New to the Eco mod territory... ('96 Civic hatch with HX lean burn engine swap)
 

The name is lawrence and my story.

Driving to work one day in my 1996 Honda Civic hatch back dx with a d16y7 SOHC with about 125000 miles on it. I was mining my own business crusing in the back country road, BAM! traffic, BAM! Upper radiator hose blow car over heated, head gasket started leaking internally my Vic is now a steam train all the way home... I parked the car have started doing research on what to do next...

After about 3 weeks of Internet/ forums/ pros/cons... The decision was made... I am going to look for a D16Y5, SOHC VtecE and swap everything out!(Thank you craiglists) found a complete swap.

Long story short, the swap is completed and I am on my break in period, I would load some pix but I need 5 post first! Will show pix once I get there!

so what was the cost of the used engine verses the head gasket replacement cost. dont count the hastle factor

A head gasket job would have cost me less than $100. But I will have to change out a lot of gaskets and fix a few other leaks, properly about $300 in parts total.

With what I did
The used D16Y5 with TRANNY, ECU, LINKAGE, DRIVESHAFTS $400.
Machine shop for cleaning, decked, and a valve job $300 (local)
A rebuild kit with new water pump and oil pump $280 (eBay)
A wiring harness because I wanted a factory complete look $130 used (eBay)

I sold the D16Y7 as is for $200 on CL. So a total cost of $900 was the cost to have this swap done plus about 40-50 hours of work! (mostly cleaning and monkeying rusted parts)

Also, I should mention that I commute to work 35 miles each way, with the Y7 I was getting 36~mpg vs this Y5 that should gets 44+ on a bad day. I have never really cared for gas prices, but the more research I do, the more I think this is a chanellege to me. I am aiming for 50 mpg which I think with a few mod, judging by what I have been reading, it is durable!!! I think I have just found a new hobbie!!

Thanks for that I am discussing a used engine verses a new head gasket with my son and his 1996 accord 4cyl 2.2 . these real world costs will help (Him) to make his a choice

Accord engine is dime a dozen on CL, if you can build them, they are dirt cheap. However, in some cases, it is cheaper to buy a JDM import because you can just pull your old one out and drop the new one in, it save a lot of time and labor. I don't mind doing to work as I like hiding in the garage. But it would have cost me about $700 to swap a JDM engine.(note: $700 would be a replacement engine not a conversion to a diffent type engine) hope this help you!

Post just to post pix!!! Lol

Its a big help. the only problem I find with the jdm.s is the fact that while they may have 30to40thousand miles on then that does not really reflect the run time/ Idle time.the time spent in traffic and maintenance preformed, and you still should pull the head and pan of an unknown engine imho.

Agreed, I will never put an unknown engine in my cars. On the accord, you could just rebuild, $600-$800 you would have yourself a new Honda that would go for... Well until you want to get rid of it!!!

post away