I've got a customer who wants to convert his 1997 HX Coupe engine to an EX engine. As far as I can tell, we should just have to swap the camshaft and ECU, right? Has anyone done this, and am I missing anything?


Kabuki

 

thats not even worth the time and effort. You'll be doing all of that work for about 10 horsepower. Tell him to just get a real swap, or to not even waste his time

 

hey, money's money :dunno:

 

i would say it's pretty pointless too. sure, it's money, but good customer service would be to tell the customer that it's pointless. if you're going to upgrade a cam, might as well get a better one than just from an ex.

 

Yeah, we weren't going to use the stock EX cam, I just wanted to make sure that the ECU was the main bottleneck. Thanks for the info so far guys!

 

Aren't the engines completely different?

 

You may get away with a simple cam and computer change, but I don't think that's all that would be involved. The cheapest way would probably be just to swap the entire SOHC VTEC head onto his existing block and use the EX computer. I'm assuming the HX has a manual tranny, he might even consider an entire D16Y8 (SOHC VTEC) swap. I don't know the specifics of the HX engine, but it's basically built for high gas milage so most likely there are other compromises like a longer geared tranny and lower compression pistons than the more power oriented D16Y8. If he's just looking for a little bump, I'd consider that. If he's actually looking to get some respectable power, tell him to also consider the DOHC B-series engines. A B18B (Integra LS engine) would be around $2000 and the extra displacement alone will give it a huge advantage over any of the D-series engines. Seeya.

 

After looking in the service manual, I've found that the Y5 and Y7 engines have a 9.4 compression ratio, while the Y8 has a 9.6 ratio, only .2 to 1 difference. While there will be a difference between our "EX" engine and the real D16Y8, I think that it will be a vast improvement from what he has.

 

Is that really worth it? How much is the total project

 

its really not worth it at all.....not for only 10 hp