Mackenzie C

total newbie questions, he heee. whats it for? what does it do? what does my car have (91 std civic hatchback)? how do you change it for a swap?

Kai

It is the level of complication of the onboard electronics. Each has different plugs on the ECU, injectors, and distributor to avoid mismatches.

Pre-OBD: everything '87 and before. They don't care a whole lot about what you do, and don't trip codes often unless something is completely gone... in which case it still doesn't care much.

OBD-0: 88-91 Honda cars. It gets a little more busy, but is still really simple. High impedance injectors. Cream plugs.

OBD-1: 92-95 Honda cars. This is where it starts getting annoying, more codes are added and it gets a little more bitchy about certain things. It is the last of the one 02 sensor systems (except for the DOHC VTEC engines, which always had two.) Low impedance injectors. Grey plugs.

OBD2/2a: 96+. They are the devil. Stay far away from them.

Your car is an OBD-0.

augy

Yeah, fixin' up old cars isn't going to be anything like it is now in about 15 years.

Kai

That's what they said 15 years ago. My father won't come anywhere near a fuel injected engine. :chuckles:

Pete

I have an OBD 2 engine, with an OBD 1 setup, in an OBD 0 chassis :chuckles:

Mackenzie C

so if you swap a obd 2 motor i have to run that in my car?

Kai

That's the stupid hard way to do it. The normal way to do it is to backdate the engine to OBD-0. You generally stick with the system of the body, not the engine.

Mackenzie C

hmmmm, how do you do that?

Kai

Reusing your stock harness and swapping in OBD-0 injectors and distributor. Other slight tweaks may come up, it's as easy as swapping plugs.

Mackenzie C

what about the ecu and all that?