Rebuilding an 02 Civic EX

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I have an 02 civic thats a p.o.s. It has 150k miles on it, and is down to about 23 mpg. I want to rebuild the engine and tranny. I have a friend with exp replacing motors, and hes friends with a master mechanic who also said he'd help.However neither of them are Honda experts. So I am here looking for help on part selection. My main objective is to increase fuel economy to that of original or better, and be able to get another 200k miles out of the car. I know my whole suspension system need replacing because all it does is creak, squeak, and bounce everywhere. I have a strong feeling the tranny needs some work, it pops in to gear every now and then, and I've had it just spin like its in neutral when driving before. I'm not 100% sure what questions I should be asking, so Ill just state my objectives.

MAIN
-Increased car life
-Improved fuel economy
-Improved handling( i like to take tight corners at a bit of a high rate of speed)

ADDITIONALLY
-Slight Increase in power(i like speakers in my trunk, and carry a lot of stuff everywhere)
-Increased acceleration
-Improved electrical

Im not a racer, or a motor head. I just like to drive. Im on a budget of about 5k so I would like to keep it cheap as possible without sacrificing quality. Im sure my post dosent have enough info to receive much help, so please ask any questions you feel necessary to extract as much additional info needed.

 

[|Chaz|]

Sell it and buy a 2000 or older Civic? Easier to work on and parts are cheaper. MPG's are better. You can find used D-series motors all day that will fit in a 2000 and older Civic.

 

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Well the car isn't mine to sell at this time, and I'm trying to avoid putting a car in my name for the time being. Add to that I'm sure that the civic I have now has very little resell value. I also don't wanna deal with possible smog issues of a used car, I know a couple people who have gotten cars with bad exuast that passed smog when the car was bought, and failed the next year. There's an apparently large black market for good cali cats.