OBDII 97 EK swap to B18B1 non-vtec

[bfraley]

I like the new lines/hardware The rusted areas under the car were treated with an acid etch solution(rust mort) and then everything on the bottom was undercoated. The rest of the car was undercoated during the body restoration and paint. The undercoating used is very soft and remains soft unlike some that get hard over time......cracking and letting moisture in. It's not pretty, but it's the best protection available for New England.

 

[bfraley]

Ordered new tires for the front of the Civic from TireRack.com.com. The warehouse is in Windsor, CT which is close enough to pick em up. I'm running BFGoodrich g-force Sport COMP-2 195/55/15 V rated on 2003 Civic Si rims. They look great and have a great ride with the stiffer suspension. I mentioned this in the past but will do it again......Keith at Sears Automotive in Buckland Hills Mall, Manchester, CT is my alignment guy. He worked with me while I replaced all of my suspension bushings and racing coilovers. I purchased a 3 year alignment warranty and then brought the car in after major suspension work and Keith dialed everything in for me every time. Very detail oriented and frankly, a surprise to find him working at a Sears. Glad I did though! See attached pic for latest alignment specs. I did dial the coilovers up two threads between the last alignment and this one. Tires wear great and handling is awesome.

 

[Matts96HB]

Keep the updates coming! I always enjoy reading this thread.

 

[jakeinator21]

I'm currently doing this same swap in my car, but I've got an automatic trans. Does anybody know which cable to use for the automatic trans? Integra or Civic SI?

 

[bfraley]

Throttle cable? The swap in this thread uses a P75 throttle cable bracket from an auto integra and an Integra LS throttle cable. Never done an auto swap so not sure about any other cable.

 

[jakeinator21]

No, the shift selector cable.

 

[bfraley]

No, the shift selector cable.

Sorry, can't help on that one.

 

[jakeinator21]

Reading up I realized that obviously the SI didn't come with auto trans, so I guess I'll try my luck with the LS.

 

[Briansol]

Ordered new tires for the front of the Civic from TireRack.com.com. The warehouse is in Windsor, CT which is close enough to pick em up. I'm running BFGoodrich g-force Sport COMP-2 195/55/15 V rated on 2003 Civic Si rims. They look great and have a great ride with the stiffer suspension. I mentioned this in the past but will do it again......Keith at Sears Automotive in Buckland Hills Mall, Manchester, CT is my alignment guy. He worked with me while I replaced all of my suspension bushings and racing coilovers. I purchased a 3 year alignment warranty and then brought the car in after major suspension work and Keith dialed everything in for me every time. Very detail oriented and frankly, a surprise to find him working at a Sears. Glad I did though! See attached pic for latest alignment specs. I did dial the coilovers up two threads between the last alignment and this one. Tires wear great and handling is awesome.

Nice to know! Maybe i'll go there for my aligment after I do my camber bolts.

 

[bfraley]

I used the Civic to tow our teardrop camper to Florida in March. I decided to replace the rear wheel bearings due to the 3000 + mile trip. Installed new higher quality bearings from NAPA. Will I ever learn??? Got to VA at the end of the first day and the rear left bearing started making noise. First thing next morning spent at Hendrick Honda in VA getting a Honda wheel bearing installed. $$$$$$ On the road again quickly and no other problems the rest of the trip. Stayed in the Daytona area and we really loved camping at Anastasia state park in St Augustine. Ocala National forest was nice too but the ocean always rocks. Spent two weeks on the PC every morning trying to get a camp spot at Bahia Honda State Park in Bahia Honda Key, FL for next year. The Civic will be on the road towing again! I have a few little things I want to do between now and then but nothing major

 

[Briansol]

pics with trailer in tow?

 

[bfraley]

Here are a few pics from the trip.......

 

[bfraley]

New development.......hearing strange scraping noises coming from my bell housing area when I push my clutch pedal to the floor. When I release the clutch with car at idle and tranny in neutral the noise goes away. I've had my exedy stage one clutch in the car over 100,000 miles which included quite a few teardrop camping trips. Last trip to FL was 3000 miles. Time to replace the clutch but not sure what to get this time around. Looking for a slightly heavier than stock clutch system but not a leg breaker.

 

[99sidude]

Check the throw out bearing.

How many miles are on the trans? I had a trans with 200k have the input shaft bearings go bad.

 

[bfraley]

Check the throw out bearing.

How many miles are on the trans? I had a trans with 200k have the input shaft bearings go bad.

I have less than 20,000 miles on the rebuilt tranny. Had all bearings replaced with new Honda bearings. It shifts good, clutch grabs good, just makes nasty noise when clutch is depressed.

The exedy stage 1 clutch has around 100,000 miles on it. I'm looking at getting new honda pilot/release bearings and another exedy stage 1 kit.

 

[Briansol]

Maybe you popped a spring form the pp/clutch ? throwout bearing is usually the opposite noise (clutch out in neutral, rattle). If you can afford the downtime, it might be neat to drop the tranny and take a look before you buy stuff you might not need.

 

[bfraley]

Maybe you popped a spring form the pp/clutch ? throwout bearing is usually the opposite noise (clutch out in neutral, rattle). If you can afford the downtime, it might be neat to drop the tranny and take a look before you buy stuff you might not need.

Exactly what I thought. It's off the road for now. I'll pull the tranny, inspect, and order parts. Just need the time

 

[bfraley]

It's apart and the culprit is the pilot bearing. It came out in pieces. The release bearing is well worn and ready for replacement as well. The clutch plate is 50% worn but since it is apart I'm replacing everything I can while it's apart.

 

[bfraley]

Here are pics of clutch related bearings. I ordered an Exedy Stage 1 clutch kit, pn-08800B. The pic of the two pilot bearings are what came with the original kit(worn out) over 100,000 miles ago and the new kit I just received. The second pilot bearing, with the thicker outside bearing race, is Honda OEM, pn-91006-634-008. I also took pics of the release bearings. Red center from Exedy kit and the other release bearing is Honda OEM, pn-22810-P21-003. Both release bearings have NACHI and JAPAN logos but pn are a bit different.

 

[bfraley]

While replacing the clutch I noticed the oil pan seal was seeping a bit. The oil pan had some good rust starting as well. The valve cover powder coat job was too thick and now it was cracking and bubbling up. I pulled the oil pan and valve cover to have them powder coated at new england industrial coatings in Worcester, MA. They did a great job. Finally got all the parts and seals installed but had a hard time getting the motor started again. Got it up and running but it had a barely perceptible rough idle and when moving the motor would get bogged down until i pushed the accelerator further and then it would rush into a smoother higher RPM. Very strange as there was no check engine light. I used my snap on code reader to see temporary codes and after a while a temporary lean fuel code came up but it was very intermittent. It felt like a spark issue or fuel starvation so I went after the most likely culprits......fuel filter, cap, rotor, plugs, and wires. No help. I searched on line and saw a few people had forward O2 sensor issues with no O2 engine code. I disconnected the forward O2 sensor which caused the ECU to default to preset fuel/air mixture settings. Bingo! The car ran awesome but with a forward O2 sensor code as it was disconnected. Picked up a direct fit O2 sensor and will be installing soon. Just when I thought I had this car figured out it threw me a curve. Interesting challenge.