Need to make my car reliable and need some advise.

[TK_Encore]

i currently live in las vegas, and if you have never actually been here this really is a small town. this summer i will be moving to the southern california area and i just dont think my car in its current state will cut it over there. i have a sohc and it is crap, but it is my daily that i use every day so its not to bad. i need your help to decide if i should try to fix this motor or pull a dohc from the salvage yard, while keeping price in mind.

problems with motor now:-fixed noisy lifters but has a knock under acceleration-overheats at a long standstill-chooses not to start at random times, i then need to get a jump or wait who knows how long til it wants to start-bogs really bad if i go past half throttle

what do u guys think will be my best option?

[JdrifterCA]

buy another car? or get the dohc

[Uberck]

throw that piece of s*** out and replace w/ decan be had for about 3-400

[TK_Encore]

yea i figured i should. well i searched and i couldnt find if i needed to grab a new trans as well or could i keep the one i have for the de?

[Ghast]

basic rebuild.

[Brandon1605]

i currently live in las vegas, and if you have never actually been here this really is a small town. this summer i will be moving to the southern california area and i just dont think my car in its current state will cut it over there. i have a sohc and it is crap, but it is my daily that i use every day so its not to bad. i need your help to decide if i should try to fix this motor or pull a dohc from the salvage yard, while keeping price in mind.

problems with motor now:-fixed noisy lifters but has a knock under acceleration-overheats at a long standstill-chooses not to start at random times, i then need to get a jump or wait who knows how long til it wants to start-bogs really bad if i go past half throttle

what do u guys think will be my best option?

Most of that is minor issues. Overheating is probably a thermostat. Intermittent no start sounds like its something electrical... try the connections to the battery terminals. The bog at half throttle is a little more tricky, but can be figured out with some diagnostics... prolly a fuel or fire issue. As for the knock... well, thats probably ultimately fatal. Sounds like either a rebuild or a replace. I know professionally speaking... replacing is cheaper.

[gregfarz78]

Personally I would replace it with a newer ka24de you can find them cheap enough (hell I've seen them for $100), then do a complete rebuild on that engine probably looking at $500-700 total if that but you'll have a solid engine that should last many more miles

[TK_Encore]

yea if i got the de then i might just rebuild that for now, and when im good on money i would just turbo that instead of swaping for an sr like i want to do. but i still havent been able to find if i would need to grab a new transmission as well, i know its a noob question but i cant find a definite answer. anybody know?

[MastaYu]

basic rebuild.

[numbnuts240]

if it's just a dd and you really want to change the motor, just go with another sohc. they aren't bad engines and idk why people continue to bash them. i've owned two hatches with sohc's and i loved those motors. they took all my abuse and kept right on.