90 civic dx getting a ZC DOHC

[moosebrew]

Hey guys you helped me out on selecting what motor to go with now I have a few questions and I'm hoping you can help me out again.

I have this motor, http://www.hmotorsonline.com/shop/sc2000search.cgi?what=page&item=30022 coming on the 4th or 5th. I have been checking and searching and am not sure which ECU I need to put this in my dx. I am assuming I need an ECU from a 88-92 civic SI with a 5-speed. What I can not find is a list of which ECU this would be like a model number or something so I can search yards and ebay and the like for one.

-Would guys recomend buying a conversion harness from someone for this conversion or is it really that simple to do?

-Who would you guys buy your timing belt, water pump parts from or any particular brands to avoid? Related to these parts, what car/year do I look up in a parts catalog to get the right timing belt, water pump, rotor ect. for this?

More questions to come im sure!
Mark

 

[efhondakid]

You will need an ECU from a 88-91 Civic Si or CRX Si. PM6 I believe, the DPFI to MPFI conversion isnt hard to do at all, search this site, there are some great write-ups on it. And as far as finding replacement parts, nothing beats OE Honda, and the older Integras came with the DOHC ZC so getting parts wont be hard at all.

 

[jlicrx]

Hey guys you helped me out on selecting what motor to go with now I have a few questions and I'm hoping you can help me out again.

I have this motor, http://www.hmotorsonline.com/shop/sc2000search.cgi?what=page&item=30022 coming on the 4th or 5th. I have been checking and searching and am not sure which ECU I need to put this in my dx. I am assuming I need an ECU from a 88-92 civic SI with a 5-speed. What I can not find is a list of which ECU this would be like a model number or something so I can search yards and ebay and the like for one.

-Would guys recomend buying a conversion harness from someone for this conversion or is it really that simple to do?

-Who would you guys buy your timing belt, water pump parts from or any particular brands to avoid? Related to these parts, what car/year do I look up in a parts catalog to get the right timing belt, water pump, rotor ect. for this?

More questions to come im sure!
Mark

the best ECU to use with the JDM DOHC ZC is the JDM ECU for the engine which is the PM7 - the next best would be the PG7 from 88-89 (not 86-87) USDM Integra with manual transmission - the PM6 from the 88-91 CRX/Civic Si will work, but not nearly as well as the PM7 or PG7 - as a general rule of thumb, all of the parts below the top of the block (water pump, oil pump, timing belt tensioner) are the same as the 88-91 CRX/Civic Si D16A6 and all of the parts above the top of the block are the same as the 88-89 Integra D16A1 - the only exceptions to this are the timing belt and pistons - the timing belt is the same as the 88 Prelude 2.0 Si and the pistons are the same as the 88-89 Integra D16A1 - the USDM D16A1 engine from the 86-89 Integra is not a ZC engine - the 88 and 89 D16A1s are similar and do share a few parts with the ZC, but the A1 is not a ZC - it has a different block, different head casting, different intake manifold, different valve cover, different exhaust manifold, different cam gears, different timing belt, different timing belt cover, different engine mount, etc.

you will have to convert your DX engine wiring harness from DPFI to MPFI - the DX distributor connectors will plug right into the ZC, but you need to add wiring for the other 2 injectors and the cylinder sensor, which is on the end of the exhaust camshaft - you will need to add the injector resistor box

 

[moosebrew]

Wow thanks for the detailed responses, I really appreciate it. I'm really looking forward to doing this engine swap. This will be my first Honda conversion but with the wealth of information on this site I think it will go smoothly.

This really answers all my questions, I knew about the wiring conversion and the resistor box. Now I will just have to search for and source the PG7 and the parts I have to switch for the waranty.

Mark

 

[Fernpatch]

The timing belt tensioner is a honda only part, The # is 14510-pm7-004. The PG7 out of the 89 integra runs pretty hard with this engine, much better than a PM6. I have not ran with a PM7 yet so I cannot comment on it's pros or cons. This swap is not hard to do. I just finished putting a zc dohc in my 90 crx dx. The buggest problem is the hood clearance if you want to run with the upper timing cover installed. feel free to contact me if you have any other questions as my memory of the install is fresh. Good luck and enjoy.