Lord Helmet
Honda Noob
Hi, guys. I'm brand new to the forum and this is my first post, I hope I put it in the right place. I wanted to introduce myself as well as gain some insight from as many of you as possible. I've been reading and searching through some of the posts here today and it looks like many of the members here seem to really know their stuff. This seems like a great forum! I aplogize in advance for a long post but please read it.
The history:
My wife and I have a '92 Accord LX wagon with an AT (car #1). The car has just over 240K on the ticker. The car runs perfectly and has (from what I believe to be) the original motor in it and it has never been molested in any way. We've had the car for a little over a year now, we bought it with 218k on it. Since it's purchase we have obviously had to do some repairs. When we bought it, we were provided with a folder thats a 1/2" thick of maintenance records - timing belt (twice over), etc., etc. I won't go into what all we have done to the car since we've had it. I'll go into that later if it's relevant.
Anyway, my wife wants to keep the car for as long as possible. We have decided to purchase a "parts" car to help keep this one on the road and to keep some cost down.
The "parts" car:
I have located a '92 EX sedan that I plan to purchase tomorrow morning for $400. We'll call this car #2 for simplicty's sake. I looked at the car yesterday and determined this car might be in better shape as a whole than #1. It's not missing one part that I noticed, and the car is probably a 6.5 on a scale of 1-10. Here's the thing though, the motor may be shot. It's got 197k on it and the guy that owns it was driving it daily up until a couple weeks ago. I have not heard it run but from what I'm told, it's got a pretty bad knock. Thrown rod maybe? He said he was drivng it up a mountain pass and it just started losing power. I have no idea. I'm no mechanic and I didn't want to try and start it before it was in my possesion. It's also an AT for reference. Owner says tranny shifted fine for the last 8 years so who knows. I don't really care though since #1 has a rebuilt tranny w/warranty in it anyway.
The plan:
I plan to have the car towed to my house tomorrow morning and go through it with a fine tooth comb. Am I correctly understanding the EX and LX motors are slightly different but ultimately the same F22's? Will both bolt up the same? There are already a few parts that I plan to swap out from the interior.
The thing is, I can't get past the fact that car #2 might be in better shape than #1. I have never pulled a motor, nor have I ever torn one completely down (except for a 5hp B&S go-kart motor but that doesn't count IMO), hell I've never done a head gasket for that matter but I know my way around a car. I'm limited with garage tools, i.e. no engine hoist, no lift, and no motor stand. Is there a way I can dig into the motor to diagnose the problem w/o pulling the motor or is it even worth it with 197k on it already?
I've been reading some stuff here about swapping in the H22(?) motor. Sounds like it's an easy swap, is that right? Maybe this would be a better option altogether? If I decide to put a running motor into this car, I feel obligated to give it some balls. Even if it's an F22 that ends up staying in the car, if I'm gonna do it, I wanna do it right, and I want it to be powerful but reliable enough for my wife to drive it daily. With that said, this is something that I'm willing to put some time into but I'd like to keep the cost down. In reality, an H22 from what I've already priced may be stretching the budget a bit as it is.
Again, I'm no mechanic but I know my way around an engine bay and I'm not scared to get my hands dirty. I know I'm gonna have to invest in some tools over time but no big deal, I've been looking for an excuse to buy an air-compressor anyway.
In closing, what would you guys do if you were in my shoes? - Besides writting a shorter post, lol.
Any thoughts, opinions, and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
The history:
My wife and I have a '92 Accord LX wagon with an AT (car #1). The car has just over 240K on the ticker. The car runs perfectly and has (from what I believe to be) the original motor in it and it has never been molested in any way. We've had the car for a little over a year now, we bought it with 218k on it. Since it's purchase we have obviously had to do some repairs. When we bought it, we were provided with a folder thats a 1/2" thick of maintenance records - timing belt (twice over), etc., etc. I won't go into what all we have done to the car since we've had it. I'll go into that later if it's relevant.
Anyway, my wife wants to keep the car for as long as possible. We have decided to purchase a "parts" car to help keep this one on the road and to keep some cost down.
The "parts" car:
I have located a '92 EX sedan that I plan to purchase tomorrow morning for $400. We'll call this car #2 for simplicty's sake. I looked at the car yesterday and determined this car might be in better shape as a whole than #1. It's not missing one part that I noticed, and the car is probably a 6.5 on a scale of 1-10. Here's the thing though, the motor may be shot. It's got 197k on it and the guy that owns it was driving it daily up until a couple weeks ago. I have not heard it run but from what I'm told, it's got a pretty bad knock. Thrown rod maybe? He said he was drivng it up a mountain pass and it just started losing power. I have no idea. I'm no mechanic and I didn't want to try and start it before it was in my possesion. It's also an AT for reference. Owner says tranny shifted fine for the last 8 years so who knows. I don't really care though since #1 has a rebuilt tranny w/warranty in it anyway.
The plan:
I plan to have the car towed to my house tomorrow morning and go through it with a fine tooth comb. Am I correctly understanding the EX and LX motors are slightly different but ultimately the same F22's? Will both bolt up the same? There are already a few parts that I plan to swap out from the interior.
The thing is, I can't get past the fact that car #2 might be in better shape than #1. I have never pulled a motor, nor have I ever torn one completely down (except for a 5hp B&S go-kart motor but that doesn't count IMO), hell I've never done a head gasket for that matter but I know my way around a car. I'm limited with garage tools, i.e. no engine hoist, no lift, and no motor stand. Is there a way I can dig into the motor to diagnose the problem w/o pulling the motor or is it even worth it with 197k on it already?
I've been reading some stuff here about swapping in the H22(?) motor. Sounds like it's an easy swap, is that right? Maybe this would be a better option altogether? If I decide to put a running motor into this car, I feel obligated to give it some balls. Even if it's an F22 that ends up staying in the car, if I'm gonna do it, I wanna do it right, and I want it to be powerful but reliable enough for my wife to drive it daily. With that said, this is something that I'm willing to put some time into but I'd like to keep the cost down. In reality, an H22 from what I've already priced may be stretching the budget a bit as it is.
Again, I'm no mechanic but I know my way around an engine bay and I'm not scared to get my hands dirty. I know I'm gonna have to invest in some tools over time but no big deal, I've been looking for an excuse to buy an air-compressor anyway.
In closing, what would you guys do if you were in my shoes? - Besides writting a shorter post, lol.
Any thoughts, opinions, and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!