A buddy of mines is giving me his 89 civic sedan.It is a 5 speed. I need to get a front windshield for it and a hood latch. Other than that i am planning to swap the motor as soon as i sell my other daily driver.
What could be the best stock motor for cheap cause i find a good amount of motors on craigslist for my price range. I am just new to the Honda game and am unsure of which more i can find for cheap. Possibly under 700$ But more than 300 cause i don't want crap.

 

There is an awful lot about this in the FAQ and info on a lot of different
motors and whatnot, but my opinion, seeing that you are brand new, and
havent't read the forum rules yet, is to just get the stock replacement....

Unless you want a bit more power over stock, and if so, then do some searching
on MPFI conversion, cause it sounds like this car is probably DPFI.

The differences between the two are listed in the FAQ.

Good luck.

 

Searching would be good. This has all been covered before.

Also - Craigslist may not net you a good deal on a motor.

You might be able to go with an LS swap if you were super cheap on everything for a bit more than $700 but your easiest bet (that isn't going to require different motor mounts etc.) would be a SOHC ZC engine.

 

d16z6 would be fun

 

I just bought a 91 sedan for my daily with a sohc zc in it, and its actually pretty strong, I was surprised. You can get them or a d16 pretty cheap. That would be my vote for mileage and decent power along with reliability.