THE B16 SWAP...
The B16a engine (first generation)is very similar to the engines commonly found in the '99-'00 Civic Si and Del-Sol VTEC here in the US (B16a2,a3). In Japan, it is sourced from the CRX SiR and Integra XSi.
The B16a is a DOHC 16v 1.6L Inline 4, complete with Multi point fuel injection and a variable valve timing system (VTEC) The 1st generation B16 (easiest to swap into a CRX, therefore the main topic of this page) yields 160hp and 112ft-lbs of torque with a redline of 8200 rpms.
In a light car such as the CRX, a 14 second pass down the 1/4 mile is almost expected with the B16. There are MANY places to order a jap-spec B16 from. The B16, while not the EASIEST swap to perform on a CRX, is the fastest and most upgradeable for both price and simplicity... Not as fast (or expensive) as a GSR or ITR swap, but more powerful (and expensive) than an LS(B18a/b) or ZC swap.
This page is going to explain how to swap a 1st gen B16a into your CRX or Civic Hatch (2nd gen, 88-91) and how to get that old high mileage D16 out...
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Time to spend some money....A LOT of it!
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Steels JDM B16a2 swap....
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Swap Shopping List
For the B16a swap there are a LOT of parts needed beforehand in order to succesfully swap. There are many aftermarket companies providing parts available for the swap.... I bought what I thought were the best parts...
B16a Motor (1st Generation)
Transmission (Cable clutch) Y1, J1, S1, or YS1
ECU (PR3 or PW0, but I'd recommend the PR3)
I bought my motor package from www.nipponmotors.com and had it shipped to the shop near me where I performed the swap, in 5 days for . I would check www.SOKO.com first, but they are usually out of stock.
Bolt-In mount kit
Shift Linkage (either cut and weld your own, or buy one)
Conversion Wiring Harness (has 4 plugs)
All of this stuff I bought through a HAsport vendor. I would only recommend the HAsport mounts.... You can cut and weld your own shift linkage, but HAsport also makes one that is a perfect fit... it all depends on $$$. Check out www.HAsport.com
Engine harness (save your stock one for this)
Axles (any 90-93 Integra Axles will do)
Intermediate shaft (in case your engine didn't come with one, '90-'93 Integra)
Radiator Hoses (check www.HAsport.com , I believe one is a '92 GSR, and one is a '90 GSR)
Throttle Cable ('90-'93 Integra)
Rear motor mount bracket ('90-'93 Integra, DO NOT FORGET THIS! Also, order the 2 motor side bolts as well)
Most of tjis stuff can easily be found at a junkyard, or bought from your local Honda/Acura dealer. I have a decent hookup so I went through the dealer...
Now is also a good time to replace the timing belt, water pump, clutch, oil filter.
All of those besides the clutch you get for a Del-SOl VTEC. The clutch is for a 1990 Integra (because of the cable transmission)
Also, don't forget simple things like oil (I use Mobil 1 Synthetic), Tranny Fluid (Factory Honda Manual Trans fluid), and Radiator Coolant/Antifreeze
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Now.........on to the fun stuff
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Taking The Old Engine Out!
This entire process is relatively simple, and should only take 3-4 hours AT MOST to complete (if you are constantly working)
I'll just go through the steps how I did them. Everyone has their own way of doing stuff, heres mine:
Common knowledge tells you to disconnect the battery. Hell, now is a good time to move it to the rear....
First, take the hood off. Unbolt it from the factory flanges by the windshield. Should be 2 10mm bolts on each side. You don't need the hood on so why bother having it in the way. Be careful removing it, as it's kind of awkward to remove. Now is a good time for a second set of hands...
After you remove the hood, set it aside, and set aside the bolts, somewhere you won't lose them, and you'll remember WHAT THE HELL they are for! It's not good to have all kinds of bolts laying around and not know where they go.....
Jack the car up. Get it up pretty far and throw some jackstands under it. Take off all the underside plastic. Drain the oil, tranny fluid, radiator fluid and remove the oil filter. Also, now is a good time to undo the bolt that holds the intake manifold bracket to the block. Also, do yourself a favor and un-bolt the cat from the header, so ya don't need to do it later....
Also, unbolt the shift linkage from the shifter, and the stabilizer from the car. Now go the the other end of the linkage, pull back the boot and pull the linkage out. You'll see a hole with a pin in it. YOU NEED A SPECIAL TOOL FOR THIS. If you use anything but the right pin pusher, it will expand and you'll never get it out...
After it is completely drained of all fluids lower the car back down. Now, find the main wiring harness plugs for the engine. There should be 3 on the passenger's side strut tower, and 2 on the driver's side one. Unclip them, and you'll see how half of each one runs to the engine, and one goes to the firewall. Getting all this? Ok good.
Now follow all the plugs to their respective locations on the motor(It may be a good idea to label each plug, so you know where it goes on the B16 later). Pull them all out. Unplug the O2 sensor, the Injector plugs (little clips hold them on) and all other engine plugs. There are 2 on the back of the block which can be a BITCH to get to. So....
Take off the throttle cable, and un-do the clutch cable. Pull the speedo cable out of the tranny (dont lose the clip that holds it in!)
Remove the intake manifold. There are 10(?) 12mm bolts holding it on. I think they are 12mm... anyways, remove all vacuum lines from the Intake manifold. Keep them attached to the car, remove them from the manifold! Also, be sure to clamp down the fuel line, ya don't wanna be leaking gas. Go to the fuel filter and release the fuel line pressure with the nut on top. Get a rag, fuel may leak out.
After the intake manifold is out, those 2 bitch sensors should be easier to get at, so try it now. If not, wait till ya pull it all the way out to get them.
Now might be a good time to make some room in the engine bay for yourself to work....
You can start by removing the A/C stuff. Fans, compressor, A/C lines. I was out of Freon, so I could just undo it all, but you should really dispose of it the proper way if you have any left in the A/C system....
I also took the front bumper off, headlights, and radiator. It's not necessary, but it made things easier for me....Set that all aside, you'll be putting it back on later (duh) and remove the A/C condensor thing (or whatever the radiator lookin thing is called) Now you have removed your entire A/C system up to the firewall, unplugged most, if not ALL of the wiring harness, removed the intake manifold, and clamped up your fuel lines.
Next you'll want to remove the header. Same deal as the intake manifold, and it'll pop right off once you undo the bolts. Now you're looking at basically just a head, block, tranny, and distributor. I had some spare time so I took off the distributor and put it in the "Things I can Sell" pile for later...
Now all you have left really is the axles and motor mounts.
Break the lugnuts loose, jack it up. Take off the rims (if ya can't do this, do not try this swap) and unbolt the big ass hub bolt. I believe it's a 19mm or 21mm bolt. And it's on there good. You have to enable to bolt to move by pressing out the indented part. Just look at it, it's hard to explain, you'll see what I mean. Once that is done, unbolt the suspension pieces that keep the brake assembly and struts on. Use common sense to figure out exactly which bolts they are. Once the struts are unbolted from the bottom, you can unbolt them from the strut towers, and take them off for now. Now is also a really good time to swap in larger brakes. If you're gonna do that, unbolt the upper arm bolts in the engine bay (by the strut tower bolts) and the brakes will come out. Now that there is NOTHING holding back the axles, get a big ass screwdriver and pop them out of the transmission. You won't be needing them again (unless ya wanna trick your axle supplier inot thinking they are Integra cores). Not like I would do that or anything.......
Chain the engine up, get some tension on the chain.
All that is left are the motor mounts. Use either a breaker bar or impact gun to un-bolt the mounts. You can either take the bolt that runs through the mounts out, or unbolt the mounts from the frame. Whichever is easier for you to do....
After you unbolt all 4 (I think) you can raise the engine up. Get a dolly (or skateboard with a hunk of plywood on it) and set the engine on there, roll it away. Unless of course you like stuff in your way....
If you want, now is a good time to take off the front crossmemember. Once you do, get a grinder and cut off the front mount. Also, now would be the best time to notch it so the header will fit. Right in the center, for about a 3" span each way (just to make sure) cut out a section 1/4"-1/2" wide and then re-grind it to take off all the sharp edges. This way, the header has MORE than enough room and won't rattle at all.
Time to take a break and get some food. Grab a beer and relax for a little bit, the fun has just begun!
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Now for the fun part........
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B16a Installation...
OK, the first thing you can do is sober up from that heavy drinking at lunch time. Don't wanna be working with power tools while you're not so sharp eh? The first thing to do is to bend the rear crossmember lip down. Right where the old stock CRX mount was (where the new HAspor one will go) bend the lip down on at LEAST a 45 degree angle, for the width of the mount. Now you can install the rear mount. Use the supplied instructions if you don't have the brains to figure out how to do it. It's pretty easy.....
Now you have a choice. If you are installing the motor from the bottom (w/ a lift) go ahead and install the tranny mount. If you'll be installing from the top (w/ a hoist) hold off on this.
Now the fun part (no, it really IS fun!)
How often can you hit your car hard as hell with a sledgehammer, and not have to worry about it? Well now you can!
In order for the B16 alternator pulley to fit perfeclty in the engine bay, the drivers side frame rail needs to be bashed in about 3/8". Go to the HAsport web page for the EXACT location, but it's a square area, below the shock tower. Right on the frame rail. You can probably see where, but check HAsports page just to be safe.
After you're done beating the hell out of the car, take a valium and calm down. That's all the smashing we get to do today.
Next step is to use your stock wiring harness and plug it itno the B16. If the B16 came with a stock harness, save that for plugs and wire... that's all it's good for. After you get everything plugged in, there should be one (or two? I forget) extra, unused plugs. It's OK, you didnt miss anything. it's extra....
For both the main harness and conversion harness, you will PROBABLY need to lenghten one or two wires. So get a soldering gun and some shrink tubes (or electrical tape) and some wire cutters. This is what ya use the B16 stock harness for!
Now, find the sensors/plugs on the B16 that you DIDN'T plug anything into. They should be:
2nd O2 sensor
Knock Sensor
VTEC Solenoid
VTEC oil pressure (pretty sure)
First, ground the conversion harness the same spot the main harness is grounded (on the starter). Next, plug in the 4 plugs where they go, it's not TOO hard to figure it out.......
Your wiring is done! It's not too hard as long as you take your time and are careful doing it.
The next step (for me at least) was deciding on how to run my 2nd O2 sensor. I bought a DC 4-1 header and decided NOT to get an additional bung welded into it. Instead, I cut both O2 sensors off (leaving enough wire on each end) and spliced both lines together. Then I spliced in one longer wire into that, and ran that and spliced THAT into one O2 sensor. So now both readings are going to one sensor. Tricky eh? And since the bung is at the back of the 4-1 collector, it measures all 4 cylinder's combined readings. It's not running bad at all, however just a bit rich. But the more you mod, the leaner it gets, so this rich condition is OK.
Now you can hoist up the B16. I believe if you install rom above you can install the right mount now too. I had to wait to do that. Lower the ngine in tranny side a lil lower than the rest. Once it's close, install the HAsport transmission mount, and bolt it to the car but don't tighten it. Now, you'll have to install the rear mount bracket WHILE the engine is being lowered. Just as it meets the rear mount. It's a crazy pain in the ass to do from above, but it is possible. Once that is lined up, put the bolts in but don't tighten it yet. Line up the driver's side mount now and bolt it in. Now, if everything is line dup right, tighten all the mounts down. I believe the torque spec is 42ft-lbs. You may need a long socket extension and swivel sockets to reach the rear mount bolts.
Now you can install the header (if ya bought one) and run the O2 sensor (s) to the bung (s) (depends how ya did it...)
The harness' should now plug into where they all belong. Bolt the header up to the cat (you may need to cut and weld you cat, maybe not. Mine fit perfect). Run the Vacuum lines and fuel lines to their applicable places. You will find out that some parts on the B16 intake manifold serve no purpose on a USDM CRX, and they can be removed. You may notice a few vacuum lines going no where or open. I capped all mine, and it brought the idle from 3300rpms to 1000rpms. It just takes a few tries to figure out which ones go where and do what.
Now go under the car and bolt up the new shift stabilizer. You may notice it has an open in for a bushing. I used a suspension bushing pressed into the opening with a hole drilled in it. That way, I was able to put a washer over the outside and bolt it into the right place. Next, put the new shift linkage on. Use that pin and line up the holes on the joint (you'll see what I mean). Tap it in slowy and straight untill it is all the way in. Then bolt the other end to the shifter.
Re-attach the stock clutch cable and adjust it, and install the new throttle cable now. Put an intake over the throttlebody (good time for a CAI). Replace the speedo cable into the back of the tranny.
Re-install the radiator (if ya took it off) and the coolant overflow bottle.
Make sure you re-connected the engine ground, and that you HAVE A tranny ground. That's what messes alot of people up (including myself!). You can add all the fluids now...
Install the new intermediate shaft on the drivers side and the axles. Re-install the suspension and brakes. It might be a good time to bleed the brakes as well...
Now ya need to follow the HAsport wiring harness directions on how to hook up to the ECU. Use their directions, they work perfect.
After you make sure EVERYTHING is hooked up right, have someone else take a look. Make sure all caps are back on, all hoses have a destination, all wires are going to something....
Then reconnect the battery. And fire it up.... if it doesn't start, don't get discouraged, most likely its something small you overlooked. Double check everything again.
As long as you took your time, everything should be OK. It will probably idle rough initially. If it idles very HIGH, you may need to check your vacuum lines. Make sure you check to see if the ECU is throwing any codes. Alot of the time it will throw a code #7 (TPS) which means ya need a new one. You can probably get one from a junkyard for or so. Honda doesn't sell them seperately, ya need to get the whole throttlebody. Screw that, just go to a junkyard....
Take it out for spin, and enjoy VTEC... I know I am!
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