Repair the Z6 or save for the B?

D15, D16, D17 and Mini-Me swaps
 Reply
User avatar

Repair the Z6 or save for the B?

By -paul
- Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:49 pm #154640 I have quite a situation with regards my Z6. Oil leak, and a bad one too! It looks like it's leaking from both my crank seals, also possibly from my sump too.

Ive had a rough quote of about £400 to sort the leaks out and change the cambelt, cv boot seals, lower engine mount and clutch while theyre there. And that's assuming that's only the problem.

Question is, do I bother spending all that money and possibly more on something that may not fully cure the problem I have or shall I save up and go for a b18 and then in doing so have the time to play about with the Z6 as it'll be out?

Thanks
Paul
User avatar

By Dippin_EG
- Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:53 pm #154641 save for a b18 and build the z6 for boost.
Always the best option :thumb:
User avatar

By teal_dx
- Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:07 am #154851 that's a lot of money to dump into a d16z6 (about $800 usd?)
You can buy a good used d16z6 here for half that price. I'd buy another used one or put it toward the B
User avatar

By -paul
- Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:07 pm #154934
teal_dx wrote:that's a lot of money to dump into a d16z6 (about $800 usd?)
You can buy a good used d16z6 here for half that price. I'd buy another used one or put it toward the B


Yeh that's a fair point! I'm just going to phone up the place who quoted me the d16z6 price to see how much it'll cost me for them to find me a decent B18 and fit!

Hmm .... it'll be interesting!

lol it'll probably be better to save up that bit extra and buy another shell with the engine already in it ... then there's the risks that the previous owner and f**ked about with the engine and all sorts of unnecessary shit ... argh don't know what to do lol!
User avatar

By -paul
- Thu Nov 05, 2009 7:07 pm #154961 Ok I got some rough quotes;

for a B18 - £2,000 for just the engine excluding other parts required and fitting.

B16 - £1,600 for everything, engine, driveshaft, everything you need and doing the swap.

Or D16z6 rebuild - £600 and that includes any parts I need such as oil pump water pump, cambelt etc and all gasket changes, you name it!

I think option 3 sounds good to me!
User avatar

By teal_dx
- Thu Nov 05, 2009 7:25 pm #154963 They all sound pricey to me, but maybe things are just cheaper here because there's so many engines in the US and they're closer to import from Japan.

I'd see exactly what all is included in the D16z6 rebuild option if you plan on going that route. A list of parts and all the machine work that will be done.
(bore/hone cyls, micropolish crank, etc) Also know what parts will be re-used (crank, rods/pistons, head etc.)
This would be an ideal time to build the bottom end if you ever think about going turbo :wink:
User avatar

By -paul
- Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:48 pm #154988 Yeh I think it's a bit more expensive here :). However thanks for those suggestions, I will ask them tomorrow regarding everything you've just said.

Also I've heard that when you go boost with the z6 it's far better to remain stock rather than aftermarket parts. Unless you meant differently when you said rebuild the bottom end?

:).
User avatar

By teal_dx
- Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:55 pm #154993 when boosting the d16z6, building the bottom end is a good idea, depending on how much power you plan on making and the quality of your tune.

Forged rods & pistons and ARP head studs are a good idea, but only the ARP's are absolutely needed if you aren't making a lot of power, say under 200-250. The tune can make all the difference.

You probably heard that the stock Compression Ratio is best, which is true. A higher compression ratio will only make tuning more crucial. stick with stock 9:1 cr :thumb:
User avatar

By -paul
- Fri Nov 06, 2009 2:13 am #155023 Cool thanks for the heads up.

Eventually im looking to have around 200WHP. How I'd come by doing that will be decided in the future but if I'm going ahead to get my engine rebuilt it's more than likely I'll be boosting :).

I've had to change the head gasket myself before (impressed with my efforts for first time :p) and in doing so I've had to get my head skimmed, which in turn has changed my CR, not by much I hope!? Also getting it rebuilt won't mean I need it skimmed again? Only when it overheated and warped right?

PS - I just went through your build, very impressive and inspiring. If only I had the resources to do all this myself. Took me 2 weeks to complete my head gasket swap due to lack of time and poor working environment.

Only thing I will say is is that I did notice that you had several problems with engine after the build after putting 1k miles on it and also when you had it boosted, IE - you had to practically take half the engine apart several times to change bits here, bits there etc, just hope that when I get mine done, I won't need to do that as;

1) i'll be spending a fortune on the engine
2) be wishing I had the time and place to be able to learn and do it myself lol

Also don't get it twisted, I'm not slating your work or efforts at all, because you did a brilliant job, like I say very inspiring!

Finally one more thing to add to this essay is, I think I read in your build thread that your car originally was an auto? So was mine however I did not do the engine swap and the way the previous owner has fitted the d16, he's welded the engine to where the mount is, on the left hand side when you open the bonnet. Surely it would of been better to weld a new mount or same mount in the position where the manual mount would go. It'll be easier to show some pics, I'll do so tomorrow. Just wanted to know what you'd done about this?
User avatar

By xNETZx
- Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:41 am #155093 go B you wont regret it :thumb:
User avatar

By teal_dx
- Fri Nov 06, 2009 2:25 pm #155114 They sell a special shaped mount for auto to manual conversions so you don't have to cut/weld anything. I went that route :thumb:

Also, a boosted car is not the most reliable daily driver. Civics were never designed for much power, so things are bound to break over time.
User avatar

By -paul
- Fri Nov 06, 2009 4:34 pm #155136 It'll be a complete rebuild, everything gets replaced other than the crank and pistons.
 Reply
Return to D Series