Here's the story: (if you dont want to read, my questions are in the last few sentences).
Well, with gas at 3.10 and rising, my camaro was simply sucking down way too much. I decided to look into my father's parked 87 accord, 5 speed. He got a saturn for about $1,000 with very minor flaws, and basically gave up on the honda. To start, the motor was blown, possibly the oil pump failed? We also have a wrecked 88 accord 4 door with damage only to the rear of the car. Upon further inspection, both motors appear to be F/I, 12 valve engines. We have an engine lift so I spent the weekend pulling the 88 motor out, pulling the 87 motor out, and replacing the 87 motor with the 88. Apparently the 87 motor's crankshaft bolt had broke off, because the pulley was simply laying on the chassis (possibly overheated, cracked block? head?) I got the 88 motor mounted to the transmission and hooked up all vacuum lines and electronics as "accurately" as I could. I found an old car battery and charged it for a few hours. Bolted the battery up and hoped it would fire. I was expecting nothing to happen, when I swapped motors in my camaro it was hell. Turned the key and she just kept cranking and cranking. I could hear the fuel pump kick on. There was no way I could get it to fire until I pumped the gas a few times. After I pumped it a few times, it started sputtering, then fired up , and after giving it some gas for a few minutes, she idled. Sort of. The idle pulses from about 2,000 RPM then it sounds like the motor just cuts out, drops to about 800 RPM and repeats back up to 2,000 RPM. I took it for a drive up and down our road. Clutch engages fine, shifts smooth, there is a slight miss. Temperature was fine, with the gauge sitting right at halfway until the drive home (just on a dirt road, no insurance currently). The temperature got very hot so I shut it down and towed it home. Upon inspection, it seems the crankshaft bolt came loose, because the pulley was laying on the chassis once again. With the pulley running the water pump and accessories, I am assuming this is why the motor got hot and the battery ran down fairly quick. The pulley and crankshaft have almost no damage to them, however, I lost the crankshaft bolt and key. I called every salvage yard and auto parts store and none of them had a crankshaft bolt for an 87 or an 88 accord. The dealership wants 25 for the bolt!!!! . I am thinking I can just use a generic, high grade bolt with the same diameter and thread length? will this work? What should I use for the crankshaft key? I have looked online and found that the crankshaft bolt is either 12x1.25mm or 14x1.25mm??? Any insights into this?. Does the crank bolt need a washer, or is it just the bolt? If anyone could offer suggestions or advice on this, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks, nsstech

 

have you checked out any of the online dealerships, you can usually get parts cheaper. Try HondaAutomotiveParts.com and SLHonda.com