Hey Folks,

I'm a noob to this site and I'm posting this thread because I could use some solid advice from the Honda peeps about where to do a used D17A2 engine swap in Los Angeles. If you know a good mechanic in the LA area, can you PLEASE post them here or PM (Personal Message) me?

Here's the story: My girlfriend has a 2003 Civic with a D17A2 engine. Last week, the person in front of her slammed the brakes and she rear-ended that person. Luckily, everyone was okay. She kept driving the car for the whole week without getting it checked and then when we were driving the Civic over the weekend, I began to see smoke in the rearview mirror and so I pulled off the freeway. Long story, short... I towed the car back to my mechanic in West LA, he diagnosed the problem and told us that his shop needs to remove the cylinder head to examine the problem inside the engine. By removing the radiator cap and the oil cap, he showed us that the radiator fluid mixed with the engine oil and somehow caused the D17A2 to overheat. I'm assuming the radiator is an issue since she rear-ended the person in front of her. Today, we spent about 3 hours this morning disassembling the head from the block and found there to be a lot more issues than anticipated. Therefore, we are looking into a used engine swap for another D17A2. I know there are a ton of different cool swaps out there (k20 and such) but she just needs to get back and forth to work since this her daily driver (she's not an autocrosser). This would just be a D17A2 straight swap.

So, thats the deal... any advice would be great to hear. We just need a good mechanic that knows how to work on a Honda. I know the Pomona area has a lot of shops out there but I don't know which ones are trustworthy. I'd love to get my hands dirty and do the swap myself, but since I've never installed an engine before I'd rather leave my girl's safety in the hands of a professional. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Melow01/2003CivicD17A2#

 

Welcome to the forums... to me the motor looks fine.. minus the fact that cylinder #1 is super shiny.. which means it could have been hitting the head.. if not then the motor looks fine to me.. maybe when she wrecked she messed up the radiator and blocked off flow.... car over heats blows head gasket... hence the reason for the mixxing of oil and coolant... check into that stuff before you decide to go with a brand new motor though... that can set you back a bit

 

just a suggestion. It maybe easier to just r&r a complete engine with low milage. My co-workers and I have purchased engines and transmissions from a salvage yard in Ontario just off the 60 fwy and have had good results. Also my neighbor and I have purchase several engines and transmissions from a engine and tranmission ( foreign only) from a shop in south l.a. ) close to the 710. You can call around at some salvage yards and ask them to put you on the hot line to get a complete d17a2 engine. I take it that you have a 01-05 civic ex model vtec. You can go down and view these engines before purchase. they all give 3-6 months warranty.
If you decide to overhaul the engine or rebuild it, you better know what you are doing or you'll end up redoing the job again. I'll see if I can find the 2 vendors/shops
Also you can go to salvage auctions to find a 01-05 civic ex with a bad rear end collision and bid a few hundred dollars and take the whole car. I use to do this with my ford escorts.