Iis what the guy said when I picked up my new to me 2000 civic SIR 3 weeks ago.
4 days later I was blasting up the highway returning from my girlfriends when I noticed that Vtec wasn't engaging at all. I had checked the oil when I bought the car, it had even been freshly changed. When I got to nearest gas station I checked it again... bone Dry. Hmmm... This seems excessive.
For the next few days I watched it closely and my 60 mile daily commute seemed to be gobbling up a lot of oil and the rear bumper always seemed to be black. Oh well I thought, it's a Honda I’m sure it will be fine.
My first thought was valve seals. I bought this car over other SIR's because it had never been winter driven, had Koni yellows with coilovers, adjustable front A-arms and best of all still retained the factory air box.. a sign that no one had ever really messed with the motor, unlike so many I looked at that had ebay air intakes and headers.
I was eager to try out my new toy on the track so I called up ZOOmiata and he told me of a lapping event a few days later at shannonville.
Long story short...In about 8 laps the motor ate itself. I managed to limp the car about 3 miles down the road before it died for good. A few days earlier a good friend had told me that their is an oil light on Honda's, but if I ever see it come on chances are the motor is already dead...he was right!
Not wanting to monopolize my parents garage, which also doubles as my GRM challenge clubhouse I wanted to get the swap done quickly. My parents were in AZ for another week and I basically had that weekend to complete the swap. I wanted to do a B20 Vtec swap, but in the interest of time and parts gather I put in another B16.
Price breakdown: -Low Mile B16 short block- $150
-Brand new Type R Oil Pump $100
-Headgasket $90
-Clutch (may as well) $200 W / pressure plate. This was in a friends car for 1 tank of gas before he blew his motor. I don't think I will be wearing it out anytime soon!
The B16 came from a JDM importer friend I have known for 15 + years. Someone bought it for the head and dumped the rest. He said the engine had a documented 40,000kms on it. I am usually skeptical of “JDM” importers but he is a straight guy and the motor certainly reflected his statement. The new motor was tight with a cross hatch still on the cylinder. It had been stored inside and oiled and turned monthly.
Progression of events:
Woohoo ..new car.
Comin out
Oil Pan
Pickup
Yikes
1 Rod bearing
Note the discoloration on the rod due to heat
New clutch.. Over Kill yes
Done
the car ate # 1 rod bearing, the crank was toast, I reused the head as it was fine. The only initial problems we ran into were a few missed harness connections and a small leak from the pan which was easily fixed.
I have put about 600 drama free miles on it. It hasn't leaked or burned any oil. The clutch can be a bit much at times, but it is fun when you are pounding on it. It gets noticeably better mileage and has a lot more low end then the old motor. I am kind of suprised that it blew with less then 100,000 miles.
Even after the motor swap I am still shead of the game. Iwas fortunate in that the guy I bought it from was 1 day away from picking up his new car so I stole it. Cars like this typically go for 25-3500 more around here...
The worst part is that it's another weekend I didn't work on The GRM car :(
