Musings on the Next Step

Today I went over to Chad's house hoping to reclaim the 90-93 "Daisy" alloy wheels that I had given him after moving up here from Kentucky. They had been in use during the winter holding my winter tires that Junior rolled on last winter:





Once I got Harvey (my 99 Civic DX), I had the bright idea of putting the alloys on him. This would require having the hubs bored out an extra 2mm to accomodate the Civic's slightly wider diameter setup. Once that was done, I was going to paint them and replace Harvey's ugly steelies with these bad boys...

...Well...not so much, it turns out :-(

The machine shop I had paid to do the wheels did a wonderful job, and I got exactly what I asked them for. The wheels were bored perfectly--which was the problem. I hadn't accounted for the fraction of a millimeter of rust on the hubs. Thus, the wheels would fit only if I forced them down (by bolting them), and while fitting just fine, would need to be hammered off...no fun. In addition, the paint I had selected was going to come out way darker than I planned. Staring at paying more money to have the hubs re-bored and more money on paint, I decided that it really wasn't worth it.

Crap.

In any case, it was nice to see Chad and Linda again. I hadn't seen them since before the wedding, so it was good to spend time with them, the cats, and Yasmina. I also got to see Junior (who is spending time at Uncle Chad's house until he gets an engine transplant). It was the first time I'd seen him since Christy and I got home from our honeymoon. Needless to say, I'm more antsy than ever to get my boy back on the road!

To that end, I really need to start thinking about what I want to do. Here are the options as I see them:

1.) Buy an engine and plop it in along with all necessary parts (with all necessary hoses, seals, etc.)
2.) Buy an engine, have it rebuilt with stock parts (pistons, rings, seals, oil pump, etc.)
3.) Buy an engine and add non-stock parts (for example a 97 block with 01+ pistons and MBSP)

The 1st approach would be easiest, but is risky--especially if the history of the motor is suspect. At the very least, all hoses and front and rear main seals would need to be replaced. Optionally, I could replace the oil pump as well. The 2nd and 3rd approaches would require me to pay a shop to take the engine apart (once I buy it) and reassemble it. I'd like to mess with it myself, but I would have to borrow someone's garage time (which I'm already going to have to do to remove and replace the engine) and tools that I don't have--and let's not think of how much time it'd take me to do the rebuild! However, doing things like overbore or higher comp stock pistons will have more risk built in than going with stock parts. It sure would be nice to lighten the parts up while I'm in there, though!

I guess we'll just have to see!