Doug and Rene Brand wrote:
> The timing belt is brand new. That is one of the things I replaced
> when replacing the water pump.
>
> I was wondering maybe I should swap out the motor for a lower mileage
> engine or v-tec engine. The compression on this motor seems a little
> low at 140psi compared to other 1.5's with 180-200psi.

doesn't make a lot of difference at operating speeds. compressions on
both my civic and crx are "low", but they both run great, the civic
particularly.

> It doesn't use
> any oil but it does have rod slap

it's piston slap. it's not necessarily a problem. my 2000 civic did it
from about 20k and that thing was babied.

> when cold outside. I was thinking
> maybe I should swap it out with a JDM import 1.5 VTEC engine with
> 40,000-60,000 miles for around $600. Just a head gasket kit will run
> $120-$150, if that is all I need.
>
good question. personally, i lean towards replacement. changing the
gasket, and doing a good job of it, is long hard work. shops do it
because the long labor hours are profitable. and they routinely use
abrasives. and they routinely skim heads. and they shrug off the
subsequent failures with a "don't blame me, the engine was already shot"
attitude that is as ignorant as it is annoying.

unless i had a special reason to preserve a particular engine, or had a
lot more time and no money, i would replace the motor. these low
mileage jdm motors are cheap and work just great. a whole motor swap
takes a good deal less time than the head prep.

your problem with the vtec conversion is wiring in the vtec solenoid.
if you don't already have that motor, you'll need to upgrade the ecu and
engine electrics accordingly. it's non-trivial doing that. it's not
hard, and there's plenty of resources on the subject [checkout
boomslang.com] but it's still non-trivial. done right, it's worth the
effort though.

good luck.