Ok so I bought a 94 civic hatchback at auction for really cheap $195. It was a one owner and has 97000 miles on the odometer. This is the reason I got it so cheap, the cylinder head was just sitting on the block unbolted with most of the stuff in the engine bay disconnected.

My plan was to just get a new head and all of the gaskets and do a top end rebuild and hope it fires up. My question is since I know nothing about the history of this car and why the head was taken apart. Is there anyway to test to make sure I have a good block and my pistons/rods/bearins are good??

 

what motor is in it?

if its a D series, just spend 1600 for a B series and you will have paid a really cheap price for a really nice car, or spend 2k and get a D series with a turbo. up to you.

the head could have been removed for many things, crack, piston, rod, anything, have someone who knows whats up take a peak and see......

 

It has a D15B8 motor in it. PM8-2 Head. The crankshaft spins pretty freely and no noticable ridge on the cylinder walls. I am looking to fix this as cheap as I can and to use this as my daily driver and good mpg.

Iv heard about pouring MMO in the cylinders and letting it soak into the pistons to remove carbon. Would doing something like that be a good idea?

 

i was gonna say do a compression test, but with the head off im not sure what to do besides tear it completely down and have a look

 

either take it to a shop and have it checked out or have a friend who knows his/her **** to see whats wrong.

after that, depending on what went wrong, you can do 2 things, buy a new motor (I saw a d15b here go for 200 bucks working condition, and all you need is the motor anyway) or repair your motor if its cheap. and you should be set!

 

just grab a used d series, they go for less than 500 all day long and can easilly be swaped in an afternoon, then you know youre up and running.

 

How hard would it be to swap in a VX lean burn motor and tranny?