Rebuilding

Howdy,
My friend offered to sell me a 1st gen Integra for dirt cheap. He says the engine has 270,000 miles and needs new pistons and cylinders because the engine burns a lot of oil and it knocks. He also says the car has been blowing smoke for almost a year and he has to add a quart of oil every few days or about every 200 miles. I drove the car, and it has good acceleration. He says a machine shop would probably charge about $500 bucks to rebuilt it. What do you think? If I buy it, would I need a new engine or is this engine rebuildable?

would prolly be the same to just replace the motor then to rebuild
those things a a dime a dozen

Basically, you won't be able to tell if the engine is rebuildable untill you break it down & mic all the crank & rod journals & cylinder bore to see if their still in specs.

the machine shops were i live charge $1500 to buy parts and rebuild if you provide kit about 600

I would get a proper quote before you buy, if you dont need it for a daily you may be able to do most the work yourself, I see used Honda motors on Craigslist all the time for cheap these days, but may be considered.

If the shop rebuilds, usually you have to buy the parts thru them or get approval for a different rebuild kit in order for there to be some sort of warranty.

But sometimes you get lucky and can buy a motor stright up and not have to rebuild or have any problems for years, other times you may find out it needs to be rebuilt after you do all the work to put it in...

make sure they guage everything and that everything is torqued...i seen people build motors and blow them up with in months of heavy revving

You won't see cylinder bore past .040" often, only from too much piston slap & cylinder bore scoring mainly. Being that the motor is knocking, hopefully the bearing isn't spun & scoring the crank too much.

i would just get a low mileage junkyard engine and put it in. Its very hard to find good condition 1st gen teg motors right now so be warned. If it was 2nd gen and newer it would be very easy

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Originally Posted by AccordEpicenter

i would just get a low mileage junkyard engine and put it in. Its very hard to find good condition 1st gen teg motors right now so be warned. If it was 2nd gen and newer it would be very easy

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yeah only way to get a good motor is to get it off a wrecked car with low miles

Turns out the car is a gen-2, not 1.

Hypothetically, I take the engine out of the car and drop it off at the machine shop, and they take the engine apart and check for wear. If they say there's too much wear and tear and I should get a new engine, how much should they be charging me for opening up the engine and checking?

To buy a junkyard engine is a risk.. You will have the cost of removal and/or your time(of yours either way) If you get a crapped out engine the installation is on you. Went through this process with my sons 88 Accord DX. Finally decided to pull the engine and take the block and head to the shop. Got it bored .040 and decked plus new pistons and rings for about $350 . This does not incude the head work. Expect another $350 for that. Then you gotta buy all the rebuild gasket kit . Then seems like the list goes on like the kids book" If you give a mouse a cookie.." Meaning.. You gonna put old hoses on a rebuilt engine? What about the radiatior? Oil pump;Water pump..We opted to take the radiator to a shop for testing and cleaning and Alternator to an auto electric shop to be rebuilt. Had the starter tested.This is to eliminate problems later. These are prices in North Ga so I am sure metro areas are more Good Luck..

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Originally Posted by bushbean

Turns out the car is a gen-2, not 1.

Hypothetically, I take the engine out of the car and drop it off at the machine shop, and they take the engine apart and check for wear. If they say there's too much wear and tear and I should get a new engine, how much should they be charging me for opening up the engine and checking?

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It doesn't work that way. They will open it up and tell you how much money you will spend to get it running again. Every engine can be rebuilt. It's just a question of cost.