Erik's 89 Civic Hatchback Project~Gonna fork out the money and tough it out

[Erik]

Hey guys, Ive always worked on domestics but ive finally got into the Honda world. I picked up a 89 civic 3 door hatch from Eddie on here (frosti108). It is bone stock with a D15b2 engine. Its auto, but i plan on swapping that out as my first project. Thing is, is this engine worth keeping or should i swap the entire thing out? I dont know if i should eventually boost the hatch or keep it all motor. My plans is to make it a street car, not specific to track or drag or anything. Like i said, im not very familiar with these engines. The motor and chassis has 110K on it. Id like to keep the car for a while and i have another driver so this isnt a rush kind of project car. thanks.

cliff notes: Swap a manual tranny into the D15b2 engine or wait and swap it out? If swap, what is recommended?

[SovXietday]

This is going to end up in Honda specific, but what are you really looking to do with the car? Have any kind of power goals or anything like that?

I mean... there are soooooooo many things you can do with it. It's not even funny.

However, things you are most definitely going to want to do to it.

1) Swap to manual (you're already doing this)
2) Swap to MPFI (your car is currently DPFI)
3) IMO swap to OBD1, it's not that hard and it makes tuning and whatnot a whole lot easier to deal with.
4) Get on Honda-tech.com and start reading the EF forum FAQs. There is plenty of info in there to at least get you moving.

I hope you like wiring, you're going to be doing a lot of it.

[Erik]

lol wiring is one of the easiest things for me. So, the d15b2 is decent engine to start with? I always read about the k and b series engines being swapped into civics. This engine is rated at only 92 hp at 6500 which is pathetic, but i expect nothing more. the b series is what, 130 hp?

[97TurboDSM]

some B18 variant, all motor. do it. or a K series but iunno how many people have put one in an EF chassis

[97TurboDSM]

b18c is rated 180hp

[Erik]

Originally Posted by 97TurboDSM

some B18 variant, all motor. do it. or a K series but iunno how many people have put one in an EF chassis

lol when i learn to fabricate via welding, ill be all over that. im sure ill have to make up some kind of engine mounts for it.

Speaking of which, anyone wanna teach me how to weld

[97TurboDSM]

you're gonna need new mounts for any motor you swap in there most likely.

[Honduh]

f20c rwd supercharged

[97TurboDSM]

i agree with that too

[BigWhiteTodd]

weld you have welder? and kswap not to hard its just money really but you could always go single turbo which is easy and the best for ef cause their so light.

[Erik]

no i do not have a welder, although id be willing to invest. id really like to learn how to.

as for k-swap, id only do that if i found a deal on a motor. they are, like you said, pricey.

[SovXietday]

No that engine is trash honestly lol. My point is you should figure out what you really want the car to do, horsepower goals, that kind of thing before you choose a route.

You can build a 250whp Dseries engine for fairly cheap, and it will spank pretty much any swap you put into that car. But then you have to deal with the turbo stuff and all of the tuning and fabricating and whatever else goes with that. On one hand it's the easiest route for power, on the other hand it's not.

Dropping a Bseries engine into these cars is fairly easy. Depending on which one you go with you can be putting anything from 140-185hp into them. Kseries are considerably more expensive and considerably more work to put in.

I just put a bone stock D16 in my CRX. It was a lot of work, but I'm happy with how it came out.

[BigWhiteTodd]

all motor single with itb's so sick haha

[Erik]

Originally Posted by SovXietday

No that engine is trash honestly lol. My point is you should figure out what you really want the car to do, horsepower goals, that kind of thing before you choose a route.

You can build a 250whp Dseries engine for fairly cheap, and it will spank pretty much any swap you put into that car. But then you have to deal with the turbo stuff and all of the tuning and fabricating and whatever else goes with that. On one hand it's the easiest route for power, on the other hand it's not.

Dropping a Bseries engine into these cars is fairly easy. Depending on which one you go with you can be putting anything from 140-185hp into them. Kseries are considerably more expensive and considerably more work to put in.

I just put a bone stock D16 in my CRX. It was a lot of work, but I'm happy with how it came out.

sorry i forgot to mention what my horsepower goals. Im not really looking for anything more than 300 whp. This car is pretty much only a project car for me to learn on. id rather mess around with an easy platform and a simple swap before jumping into a high hp build. Basically between 200 and 250 hp is where im shooting. i figured that would fairly easy to reach with a decent swap, bolt-on, and tune if im not mistaken.

I bought this car for several reasons, its damaged (yes that is a reason), little bit of rust, and the aftermarket support. I want to learn more about body work too with this car, hence the rust and damage.

[BigWhiteTodd]

well you trying to do all motor or turbo

[SovXietday]

You won't be getting 200whp out of a stock Bseries swap with boltons, maybe a Type R engine... maybe. If you want power N/A with a Honda be prepared to work for it. You have physics working against you haha.

A nice GSR engine with GOOD boltons will net you ~170whpish probably. Give or take some depending on the setup. It'll be a fairly quick car, and as long as you take your time with the wiring and the swap it will be a fairly reliable car too.

This is all just FYI. Honestly, to get 200whp I'd say drop a D16A6/D16Z6 with a simple turbo setup and just have fun with it. Cheap, reliable with good parts, and it will be a lot of fun. Plus, they're dirt cheap and easy as hell to swap in haha. Just need to do the wiring.

[Erik]

Originally Posted by SovXietday

You won't be getting 200whp out of a stock Bseries swap with boltons, maybe a Type R engine... maybe. If you want power N/A with a Honda be prepared to work for it. You have physics working against you haha.

A nice GSR engine with GOOD boltons will net you ~170whpish probably. Give or take some depending on the setup. It'll be a fairly quick car, and as long as you take your time with the wiring and the swap it will be a fairly reliable car too.

This is all just FYI. Honestly, to get 200whp I'd say drop a D16A6/D16Z6 with a simple turbo setup and just have fun with it. Cheap, reliable with good parts, and it will be a lot of fun. Plus, they're dirt cheap and easy as hell to swap in haha. Just need to do the wiring.

ahh than i misread my info online.

the D16 sounds like a plan. im not all about making ridiculous numbers, or atleast not at the moment. I want to have fun like your saying. Ive never done a swap but i hear they are pretty easy. id like to spend a weekend with a few guys on here to take my time with it and meet a few people. Ive only met a few guys. I can fork up money for beer, but i cant drink or buy it!

[crexxy90]

Id love to help out, just let me know!

d series with turbo is your best bet for good reliable horsepower without breaking the bank, d16z6, jdm d15b vtec or ZC dohc are the best d series swaps for an EF, all have around 130hp depending on what ecu you decide to use.

you could go with b18a or b18b for few more $$ then turbo that and have a real quick EF, ls motors love boost, stock you can push 10-12 psi even without a tune, tuned you can run 15psi without problems and youll be running very quick.

all just depends on what you wanna spend, but if your goal is over 200whp stay away from all motor unless your into building engines and spending over 10k for the whole deal

[Erik]

maybe the 200 hp mark is set a little high. i need to remember im still just a student on a pretty strict budget. maybe 200 in the long long long run. i just read up on the z6 vs the a6. z6 has a few more hp and OBD1. hooray for wiring.............lol, i think ill go for that. Ill set out my search for a decent z6.

[JohnnyDrifter22]

Hey Erik check out hondamarketplace/honda-tech.com lots of interesteding things. I always check out the Fab section and apperance/build threads. But if you want to dump alot of money into id go K20/24 . The H22/H23 has clearance issues with DP's or Exhaust. Any B series is really cheap and the wiring is super easy too. Rywire makes a great obd conversion harness. But if it runs good keep the motor and get suspension and wheels