Just gettin started with my 98 Si. Found a B18C1 for it, with LSD tranny, and i just wanted to know the difficulty rating on putting this motor into my EK. I am somewhat mechanically inclined (fix helicopters for a living) but my only engine experience is with turbines. It sounds pretty straight forward, the only worry i have is the OBD1 to OBD2 conversion. I'm not much of a wire puller.

 

so the motor is obd1 and you want to convert it to obd2 to use it?

Unless you live in a strict emissions location, I would recommend just converting your car to obd1 instead of trying to convert the engine, it would be much easier and you get to use the ecu that comes with the swap, and not worry about wiring as much

 

This may be a stupid question but what exactly is 'OBD 1 or 2'. I realize mods are required to make them compatible, but maybe if i can understand what it means it'll make it easier for me to do. And can you recommend someplace to get a good diagram of what to do?

 

emissions are not a problem, i could run a two stroke V8 without anyone caring. (northern Canada)

 

lol...

Well here is a basic rundown of OBD with hondas...

all 88-91 hondas are pre-obd, also sometimes called obd0. OBD stands for "on board diagnostics".

92-95 hondas are obd1. Obd1 only has 1 oxygen sensor, and doesn't have as many emmisions limitations, and has many many sources for tunability.

all 96+ vehicles in USA, honda or not honda, are obd2. It was a federal regulation on emisisons. they are more picky when it comes to tuning and don't have as many options. Also they have oxygen sensors after the catylitic converter which throw check engine lights. obd2 hondas also have crankshaft sensors, some have knock sensors, and other emissions crap.

If you have a 98 SI, which is a 98 EX here in America, you have a d16y8, sohc vtec engine which is obviously obd2. To convert to obd1, if you have an obd1 donor engine, you'll need an obd2a to obd1 conversion harness to plug in your ecu, which can be bought off of many sites online for around $80. Get a good one because if one wire it messed up, it'll give you days of headache. Other than that you might need a few very minor wiring mods but it should be striaghtforward.

 

on board diagnostics is jus an easier way to help u diagnose engine problems and gives all u nature lovers a break b/c a car that runs in good condition will burn fuel better and will put out less air pollutants. what it baseically does is it monitors everything thats goin on under your hood that makes up the engines management system and can notice a problem b4 u would even notice it. for example, say ohh i dunno u have a bad spark plug, itll cause the engine to misfire causing ur catalytic converter to get fawked up and leave u with an expensive bill. What itll do is it turn on your check engine light and to let u know to bring it to a mechanic, which hell go, slap on his expensive scan tool to ur diagnostic port in ur car and get the trouble code from ur cars computer.... hope that helped ya out

 

That helps loads! Thanks guys, one more question though, if my obd1 donor engine comes with it's own ECU then can't i just switch the donor with mine and not worry about converting the wire harness?

 

your ecu is a p2p if I remember correctly, it's not chippable, not tunable, and won't run a b series engine correctly....

so no, you can't use your ecu, you need the one that comes with the engine

 

I am pretty sure you can still use the stock harness but you may need to wire up some sensors that come on the new engine that were not included in your stock harness.

But the B series swap into an EK is the easiest swap you can do for that chassis.

 

The issue your going to face with your swap is the difference between the '96-'00 Civic (EK) wiring harness and the '92-'95 Civic (EG) and '94-'00 Integra (DC) harness. The EG/DC harness have 2 harnesses, one that attaches to the engine and one that stays in the car and connects to the ECU. The EK Civic's have a 1 piece harness that attaches to the engine, passes through the firewall and goes directly to the ECU. To use an OBD I engine in your OBD II car you must use the OBD II harness (must fit the car). This will create some issues as the shape and size of the injector and distributor plugs are different (same functions so they can be made to work but I don't know exactly what needs to be done). You'll also need a conversion harness (OBD IIa to OBD I, '96-'98 is OBD IIa, '99-00 is OBD IIb) to plug the OBD I ECU into the OBD II engine wiring haness (the plugs are different from one generation to another). It's not impossible, not even really hard, but not simply bolt together affair.