94civicdeleon

I have a 94 civic ex and I just found out why my car burns oil. So the shop says that my pistons rings need to be replaced as well as my cylinder head gasket. The thing is that I don't have $1000.00 to spend right now on that so do you think that it is not too difficult to do this myself? Does anyone have any experience or helpful input on this. They say at the shop it will take 2-3days. But thats at a shop and they have other customers. I really appreciate your feedback thanks..

Jas9848

iTrader: (2)

where are you located? it's not hard if you have a place to do it and tools to do it with.

94civicdeleon

Im located in San Diego. Yeah I got tools.. But I just remembered I have a Y8 engine that was given to me from a friend. Would it benifite me at all of putting that head on my z6 block or not really at all? And if so what parts would I need to do this would I buy z6 or Y8 parts to do this small convers..

Jas9848

iTrader: (2)

it wouldn't be that much of a benefit to do a head swap. to pull the head off and do rings and hone the cylinders should only take a few hours if you know what you're doing. just make sure to keep track of what pistons/rods and bearings came out of what cylinder and set the ring gap properly.

94civicdeleon

So the only benifit at all would just be having a Y8 head? Yeah I'm just thinking that because then I wouldn't have to go out and buy the stuff cuz it's already on the other engine. Just out of curiosity and stupidity is there a name for that swap? Any other info on the

Jas9848

iTrader: (2)

i've heard the y8 combustion chambers are a little better, but the z6 ports are better, so it's a toss up/personal preference basically. i would just keep the z6 the z6 and keep the y8 the y8.

dohcdelsol

well you gunna have to replace the headgasket and headbolts if you pull off the head. your gunna have to remove the oil pan to be able to get the piston rods apart from the crank to get the piston out so new oil pan gasket. knowing how to correctly hone the cylinders so that the new rings get a good seal and dont leak again. also your gunna end up removing the intake mani so new gasket there. plus oil and new coolent. how many miles on the z6? you will be removing all the belts, might as well replace the timing belt, h2o pump and tensioner.

your gunna need basic hand tools plug torque wrench. honeing tool. piston ring compressor. good air tools to remove the crankpull bolt. plus your gunna wana research how to break in the new rings to get them to seat correctly in the cylinder walls. first 20-50 miles are crucial unless you want all that work to go to waste and end up doing it again.

thats just a few things i can think of off the top of my head.

Jas9848

iTrader: (2)

you can take the head off and just leave the intake manifold bolted on so you won't need that gasket. you can re-use the oil pan gasket if it's not in too bad of shape or old. i don't usually take off the lower belt cover or crank pulley if i'm just doing a head or rings, just slip the belt off to the side. tensioners are rarely replaced unless they fail. a good hone tool and a good torque wrench is a must.

you will need new head bolts only if they are the kind that look like drill bits, which are one-time torque bolts, if not they are re-usable, but not usually recommended.

dohcdelsol

why are you giveing out bad advise? that sounds like you are taking alot of short cuts and will end up doing the job again.

not replacing the oil pan gasket will lead to an oil leak which is very common for the d series motors. you will be struggling to get that timing belt back on and you will rotate the motor when taking out the pistons and end up being off a few teeth and there goes the timing out of wack.

if you dont remove the intake mani from the head you will be fighting to work around the head thats proped up on an angle when you are trying to hone the cylinders. not only that but bending any vaccum or coolent lines attached to the intake mani.

oem headbolts are designed to stretch when torqueing them down. they are not to be reused because the threads are stretched out. you can get away with it if you over torque them when reusing them but they more then likely will fail and you will be doing a headgasket again.

OP: do things right the first way or dont do it at all. just my .02. in the end its your car, do as youd like.

Jas9848

iTrader: (2)

sorry, just some short cuts i've found. i've rebuilt enough motors and have never had a problem. i would replace the gaskets, belt and water pump if they haven't been done in a long time or ever.

dohcdelsol

no problem. im jsut the type of person that does things by the book when it comes to things like this. ive taken enough short cuts to realize that its not worth doing the job twice because ive halfassed it.

Jas9848

iTrader: (2)

yea i know what you mean. i was a honda tech for 4 years and have done alot of work on cars outside of work, so after doing the same thing over and over again it gets tiring, so you find short cuts.

94civicdeleon

ok so I see that there is a lot of work that needs to be done to fix the car. So obviously Don't make fun of me because I know how obvious the q is but I should just get a new engine right? The only thing is that I don't know places around where I live that I can get a good deal for... I really love my HOnda and I even Modified my valve cover and added a T and A at the end so now it says HOndata on My valve cover and that is it.

teamworxek9

iTrader: (5)

dont take shorcuts when doing engine work. repalce your head bolts, maybe look into arp studs those you can reuse. also replace your gaskets they arent that much. get a helms or chiltons and have at it.

hondamark35

you're getting there... i would almost always look at the option of putting in a good used motor before going with re-ringing. in my experience it's less time and more dependability compared to re-ringing. it may be less money too if you can find a deal on a motor. just check it out before you make up your mind to pull your motor appart.

thumper64

If you have a whole Y8, why not just swap that in? I'm aware that they have a crap oiling system, but that would at least be easier than taking the Z6 apart and rebuilding it.

Check out prices on D15Bs. Swapping one of them in would probably cost less than rebuilding.

94EG8

JDM SOHC Vtec ZC is a direct replacement for the D16Z6 and can most likely be had for less than a rebuild. Check with local authorities first to make sure it can be considered a smog legal transplant. JDM D15B Vtec is similar to the D16Z6 and would also be a good choice.

94civicdeleon

Yeah I just found a zc motor and install for $1200 the thing is, the dohc and the sohc are the same price is this just because the dohc is non vtec or is it vtec? It comes with less then 30,000 miles. And it's from a legit shop... Should I get the sohc or dohc. And I don't know what specs to believe there are so many different ones out there. I need quick info because I have to decide in like 4hours... The place is in san bernardino it's like 1H 45Min

94EG8

Stay away from the DOHC for emissions reasons. The engine you want is the OBD1 SOHC Vtec ZC, direct swap. The only thing you will want to do is either swap on your original D16Z6 intake manifold, or add a purge solenoid to the ZC intake manifold (only difference between the two)

94civicdeleon

Really the emissions are that bad? I was looking forward to getting a dohc but if you think that it will be a hassle for me to get smogged then ok... Do you happen to know the specs on the sohc vtec zc, and is there really any difference between the two?

94EG8

Its not so much that it wont pass the sniffer test. The engine will not pass the visual part of the inspection in California. Basically what it comes down to is there is no USDM equivelent of the OBD1 DOHC ZC.

Its basically identical to the D16Z6 thats in there now.

94civicdeleon

ok and are the zc and the d16a the same thing or whats the difference..Sorry it's just I wanna know what i'm getting....

94EG8

There is a non vtec ZC that IIRC is very similar to the D16A. Basically what you want to make sure you get is an OBD1 SOHC Vtec ZC, it will have a grey plug distributor (distributor will have 2 plugs) Spark plugs will be towards the front of the valve cover. (non vtec OBD1 D-series engine have the spark plugs to the rear of the valve cover.

94civicdeleon

Wait what? SO they are the same thing basically? So what your saing is that I should get the sohc vteczc. and to make sure it is obd1. aND THE zc is better then the original one I have on? Beside all the defects.

94EG8

Yes. D16Z6 = SOHC Vtec ZC

Yes.

Its basically exactly the same as the engine you have. With identical power output. The big reason to buy it instead of rebuilding what you have is for cost/reliability issues. JDM engines come complete on a pallet, you get a lot for your money (typically you get the intake, exhaust manifold [with downpipe if you're lucky] distributor, alternator, A/C compressor, all sensors, cut wiring harness [handy for salvaging connectors when doing a swap, doesn't really apply in your case sense you have no wiring to do] usually the engine only has 50,000 miles on it.

The only difference btw is that the D16Z6 has a purge solenoid that the ZC lacks, simply swap the intake manifolds.