just bought a 91 civic dx, which motor to swap????

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J

jiffy

Junior Member
i Just bought a 91 civic dx sedan and i want to do a motor swap in it. It only has the 1.5 motor with about 97 horsepower. It also has the 4 speed tranny. My question is, what motor swap would be the good to swap in there? I want to just buy the motor and install it myself. Im fairly knowledgable when it comes to workin on cars. I just dont want to get into something that i cant get myself out of. I also want to swap out a different tranny as well.

which would be the best set up and fairly easy to drop in??


thanks guys.
sorry if this is a newbie question.

jeff
 
If you have a 4speed tranny you have a base model Civic. They only have about 67-70 HP. It is a little harder to swap motors in to a base model. You have to do more wiring changes and you will need to swap out the hubs to get the new axeles for most swaps to go in. It can be done, just make sure you know what you have to start with so you know what you will need to do a swap.
 
i thought 4 speed automatic... i didnt know they made a a tranny with 4 gears.
 
the kid i bought it from put a new engine in it. He told me the car came with the 5 speed manual tranny. He also said i got a deal on the engine and that the tranny that came with the motor was a 4 speed so he just swapped in the whole setup. It came with the 1.5 liter with the 5 speed tranny. My car does not have power steering But it has ac. When i do the swap i will not be putting ac back in. I never use the ac anyways.
anyone know of a website that has a step by step on how to put a b18a1 into a 91 civic dx? that would be really helpful and also a list of everything i will need to buy other then the engine and tranny?



if i swap in the b18a1 what 1/4 times would i expect???

jeff
 
Don't ask for 1/4 mile times, to many variables.

Swapping a B18 into your ED9 is relatively simple... there is only one major wiring difference, the MPFI setup. Multi Point Fuel Injection... as long as you get an OBD-0 B18 you will be fine with the ECU, make sure its a Manual ECU becuase the Automatic most likely have different maps and shit.

Here's the list:
Mounts (from either HASport, HCP Engineering)
Also shift linkages from link above.
Engine/trans/axles/ECU/engine wire harness
Wire to convert DPFI - MPFI
New clutch
May need hubs from an HF or SI Civic/CRX

As far as I know thats everything.

Also use the Search button!
 
Yea dude you got the std(yikes) civic. I have the same exact thing 1.5 litres ac and no ps. The engine makes a laughable 70hp. I just swapped in a dohc zc from hmotorsonline. The wiring isnt hard and you need no motor mounts or tranny changes everything bolts right up. its 129hp and 106 tq. My swap cost me about 1200 bux all together. Definately a better deal than the b16 or b18. with the b16 you get 30 more hp but only 5 more tq. not sure about the b18 but prolly not much more(with the b18bx) if you dont want to spend 2 grand or more go zc.
 
first off, since you got a DX you WILL NOT NEED TO SWITCH OUT HUBS for most b series engines. i hate it when people say this it is MIS INFORMATION!!!!!! i have a 91dx as well and im doing a b18a1 swap and i WILL NOT SWAP MY HUBS!!!!

if you are looking for the cheapest, easiest swap. do a d16ZC swap. it should drop right in with minimal changes and you can find a decent whole swap for around 800-1000 bucks. you will get around 100-120 HP depending on the quality of the engine and you will have multiple options for transmissions. if you wanna go all motor, you can get the civic si tranny with short gears(4.5 final drive i think) and 5 speeds, or you can boost it and use a HF crx tranny with very long ass gears(2.4 final drive i think) and 5 gears.

i suggest not getting a hydro tranny just for the fact that they are expensive as hell compared to cables. if you wanna do a b18a1 swap with hydro gsr tranny the mounts and hydro/cable conversion will cost you around 400 bucks, plus 500-700 for the tranny, and 400-600 for the engine, and thats if you get a GOOD deal. then you have to worry about re-wiring your harness, or getting one from hasport, which is another 100 or so. so that adds up to around 1400 plus all the time you put into it.

im going with b18a1, ls tranny, re-wiring it myself, and getting hasport mounts. so far i have spent 400 bucks on the engine/head/ecu. and there are a great many sites and magazines out there for this exact swap as it is very popular. i know sport compact car has a step by step article in one of their older magazines. but i am not sure of any websites. google it up "b18 swap 91 civic" im sure you will find something. just a warning if you want this you will have to do some minor sledge hammering to your frame in order for the back engine mount and alternator belt to fit in.

let me know if you have any more questions.
 
no problem. in fact, HF hubs are the ones you need to swap, HF hubs are smaller and will not accomodate the LS axels. my friend had an HF crx and needed to swap hubs for his b series motor.
 
ya, i think im am gonna go with the b18a1 swap. It seems fairly straightforward. I am not to familiar with hondas. Is that the motor in the integra ls? cause a buddy of mine had a 90 integra ls and he pulled a 15.8 at the track. And another friend of mine has a 95 ls and pulled a 16.2 with it.
 
Don't ask for 1/4 mile times, to many variables
Click to expand...


ya i figured that. It depends on the driver, course conditions. I just wanted an estimate. A ballpark figure. Just to see if a swap was worth the time and money.


jeff
 
:spam: next time just edit your original post. but as far 1/4 mile times if your lucky and you get a good engine, good swap, good driver, good conditions you might run 15. MIGHT.
 
there is a kid that i talk to at the local street races and he has a 90 hatch with an integra ls motor that pulls a 14.8
 
if you already knew that then why did you ask. it has 1209830912840912389058243095843 factors that make up the 1/4 mile time. literally everything from how much you weigh, what you got in your car, how much gas you have in ur tank, to what engine you run.
 
And if you have NAWWWWS

Just kidding... had to put it, he said street races. Whatever. What cointelpro has to say is quality. So just listen to him. Good luck with the B18. Just incase no one answered your question the B18 came in four different variants, B18A1, B18B1, B18C1 and the B18C5 :worthy:
1. B18A1 whihc was offered in 90-93 Integra's (RS/LS/GS) and also in 2 different OBD's (On Board Diagnostics) OBD-0 and OBD-1.
2. B18B1 which Im not sure the differences between the A1 and B1 but it was offered in the 94-01 Integra (RS/LS/GS) and I think as many as 3 OBD's. those being the OBD-1, OBD-2A and 2B.
3. Also for 94-01 The Integra came in GSR trim which has the B18C1 engine.
4. The Integra Type R (ITR) came only with the B18C5 (OBD2[not sure if it's A or B or both]).

To make your swap easy, go with the OBD-0 B18A1 for wiring purposes, you'll thank me later, and also the transmission on your car is cable as is the transmission with this engine! Simplicity, oh so grand! Another swap alternative is a B16A1 SiR1 swap, which the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) engine for your car (in SiR trim) this engine as you may know has a 160HP, VTEC and bolts in with Mounts from HASport or the like. However your car being a sedan would be refered to as the Ferio in the JDM trim with this engine. To do this swap you must convert your wire harness from DPFI to MPFI, add three wires for VTEC. Again Hope I helped.
 
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