A20 motor & trans questions

I recently just purchased a 1987 lx-i hatch and it has roughly 280k miles on it. The car runs pretty strong and my only complaint is reverse sometimes wants to grind. I plan to drive the car every day commuting on the interstate and I want to have a back plan for when something will fail on the car.

1st question
If the motor blows, I'm having issues finding these motors used to replace it with. Does any imput on how or where to locate parts

2nd question
Reverse grings, this goes with the first question. I can't find transmissions or parts online.

I really like this car and I want to keep it around for good while.

Regular oil changes (and maintenance in general) will help prevent engine failure tremendously. Can you describe the reverse grinding? Sound, feeling, also driving situation/conditions. The reverse-system in most manual transmissions use non-helical gears with no synchronizers, so it is typical for them to make a little noise when shifting into reverse (especially if the vehicle is not completely stationary when the shift is made).

As far parts, junkyards are an ok place to look for engines (even transmissions) but I don't recommend a straight up swap without freshening up the engine in some way. For transmissions, there are websites like rockauto that have kits, or transtar for a more direct product line. All in all, this is information that is readily available online

When it doesn't easily go into reverse, put it in 5th then back to reverse. The helical gears make the shaft spin a bit and aligns reverse a different way.

That’s a good tip yeah I usually go to 3rd then reverse.