aaronhume

Hey all,
It has been a long time since I have done my own swap or rebuild, so here is my new project I will be working on:

my focus is to have a more/comparably fuel efficient car than my aunt who just bought a 2010 prius (thumbs down) in the $20k price range, except my budget is 10% of what she paid

so I found a beat up 94 civic LX sedan at a tow auction and paid $600 for it.
I did spend a little more on some random crap that needed fixing or attention such as: wheels/tires, radiator, some tail lights, trunk seal, etc.

I will have an outline of expenses as I go along. for now here are some pictures I have which help point out the gloriousness of this car:


Exterior pics:







Engine bay & etc:









new engine delivered today:









Expenses/maintenance needed to date:
purchase car $632.96
MT oil change $6.00
brake proportioning valve/bleed fluid $-
VSS $14.44
Wheels and Tires $110.00
driver side kick panel/fuse cover $26.98
replacement tail lights (pass side) $35.00
Drive Belts $40.21
Water Pump/Timing Belt (used) $-
radiator, aluminum $45.63
Brake Pads (Front), resurface rotors $26.87
purchase jdm d15z1/d15b engine $491.76

Total $1,429.85



So what am I doing next?
I need to scrounge up a couple more sensors at the junkyard to replace the broken ones that came with the new engine, and a distributor cap/rotor/wires/spark plugs, but before I pull the engine in my car I need to get my second car running a bit better (re-jet my carb) but otherwise not too much more money needs to be spent that I can see for this project.

I also need to add some wires for the vtec-e, 5-wire O2 sensor, and possibly the EGR valve if I decide to use it.



Pros and Cons to this swap:
as I am unemployed, it means spending money I shouldn't be. I will have a reduction in power. the other engine is running well right now anyway so somewhat inefficient in terms of costs.

Otherwise, I should have a decent increase in gas mileage, and with some calculating, the difference in economy vs the cost of the engine should break even at around the 15th full tank of gas, with many assumptions so I would estimate further down the road.


Other ideas for this project:
I made an HHO device (Brown's gas) which uses water and baking soda and electricity to separate Hydrogen and Oxygen from water and feed it into the engine's intake delivery system as a means to boost fuel economy at the cost of water and baking soda.




I will update often (hopefully). If anyone has some insight or comments please share!

aaronhume

so I am seriously thinking about using my p06 intake manifold and throttle body and everything attached, to make things simpler and not worry about the EGR stuff. if I do this I am not sure which intake manifold gasket to use... the one for the Z1 or B7?

I am also not sure if there is an oil pressure switch for this engine, anyone know?

94EG8

If you're going to do that then there isn't much point of swapping in the engine, you wont get the fuel mileage you're expecting. You'll want to pickup the EGR control box off a VX (bolts to firewall) and possibly even a VX harness. You'll also want to get the federal ECU and 5 wire O2 sensor

For vtec? Yes.

aaronhume

I do have the ecu already, and for some crazy reason I bought it something like 4 years ago for $10 lol... good thing I kept it. and I do have the 5 wire O2 already.

I will look for the egr control box, could I use one off an accord? I know there are a few of those at the local junk yard, but no VX's

94EG8

Hmm, not sure. I actually had one here and along with a VX cabin harness but just shipped both out on a trade yesterday.

Bwill9886

Good to see you fixing this thing up!

You can read up more on this system, but in my experience and research, these rarely work the way people think they will. Don't get me wrong, some of these systems have worked to a degree. However, the problem with most of them is their consistency and their use of too much electricity to generate the necessary Brown's gas to truly be effective.

This is just my opinion though, feel free to give it a try if you really want. Share your results!

aaronhume

thanks for the info, Bwill.

so I found out why I had trouble locating the pressure switch... lol it is missing and has a bolt in its place:




otherwise here are a couple pics of the engine after I took almost everything off the block, new spark plugs and wires. I will get a new cap and rotor from honda, as well as an intake gasket. i need to buy an oil pressure switch now and get the egr control box.

other than that stuff I will probably start making a sub-harness for the new wires I need to run.






I also found this basic diagram of the EGR control:

schardbody

re-using your dx/lx trans is going to cost you 3-4mpg alone....

i did TONS of vtec-e stuff 4-5yrs ago... i was the first to run a Z1 with a chipped p06 ecu, using a bensebuilt trans (closest OE gearsets available) and no lean burn mode (4-wire o2 conversion) i was still getting over 45mpg..... with a working but lazy 5 wire o2 i would barely get 43mpg when the car was stock...

everyone told me i was stupid blah blah, but i didnt care, it was all just in fun, there was no goal except to gain knowledge on the z1/p07.....

aaronhume

that is interesting, and I am getting grief from some of my friends because I'm doing a lower power swap etc. but I am already getting like 10+ mpg better than them without this swap heh... so they are the ones who will be complaining when gas gets back up in the $4+ range here, oh and they all have to use premium lol.

I do need to do a minor rebuild on my tranny and I understand the vx tranny is a good factor to the gas mileage, but I don't even like how tall 2nd and 3rd gear are as is, but I would be interested in a 5 gear swap but from my current knowledge I think most of the gears are the same for 5th (except maybe cx/vx) and the biggest difference is the final drive gear... is that correct? should I get a 5 gear from something? one of my friends is a tech at acura and can get much cheaper parts from honda than I can, and he knows what to do with a transmission, unlike me...

HondaPartsHero

Some of the JDM engines didn't have them, check my sig below if you need a cheap one

aaronhume

thanks, I would but I already purchased one from ebay. and apparently the JDM ecus do not always look for the switch but mine is USDM so I still will need it.

aaronhume

so I got the real information on gear ratios, and as far as fifth gear goes, I was correct, they are all the same. if I had things my way, though I would want a second and third gear from an Si tranny, and final drive from a dx hatchback... I can get all the gears and stuff from an Si for $50 all disassembled unless this guy already got rid of them. anyone know of a good source for aftermarket final drive gears for the S20 trannies? i have a very low budget, remember.

94EG8

JDM OBD2 B-series and at least some OBD2 D-series. they just have the hole blocked off though. This looks more like someone needed one and stuck an oil pan drain plug in there.

HatchbackSqueegee

Damn people already stealing my idea, and I've barely gotten started!

aaronhume

isn't that why people started buying hondas in the first place? lol

hatchaddict01

no thats how the obd1 jdm vtec solenoids are they have the bolt in them that how all mine were anyhow

94EG8

Thats not normal at all. I've installed and dealt with countless JDM D and B-series swaps, i've never seen a bolt in one yet. OP did the cut JDM harness have the green 2 wire round VTPS plug on it? Normally the ones without a VTPS look like the top half of the pic below:

HatchbackSqueegee

BTW: I noticed your missing the most important part of the VX set up, the extra long gear transmission. This will keep the engines RPM's at around 2000 RPM's at highway speeds.

hatchaddict01

idk man mine was the same way i just took that plug out and put the pressure sensor in

aaronhume

Ya, I understand this, and I am weighing options as my current tranny needs new bearings anyway, but I was thinking about buying some si tranny components and look for a different final drive gear, but I can't spend much money.

Otherwise, I have run into a corner here and need some help from anyone who has a VX engine, just need to examine some wires for me

so I need to wire in an 8-P connector for my O2 sensor, as the LAF did not come with any plugs attached. I have made a great thing in MS paint that needs some blanks to be filled in.

My idea is to attach a 4-P connector to the existing O2 plug in my LX and run whatever wires I can into an 8-P female connector (and run the rest to the ECU) and then wire up the O2 sensor to an 8-P Male connector.

My predicament is that I understand there is a special plug for the O2 side which may contain resistors to jump accross a couple of the connections internally.
I really need help determining which color wire from the O2 goes to which connection on the 8-P connector, and then what color wire on the harness that translates into.

from the 4-P connector, I can use the Orn/Blk and Grn/Wht wires as they are to connect to the 8-P in whichever spot they need to be.
the Yel/Blk wire on the 4-P should go to a power ground, so I will use that in the 8-P to connect to the Blk wire coming from that.
then I can connect the Wht wire from the 4-P to where the Orn/Blu wire is on the 8-P

So, I will be using all four wires in my 4-P to connect to an 8-P and I should have 3 wires to run to the ECU, which I will hook up to a 3-P Connector so I can unplug things later.

Here is my awesome MS paint drawing, so if you can please fill in some blanks for me or take a few pics of your connection close up. thanks!




Other pics I have found for reference:

aaronhume

I finally found some info regarding the colors on my O2 sensor but there are still some blanks to be filled it seems like...

White => D14
Black => D16
Red => D8
Orange => A6
Yellow => Thermostat Ground

I would prefer wiring this up like an OE VX harness is, but if no one objects or gets me better info this is how I will wire it.

Edit:
looking at the schematic further, it looks like the other two wires not being used in my diagrams are the Wht and Grn/Wht on the harness side, which must be connected by a resistor, so if anyone could please measure the resistance on the O2 plug side between those connections it would be extremely helpful.

aaronhume

I think this might be correct, but I need to know the resistance between Pins 1 and 3 of the 8-P connector... correct me if I am wrong though, please

aaronhume

Alright, heres a quick update on the modifications I have done to this point:

I got an accord (91-93?) vacuum box and took out all but the EGR valve and CVC valve so in theory it will function the same as the VX EGR box, except a bit larger and not sure where it will go under the hood (I will eventually switch to a VX one when it becomes available)

I also soldered up a subharness for the LAF sensor with a connection for the 4-wire O2 and a secondary 3-pin connector for the main subharness I will build.

Parts I need at this point:
-8-P male plug for LAF sensor (with resistor in it) *if anyone has a dead LAF can I have it? lol
-VX fuel line (from filter to rail) ~ could do a temporary fix by splicing the rail side I have with a junkyard DX filter side...
-make a subharness to connect vtec solenoid and oil pressure switch, LAF, and EGR
-Distributor cap/rotor, intake manifold gasket (from honda)
-map sensor (will use the one off the D15B7 if I can't find another one)
-?



EGR control box:


LAF/O2 subharness:

HondaPartsHero

When doing various JDM OBD2 swaps for friends I've either seen this:



Or this



So its normal

HatchbackSqueegee

On the VX the EGR valve sits on its own little perch on the intake manifold. Think your best bet is to find someone selling a full VX swap. I see them on CL all the time, pretty cheap.