Question and answer from Super Street magazine
Q.I just bought a Honda CRX and would like to know more about engine swapping. A lot of my friends are telling me about all these different types of motors and parts to put on it. I'm not rich, but my dad had come across an '89 Integra that got rear ended but still has a running motor. I would like to know if i could swap the Integra motor into my CRX. Would putting this motor in my car be a good idea? Has the swap been done before? If so, what do i need from the Integra to make it work? Will it be smog legal? That's very important to me. One last thing, the car is a 5-speed and so is mine. Will that make any part of the swap easier?
A. Your in luck-the 1.6L DOHC motor is actually quite a poular swap. Som people even refer to it as the "budget B16A." The swap is pretty straightforward, but you will need everything including the motor, mounts, tranny, ECU, axles, and shift linkage. Although the motor is pre-VTEC, you'll notice a nice increase of power and torque over the stock D16 single slammer. All in all, its a very good motor for the price. And for smog, since you're using the motor out of a newer model car and puttingit into your '88 CRX, it is actually a legal swap. Just make sure the motor is in good running condition and that whoever does the swap wll install the smog control devices back onto the car. This means charcoal canisters, catalytic converters, and EGR valves. The closer to stock it is, the less money its going to cost you to get a smog check. Doing a manual-to-manual engine swap is always a lot easier than doing a manual to automatic conversion. It will save you time, money on parts and labor, and headaches.