Howdy! Just purchased a 2004 Civic Si, and I'm really in love with it. Wacky shifter position and sporty feeling is super nice compared to my Honda Fit.

When I had my valve cover gasket replaced the mechanic said I've got visible surface rust on both camshafts and intake/exhaust rockers. The quote to replace it all with OEM was really high, so I'm trying to become more knowledgeable about my options. Performance is lower on my priority list than reliability and keep my acceptable fuel economy (23mpg city, 26mpg highway). Some have suggested Skunk2 Stage 1 camshafts, and I was hoping someone here has used them and can comment on the change to performance and mpg. Apparently the rust is caused by a known problem with the heat treatment, but Honda wont fix it. If that's the case, would swapping a K20A2/A3 yield the same issues down the road?

For reference here was the original quote I got for the rusty parts to be replaced:

Intake Cam: $556.20

Exhaust Cam: $654.19

Intake Rocker: $214.72 x 4 = $858.88

Exhaust Rocker$37.43 x4 = $149.72

Labor $700

Thanks in advance for any advice on this issue! Would really like to keep the car for a long time and I hope there's some passionate people with more knowledge than me here <3

 

The odd thing is that installing totally new parts will result in zero performance changes on the engine. Sure the rust is unsightly and should not be present in a properly maintained engine, but it is not causing any performance issues. If you were handy with engine work you could pull the parts and polish them up yourself and reinstall them, but it still won't change the operation of the motor. The rust really isn't that bad.

If you want to improve the performance of the car then go ahead and source out the aftermarket parts of your choice. If you are happy with the performance of the engine then keep it the way it is and run a high quality synthetic oil and it will live a long happy life despite the rust. A high quality synthetic oil might help to clean some of the deposits up over time.

 

Eventually, if the rust gets worse, the cams themselves would start to break apart/become smaller which would result in performance loss, correct? As far as aftermarket goes, I'm not sure what I'm looking for. If I could get something light, like stage 1 Skunk2 camshafts, where they wont kill my MPG then I'd do that. Hoping some people here have used those and can give me their experience with it. Thank you for your input!

 

I think its better to buy off another K20a3 if you ended up killing your current one and not really looking to spend on upgrading to a different route..