Clutch problem - should I sell the civic?

I have a 95 DX coupe. Ever since I've gotten the Civic, I've had nothing but problems. A week after I bought it, the eingine blew. Obviously the guy before me was racing it and sold it right before it blew. Ever since this guy put the new engine in (D15B7), I've had ideling problems. I bought a new O2 sensor, plugs and wires, and it didn't help. I just ordered an MAP sensor, so hopefully that will help. If that doesn't work, maybe I'll just have to buy a new throttle body. A few months ago, I couldn't get my car going anywhere because of the axle, had to replace that too. That, by the way, happened out of nowhere, with no signs whatsoever. A week after that, my window basically exploded when I was rolling it up. I've had the car for about a year now. It had 76k miles when I got it and it has about 95k right now. The main reason why I got a civic is not because it's one of the easiest ones to tune, but because honda's are supposed to be reliable. Because of messups, I've spent at least $2,500 on a 9 year old civic, and what I have right now is really a total piece of metal that idles crazy. I bought it for $7K and still have about half of that to pay off. As you can imagine, yesterday the clutch went bad. Does god not want me to own this civic? When I press on the gas on the highway, the engine (or should I say the gey OBX rice muffler - thanks to the rice boy who had the car before me), makes a noise...well, a very ricy LOUD noise but it slooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwllllllyyyyy accelerates, as I watch this grandma pass me with her 82 52 HP Corolla in the slower lane. An H2 could probably beat me 0-60.

So, my question is. Right now, I have about $1000 to spend. I have a CAI and header. Should I replace it with a better clutch, or just get one off ebay for 100 bucks and just try to sell the car? Is there a core refund for a clutch if I buy one at autozone? How much would the labor costs be? Obviously, I don't wanna keep the D15 if I keep the car. Where can I get a better engine in the chicago area, cheap of course? What kind of engine would you recommend buying? Maybe I'll turbocharge it later on, but right now, I'm just worried about having a good engine that can take me from A to B without problems. Final question is, if I do sell the civic, who wants to buy brand new 17" RS Limited Trama White wheels with brand new Nitto 450 performance tires that I wanted to put on the civic after turbocharging it?

As you can see, I don't know too much about engines. Please post some better engines I could swap in, and their price ranges.

Thanx

you could to an easyand cheap d16z swap into it... I am going to have one for sale here in a month or so maybe but I don't think I would recommend it to someone who wants a long lasting reliable engine as it has almost 180k on it. but there are d16's all over the place... check www.car-part.com

I just called one of those numbers and the guy said that he didn't know what a d15b7 was. Is the d16 a 1.5 or 1.6l? He just asked me for the year and and said "for the 1.5 it's 650" I asked him what engine it was, he said "1.5" I asked him if it was a d15 and he said "it's a 1.5l" He said it's takes a lot of modifications to put the "1.6l" one in. Could anyone give me a breakdown on which ones are 1.5 and what engines are 1.6? And is it really that hard to put a 1.6 l into a dx?

HB (3 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl), VX
Cpe (2 Dr), 1.6L (4 cyl)
HB (3 Dr), 1.6L (4 cyl)
Sdn (4 Dr), 1.6L (4 cyl)
HB (3 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl), CX
Cpe (2 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl,)
HB (3 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl), CX
HB (3 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl), DX
Sdn (4 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl)

Could someone just put what they're called behind, just so I know what I'm dealing with.

Thanx

HB (3 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl), VX
Cpe (2 Dr), 1.6L (4 cyl) EX
HB (3 Dr), 1.6L (4 cyl) Si
Sdn (4 Dr), 1.6L (4 cyl) EX
HB (3 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl), CX
Cpe (2 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl,) DX
HB (3 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl), CX
HB (3 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl), DX
Sdn (4 Dr), 1.5L (4 cyl) LX, DX

the D16 is a straight drop in, bolt on affair besides wiring it for VTEC. If you want to replace the clutch, go with the Exedy OEM kit, cheap and very reliable.

remember, when you are dealing with car-part.com you are not actually dealing with the website. the website is simply a search engine that links junkyards all across the country so you can look at what they have without having to go to them. some junk yards you call will be better than others, the one you called didnt seem to know jack about hondas.

it as gscivic said, it should be simple to swap a d16 into your civic. you could even use your existing tranny if you felt like it. pretty much everything would be able to change from one to the other. yes, you would have to wire for vtec. i have never personally done this but from what i hear it is pretty easy.

as far as what engines are what... d16 is a 1.6 d15 is a 1.5. just look at the numbers. that pretty much says it all

if I was you i would look for the engine from a '95 ex this will be vtec and would be an engine of equal or newer year as your own so it would be legal. it really shouldn't be that bad, easy swap, not too much money, and a bit more of a kick in the pants when you step down on that pedal

I would say sell it. If you already have problems, you have a big problem...problems never stop. I can tell you that from experience. You wont get much but youll spend the difference on making the damn thing run well enough to like it. A civic for 7k that already has 76k miles on it.. i think that may be a little high no matter what mods were done you should talk to that guy about that and all of your problems. If you just wanna fuck it and stick with it just turn up the throttle speed and then no sputtering should happen. Hey, its free!!!

the only problem he has had that surprises me a bit is the engine blowing... hondas are known to have terrible cv joints. sh!t I just replaced both of mine in the fall and I already have another one going out. the idle problem has a good change of being solved when you throw in a different engine and clutches are just normal wear items.

i just dont understand some people I guess... if a few problems pop up in a row it is time to get rid of the car?

yah, hondas are notorious for weak cv joints, but it's what you sacrifice for the tight steering radius that we have. I don't understand that either, I couldn't get rid of a car just because it has a few problems. It's a good education if anything if you do the work yourself

Thanx for all the replies. Just got a new clutch put in yesterday. Luk RepSet Sports Gold Series. It only cost me $400, including the clutch. Now it's time to look for a new engine. I don't like dealing with replacing engines ever since I got screwed with the d15b7 swap. That alone cost me $2000 just 9 months ago because some people in Kentucky call themselves mechanics when they know less than I do.

Yes the engine, I guess, you can say it "blew" Well, it really burned. I was going from Kentucky to Illinois and about 100 miles after I left the engine fucked up. I was going 60 in 5th, and I could barely pull over to the right before the car stopped. A trooper gave me a ride to the nearest mechanic who said it's the alternator, then he said it's the timing belt, and finally he realized that there was no oil in the engine. I had only 600 miles on the car, and the dealership "changed" the oil the same day that I got it, and 600 miles later it was all gone. It's a really long story, and 2 different mechanic worked on it who didn't know shit, one took it out, towed it, the other one put it in 100 miles away. I pray to all the civic owners not to get stuck in kentucky, and if you do, you better get it towed to some other state, even if you have to bring it to Cali, in the end, it will cost you less than having some people totally screw it up.

hey man.... i just got a '95 ex auto about 6 months ago.... the day i got it i had a 75 mile drive home because i purchased it in BFE.. and on the way home it was idleing really hard at a lite- then at another lite and another.... then at another one it totaly idled out.. sput-sput-sput-duh. took like a min to get it started and i was off. no lights till i got back to town from there i took it to the local honda shop and was like find out whats wrong with this.... to make a longer story shorter. i was not fireing on 2 of the cylinders and vary little compression on the rest. i got a new timeing belt and everything was good from there.... all but a couple valves are a lil off and it makes a lil noies. but if you find out what the problem is fix it and your all good.... and thanks to GS up there soon im gonna swap out to a b16a or a h22.... DONT SELL IT! RIDE IT OUT! you will be just fine. almost guarentied if you swap all problems will be out that broken window of yours LOL... peace