heres the deal. my girlfriend has a 1990 accord dx with ~148Kmi. the body is in decent shape, minimal to no rust. however, because of her total lack of respect for the automobile and her very hard and fast driving style, the engine is done. due to a broken seal, one of the cylinders was flooded and is no longer functioning. perfrom a compression test on that cylinder and the gauge barely moves a mm. a second cylinder is fast on it's way to suffering the same fate. bottom line: the engine is done for. she has $1,000 to spend on whatever. her options are, buy a beater for $1K or less or swap out the engine on the accord and hope the body lasts as long as the new engine. here are my options:

1) an engine from a 1990 accord dx, just the core. no starter, alternator etc...w/ ~98Kmi. for $350 + $25 to deliver it to where i need it to be. has been tested and has a 90 day warranty.

2) an engine from a 1992 accord, just the core. no starter etc.. w/ ~90K mi. for $400 +$25 to deliver it. 90 day warranty

3) 1990 accord engine, w/ ~50K miles, no warranty, $75 shipping for $750

4) junk the car and buy a beater for $1K or less.

my buddy whos an auto tech will do the swap after hours in his garage as a side job, for $300. estimates it will take him about 10 hours to do this, so could take a few days.

i figure, even with 98K miles, should be able to get at least another 50K out of it, or a few years and by that time the body will be ready to retire anyhow. there are contingincies though, like when the engine is removed who knows what kind of shape the clutch will be in etc..meaning more money.

my question is this: based on the info given what would you do?

any opinions are appreciated. thanks in advance.

 

Swap in the best engine you can find. A $1000 beater might not last your very long. As long as the rest of the car is ok, do a swap. A couple of guys on this board might be willing to part with their F22's.

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=164603

 

Weird I talked to a kid at the drags last night that heard I was getting a swap who is in a similar situation.
His girl has a 90 Accord with 200K and wants to buy my motor. I'm it selling for $550 to him. It's a 95 F22b1 (vtec) w/ 99K, DC header, NGK wires, skunk 2 cam gear, and timing belt and water pump done at 89K.

If the car is in good shape I would do it, but try to get a F22b1 like mine.

 

01GSR got his 2001 accord engine for around 700 dollars and the engine only had 4000 miles on it. If you look around it should not be too much to get a new eengine for the car.

 

I doubt it, that was a lucky deal. Besides it's easier to stay OBD I.

 

yeah that was a lucky deal but still swaping the engine is a much better deal than getting a junker replacement for the accord.

 

http://www.car-part.com
search 98 and newer lx,ex accord engines, can be had for less than you would think


[Modified by smokin rubber, 4:09 PM 4/18/2002]

 

My engne throw a rod and unless there is a hole in the block I'm thinking of a rebuild or an H22 swap. In other words have you thought about a rebuild?