wackjum

I have a friend with a 2004 TSX automatic. It has about 144,000 miles. The car is pretty clean inside and out except for a very badly cracked windshield, yellowed headlights, and clearcoat failure.

A few days ago, he was going down the road when the cylinder #2 spark plug blew out. The car was towed to a shop and the news is not very good. My friend is thinking of dumping the car.

I am considering making an offer on the car. I estimate I can probably get it for maybe $1,000 or less. I've looked at auctions and have found several salvaged 1G TSX MT's that were hit from the rear. Those are going to be around $1,000 as well.

Am I crazy trying to get 2 ~$1000 TSX's to try and get one good clean MT one and daily drive it around? All of the engine/trans swap will be done by myself as I have a fully equipped garage.

I'd also have to factor in maybe $1,000 to cover unexpected expenses, towing, etc for a total of $3,000 in the project.

thoiboi

Not as crazy as trying to save a 2007 honda Accord.

have they just tried to install a new spark plug? Its pretty common for J series engines for the #5 plug (front middle) to eject because it was loosened from the factory . $1000 sounds like a fun project car to fix up.

wackjum

The shop heli-coiled the cylinder head and installed a new spark plug, but there was still compression leakage and a misfire.

Either the cylinder walls might have gotten damaged, or maybe the head. But either way, my friend deemed it not economical to fix it further.

Did I miss something about an Accord?

thoiboi

It's in Car Talk but if you value your sanity, I'd suggest staying away..

Wow the actually had to helicoil it? Luckily, all of my threads were still intact post-ejection so i was able to re-install the plug no problem.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

the TSX has a K24! 4 cylinder not a six cylinder J-series!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

a few grand to have an awesome daily driver is worth it!

if I were in that position, I would def. do it! especially if doing the engine/tran swap yourself! would make an awesome project and daily driver!

thoiboi

I saw that as well. I didn't mean to imply that it was a J series, just providing an analogous situation. I haven't heard of as many K24's ejecto-seato plugs so perhaps that's why the helicoil was warranted.

wackjum

Well I haven't really looked/researched into it. But I'm sure a 1G TSX MT is probably going to be under $5k? So it's not quite like I am going to be saving a ton of money here (like Tavarish's half-priced Lamborghini).

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

after posting, I figured you were just trying to give an example, thoiboi

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

true, I guess it's the project part that is interesting.
I just helped a buddy swap a 1JZ into his Lexus IS300.
I'm down to help ya!!

thoiboi

it's okay

Aman

Only person who can decide if it's worth the cost is you. I don't know how much MT TSXs go for, maybe they hold a considerable premium over AT cars to justify the swap. I would think long and hard about the end result - MT TSXs may be rare, but I don't think they're particular special just yet.

I would say it sounds like you've got the skill and resources to do something a bit more unique. Make a spec race car out of it and do some wheel-to-wheel stuff in SCCA.

CL9oem

I say go for it. Worst comes to worse, you could source a long block, freshen it up a bit, and swap it in.

BROlando

It seems a lot of Hondas just have issues retaining spark plugs lol.

F series engines are known to "loosen" plugs because the factory torque spec was inadequate.

Honda revised the spec to something like 21LB-FT. A lot of people (me included) use 24LB-FT. That spec is totally fine for 14mm threads.

I'm guessing there is a similar story on K series engines.