New To Cl

[Calesta]

Welcome to Civicland! I'm sorry to hear about your son. I commend you on the effort to continue building his dream car.

While the intention is noble, I seriously think that your son had more of a "dream list" written down instead of a realistic modification plan for his car. The engine setup he had written down is NOT cheap.

The K24 bottom end is from the TSX and current CR-V, but he would have wanted the TSX version.
The K20A2 head (top end of engine) is from the RSX Type-S.

Just getting those two engine halves will cost you at least $5000-6000 with a transmission, and then you have to get the two to behave with each other. Resleeving the engine is another $1000 or so to a quality machine shop, and then the custom pistons and rods you would need to run the larger bore size would run you at least another $1000. If he intended to port and polish the head plus add "other modifications," he's likely talking about aggressive profile camshafts, and an upgraded valvetrain to handle those camshafts- which will run another $1200-1500, and then the port/polish job (you DON'T want to go cheap here) typically runs another $1000. Add in all the assembly and installation costs, and this engine setup alone will probably run you over $10k. You still have to add on things like a custom intake, header, exhaust, engine mounts, rearranging the engine bay because the engine sits on the opposite side compared to the stock engine- plus a tuning solution (Hondata K-Pro is the main choice at around another $500-1000 depending on options) plus tuning time on a dyno.

That's just the engine... and those really aren't high estimates either.

As for body work, to properly shave the handles, keyholes, emblems etc- you would want to have someone weld sheet metal in place of all the missing items (quite a few place will want to just glass over the holes), then make everything nice and smooth, and that's not cheap either. I assume your son wanted a body kit, and if you want something that actually fits halfway decent, you're going to shell out almost $1000 for it. Add in kit fitting, paint prep and spray- then all the electronics you need to have working doors and trunk release with no exterior manual controls- and you're probably in another $4000-5000 minimum on body work. Oh yeah- paint the engine bay with the engine out of the car, then paint the rest of the car after all the mechanicals are done.

Brake and suspension upgrades are arguably even more important than the engine swap- but can range anywhere from $500-700 for a workable budget setup to $5000+ for a complete road course quality configuration. Again, installation and tweaking cost extra too.

I seriously think that your son had about $20k+ in modifications on his list. If you're willing to take on that magnitude of a project, I bow down to your dedication. It's awesome. I just wanted to lay things out so you would know how much something like this could cost. I'll tell you this- I spent over $30k modding my Civic, and my final engine setup wasn't anywhere near as costly as what was detailed on your son's list. If you wish to seek an alternate route to power, you can have quite a bit more streetable power for less money than with a K series engine setup- just let me (or anyone else on the forum) know and we can help you put it together.

As for your son's forum name... I don't recognize his cars at all. Maybe you could private message me his email address(es) and I can look him up in the user database in our administrator panel. If you're not comfortable with that, send his email address via private message to the owner/administrator of the site: mdlax1 and he can do the same thing. If the email address(es) match any of the members we have had on the board, we'll be able to find your son's posts and read through them all.

RIP Ben

[sidad]

thanks for all of the information. i'm sure he was thinking "pie in the sky" but he had received a sizable insurance settlement for a 2000 si that he had stolen. and he was willing to fork over a lot of the $ he was making since he didn't really have many other expenses. i think you are right in that he always talked about an rsx type s engine he wanted to get. a friend of his is into modifing cars and was scheduled to go to japan early this year to pick up some engines and other things. i have lost track of that guy but will continue to research until i feel comfortable i truely understand which direction he was going to take. his forum name was uniquelygeneric. thanks again for the response and info. as soon as i absorb what you have laid out i will be positing again.

sidad

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Calesta @ Jan 14 2006, 05:40 AM) [snapback]98639[/snapback]</div>

Welcome to Civicland! I'm sorry to hear about your son. I commend you on the effort to continue building his dream car.

While the intention is noble, I seriously think that your son had more of a "dream list" written down instead of a realistic modification plan for his car. The engine setup he had written down is NOT cheap.

The K24 bottom end is from the TSX and current CR-V, but he would have wanted the TSX version.
The K20A2 head (top end of engine) is from the RSX Type-S.

Just getting those two engine halves will cost you at least $5000-6000 with a transmission, and then you have to get the two to behave with each other. Resleeving the engine is another $1000 or so to a quality machine shop, and then the custom pistons and rods you would need to run the larger bore size would run you at least another $1000. If he intended to port and polish the head plus add "other modifications," he's likely talking about aggressive profile camshafts, and an upgraded valvetrain to handle those camshafts- which will run another $1200-1500, and then the port/polish job (you DON'T want to go cheap here) typically runs another $1000. Add in all the assembly and installation costs, and this engine setup alone will probably run you over $10k. You still have to add on things like a custom intake, header, exhaust, engine mounts, rearranging the engine bay because the engine sits on the opposite side compared to the stock engine- plus a tuning solution (Hondata K-Pro is the main choice at around another $500-1000 depending on options) plus tuning time on a dyno.

That's just the engine... and those really aren't high estimates either.

As for body work, to properly shave the handles, keyholes, emblems etc- you would want to have someone weld sheet metal in place of all the missing items (quite a few place will want to just glass over the holes), then make everything nice and smooth, and that's not cheap either. I assume your son wanted a body kit, and if you want something that actually fits halfway decent, you're going to shell out almost $1000 for it. Add in kit fitting, paint prep and spray- then all the electronics you need to have working doors and trunk release with no exterior manual controls- and you're probably in another $4000-5000 minimum on body work. Oh yeah- paint the engine bay with the engine out of the car, then paint the rest of the car after all the mechanicals are done.

Brake and suspension upgrades are arguably even more important than the engine swap- but can range anywhere from $500-700 for a workable budget setup to $5000+ for a complete road course quality configuration. Again, installation and tweaking cost extra too.

I seriously think that your son had about $20k+ in modifications on his list. If you're willing to take on that magnitude of a project, I bow down to your dedication. It's awesome. I just wanted to lay things out so you would know how much something like this could cost. I'll tell you this- I spent over $30k modding my Civic, and my final engine setup wasn't anywhere near as costly as what was detailed on your son's list. If you wish to seek an alternate route to power, you can have quite a bit more streetable power for less money than with a K series engine setup- just let me (or anyone else on the forum) know and we can help you put it together.

As for your son's forum name... I don't recognize his cars at all. Maybe you could private message me his email address(es) and I can look him up in the user database in our administrator panel. If you're not comfortable with that, send his email address via private message to the owner/administrator of the site: mdlax1 and he can do the same thing. If the email address(es) match any of the members we have had on the board, we'll be able to find your son's posts and read through them all.

RIP Ben
[/b]

[Calesta]

You're welcome. I definitely think it was "pie in the sky"... just realize that even if you're able to find all the parts for a low price, there will always be those unexpected expenses, along with all the little details that start adding up really really fast. Most people run out and think "ok, I'm going to drop in an engine for about $3000 in parts and $1000 in labor and miscellaneous expenses", then run up an $8000 tab when all is said and done. Making economy cars go fast is a very expensive hobby.

If you need any explaining, ask away- I'll be glad to help you out where you need it, and I'm sure most of the knowledgeable board members will be happy to pitch in too.

As for your son's member name- sorry, but it doesn't ring a bell with me.

----------

I think I found your son's engine importer friend:

http://www.jhotexports.com/

The link to Ben's profile is here: http://forums.civicland.com/index.php?showuser=496

You can hit the "Profile Options" pulldown at the upper right hand corner of the browser window and view all of his posts (can be confusing), or view all the topics that he started (more organized, but you won't see what he said in other people's threads).

That might help a bit.

[Doughboy]

omg i remember your son. Im very sorry to hear about that, but despite his passing your definately doing something most fathers would never do..wow. Goodluck in your swap, I personally dont know too much about what your trying to do specifically but goodluck nonetheless.

and welcome to CL

[Smooth_Imports]

Welcome to the site, I hope all goes well with this project. Very nice tribute / therapy (sp).