Hi all.
(Used to be a Chevy guy here until I got married. Haha)

Need to get some advice from the forum for an old van we have.

It's a 99 Odyssey Ex with 240k miles on it. Original motor and trans has about 100k on it.

​​​​​​On it's final drive, it drank coolant faster than I could add it. It runs like absolute garbage and I have lots of combustion chamber gases in the coolant reservoir so I know it needs a new head gasket set, timing kit, water pump, etc.

When do I need to look for when I pull the heads off? I've done head gaskets but not really as a repair. Did them while building engines.

Will the seals, valve seats, etc most likely be usable for this engine? I never drove it hard and kept up with oil changes. The engine stumbles pretty bad at idle as-is. Is there likely I warped a head?

It comes down to this: I need a work van. I'd have to pay to have an engine put into it. I was quoted around $1000 if I supply the engine. I'd do it myself, but don't have a garage and park on a gravel driveway so a hoist isn't viable.

Look forward to you guy's thoughts.

Thanks!