b18b1 swap into 98 ex

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MightyMagurg

New Member
car is a 98 civic ex coupe
motor is a 97 b18b1 with matching trans and ecu
harness is from my ex sohc

I finally got all the sensors plugged in..new upstream sensor all new rad hoses. i put 4.5qts of oil in it. its got plenty of gas in the tank. I went to try and start it yesterday and it just cranked very slow and wouldnt turn over. its making a slight popping sound out of the exhaust. its currently just open header. i checked for spark. its gettin a bright orange spark. i checked fuel and its gettin plenty to the filter. i changed intake manifolds to resolve a missing emission sensor...could that be my problem? if i left anything out or need to add anything just ask. ive spent so much money on this car...and its my daily...i need to get it running asap
 
You need 3 things for a car to start:
Correct timing
Fuel
Spark

Has the engine been opened up at all? Have you checked the timing?
Also, is the battery fully charged?
 
Timing is correct..mechanical at least. I can't check ignition timing. The motor hasn't been opened from what I know. Plug wires are correct. Battery is filling charged. Most of the time there was a charger on it set to start.
 
Grounds all hooked up? You first post expresses it is not even turning over. Correct?
 
Yes..the only ground not there is the valve cover to rad support..didn't think it would make much of a difference. It turns over but won't start.
 
thermostat ground , pull a plug wire off and stick a screwdriver in the end and stick it close too somthing metal and turn the car over, blue spark is good, orange spark is weak, if your grounds are good you should get good spark , if you have spark its fuel related, check codes on ecu
 
No codes. i guess it's gettin a weak spark then..so one more ground should fix that. The ecu is grounded to the thermostat. Only one I don't have is to the valve cover.
 
Run 3 grounds (besides the one to thermo). Trans, back of block and valve cover.
 
Thanks CAFROG. My buddy is an electrician he's gonna give me some good quality 12gauge wire. An I'll make a few grounds outta that and keep you updated. If there's any other things you can think of or need to ask. Let me know
 
read your thread

I would do a compression check and be sure all the sensors are connected around your throttle body. IACV gets missed sometimes. Although you need spark, fuel and air, you also need the ECU connections to be correct or it won't fire up. I think I had to change the IACV connector on my wiring harness to fit the B18 IACV. Doing the swap is well worth it. Hang in there.
 
I triple check all my connections. Someone mentioned I could have my iac an map sensor backwards but that wouldn't cause a slow crank. I also read that I had to do a 3wire to 2wire conversion but I have an ex civic and it came with a 2wire iacv. I was also told to bypass my crank sensor because this motor didn't have one on the crank. At least not that I saw.
 
bfraley said:
I would do a compression check and be sure all the sensors are connected around your throttle body. IACV gets missed sometimes. Although you need spark, fuel and air, you also need the ECU connections to be correct or it won't fire up. I think I had to change the IACV connector on my wiring harness to fit the B18 IACV. Doing the swap is well worth it. Hang in there.
Click to expand...

My swap was JDM B18B into a 97 DX hatch. I detailed my swap here. Just do a search on author bfraley. Should be some things there to help you out.
 
MightyMagurg said:
Thanks bfraley..but the swaps done unfortunately I think the motor needs rings bad.
Click to expand...

I hope that's not the case. It is a great swap and the B18 has awesome torque = fun fun. My last B18b was a JDM with 38,000 miles on it. It was $1000 shipped. Good luck.
 
MightyMagurg said:
Anybody know if I can get away with just doing rings?..as long as I torque everything correctly
Click to expand...

Its not just as easy as doing the rings it is a process of disassembling the motor and replacing parts as you go....not to mention you might want to hone the block if the rings went
 
I have no problem rebuilding it..it's what I've committed to. Does anyone know how to tell what size bearings to use? I heard somewhere that on the block there's casting numbers that are supposed to tell you.
 
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