joeyz

Hey guys im JoeyZ and new here,
So here's the deal. I have a 93 civic hatch with a D15 I love the car and obvioously want a little more spunk out of the thing. My girlfriend just wrecked her car. an 03 rsx type S.
She dosent plan on repairing it as she wants the check to go and put on another car.
My question is, in your opinion is the swap worth the hassle and the cash.
keep in mind Im going to have the ENTIRE donor car to rip stuff off of.
The hatch is going to be my daily driver and a little bit of drag time at the track on the weekends.
OR I also have a spare D15 that I was planning on rebuilding and boosting.
Do I do the swap or part the car out and build a boosted mini-me motor since the main job of this car is to take my goofy *** to work.
Thanks in advance.

Dasfinc

Alright, You need to go over a few things,

This is a 2003, the insurance company owns it once they cut her a check, and SHE has the option to buy it back for a price set by the insurance company.

the RSX-S motor is a GREAT motor to pop into a 93 hatch, but requires ALOT of money and time, and you mention 'this is going to be my daily driver' you need to realize that the swap is time and money consuming, so start with some basics:

How much does the insurance company want for the RSX?
Whats your budget?
Do you understand that there is very little that will work on your hatch off of the RSX out side of the motor and transmission and a few small bits, and that mounts/axles/etc will all have to be custom/ordered?

Onto your D15... what KIND of D15 do you have? D15B8, D15B7, D15B2, or the 'JDM' D15B

If its anything but the jdm D15B its not worth boosting, the rods and pistons are trash

and if 'the main job is to get you to work' don't modify it at all, enjoy your 35-40mpg and buy another car for the K20 to go into *this is why I own an 07 focus as my DD and a 92 EG hatch with a swap as my weekend warrior.

joeyz

No buyback on the car.The insurance company isnt going to junk it so there's no salvage price.She's simply refusing repair at the garage and taking the check for estimated value.
I wasnt going to start the swap until I had all the parts. Out of everything Ive read on the k20 swap(which is enough to make anyone crazy) it does seem pricey for a car thats not going to be raced on a regular basis or become a show car.
Yeah the rods are kinda the d15b7's weakest link.Thats why I was considering rebuilding the spare one in my basement (ground up style) new rods, mini-me build and modest boost. It seems to me that a motor like that would be far easier to swap into my hatch and could be funded by parting out the RSX.
But I cant help but feel that theres a real opportunity to build something rad here.
I do enjoy the mpg's however im not enjoying getting owned by VW's

Dasfinc

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by joeyz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No buyback on the car.The insurance company isnt going to junk it so there's no salvage price.She's simply refusing repair at the garage and taking the check for estimated value.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That car must have been railed...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by joeyz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I wasnt going to start the swap until I had all the parts. Out of everything Ive read on the k20 swap(which is enough to make anyone crazy) it does seem pricey for a car thats not going to be raced on a regular basis or become a show car.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

average cost for K20 swaps are 7-10K *granted that includes the price of the motor, but its still a chunk of change*

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by joeyz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Yeah the rods are kinda the d15b7's weakest link.Thats why I was considering rebuilding the spare one in my basement (ground up style) new rods, mini-me build and modest boost. It seems to me that a motor like that would be far easier to swap into my hatch and could be funded by parting out the RSX.</TD></TR></TABLE>

new rods for a B7 are $400, and they are STILL not very good. If you wanna do a budget turbo D, buy a D16Z6, buy Vitara pistons and LS rods, get the block notched for the rods, and boost the hell out of it. Mini-Me's suck, I ran one for all of 3 months before dumping it infavor of a B18B

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by joeyz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
But I cant help but feel that theres a real opportunity to build something rad here.
I do enjoy the mpg's however im not enjoying getting owned by VW's </TD></TR></TABLE>

Again, its a trade-off. If you REALLY wanna do something fun, and keep your MPG, Gank the engine/trans and wiring out of the RSX, Sell off the rest, and with that money buy a hatch or coupe shell to stuff the K20 into, and just enjoy saving money on gas and spend that on swapping the K20 into the spare car.

joeyz

Yeah next time im shure she'll rail the deer now that she knows that trees hurt alot more.
I think that Im going to take your advice and part the car out and find another hatch to swap the k20 into so I still have my daily driver.
You didnt like the mini-me build ,really?
I just want to do something different, everybody I know swaps in a b18. This will be my first honda. but back in the day when all my friends were swapping out their 305's for 350's I built a 383 stroker. Thats kinda what interested me in the mini-me build.

1CaMw0nDeR

dude, don't ever let anyone tell you building/boosting isnt worth it... i got ragged on by all my friends for so long about building my single cam n boostin it, for a good 2 years i heard **** an had to take **** from everyone i ran into with nothing but negative feedback... than once i finally got my fjt rods, vitara pistons, cometic headgasket, arp head bolts, 450 injectors and my t3t4 turbo setup, i was shittin on all them dudes who had nothing but negatives for me before, so yeah the process can be a pain in the *** but the end result was amazing.. i was only boostin 10psi fully tuned tho, an was shittin on gsr swapped hatches, h22 hatches, f22 turbo crx, z06 vettes, ect... and that was all on my jdm d15b so yeah bro definitely say go boosted... you wont regret it, and i even had decent gas mileage when my foot wasnt made of concrete haha... just make sure u get a reputable fella to tune your car or if you live in florida just goto CFT "Central Florida Turbo" like i did, pay the $350 and leave knowing you just got a hell of a deal... my car ran great boosted for 9 months on stock internals, than ran great for another 4 months built n boosted... but got stolen couple weeks ago an was recovered completely stripped, so yeah make sure u get an alarm first.... GL man..