gbduo

Why not just do a top end rebuild? I.e. piston rings, rehone the cylinder, over size piston and as Minty said, the valve stems. That would massively increase your compression (if it is low) and will cost a fraction of the cost as you might be able to keep the engine in the car (depending on your rehoning tools). EDIT: Actually, no that is a silly idea, don't rehone, you would have to take the engine to bits to get rid of all the bits of metal, I think!

I think a lot of the cars give a little puff of blue smoke on the over run and if they have been idling for a while, mine does and it has done 58k miles!

rob2.2

mine only took a few months as been doing it very much at my leisure, its realistically 2-3 days work and nothing particularly hard tbh,

you can get an engine for £2k, clutch for £250, service items (oil, filter, plugs) £150 plus a few hours labour and beer for mates who might help = £2400

i didnt change my clutch as it didnt need doing.

JonUKS2000

Thanks for the ideas gents, will more than likely source a new engine at some stage this year.

Truth is, i am overly aware of ticks and noises in engines, drives me insane, im a bit of a perfectionist hence why little things bother me so much.

If anyone wants to drink beer and change an engine, let me know.

Senna88

I'd be happy to come give you a hand mate depending where you are?

lovegroova

A louder stereo is a much cheaper and easier job!

JonUKS2000

Thanks Senna, im around Wimbledon. Will probably only do it in the next few months.

Lovegroova, the exhaust system helped quite a bit Guess i should get the sub in ! Or just go deaf, probably cheaper.

GaryB

I'd start by getting it dyno'd to see if it's down on power. If If the TC is £800, I'd get that done. You can't really factor the clutch in as if you had am engine swap you'd still need to spend that money.

Mine is on 120k ish miles now and will need a clutch soon. Ive toyed with the idea of upgrading but the truth is, I'm enjoying keeping this one on the road.

When my current engine gives up I'll get hold of another and drop that in.

IMO fix what's broken, leave what isn't broken alone.

JonUKS2000

You have a point gary, but for a couple extra hundred pounds i can have an engine thats done 80000 miles less, and give a lot less trouble.

JDMJut

Could always buy a low milage write off, something with the rear end destroyed would be perfect. These seem to be readily available.

Engine swaps are quite straightforward on Hondas anyway, but with both cars side by side they really are simple.

Then sell everything that isn't skewed on the write off, plus your engine and box would still be worth a grand. Play your cards right and you could end up getting a new engine for free.

GaryB

You can get a low mileage engine for £800 plus a few hundred pounds?

Where from? Have they got 2 cos I'll have one too.

An engine has got to be £2500 min. Fitting you can do yourself but there's the hire or borrowing of an engine hoist. You'll still need a clutch anyway so that's the best part of 3 grand all in.

Or a dyno session and possibly a new cam chain at £800 and then see what happens from there.

What do you get from a used engine (for spending the extra £2,200)? Lower mileage (if the seller is telling the truth) so less risk of a big bill later on? Possibly but there's also risk around a second hand engine.

I understand the logic and it would appear to offer peace of mind but I'd want to be certain mine was about to let go before I spent the other £2,200.