b18a1, good motor?

[Prozon]

If you rebuild it, and especially if you put a grand into the rebuild, you should be fine. A machine shop can tell you what can be used/what can't. I assume there are no weird knocking sounds or anything? You can get away with doing a rebuild on one of these engines without spending too much. However you can almost buy low mileage JDM B18 for like $800. Try searching Google if you're interesting in that.

But if oil leaks are your only problem, you could probably just change a few seals and fix it up.

As for the head question, unless you have a damaged head and need to replace it, don't bother with the B1 head. You won't notice much of a difference.

 

[stormnorman]

found some b18's for 500

 

[SnD3]

It doesn't knock or anything from what I remember... It's been sitting a while, almost 2 years. So I know it needs a new set of seals... And as far as the JDM motors go, can you make it so they pass smog? I live in California, where smog tests can be brutal! I live in a county, where the car has to only be smogged once in a lifetime, so it wouldn't be too much trouble to just remove all of the usual smog crap to make the engine worth even having, performance wise...

 

[Alvi84]

I'd look for a lower mile motor. Even though it'll run forever as long as you treat it right, I'd still start with a lower mile motor. Rebuild would probably run you $300 to $500. You can easily pick up one of these motors for right around the same price range with lower miles.

 

[Alvi84]

The JDM motors just need to have the evap purge control sensor and run it to the charcoal canister and you won't get any check engline lights. When I dropped in my SiR-G (B18C) last summer I just converted to OBD1, P28 ecu, and used my USDM wire harness and utilized the evap purge control sensor and hooked everything up. Started first time and no check engine lights. Unaware of the smog issue though. I don't have any smog regulations where I'm at.