I just joined the forum because I recently purchased a '95 Del Sol with a D16Z6 manual with about 250k miles. Everything seemed mechanically sound when I bought it. No odd noises, no smoke, and only a small leak from the oil pan. All the fluids were fine, a little dirty, but nothing out of the ordinary.Timing belt had been replaced about 45k miles ago. The car survived an hour and a half trip from Denver to the Springs on the interstate with no issues at all. I did a tune up, replaced the air filter, and did an oil change. The car drove fine for a few days with no issues. Friday night, I drove the car for about 10 minutes then the oil light flashed on accompanied by a severe knocking. Luckily, I was close to home so I limped back, mostly coasting, preventing the engine from revving at all. Before you ask,as soon as I got home I checked and the oil level was right where I left it after doing the oil change, so yes, there was oil in it. I am thinking the oil pump crapped out on me. From the sounds of it, I am either going to need to do a rebuild or replace the engine. I am curious because I plan on boosting the car eventually, nothing crazy though, somewhere around 250whp for time attack racing, would it make more sense for what I want the car to be in terms of performance and cost to rebuild the current engine with aftermarket parts, replace with another lower mileage D16Z6 and replace the internals, or look to do a swap, keeping in mind I will probably need to swap trans and harness if it is anything other than a Dseries? I was just wondering if anyone has encountered a similar situation and what they did. Keep in mind I am not a master technician and I want to keep it simple. I am willing to learn and I want to do it right instead of slapping an ebay turbo kit on and driving a ticking time bomb, but I also don't want to bite off more than I can chew just yet. Thank you in advance and I look forward to learning from you guys and building my Del Sol into something great. Thanks again!

 

Just fix the car properly and drive it as is. Don't waste your time and money going boost.

 

Here's a simple test for rod knock:

 

Thanks guys.