H22Z1 (BB6 Prelude) making a loud clanking noise, mechanic says short block's done. Need some advice
First car I've properly worked on so bear with me.
Did a full rebuild myself a few months back, timing belt, water pump, head gasket, oil pan gasket, all of it. Was running fine for a bit then started getting this loud clanking sound from the engine. Took it to my mechanic and he's confirmed the short block needs replacing.
It's a BB6 with the H22Z1 (Aussie spec, basically the same as an H22A4 from what I understand). Sitting on 273,000km which I think works out to around 170k miles.
Mechanic reckons the piston's expanded and seized against the cylinder wall, said when he pulled the spark plug it was really hard to rotate by hand, way harder than it should've been. There was also some debris on the dipstick, though he said he'd need to cut the oil filter open to get the full picture. His theory is it seized from a moment of oil starvation while cornering, oil surging to one side and the pump briefly sucking air instead of oil.
I really want to bring this thing back properly, not just patch it up and baby it forever. I want to actually drive it and enjoy it.
Found a used H22A4 locally, pulled from a car with roughly 200k km on it, but not really sure how to tell if it's actually good before I hand over money for it. Kind of scared of ending up in the same spot again.
Other option is rebuilding my current block again, boring/honing the damaged cylinder and going from there.
If I do rebuild it, is it worth going forged pistons instead of OEM spec? Not chasing anything crazy, just want something that can handle being driven properly on weekends without grenading itself again.
Also if I've got anything wrong here feel free to correct me, still learning as I go.