward to having an engine thats not worn and old along with a clean engine bay.

The radiator (original) and hoses (some original) are going to be replaced and i finally found a manual passenger side mirror. I have been looking for one of those for about 4 years.

[bank2me]

Yea man like vanilla and the others said check the compression.To see if it is bad. But if it is good then just get the heads redone. If the engine has decent compression then don't bother with the rebuild. It's all up to you man.

[russiankid]

If he has a rod knock what will a compression test do? To my knowledge, a rod knock won't be revealed in a compression test.

[88Accord-DX]

The tests that reveal internal condition of the motor are a leak down test with compression test combined. It's not good in some old motors with lots of miles to rebuild the top end & leave the bottom end out of the it. Anyhow, some of the better choice on rod and main bearings for this old motor is clevite. Might need to find some pistons with .020 oversize to take care of the bore your probably going to need. It cost me roughly over $1,300 to rebuild my motor & that was doing all the assembly.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/ddude2uc/A20A1pistonsinstalled.jpg

[mark_salad_bar]

I just bought a complete engine off craigslist for 60 bucks...very nice.