turbohcar

Hopefully, you guys can help me here. I've got little to no experience with Hondas and tons of time with DSMs, so bear with me here. I have no idea what technical sites are the best or where I should look so if you've got any reccomendations let me know. I'm currently looking at a 95 Civic at a local dealership here that has a GSR motor in it. One of the guys on the local import board here went to look at it and found several things wrong with it but, it is priced accordingly. Here's his overview of parts needed:

-a new wiring harness on both sides of the firewall
-a new motor mount
-clutch adustment
-trans mount bolt
-cam seal
-engine ground wire and trans ground hooked up
-alt and p/s belts
-radiator hoses
-front brake rotors turned

"It is NOT a 99 GSR engine. It is a JDM B18C (Japanese GSR motor) but it is OBD1. So at BEST it is a 1995 (the oldest it could be is a 1994), not a 1999. You can identify this due to the OBD1 injectors, but without a doubt the location of the crank fluctuation sensor is not on the crank."

He claims that the wiring is hacked on both sides of the firewall, there is a missing motor mount near the A/C bracket, a trans mount bolt is missing and cross threaded, the cam seal is leaking, the engine ground is bad and the trans ground is not hooked up, the alt and p/s belts are in poor shape, the radiator hoses have been rigged to work with the SOHC radiator, and the front brake rotors are warped. To me, it sounds like nothing a couple calls to the junkyard couldn't fix (I happen to work in one) but there's one problem, I don't know how to reference the Japanese motor to anything. What car could I use to reference to when ordering parts for engine related items?

All I'm really looking for is something to drive to work and back in the winter and this seems like an interesting project for just that. Am I in over my head or is it as easy as I think? Thanks for any help you can provide. And anyone that may have any of these parts or is willing to lend a hand in the central Illinois area I would much appreciate it. Thanks

Brett

b16ahybrid

Jdm = Usdm for most parts.
You can just go down to your local acura dealer to get new cam seals and any other engine part. Belts are all the same, yadda yadda yadda.
You can tap new threads for the tranny (easy as cake,) you can pick up a new bolt most anywhere, just take one of the other ones to a nut and bolt store and they can help you or go out in the yard and pull one off of a honda out there.
Ground wires.......as you know it's easier then hooking up a speaker, if you can connect a wire between two points using bolts then you can handle that job.
New wiring harness on both sides of the firewall??? you mean engine harness and cabin harness? Pull an engine harness off of a del sol vtec or integra gs-r if need be. ..or just rewire the existing harness if it's that bad.
Have you driven the car? How does it run? New rotors are cheap, I paid $70 for some brembo blanks....
To me it sounds like all minor stuff, a little tlc and your as good as new.

My engine is a gs-r, my tranny is from a civic si, my car is a 93 hatch.....It's fun going to honda to get transmission parts for a 95 del sol vtec, and the acura dealer to get parts for the engine...95 gs-r....
Just reference the parts to whatever car the part came from (in your case use a 94-95 integra gs-r.

turbohcar

I haven't driven the car as of yet but I'm told it runs "like a scalded ape". Idle is erratic but that may be from the crappy ground wires. I'm thinking of replacing the harnesses (both cabin and engine) because it sounds like it's been hacked pretty bad. I'll just post what he said from the other forum:

1) It is NOT a 99 GSR engine. It is a JDM B18C (Japanese GSR motor) but it is OBD1. So at BEST it is a 1995 (the oldest it could be is a 1994), not a 1999. You can identify this due to the OBD1 injectors, but without a doubt the location of the crank fluctuation sensor is not on the crank. The tranny has a U.S. VIN tag, and it FELT like it was a GSR one due to the gearing... but I would want to run the VIN tag on the case to verify that.

2) It is completely missing the A/C lower torque mount. That motor mount is completely gone.

3) The upper tranny mount is missing a stud and it looks like the people that did the swap cross threaded it and just left it off.

4) Cam seal is leaking. (not a big deal)

5) The wiring harness is hacked... BAD! Not just the engine side, but the cabin side. One of the main clips on the passenger shock tower has EVERY wire spliced and butt connected! Obviously the people that did the swap had NO idea how to do it, because there is no need whatsoever to touch that side of the harness. So, it would need a new cabin/engine harness as well as an engine harness to fix it right. This is by far one of the WORST swaps I've ever seen.

6) On the engine harness, there are a couple wires under the distributor that are just cut and hanging. There is also a third wire that is cut, stripped and twisted together... with no insulation at all. Just a bare wire.

7) The tranny ground was not bolted up... it was just hanging there.

8) The engine ground wire is old and loose... probably if you replace this one and hooked up the tranny ground it may run a bit smoother.

9) The alternator belt is worn down in about a 2" spot to just the cloth. It looks to be ready to break. The p/s one is frayed, but not as bad.

10) The radiator hoses are horrible. The car still has the small single core SOHC radiator so the hose sizes are different since it has a DOHC. So the people that did the swap clamped the SOHC hose on the radiator and came off of it about 3", then slipped the DOHC hose over the SOHC hose and clamped that, creating some sort of a make shift reducer. This is on the upper and lower hose.

11) I was told afterwards from a couple sources (not sure if they are reliable) that the car had a blower on it prior to trading it in, but the dealership wouldn't give him any more money, so the owner removed it and then traded it in.

12) The clutch is VERY stiff and engages at the floor rather than at the top. It seemed unnatural and I would guess something is wrong with it. I've had an OS Gieken 2800lbs. clutch in my Type R and I know what a stiff performance clutch feels like, and this is not it.

13) The shifter is VERY sloppy! There is as much side to side play in the shifter when it is in gear as there is when it is in neutral.

14) The car seemed to take a good while to warm up, but this could just be the weather. I would look to see if there is an aftermarket thermostat. (no biggie)

15) The front brakes are warped and squeak pretty bad. They need replaced.

16) The exhaust needs reran. If you look under the car the piping is not tucked up in the tunnel. It would be fine at the 4WD height that it is sitting at now, but if the car was lowered it may pose some issues.

I told the salesman these issues to have them change this ad, but apparently they didn't care to. I dealt with Landon and then told Kelly Wetherell about the year of the motor issue with it being OBD1 instead of OBD2. He said I was talking over his head, but I then explained that if he bought a car thinking it was a 1999 and found out later that it was a 1995 that he may be a bit mad. Obviously this fell on deaf ears. That is why I feel it is my responsibility to let potential buyers know some of the truths that I saw. I specifically told Kelly and Landon that Gary P posted this on CII and that they should let him know that people need to know the truth.

My biggest problem with the car is that if I spotted all of these issues without crawling under the car or pulling the motor for inspection, what other shortcuts did the people that swapped the car take that I cannot see right now?

Brad

turbohcar

So in order to get the right motor mount, I'd need one from a 94-95 Integra GS-R correct? Along with a wiring harness for the same year Integra I assume and then the cabin one would have to be for a 95 Civic. Correct me if I'm off here.

b16ahybrid

Cabin harness would be from the car it'self (civic). Engine harness would be from 94-95 integra gs-r (if you want a clean, no splice install). The mount can be from any b-series 94+. Integra or del sol vtec.

If you don't mind me asking, how much are they asking for this car? milage? other features (wheels etc)...

turbohcar

Don't mind at all. It's a 95 Civic EX coupe. It shows to have 135k on the odometer and has a black exterior and grey interior. It has some type of coffee can exhaust on it and white 17inch wheels with off-brand tires. The body has the usual dents and dings and one small hole in the passenger fender. No rust or oxidation from what I'm told. Dealership wants to wash it out of the system and sell it to somebody that's going to take care of it as a project rather than take it to auction. The sales manager is a member of the local import board and he's the one that posted it for sale. They want $3338 FIRM tax, title, liscense, out the door. The other problems that have been mentioned are an SRS light and the dash lights being out. I'm told by the original owner (the one that did the swap) that the SRS light is from when he switched ignition modules and it just needs reset. The dash lights are probably a burnt out fuse.

Thank you so much for your help and advice! If there's something I can help you with, look me up.

b16ahybrid

Thats really not that bad if you consider the cost of the motor alone.
Figure $1,500 for the car and $3,000 for the motor. Buy it for that price spend a little on it fixing it up and your right in line....
If you feel comfortable with the work that needs to be performed then I'd say go for it.

turbohcar

Well, I'm going to go to work tomorrow and see if I can find the parts at a decent price. If all goes well, I'll go look at it tomorrow night and decide what I want to do. Honestly, it's not the work that scares me. The wiring harnesses seem like they would be a weekend project (apiece if need be) so it really depends on the availability of funds and parts. After I get things back in order to where I feel comfortable driving it, I think I'll probably pay for a timing belt, tensioner, and oil pump job as it's probably not been done in quite a while.

Thanks again for your help. Is there a specific person/place you could refer me to that would have either of the harnesses or the motor mount? I figure after all is said and done I'll have about $400 in it in parts alone before I do the timing belt, tensioner, and oil pump. So, if I could get it for $3100 out the door, I'd be happy.

b16ahybrid

try searching e-bay for a harness for a obd-1 vtec engine. If it's just the harness it'self that need redone that can be done in about an hour or so. If you need to resplice the engine side plugs then you may have more time into it.
The mount isn't a very big problem, I never ran one in my last car and had no issues. You could fine one in a junk yard, any 94+ integra or 95+del sol VTEC (make sure it's the dohc del sol). The b-series mounts are all the same (gs-r,ls,rs, dohc del sol)...
Water pump, timing belt. The oil pump and tensioner should be fine unless your having problems... Good luck if you go through with the project, if you have anymore questions post away...

b16ahybrid

http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1442244
Engine harness and cabin harness