This is my first honda, It is a 1995 Hatchback, SOHC, NO VTEC. I am new to the honda gig, I have had 10 cars in my life but and street bikes, but never got into the honda thing, after a few friends bought hondas I got hooked! so I bought a hatch to tinker with, its very clean..just slow!...I just dont know a lot about the motors. I want to do a full swap, I have read a lot on the forums, but I really dont know what to do. I want to get my hands on something reliable and nothing too crazy, seems the h22 = lots of conversions and and gsr or b20 = rare, what is the best motor I can put in this hatch to make it just more peppy and wont cost 5k, I will take any input I can get...THANK YOU!!! P.S. My father owns an auto shop, swapping is not the issue, the issue is putting the right motor in...such as B18 with B16 head, etc...thank you again. -Ray
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1995 Hatchback b16 NEED HELP!
- Thread starter Rays95HB
- Start date
- Replies 9
- Views 1K
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SneakyTouchYourPlace
New Member
Could be a clogged cat, pull out the ego sensor but leave it plugged in. Best way is to get a tool that plugs in place of the ego with a pressure guage, rev up should never go above 1psi, 6-20 psi is really bad.
Another way to tell which requires a bit of good judgment and experience, is to leave it unplugged and rev it up. If you feel a bit of air come out it might be ok, if it comes out at the rate you would feel it come out the tail pipe, definitly a problem. Or if you can find something rubber and flat to cover it with, rev it up and it shouldn't push it off.
And yet another way would be to measure manifold vaccum, which is probably a test you would find in the book for backpressure. If it has a hard time pushing air out the exhaust, it will have a hard time pulling air into the cylenders, which will lower your INTAKE manifold vaccum. The book will probably have manifold vaccum specs, however poor manifold vaccum could also mean your timing belt is stretched or skipped a tooth, which could have the same performance symptom. Thats why I like putting something rubber and flat over the EGO sensor port to actually determine quickly if the Cat is plugged or not. If not it may be a timing belt problem.
As for a motor swap, I would recommend a JDM sohc zc vtec. If you live in California I would recommend a d16z6 (same with less compression, easier to pass smog/certify). Both of these motors will drop right in, minimal to no modification. In fact you could probably get a complete engine/tranny/harness/ecu from canada for $800. d16z6 is approx 120hp, the JDM version ZC sohc vtec 1.6 is usually approx 140hp at wheels. These motors are great because you can slap a basic turbo kit on it to reach 190-200 easily, or go all out crazy with turbo technology and get 400.
Naturally asperated are not quite as powerfull or sound as good as a b16 or b18, but with turbo will put out more power than your car can handle anyways. b20s h22s, too much torque and modification to be realistic. Don't go for those unless you like to make a mess of your car or crash it from excessive torque affecting your steering. Not to mention if you live in California, your chances of ever registering your car with any B or H series motor are pretty slim as referees usualy dont like it.
ZC motors in california however are now LEGAL in cali, but very difficult to pass smog. May end up having to wrap your exhaust manifold and get an obd2 cat like I did.
Another way to tell which requires a bit of good judgment and experience, is to leave it unplugged and rev it up. If you feel a bit of air come out it might be ok, if it comes out at the rate you would feel it come out the tail pipe, definitly a problem. Or if you can find something rubber and flat to cover it with, rev it up and it shouldn't push it off.
And yet another way would be to measure manifold vaccum, which is probably a test you would find in the book for backpressure. If it has a hard time pushing air out the exhaust, it will have a hard time pulling air into the cylenders, which will lower your INTAKE manifold vaccum. The book will probably have manifold vaccum specs, however poor manifold vaccum could also mean your timing belt is stretched or skipped a tooth, which could have the same performance symptom. Thats why I like putting something rubber and flat over the EGO sensor port to actually determine quickly if the Cat is plugged or not. If not it may be a timing belt problem.
As for a motor swap, I would recommend a JDM sohc zc vtec. If you live in California I would recommend a d16z6 (same with less compression, easier to pass smog/certify). Both of these motors will drop right in, minimal to no modification. In fact you could probably get a complete engine/tranny/harness/ecu from canada for $800. d16z6 is approx 120hp, the JDM version ZC sohc vtec 1.6 is usually approx 140hp at wheels. These motors are great because you can slap a basic turbo kit on it to reach 190-200 easily, or go all out crazy with turbo technology and get 400.
Naturally asperated are not quite as powerfull or sound as good as a b16 or b18, but with turbo will put out more power than your car can handle anyways. b20s h22s, too much torque and modification to be realistic. Don't go for those unless you like to make a mess of your car or crash it from excessive torque affecting your steering. Not to mention if you live in California, your chances of ever registering your car with any B or H series motor are pretty slim as referees usualy dont like it.
ZC motors in california however are now LEGAL in cali, but very difficult to pass smog. May end up having to wrap your exhaust manifold and get an obd2 cat like I did.
Wow thank you for the info, all my buddies are telling me its the cat, I had my friend rev it up while I put my hand over the exhaust pipe and very little exhaust came out, so I am thinking thats what it is. Also the smog is really not an issue for me, my dads friend owns a shop and they trade favors,im sure with the cat in the condition it is in should not of passed, he makes it pass. So without the smog issue is that still the best problem? and not only that..I just smogged this car 2 weeks ago, so I have 2 years until I even have to worry about it again. and BTW, like I stated before this is my first honda and my first time on this site and I really appreciate all of the advise...thank you again.
SneakyTouchYourPlace
New Member
a plugged cat will run hotter and cause the unrestricted area to do more work and I could see a clogged cat passing smog.
Right, but from previous experience with california smog tests they do what is called a pressure test and if the cat is clogged or you dont have a gas cap or a leak in a gas line or anything to do with the fuel lines the car is an automatic fail. It has to have a certain amount of back pressure.
SneakyTouchYourPlace
New Member
No they don't do any pressure test on the cat. They do a pressure test on the evap system which has nothing to do with exhaust. The evap system uses a carbon canister to store fuel vapors for during the day, when the car sits the pressure in the fuel tank increases, the carbon canister absorbes that vapor for reuse later when the engine is running. The pressure test is to make sure that those raw fuel vapors cannot escape from the fuel tank. The same reason why they test the fuel cap. They just want to make sure it doesnt escape from anywhere else. obd2 cars have fuel tank pressure sensors for self diagnosis and will set a check engine light if it detects a leak, obd0 and 1 dont have that so manual testing was introduced. Smog test has no way finding wether an exhaust system is restricted or not.
I am not trying to compare brains hehe, I know very little about the honda world, but what I do know is that excessive hydrocarbons is 50% of the time is caused by a clogged cat, look it up. Many california smog check sites will tell you that. And I have also been told that by the guy does my smogs. Replacing cats are due to excessive amounts of burned carbon in the cat causing a blockage and MANY MANY MANY cars fail due to that per year. I have had several cars myself where I just had to replace a cat to make the car pass. Its not uncommon on a cat that has a good amount of miles on it.
You seem to know a good amount about hondas, im rethinking putting money into this 95 hatch, would it be worth just puting a vtec head on this stock b16 and keeping it for a lil commuter and getting a new hatch or possibly an integra, im trying to save myself a few bucks in the long run by thinkin this through and not dumping money into a car that ill never be pleased with hehe, all my friends are selling off their older civics and gettin the newer body style hb. in your opinion what is the easiest car to swap? do the older hb's have some sort of pros compared to the 96+ hb shells?
SneakyTouchYourPlace
New Member
Its usually more economic to mutilate a rustbucket. I think the CRX is a beautiful car but not so much the 88-95 5 seaters.