Is my motor worth keeping?
 

Hows it goin yall. I just spent the last 2 years of my life studying the ins and outs of my 88 Rx7 and rotary engines. I could tell you anything you wanted to know about them. Unfortunately the rx7 died and i had to give it up. That is when i bought my new addiction, A 1996 Honda civic Ex!!! When i first bought the car i did not have any intentions of modifying it at all. But then i got infected, with the "mod bug"!!! Before i knew it my car was sittin on 5zigens and lower than a midget with no legs. I tinted the windows and it doesnt look that bad. I am now considering engine mods. Is my engine worth keeping? or should i swap for a vtec or something with a bit more kick to it. The car has 180,000 miles on it but has never been abused or modded. Its the perfect project. Please let me know what you think. I do not want tons of power, just something fun and quick for a daily driver. I will add pics as soon as i can. Thanks -Tommy-

You have Vtec.. if you're an Ex. To me though 180,000 miles is a SH!T LOAD, At least in Canada it is.. I'd be willing to throw down money you're topping up your oil. Now how fast do you want this car? and what exactly is your budget?

I dont think i have a vtec. i have a 2 door ex. This car is super clean though. The girl who had it before more bought it new and she didnt even know how to abuse a car. It has all the maintnance records and good stuff. Tranny slipps just a bit. I need to convert to manual anyways. I want an all motor that is in the range of 200-250 hp. (if that is possible. I dont know much about hondas yet). and also, i dont want to spend to much more than 1-2 thousand. but i will if i have too.

You have vtec; ex's are vtec engines. Your valve cover won't actually say "vtec" but if you look behind the valve cover, you can see the vtec solenoid at the top left corner of the VC.

Honestly, you're not going to see 200whp from a N/A d16 with a realistic budget. The d16y8 you have puts down 127bhp, translating roughly to ~108whp... you really aren't going to gain an additional 100whp on a N/A sohc. Even if you turbo (which I'd recommend if you want >200whp) you're going to be spending more than $2k, just so you know.

Welcome to the forum btw

Thanks man. Yeah i just went out to my car and took a look. What are your opinions of "egay" turbos. Do you think theyre worth it? Also, would it be to my advantage (budgetwise) to switch to an ls motor or another dohc vtec?

I wouldn't touch an ebay turbo with a 10' pole. A $1500 kit isn't really worth it when the turbo grenades at 6,000rpm. If you're going to turbo and are only shooting for 200-250whp you could get a 14b turbo from an eclipse/talon and it should suit your needs fairly well.

The LS motor actually isn't a vtec motor, though it is dohc. The twin-cams generally are more powerful all-around, and have higher power ceilings. I wouldn't let the LS being non-vtec deter you, though... you could do an ls/vtec conversion (ls block, b16/b18c head, effectively turning it into a vtec motor) and turbo it for a very good power gain. For a b16 or a b18b (ls) swap, you're looking at spending ~$3k for the swap alone, or for a b18c or h22 swap, you're looking closer to $4k.

hmm. thats a bummer. ive heard about the ls/vtec. but i didnt picture it being so expensive. ive seen ls motors for like 200 bucks, and maybe a b18c head for like 200 also. i could swap myself prolly. why would it be 3k for a swap? is that for like a semi/new jdm import or something?

yeah, that would be for a fairly low mileage (~30k miles) full swap package, plus the cost of replacing the high-wear components such as the clutch, water pump, timing belt, and ignition system.

You could get an ls motor privately, but then you run the risk of needing to buy extra parts and everything. Or you could find an LS integra that's been rear ended or being parted out, and get the full swap from that.

thats what i had planned on doing if i wanted to swap. im gonna go hit up craigslist and some local salvage yards to get some numbers in order. thanx for all the help, ill post some pics up on here too.

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Good luck with the search. And the EK's nice and clean... needs to go lower though... I love a nice EG/EK slammed literally to the ground :D