I'm in Bellevue WA, right outside Seattle. Prices here are apparently considerably higher than other areas. By "new" heads I meant rebuilt ($600). If I bought rebuilt heads from Ebay instead, do my used heads have any value? If I do rebuilt heads does it make sense to do things like polish/port and deck them to bump up the CR? If I do a cam is there a performance cam? I understand it's not a hotrod but if I spend this kind of cash it might be nice to have a bit more HP & torque.

 

I just hit 100K, small leak rear passenger. Big surprise......

Pretty much stopped the leak with BG Universal Sealer.

Honda Parts Direct offers BG Universal Cooling System Sealer

Going to dive into the actual repair this winter.

 

If you actually pay one of the highly regarded LR INDY shops for the HG job, they have relationships with machine shops who do LR heads in volume and always have a few sets done up with new valves and seals and nicely polished and cleaned. The mechanic removes yours and exchanges them at the machine shop which saves you a tonne of time. So no real need to buy new heads unless you know yours are beyond repair.

Thats the way I went, I drove in the shop at 9am, the heads were off by 10:30 and I drove the car out at noon the next day. Part of that time included a new front propshaft, plugs, wires, stat, and OME springs installed.

 

Pacific North West is a RIP OFF.
Due to Google.com and Amazon.com everything has gone UP.
Like everyone makes that kind of money.
Does not matter.
Rents in PNW / Seattle up 30% from a few years ago or more.

 

Sho Nuff...

Which is why i just raised my rates again.

But seriously it is a double edged coin. You can make good money here if you have a skill or two.

Which is why I don't mind paying good money to a skilled LR specialist who can get the job done way faster and better than me when it comes to the big stuff.

Couple that with the sheer amount of said people making good money, there is a vibrant market for enthusiast cars, shall we say.

 

there are a lot of way to go I paid $25 for a set of heads complete with rockers & shafts included and had them mill as spares, but I do my own work. So a new gasket set and a set of head stud and I'm done in a day.

Unless your timing cover is scored (of which there is no way of know now) that's just another $600 you toss on the pile. The problem with 03 had nothing to do with the front cover it had to do with the alignment dowels and were drilled in the 03 blocks.

I seriously suggest you sit down and figure out how much money you are going to have into this motor doing it piece by piece. I would get a total number of what I am going to have in this motor when its done, parts and labor.

$5900 buys you a completely rebuilt motor with a HP camshaft that you want and a 3 year warranty, as opposed to having $4000 in just the top end. And you have a running 03 motor that you can sell to someone else to rebuild to recoup the difference.

 

trying to compile engine replacement options. where are you basing, that price from? GPR?