Will the D16 Bolt to a Stock Civic Transmission?

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I don't care about that. I'll go standalone fuel and ignition management. If the VTEC is electronically controlled, I can go that route as well. But, as far as I know, Honda never made an EFI 3rd Gen wagon in the States - there won't be any EFI fuel tanks to swap period. I'll have to use a surge tank and inline pump.

Bike carbs would be fine too, I just don't generally get along with carburetors. And my wagon is a California emissions car, so it has about 50% more emissions equipment on it. Having the stock motor simply replaced is guaranteed to be a maintenance nightmare.

Will a D15B head bolt-on? There's a lot of conflicting info out there. As far as I can tell, only an '87 Si head will swap to the stock shortblock.
 
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lets be realistic bud... you arent spending the money on a crv swap, you arent spending the money to go stand alone efi to put a more modern head on it to still make under 100hp again find another carb'd d15 for it and keep on rolling
 
I'm sure you get a lot of 'ricers talkin shit' on here, so I understand your attitude. But I've done this stuff before and have a lot of parts laying around - there are two Megasquirt 2's sitting on my computer desk, and I still have several totes of parts with pumps, turbo and nitrous parts, manifold flanges, stupid neon shit, and a mess of oem parts too from all manner of cars.

Fixing this car is not about the money, it's about maintaining a piece of my past. When that building fell it effectively erased almost twenty years of my life; this wagon is an attempt to keep some of that alive. However, the finished product needs to be fun and low maintenance - if the car can't be what I want it to be then I'm going to let it go. I spent a lot of time messing with those stupid emissions boxes and I'm way over it - not interested in doing it again, not interested in having the stock motor replaced.

If all I wanted was a rice rocket, I'd pick up a '90s Civic on Craigslist. They're a dime-a-dozen. What I do want is about 150 N/A crank HP and a cleaned-up engine bay, and a swap that has an interesting story to go along with the rest of the car. I have been doing my homework, but information on the '84-'87 cars is sketchy and scattered all over the internet. I'm all ears for suggestions and advice on what I can do, but I'll need specifics as concrete info is severely lacking on the internet.
 
ok yea part of history... put another d15 in it and keep rolling... sweet you have 2 old model stand alones... 150chp isnt happening esp sohc dseries and keeping the 4wd... ive given you every bit of information needed on swaps in the 84-87 you need and youre beating a dead horse man seriously your options are putting another d15 in it and keep rolling or dropping the $$$ on a whole swap and ditching the 4wd and convert it to efi (thousands in at that point) ..... want to maintain your past ? get the car running just like it was and enjoy it .... tbh 84-87 are complete shit and beat themselves apart on stock power and shit suspension and werent ment to make it to today , get it running or let it go either way you decide but im done with this conversation ... you arent going to spend the $$$ hunting down the parts to put a late model dseries sohc head on it and source the rare parts to not only time the engine correctly but to breathe life into a old 200k bottom end that you will be raising compression putting the head on, not only that the electronics and software needed to make a entirely custom map for the car to even run.... and then a fuel system to support it and still would make under 100hp.... if you want 150hp say fuck the 4wd and get a mount swap kit and go 88+ bseries etc , other than that stop and quit ranting off hopes and dreams there cause they just arent there with that chassis
 
Yeah, I'm probably getting carried away with this car since I lost the others. Like, I have too much energy and it is getting concentrated on this car in some desperate, existential way. Thanks for the verbal back-hand; I needed that.

But, no one is forcing you to stand vigilant as Negative Nancy. You have alluded to head swaps few times but have offered no specifics or keywords for me to search for. Hydra would have been a good one - I just found that this afternoon (looks promising). I think my main problem with searching for information is I'm not versed enough in Honda to enter the right keywords to get results. But, thanks for the information you have provided, I do appreciate that.

Money is no problem. I'm set for retirement even if I stopped saving today, the house is almost paid-off, all our cars are paid for, yada yada. It's good to get a dose of perspective before I just start throwing money at this car willy nilly. But, it is my money, and I'll spend it on the things that are important to me whether you think they are dumb or not.

I'm going to wait until the MX3 gets back from the mechanic - it needed a new fuel pump. That car is a blast to drive, maybe it will satisfy my need for nostalgic fun...but you can't bone in the back seat like you can in the wagon. Good, good times.
 
bammmm peanut butter and jamm truck tires on hx wheels lol its torsion bars in the front soo easy lift and springs in the back - boom spacers its a lifted 4x4 honda with more power than a suzuki samuri
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Hrmm... Let me rephrase the question:

Hi everybody! I have an '85 Civic 4WD Wagon with a blown engine. The head gasket started to leak - a lot, but the stratified combustion chamber prevented me from identifying the problem right away as the car kept running like normal. I'd recently had a new clutch installed, plus all new brakes and hydraulics, struts, shocks, halfshafts, tires, and wheel bearings. Needless to say, I was discouraged and tapped-out by the time I identified the head gasket as the culprit. I parked the car and went back to driving the gas-guzzling truck, and by the time I got around to having the head gasket changed the motor had locked-up.

So, what are my options aside from finding an stock, iron-block replacement engine? I'd love to do the D16 and give the car some hotrod flare, but I need something that will retain the original transmission so the speedometer will keep working and to prevent all of my repairs being done in vain - all of the new parts have less than 5,000 miles on them.

I'm pretty sure an EW EFI head will fit, but they are hard to find and kinda boring seeing as how I have to pull the entire drivetrain anyway. Doing away with the stock carburetor and emissions boxes is a must as replacement parts don't exist and the original stuff is temperamental, especially with so much age, making the car a burden to maintain. I am ok with a side-draft setup, but prefer EFI with Hondata or Megasquirt as I have experience with both. I don't, however, wish to screw around with making some bastard, five or six-injector abortion of a manifold to accommodate the CVCC...ugh, can you imagine tuning the fuel tables.

I've been researching my options for days, but Honda's stellar engineering makes it almost impossible to find all of the information I need in one or two places. I'd just like some simple suggestions from the Guru's on the board so I can weigh my options. I don't want to give-up and sell the car, but I don't have the time or the energy to earn an internet Ph.D in Honda's manufacturing changes and part compatibility. Thanks in advance!

-Unforgiven
Yes the D16a1 will bolt up to your transmission. Use the flywheel and clutch that you have.
 
Well since someone brought this thread back from the dead.
Not sure what motor & trans were in your civic, but when I did the twin cam acura D16A1 swap into my 86 SI CRX, the motor would NOT bolt to my stock transmission. I needed to source an integra manual trans, axles, clutch, flywheel, spindles, rotors, pads and calipers.
Also had to change some of the mounts using a combo of the mounts from both cars if I remember correctly.
Swap was a pain in the ass, but it was a little rocket when it was done. I enjoyed beating on that car.
 
Well since someone brought this thread back from the dead.
Not sure what motor & trans were in your civic, but when I did the twin cam acura D16A1 swap into my 86 SI CRX, the motor would NOT bolt to my stock transmission. I needed to source an integra manual trans, axles, clutch, flywheel, spindles, rotors, pads and calipers.
Also had to change some of the mounts using a combo of the mounts from both cars if I remember correctly.
Swap was a pain in the ass, but it was a little rocket when it was done. I enjoyed beating on that car.
85 Civic 4WD Wagon.
 
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