Ok guys, here we go. Im looking at buying a used honda in my area central florida. It is a 1993 with aprox 150 miles showing. It also has a pretty good body as far as paint and dings. Everything appears to be original but im not especailly familar with what its suppossed to have. Its cheap, one thousand. It smokes a lil bit, but i havent spent much time with it yet, i will be tommorrow all day deciding on the car. I am hoping that if it runs for longer maybe the smoking will settle down to none. It smokes very little. The motor sounds pretty good and it has a manual transmission. I did not get to drive it very far yet, but i will tommorrow. I let it run for a good while id say 1 hour total listening/looking and then driving. but i didnt get to drive it far and shift through it good, which i will be doing as soon as i can in the morning. I did go through the gears though. And it stopped fine in neutral, from 50 miles an hour, no stalling.

Now on to my questions for ye wise ones. Approximatly of course, any info is good info.


1)What kind of labor time/cost does it take to "swap" a motor on one of these cars?

2)What kind of labor time/cost does it take to "swap" a manual tranny?

3) also rebuilding the motor/trany? Would that be better or cheaper?

4)Are these motors/tranny extreamly hard to find used and in decent working condition in my area? or anywhere?

5) what is a good used motor/tranny for this car worth?

6)What could i expect to get out of this car if it dives and has only good body and motor or good body and tranny?

7)Am i just being silly?

The goal with this car is point a to point b. Im not scared to get my hands dirty, but i dont have much experience working on cars. Can i handle serious repairs with a good manual, lots of time, paired with comon sense and good judgment?

Thanks and please dont flame.

 

Ah. Lol its an accord btw. 1993 honda accord. I didnt see anything that said vtec on the motor, didnt really think to look for it at the time. Prolly would have rememered that.

 

WoW, only 150 miles??? (just kidding...)

It would say VTEC across the top of the valve cover, which you would probably have noticed.

Why would you want to swap the tranny? They're near-bulletproof, & I don't see anything you say about the tranny being bad. (Bad Honda trannys are the 1998-2002 automatics.)

Will they let you measure compression before you buy? The smoke might be something completely fixable, even a $10 PCV valve. I would do a lot more diagnosis before chucking the engine.

I have absolutely no clue how $1000 compares with the used-car market around your area.

As far as working on it, you've come to the right place. Lots of expertise around here, helpful people, and we don't like flaming...

Check out a sticky-thread in the DIY section with links to some repair manuals. If you want a real one, the absolute best repair manual is from www dot helminc dot com but it's $$$.

 

1)What kind of labor time/cost does it take to "swap" a motor on one of these cars?


I forgot what the shop manual lists it as.......might be 24 hours. To pay a shop you are probably looking at $1000 aprox.


2)What kind of labor time/cost does it take to "swap" a manual tranny?

Really easy to do while the engine is out if you are replacing an engine. Shop probably wouldn't even charge extra for it if they were replacing the engine.

3) also rebuilding the motor/trany? Would that be better or cheaper?

Usually not.

4)Are these motors/tranny extreamly hard to find used and in decent working condition in my area? or anywhere?

Very easy to find, especially seeing there are a long list of motors/trannys that will work in the car with few to no modifications.

5) what is a good used motor/tranny for this car worth?
About 3-600 for a stock motor replacement. 3-500 for a transmission

6)What could i expect to get out of this car if it dives and has only good body and motor or good body and tranny?

What do you mean "get"? Like how much longer will it last? A long time. How much resale value? Not much.

7)Am i just being silly?

No, you have a better idea of what your doing than half the people on this site.

 

Cool. Thanks alot for ur help and for sharing your oppionion. Sounds like i got a chance at some pretty cheap transpo. What i meant by "get" is how much money i would expect to get for it without a good motor or without a good trany.

I dont want to replace anything on the car if i dont have to, i just wanna assume i will have to so i know where i might end up moneywise, if it does puke on me. Sounds like i could track a motor down for arround 600 bucks have a pro install it for arrround 1000 dollars and if i want while im there i can put a diff trany for lil more than cost of the tranny.

So, that would bring us up to arround 3000 bucks, and would leave me witha rebuilt motor/tranny. Not too awful worst case senario. And u guys say its "bulletproof" tranny which means i prolly wont have to do jack to it, so that kinda limits me to a 1500 dollar worst case senario. meaning for 1500 bucks i get a rebuilt motor and have it put in. Leaving me with 2500 in the car. And i might not have to do any of these things at all to it but drive it, till i can save more to do things to it.

Sounds like imma get serious bout buying today.

Thanks!

If i do buy ill let u guys know how i do with it. And chances are imma buy.

 

Arg! while i was driven it today the speedometer quit workin......... SUX!!!!!

Any idea what the problem could be or how much money im lookin at to get it workin? Thanks

 

It is either the speed sensor (VSS) or the speedometer.

If the cruise control doesn't work when the speedometer stops working, then the VSS is the likely culprit. The check engine light will usually come on as well. Pretty easy DIY fix. Check the connection on top of the tranny.

If the cruise works, then the speedometer needs replaced or the wiring needs repaired.

 

no vtec in 93,,,1994 was the first year of vtec

I hope what i say does not hurt your feelings BUT

i would be very careful on how much money you would sink into this car,, no offense but a 1993 accord is only worth around 1000 dollars ,,and i would not even consider spending money on a engine job,, the labor alone might cost as much as car is worth ..
.i would instead be thinking of doing things to make car reliable,, hoses ok ? timing belt ok? belts? tune up done?

 

Agreed. As of now its kind of off the list because of the speedometer and like you suggest the money that i would sink into it. Its functioning very well now, all things considering. im really more or less trying to inform myself as much as i can about what kind of projects i may be getting into with this car.

LOL a 200 dollar speeding ticket over a 1000 dollar car isnt a great option. And after i put new rubber all the way arround it and a new windshield and some tunes i will be looking at having 14-15 hundred and no spedo. So the spedo kinda sealed the deal for me on that particular car. Oh and about the "no offense" absolutely none taken. A thousand dollar car is what it is, but now i know that the motor alone is worth about 600 bucks after someone gets it out. If its a running motor that is ^^. And i found a used tranny on ebay for 250 and another member here said about 500 so if one or the other dies on me, i can still reasonably assume to get a few hundred bucks out of the car from someone who parts out cars. Would have worked out pretty slick, but that spedo really kinda sealed the deal. I would have 2 grand in it real quick and when/if it broke down i would only be able to get say 500 for it, and that would be if i was lucky. leaving me with more money into it than its worth and not having it to drive either. LOL, maybe not better than walking after all.

I think im moving forward with a different car for a lil bit more, its no honda thats for sure. And its speedo is "bouncy". But with it i can handle driving as it is for the next lil bit. Its got decent rubber, good windshield, and a radio (but no antenna LOL). Its a 97 pontiac witha quad 4 2.4L and auto tranny 123k showin, a far cry from honda motor and a manual honda tranny. I drove it up and down the toll roads at 65-70 milles an hour and it held to the road pretty decent. I wont be driving it like that much at all, mostly 45 miles an hour in town. Its trannys got some nasty fluid and its a lil touchy about how long u have to hold it b4 it shifts, but it did shift within reason with no noises or "jerking" or suddenly slamming into gear. I just hope that motor will run and that tranny will pull it for about 6 months or 6000 miles of 45 miles an hour and easing it arround. I put almost 35 miles on it today driven it up and down the freeway, also did alot of stop and go driving too and did quite well as long as you keep your foot out of it. Well, i have two more requests of the car, the windows go up and down and the wheels dont fly OFF !!! hehe. Thanks guys for sharing your knowledge with me.