engine rebuild.. is it worth it?

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mustang67n

Senior Member
i snapped a rod in my honda yesterday.. and now i have to decide whether to rebuild the engine with new parts, or scrap the car and try to scrape together the cash for a new car..

do you guys think it'd be worth the money to buy new rods, bearings, pistons, and rings?
i know i'd be looking at around $1,000+ here..

and i want some oppinions on it.

and if you say i should go for it.. what brands for each part should i go for?
 
What engine? If it's a stock D series and you just want another stock-ish engine, it's not worth it to rebuild. If you're looking to upgrade components for more power, then yes- it's worth it. You would just be throwing away pretty much everything but the block anyway.

How much do you have invested in the car already, and what price range of car would you be looking to get? An engine rebuild can easily run away from you in terms of cost, and it may be better worth your while to find another decent used car.

You'll have to give more details before people can recommend you scrap your car or not.
 
its a stock D16A6 (ZC) i've spent about $1,500 in the car already (including buying the car itself) so its not like im way into it. i am also considering finding a junked honda that runs and pull the engine from there and just do another engine swap.. that would be another cheap alternative

i'd be looking for a car that runs good.. and isnt too dinged up.. so probably a couple thousand.. 3/4,000
 
do you have any goals for this car. you can do plenty and not put that same engine back in the car (i just happen to have a B18A1 Block and crank if you are interested in something along those line :))
 
well.. my goal is to get it dependable and auto cross race it.. nothing engine wise really needed power wise.. just want it to stand some abuse..
 
Thats the cool thing about D-Series engines. they are CHEAP. even if it isnt bullet proof, you can replace it cheaper than the cost of parts.
 
yeah, i was thinking just buying another A6 and just swapping it in.. my ZC only cost me $300 shipped so i know its not expensive to get these engines..

anyone know of a place that sells honda engines? i want to try to get the engine from a reliable place..
or anyone have a D16A6 they wana sell?
 
mustang67n said:
yeah, i was thinking just buying another A6 and just swapping it in.. my ZC only cost me $300 shipped so i know its not expensive to get these engines..

anyone know of a place that sells honda engines? i want to try to get the engine from a reliable place..
or anyone have a D16A6 they wana sell?
Click to expand...

now you got to post in the for sale or for trade section^_^
 
Get another SOHC ZC. The D16A6 and ZC aren't the same though.
 
mustang67n said:
yeah, i was thinking just buying another A6 and just swapping it in.. my ZC only cost me $300 shipped so i know its not expensive to get these engines..

anyone know of a place that sells honda engines? i want to try to get the engine from a reliable place.. or anyone have a D16A6 they wana sell?
Click to expand...

You can find wrecked SI's all day long at junkyards.
You'd only be into the motor a few hundred dollars, and if you wanted some extra spunk, do a mini-me with 1.5l (d15) pistons and a y8 head-gasket and bump up your compression. you'd have enough torque(for a near stock motor), so it'd be a good AutoX motor.

I mentioned that b/c thats exactly what i'm running. 11.5:1 or so compression (so you've gotta run only '93' octane gas.). I can race my buddy with a i/h/e b16a in his rex and take him off the line, just cause i've got the low end torque. and it's a stock engine other than my header!!

do what you want. i'm stickin D.

$.02
Andrew
 
Andrew said:
You can find wrecked SI's all day long at junkyards.
You'd only be into the motor a few hundred dollars, and if you wanted some extra spunk, do a mini-me with 1.5l (d15) pistons and a y8 head-gasket and bump up your compression. you'd have enough torque(for a near stock motor), so it'd be a good AutoX motor.

I mentioned that b/c thats exactly what i'm running. 11.5:1 or so compression (so you've gotta run only '93' octane gas.). I can race my buddy with a i/h/e b16a in his rex and take him off the line, just cause i've got the low end torque. and it's a stock engine other than my header!!

do what you want. i'm stickin D.

$.02
Andrew
Click to expand...

i have a parts car that has the D15 motor in it.. could i use those pistons in my exhisting ZC with that y8 head gasket? that would be the esiest way for me to do it, and cheapest.. i'd just buy new rings and bearings and call it good. or should i buy all new pistons and rods if im gonna go with the mini-me?
 
You could use the D15 pistons- that wouldn't be a bad setup.
 
k.. this is what i'm thikning of doing.. i already have a parts car (91 dx w/ d15)
so im going to pull that engine apart, and take its pistons.. im going to buy new rods for my ZC, and new rings for the d15 pistons, when i pull the ZC apart, im going to see what kind of condition the bearings are in, if they look fine, im just going to re-use them. i'll buy new ARP head studs for the ZC, and i'll buy a Y8 head gasket.. i'll throw it all in the ZC and see how that works.

would that cover the parts i'd need? or am i missing something? or am i adding something i wont really need?
i dont have a bunch of $$ to spend on this, so im trying to keep it small
 
i posted about this setup over at SOHC honda and they informed me, that with a setup like this.. d16 block and crank, d16a6 head, d15 pistons, d16 rods, and a d16y8 head gasket..
my piston will stick out of the hole by .028 inch and my compression will be about 10.82:1 (according to.. ZealAutowerks - Honda Compression Calculator < that calculator)

the same setup up, except a d16y8 2-layer head gasket will yield (again, according to the calculator) an 11.15:1 compression ratio and the same amount (0.028 in.) out of the hole..

im guessing this is going to be bad for my engine right.. because then it'll be hitting my head?
OH WAIT! i just realized.. that calculator calculates how much it'll be out of the BLOCK, not inlucding the head gasket.. so if im running the Y8 gasket (.037 in) it'll cover the 0.028 sticking out right? or can i not do that?

btw, the y8 2-layer is 0.025 in. so that wont work if my theory on the gasket taking up the extra space is true

i dont know much about engine building so im asking a lot of questions.. i want it to work lol.
you guys have been awesome so far, so thanks!

so, will it work with the Y8 gasket and that setup?
 
word the man speaks the truth. i am spending 2160 to have my gsr motor rebuilt. it was 1000 in labor and the rest in parts. but I am also using forged pistons. a 1/3 of the labor was to have them check the head to make sure I didnt do any damage. 1/3 of the labor was to assemble the block and head, and the last 1/3 was to bored the block and turn the crank. and install the forged pistons on the rods.
 
alright man thanks..

the $ i have depends.. i can have about $1000 to spend.. or i can have 2-3000 if i sell my '67 mustang, which im hoping i dont have to.

i was going by what calesta and andrew said about the D15 pistons. but your saying they'd have to be JDM v-tec piston?

as far as i can tell, the D15 pistons will work in a D16. the only differenct between the blacks is the deck height, the bore and stroke is the same. (according to that link) so shouldnt the D15 pistons work?
or wait.. the D15B2 pistons wont work in a D16A6 block is that what your saying? so in order to do this i'd need a different parts engine..

if that is the case, i'll just spend the 300 for a new D16A6, and throw my ZC cam in and be done with it.
 
The D15 pistons will physically work in the D16 block. That's no problem. Just check to make sure that yours are still usable!

If you only have $1000 to spend, just buy another D16 and be done with it. Maybe spend the money on a mini-me or SOHC VTEC block, but it's really not enough cash to go inside and start making major changes to a block you just bought. If anything, you might have enough cash to buy some PM7/P29 pistons and a hotter Delta or Web cam.
 
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