I've own a couple of Hondas in my time, including two EM1s. Currently I deal mainly Subarus. One of my EM1s I sold to my brother in law. He loves the car and has had it for many years. Recently he had an issue with the water pump failing. He took it to a shop and they did the timing belt at the same time as I suggested as well.

Well, the shop didn't do a great job at re-installing the crank pulley. They forced it on with an impact gun probably and the crank/pulley look to be damaged.

Good news is that the shop are repaying him back from their insurance. He most likely get $3,000 dollars, what the dealer quoted for the repair.

I have not seen the engine, but here are some pics he sent me. So, the big question, can this be repaired so he can keep the cash or should he look at a replacement engine and part out the existing? Should he stay with the B16 or upgrade to the B18? If upgrading, what else would he need to upgrade?

 

Well if their insurance claims it was a 3000 dollar job, take that 3 grand and pay the shop to do the work right. And make it clear that they are to torque everything to spec.

Or you could take out the B16, put in a B18C5 for around that price, maybe a little more, and sell the B16 for a couple hundred at least.

Your call

 

The shop is giving the money since they are located a couple hundred miles away. He was visiting family when this happened.

I'm also wondering if rebuilding his original engine would be cheaper as well.

 

Get another crank or new motor/ecu.

 

i agree with marvin get another motor i would go with a ls or b20 and put the vtec head on and go from there and get some mods with the extra cash

 

Wow...well at least they're paying for it and not hiding from there mistake. To make life easy he can just swap in another b16, just make sure its an obd2b engine. Saves time from swapping over parts so thats less labor and more money to go towards all the seals he's gonna wanna replace while the motor is being swapped in. The internals should be fine if he bought it from a legitimate company.

 

get a new crank, use he extra money for whatever else you want.

 

You're not looking at it clearly, I can understand because the pics are dark.

 

not looking at what clearly? the keyway is sheared. new crank is needed.

 

I fixed one of those for myself a few years ago, get a new/good used crank pulley, key and bolt. Clean up the end of the crank, put the crank pulley on and slide the key into position, grind down a small finishing nail so you get get it started, make sure you cut it down so it's a little shorter than the key, hammer it in, put the bolt in with a good impact gun with some loctite on the threads. Mine never came back out again. I wouldn't do it for someone as a professional repair, but it usually will work, worst case it doesn't work and you still need a new crankshaft.

 

You can do a complete rebuild on that engine and transmission for about that price. It would in essence reset your mileage to zero on the engine and tranny. Think about that...

 

Thanks guys for the options.
My brother in law is really not a car guy, so he wants the less troublesome solution. He wants to keep the same engine as well for the same reasons.

I've given him the option of just buying another used engine, but then the risk of the engine being old/bad and eventually failing again comes into play.

I've also given him the option to just replace the crank and do a rebuild on the engine. What are some reputable engine builders in CA?

 

Just because you rebuild the motor doesn't mean the tranny will have zero miles too........

 

hmotorsonline hasn't failed me, and seems to be in the west coast area. I would suggest jdmtiger as well, I know I read bad reviews but for the last 3 times I ordered a motor it has not failed me at all.

 

I'll check out hmotorsonline. The transmission is fine, not grinding or anything. Someone is selling a B16 locally, but wants 1200 bucks.

 

hmotorsonline doesn't have any usdm b16a2 motors.

 

Check around for more shops in your area that sell jdm motors. If they do installs let them do it as well that way they can't say you or your installer fucked up.

Edit: I found this, http://www.nippon-motors.com/prices/honda/. obd1 longblock for 950. Just swap over some parts, you're gonna do maintenance on all seals and stuff so it shouldn't matter. Swap over the oil pump and the CKF sensor, the timing belt cover will fit as well ( I know because I took it off my b16a2 and swapped it onto my jdm high compression b20b).