Hello again, I appologize if I'm making too many threads here. Anyways, since many of you read that my Si was stripped badly not too long ago I need some way of rebuilding it. I bought this car so that I could travel longer distances and have a nice job, but bad stuff happened. So now I don't know what would be the best thing to do. A friend of mine has access to some online insurance auctions and he suggested to buy another wrecked Si and rebuild mine like that. However, here's another idea - HMO has an option of getting the whole front clip to anyone, for extra money of course, they say that that can get even the interior panels and wheel to even do the RHD conversion, if I want. The price for the CTR (b16b) is ruffly $4500 shipped to my house (with everthing to do the RHD conversion). So my question would be how insance is this idea? Any hard things I should run into when doing this engine swap + RHD conversion? I have about 3 months of summer to do this and hopefully it should be enough. I know that JDM engines require some rewiring due to the steering wheel being on the right there. Although, now since my car is going to have the steering wheel on the right I should be fine!? And the most important question of all - is the JDM CTR 97+? exactly the same as the EJ '99-'00 si under the hood and interior wise? Is this going to be a "plug 'n' play" project? Thanks and hope to see some good input on this.

 

I think you ahev too fab a bit and weld a new firewall in from the new front clip you will be receiving. I think it is going to take longer than 3 months for somone that doesnt know what they are doing that well. Just my 2.

 

If you don't know how to do a RHD conversion, you won't be doing it. With all the custom fab work, you really have to know the procedure well. Judging by your question, you won't be able to do it.

 

Yeah, that was just an extra step I was going to do, only if it was doable via plug and play. But now I can see that it won't, so no point of getting the whole interior then.

So now can you guys answer some other of my questions pls?

 

First off, doing a right-hand conversion severely risks destroying the structural integrity of a car, so unless you are REALLY good at it, don't do it. Now on to your other questions:

As long as you use the wiring harness from your USDM car everything else driveline-wise will be plug-and-play. If you don't have the harness, buy one for the $150 you can get one on ebay. The amount of wiring involved when using the JDM harness isn't worth it and it takes even more work to get it to look factory. The other parts in the JDM clip that won't work in your car are the throttle cable, clutch lines, brake lines, and steering linkage. I'm probably missing some other things, but you get the idea.

$4500 for the CTR front clip isn't a bad deal when you consider what else you get with it. Front suspension, brakes, axles, headlights--the steering wheel and gauges alone are worth several hundred dollars here in the US. If you don't mind getting rid of the shell when you're done with it, that might be a pretty fun option for you. Good luck.

 

I see, thanks for the info man. I guess the best choice for me would be to get a rear-ended or rolled over Si and get the engine swapped that way. See the hard thing here is that I have no idea if I have the harness, bottles wires etc. or not. I can't compare to anyone of my friends, nobody owns a Civic here. I can upload a pic so that maybe someone can tell me what some of the parts I will need? Because it would be tons easier to make a decision for me then. Thanks in advance and thanks for the feedback.

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/382/engine16ww.jpg

left side is hard to see in the first pic -->
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/9695/engine55ku.jpg

Closer up -->
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/8271/engine74jb.jpg

 

Holy crap, man! You need everything! Yeah, I would definitely buy that CTR front clip if it is really only going to cost you $4500. A wrecked Si will cost about the same, but the CTR is worth more to you. The main disadvantage to buying a front clip is that you have to get rid of the shell of the donor car. If you're going to buy the wrecked Si you have to do that anyway, and with the CTR you'll get 25 more hp and the best front-drive transmission Honda ever made, not to mention all the extras I mentioned in my last post. You could just buy a full engine swap and look around the boneyards for everything else you need, but that might end up costing you more when you consider the time you would have to put in shopping. Buying individual parts can nickel-and-dime you to death, too. My $.02: buy the CTR clip, pick up a USDM Si harness from ebay, and end up with one badass Civic.

 

Excellent last post man, thanks for the inspiration. I might just go ahead and do that. Just need more hours at my job. I'll see what else is there, before I jump on the first good deal I see. Hopefully, I'll get the b16b but who knows what will come up in the long run. Anyways, if anyone has any other suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. Thanks again, Serge.

 

I cannot tell from the pictures how much of your harness is still intact. My advice to you, do something that fits your budget rather than have the 3 months go by and still have no car. If not a CTR front clip, check the price for a CTR B16b "Complete Swap". That should include the harness, ecu, etc. This should deffinately be less than the entire front clip. I've heard good things about hmotorsonline.com -- If thats still out of your budget, check into a JDM B16A "Complete Swap". Compare the price to the USDM engine which came in your car. What are your long term plans and power goals with this car? If anything other than stock, i would recomend finding a B18 block and a GSR or CTR head depending on price. You have alot of options here, just do your research. I've always been partial to that exact civic. Good Luck!

 

Yeah, actually that price quote of 4500 was from HMO. So I'd be probably buying from them, since, like you said, ppl are saying good things about this company. Many of other engines I've seen that are coming with the "complete swap" label do not have a number of parts on it. Like axles, or all the wiring, sometimes the wiring and hoses are cut so the front clip is the safest bid here, IMO. I'll be looking into the b16a2 from HMO as well, see what price quote they'll give me. Not sure if they will have b16a2 with obd 2 but we'll see.

I'm not looking into building my engine very hardcore. Mostly stock, maybe i/h/e, cams at the most. I was thinking later to go turbo but read and heard some negative stuff about that. Possibility of blowing head gaskets or even worse - a block. So basically I just want my car back in one piece and on the road where it belongs.