Ummm... soo, my car blew up :/

[2tables1mic]

I've known this motor was gonna go for a while now and have just been kind of waiting and it finally happened. I am now without a car and am stuck on what to do. Just about a week ago, one of my buds told me he would sell me his 98 civic ex with a blown motor for 500 bucks which I think is a steal considering it has a few nice aftermarket parts on it and they all come with the car. So I have either the option of putting a motor in this 89 accord or, selling my car to a friend and buying the civic which has WAY more aftermarket support and putting a motor in that.

My real question is what motors are direct swaps for the 89 accord and, where can you find low mileage A20A3's and how much do they usually run?

D series motors run about 3-500 around here so for about a grand I could have a 98 civic with true cold-air intake and exhaust. So would it be financially wise to try and keep this accord alive or should I ditch it and join the civic crew for a little while?

[2oodoor]

Nice looking coupe!
Personally, The Accord you have is 300% a better base for a car. Not that the Civic is totally junk but Ive noticed a lot of things break on them and there are a lot of them for sale, which is puzzling considering the price of gas.

You can find an A20a3 for less than 500 with a warrenty. They are not that expensive or hard to rebuild if the crank and rods arn't damaged.

[gtoman]

If you were closer to NC I would pay you $500 for the accord shell and you could go get the civic for basically free... I would keep the accord but that's just me. The civic does have ALOT of aftermarket support so if modding is what you want to do then that might be the ez way to go.


Adam

[Civic Accord Honda]

That accord is really clean id have a hard time letting that one go.

I own a 95 civic. and have a friend with a 98 civic. and let me tell you that even though they have better performance options and aftermarket doesn't mean there better.
they are built very cheaply. both me and my friends civics have leaking heater cores (So no heat this winter unless i rip out the dash and everything behind the dash.) things like door handles like to just snap off. touch the vents the wrong way they just break. the cloth on my door is starting to come off. suspension is noisy after going over alot of things,

also d-series engine are great when there in good shape. trying to find one some ricer hasnt trashed is hard. im on my 3rd engine swap due to that problem.

if you want a civic get a ED(EF) 88-91. they are built much better.


and if you do get the car stay away from any d-series with a Y on it. they are known to spin bearings due to the shitty oil pump and honda got rid of one of the oiling holes on the crank

[gtoman]

Agreed. EZ doesn't mean better.

Adam

[ecogabriel]

I did a partial rebuilt on my 93 Civic (D15B7) several years ago; I can tell the engine has very little extra material in any place. Anyway, 50K later (228K now) car runs with no problem (up to 40 mpg hwy)
That is for a daily driver with no mods whatsoever and driven in an average manner.
I do not think you can get cheap performance from a D series engine; a few blown engines I saw in the jy (rod sticking out of the block) has convinced me of that. Those who are serious about performance swap B series engines into them.

How did the A20 blow up? Spun a bearing? Head gasket? or what? I believe A engines may be better candidates for a rebuilt than a D.

[2ndGenGuy]

Yeah why spend $500 on another car with a blown engine you have to replace, when you already have a (very nice, even!) car that you can replace the engine in for probably the same price. The Civic will probably get a bit better mileage, but I don't think they're as nice as the 3g Accords.

[Civic Accord Honda]

I did a partial rebuilt on my 93 Civic (D15B7) several years ago; I can tell the engine has very little extra material in any place. Anyway, 50K later (228K now) car runs with no problem (up to 40 mpg hwy)
That is for a daily driver with no mods whatsoever and driven in an average manner.
I do not think you can get cheap performance from a D series engine; a few blown engines I saw in the jy (rod sticking out of the block) has convinced me of that. Those who are serious about performance swap B series engines into them.

How did the A20 blow up? Spun a bearing? Head gasket? or what? I believe A engines may be better candidates for a rebuilt than a D.

D-series have been proven to push 400hp on stock block with a ebay turbo...it takes a good tune and someone who is not a ricer behind the wheel...however i dont need 400hp LOL and id much rather have another 3g then my civic .

Yeah why spend $500 on another car with a blown engine you have to replace, when you already have a (very nice, even!) car that you can replace the engine in for probably the same price. The Civic will probably get a bit better mileage, but I don't think they're as nice as the 3g Accords.

agree fully!

[ecogabriel]

[QUOTE=Civic Accord Honda;1102893]D-series have been proven to push 400hp on stock block with a ebay turbo...it takes a good tune and someone who is not a ricer behind the wheel...however i dont need 400hp LOL and id much rather have another 3g then my civic .[QUOTE]

If you are right, then all who are after the B-series engines from JDM must be kind of stupid in spending north of $3000 for an engine/trans swap.

The question is whether to fix the 3G v. getting a Civic to fix.
For a DD, a Civic would give better gas mileage. On the other hand, the Accord feels more solid.

[Civic Accord Honda]

b-series is faster easier and quicker...and everyone wants VTAKS lol
check out d-series.org if you wanna see some sick sohcs. and for north of 3k it better be a b18c5 i can get a b16 swap or an LS swap for under 2k.

[lostforawhile]

the civics suck I had a 98, everything was cheap and falling apart on it, even things like the power windows all stopped working, if it's got an auto plan on the tranny failing, they have major built in issues, after driving the 3 g all the years I have the civic just seemed cheap and poorly made

[ecogabriel]

the civics suck I had a 98, everything was cheap and falling apart on it, even things like the power windows all stopped working, if it's got an auto plan on the tranny failing, they have major built in issues, after driving the 3 g all the years I have the civic just seemed cheap and poorly made

Did you get rid of it?

[lostforawhile]

Did you get rid of it?

the civic? yea for 400 bucks, that was a long time ago, I lost a shit load of money on it, so much stuff broke that was all I was able to get, guy from Florida drove up here with a trailer to get it since the tranny was gone, if that had been the only issue I would have put a manual swap in it and kept driving it but it was a lemon from the day I got it, I did a car fax later and found out it had had 20 owners, and I believe it had been sold at auction several times

[gtoman]

the civic? yea for 400 bucks, that was a long time ago, I lost a shit load of money on it, so much stuff broke that was all I was able to get, guy from Florida drove up here with a trailer to get it since the tranny was gone, if that had been the only issue I would have put a manual swap in it and kept driving it but it was a lemon from the day I got it, I did a car fax later and found out it had had 20 owners, and I believe it had been sold at auction several times

Poor car, it never found anyone to love it. My wife has put almosy 200k of the 220k miles that her 96 civic ex 5 speed has on it with almost no issues. We changed the tranny output shaft bearing once and only maintainance has kept it alive.. However, my 86 lx-i run better and is more fun to drive at its 202k miles strong state. Runs like a champ. Civics can (he said cautiously) be good cars.

Adam

[lostforawhile]

Poor car, it never found anyone to love it. My wife has put almosy 200k of the 220k miles that her 96 civic ex 5 speed has on it with almost no issues. We changed the tranny output shaft bearing once and only maintainance has kept it alive.. However, my 86 lx-i run better and is more fun to drive at its 202k miles strong state. Runs like a champ. Civics can (he said cautiously) be good cars.

Adam

this one had the auto and they had major issues with it, once they go they are very expensive to try and rebuild with no guarantee of success, they had issues with the automatics across their entire line those years, even if I had found one in a yard it's impossible to tell if it's about to also fail

[Civic Accord Honda]

Lol your civic was cursed just like mine....mine has over $8000 invested in to it and it doesnt even show..