My 91 Civic Dx Project

[invisibledemon]

i ran into the problem of the distributer. had to replace mine.

on the bright side, its very shiney, got it from distributer king, i pop my hood and everybody ignores the engine and says "damn, thats a nice distributer" lol.

anyway, check your ground wire next to the starter below the throttle body, if that ones not connected then you get no fuel and no spark, i did have that problem, missed that ground wire and it would crank but nothing else.

 

[SHOGUNOVDDRK]

*finishes reading updates* this is coming along pretty well...

you got a estimated time of finish so far?

 

[Crimson_jay]

7/6 Update:

So I am going to check my grounds for the main relay because I found that the ground for the rear harness was not bolted down. I also checked the ground for the starter and that was grounded to the engine. So I have checked for power to the main relay and the fuel pump but not ground. So this will be my goal for this weekend!

I don't have a SET date for completion due to wire complications.

 

[invisibledemon]

dont forget about the ground wire on the very front of the engine. i know its kinda obvious but ive seen people miss that one.

keep up the the updates.

 

[Crimson_jay]

I have a question..

the JDM b16a came off of a 89 EF Civic SiR. Could another reason why i'm not getting power to the distributor be due to that the 91 DX wire harness is not compatible with the JDM engine distributor??

The car was running before I did the swap so everything should work (i.e. fuel pump, gauge cluster)

 

[Crimson_jay]

07/13: Update

Ok so here is the latest on my project car. I was double checking my wires and I found that most of the wires from the EF engine harness did not match up with the DX engine harness.

So...I Took apart the bulk part of the EF engine harness and tagged each wire coming off the engine. I know...it was a bitch to finish. Almost took me 3 hours rewiring and correcting the mistakes that I initially made!!

Here is the mess that I made!!

But i'm glad that I did this because i know what each wire is and i NOW know that alot of my GROUNDS were not connected which could be the reason why I didn't have any spark and fuel. So I'm gonna clean this mess up and test my wires for power and ground.

Also Im gonna create a BETTER userfriendly engine wire diagram for the DX and EF swaps. I used alot of the old D15 wires for the b16. It was a pain in the ass but know I know where every wire goes to in the engine bay and possibly later on do a wire tuck!!

 

[invisibledemon]

damn son. you have a lot more patience than i. i would have already said screw it and dropped a match into the tank. lol.

what engine harness did you use? the one that came with the b16?

 

[Crimson_jay]

what engine harness did you use? the one that came with the b16?

Update 07/15:

I used the EF harness that came with the B16! I decided to do the wiring this way so that I wouldn't have to ADD wires for the knock, VTEC, and the TWO O2 sensors.

So I finished the wiring this weekend and I HAVE SPARK!!! The only problem now is that the fuel system won't charge. So I think the fuel pump is bad!!

I'll keep you guys posted and i'm creating a Wire Diagram of what i did!!

 

[invisibledemon]

lol. used the harness so you wouldnt have to add wires just to have to rewire the whole thing. doesnt sound like a good exchange. but to each his own.

check and make sure your getting power to the fuel pump before you go throught the pain in the ass hasle of taking it out.

 

[johnercivic]

Good be as simple as a bad relay instead of the pump.

 

[Crimson_jay]

lol. used the harness so you wouldnt have to add wires just to have to rewire the whole thing. doesnt sound like a good exchange. but to each his own.

check and make sure your getting power to the fuel pump before you go throught the pain in the ass hasle of taking it out.

I have checked to make sure the fuel pump was grounded and I added power to the fuel pump and I didn't hear any noise coming from the fuel pump = bad fuel pump.

And I really did have to rewire THE WHOLE THING just swap some wires around. All in All i rewired 20 wires. That really wasn't that hard and can be done by anyone with a electrical manual.

 

[Crimson_jay]

7/21 UPDATE:

Ok so here is my update so far. So I dropped the tank and took out the fuel pump and here is what I pulled out!!


VERY NASTY!! COVERED IN RUST!!

SO, IF THE FUEL PUMP WAS COVERED IN RUST, JUST THINK OF HOW THE TANK WAS!!

I TOOK THE TANK TO THE CAR WASH AND PRESSURE WASHED THE TANK
I DIDN'T TAKE A PICTURE OF THE INITIAL WASH BUT MOST OF WHAT CAME OUT WAS RUST!!!

ANOTHER PIC OF THE WASH!!

I TOOK THIS TO SHOW THE AMOUNT OF RUST CRAP THAT WAS IN THE TANK

AND HERE IS THE NEW FUEL PUMP. AND I CLEANED THE RETAINER AND BOUGHT A NEW STRAINER.

I PUT THE FUEL PUMP BACK INTO THE FUEL TANK BUT I DIDN'T TAKE A PICTURE OF THE NEW PUMP WITH THE FILTER ATTACHED TO THE RETAINER PIECE.

SO HOPEFULLY THE FUEL SYSTEM WILL CHARGE AND THE ENGINE WILL RUN TOMORROW!!

 

[invisibledemon]

damn. that looked horrible. just think if you would have pumped that shit into your engine.
now lets cross the fingers and hope that your next post starts off with: "I got it running"
then on to the painting!

 

[Crimson_jay]

7/22 UPDATE:

Ok so I finished hooking up the fuel tank to the lines and made sure that everything was nice and tight so that I don't have any leaks! I give some power to the fuel pump and I have fuel!!!

I try turning the key to see if the fuel pump will charge....NOTHING.

I apply power to the main relay where the fuel pump is...fuel flows.

I turn the key and i have no spark..

Damn it! I think something else is wrong... I'm gonna check my wires, because i had spark the other time!

MAYBE the main relay is bad?? MAYBE a bad fuse??

I have power and ground to the distributor and the igniter unit.

ANY THOUGHTS???

 

[invisibledemon]

could it maybe be the harness under the dash is unhooked?
theres a small harness that connects the wires from the fuel pump to the main harness under the drivers side of the dash.

did you use the fuse box out of your dx or one that came with the engine?

 

[Crimson_jay]

could it maybe be the harness under the dash is unhooked?
theres a small harness that connects the wires from the fuel pump to the main harness under the drivers side of the dash.

did you use the fuse box out of your dx or one that came with the engine?

I willl check the harness that your talking about , i know exactly which one your talking about. I did use the fuse box from the DX. I didn't get any fuse box with the engine.

I think my problem is with a bad fuse on the DASH fuse box.

Is there a way i can tell if the MAIN relay is bad???

 

[Crimson_jay]

KINDA OFF SUBJECT.

1. This is the turbo manifold that I have in mind.

2. Do I have to get new coolant lines to do this?? And if so where do I
take the lines and condenser from, Del Sol??

3. just the route i wanted to send the coolant lines.
4. Some fabricated heat shield, I think can easily be made.

 

[dacheat]

hep, just wanted to let you know i stumbled across your thread and i'm subscribed now . wish i had any tech knowledge to share with you..but i don't. best way i know of to check if a main relay is bad is to swap it with another one (done that three times now). they're good to have a few spare on hand.

i'm looking to do a swap this winter in my 91 CRX DX (currently stock w/232k miles) but i'm still researching my options. i'll be checking out the rest of your build - but wanted to tell you it's a great thread so far and thanks for sharing!

 

[Crimson_jay]

7/25 UPDATE:

Ok so here is what is going on. I was busting my balls to figure out why I was not getting any spark?? So I checked all my wires and made sure that I had power and ground.....Check everything was connected and grounded.
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Then I checked the Dash fuse box and guess what I found. A BUSTED FUSE!!

So I go and replace this 10amp fuse and I test for a spark!!
WE HAVE SPARK!!! but we also have a leak.... I smelled the fuel and
heard the gas dripping onto the floor.

This was the other problem!!

SO... my dad takes the DX fuel return line and connects it to the FPR...

I TURN THE KEY... THE FUEL PUMP CHARGES THE LINES AND THE ENGINE CRANKS... THE ENGINE NOW RUNS!!!

It was pretty loud since I didn't connect the exhaust!

So i check the ECU to see if any codes come up and sure enough...Code 9 and 5
Come up. DUH!!! NO VACUUM HOSES CONNECTED.


So if I could get some advice as to which hoses go where I think the problem is solved!!!

 

[invisibledemon]

here