realred96

greetings from Texas!

Our trusty 1300 Civic engine has just about expired. (Good) Overhaul parts are almost impossible to come by so I am led to attempt a engine swap to a newer Honda engine.

I do not have the skills to attempt a B or D series swap so I am looking for a "bolt in" large displacement swap.


I have looked around the local junkyards and researched other CVCC 12 valve engines and came up with the following possibilities:

EK series 83-84 Prelude 84-85 Accord

ES series 79-83 Accord 79-82 Prelude

ET series 83-85 Accord 85-86 Prelude

Anyone have any experience with interchangeability with the 2nd gen civic using any of the above?

Thanks a bunch for helping me keep this car on the road!!

smithenhiven

I've got an 83 1500S engine that would be a direct drop in.

realred96

I wish you were closer!

2ndGenGuy

A20A1 or A20A3 from an 86-89 Accord should have pretty similar mount configuration. It's externally identical to the ES and ET engines. So if those will go in, an A20 will go in as well.

realred96

I have looked at that model also. It does look pretty close. The best part is that they are still resonab

realred96

**Stupid $400 laptop keyboard!

As I was saying that model Accord seems to be reasonably available in the junkyards and even for sale in CL. The LXi model would be great as it has the fuel injection.

2ndGenGuy

Yep, they are dirt cheap, make nearly 120hp. And you could use an 84 Accord transmission on it, which might have the same size splines for the axles as your car.

GrumpyOne

I was under the impression that 1984 and later engines used an entirely different mounting scheme. But my experience is solely with Gen II Civics of which I own three including my '82 DX automatic daily driver.

realred96

Thanks for the responses. I need to go to the junkyard and check out the motor mounts on the 3 gen Accord. The belt side looks very similar.

GrumpyOne

I assume that you are in the Houston area. If you are getting rid of the the 1300 engine I might be interested in the head if it's serviceable. I'm in Austin...

realred96

I checked several 86-89 Accords and the mounts are similar but not right on. Also the alternator and intake look like they won't fit the second gen engine bay.

I went to plan B and bought a junk 83 1500. The head was trashed so I am going to have to reuse the 1300 head on the 1500 block.

GrumpyOne

You'll need a few more parts from the 1500 like the exhaust (larger pipes), front springs, (the 1500 engine is cast iron as apposed to the aluminum 1300) and I'm surprised that the heads are interchangeable.

Just my 2¢ worth...

realred96

Thanks for the updates, I checked part numbers and the exhaust manifolds are the same for the 1300 and 1500. However the intake has a different P/N. The intake gasket is the same.

Also, there is a post on 1stgencivic.com that outlines how to put the EJ1 1300 head on the 1500. This guy is kind of a guru so I can believe he got it to work.

However I would way rather have a correct head for the 1500 if I could only find it. You have any line on one?

Nothing ever shows up in the junkyards around here. I have seen only (1) 2nd gen in 2 years of looking. I should have bought the engine out of that one when I had the chance. It is razor blades in China by now.

realred96

I will definitely be interested in getting rid of the 1300 engine if i can get the 1500 engine working.

The 1300 is still running and is a DD for my son. I rebuilt it 4-2011 but had to use the original pistons as I could not find any O/S ones. Because of this it now had a ton of piston blow by.

Also, the 1300 just does not have enough power for Houston traffic. Turn on the A/C (yes I actually got it working!) and it kills the poor thing.

GrumpyOne

Northern Auto Supply should have the oversized pistons. I bought a set for my '83 Civic FE which is an ongoing project.

BTW, you'll need 1500 front springs as the it is a cast iron block vs the aluminum for the the 1300. Nothing is simple anymore...

John Roa

I realize this thread is as old as dirt but do you still have that engine lol

GrumpyOne

Excuse me for butting in but I have an '83 (disassembled) engine from an '83 DX hatchback that I probably will never need. I had good intentions of rebuilding it but it looks like one of those things that I'll never get around to it.

I'm in Austin, TX if there is an interest...

smithenhiven

I do. However, it's been sitting untouched ever since I made that post some 7 years ago, so current condition is unknown.

Derreck Warfel

If the EM engine is available I maybe interested in it. I have an 83 hatchback that already swapped it to a 1.5 from the 1.3 but keep blowing head gaskets. That last time it went it popped pretty good so the engine/parts could come in handy.

GrumpyOne

Usually, replacing the head bolts with grade 8 equivalent studs cures the head gasket malady...

thegave

I remember 1stgencivic.com used to have a fair amount of info on the Prelude/Accord 1.8 EK swap into a 2g Civic but since that site seems to be gone, does anyone know of anywhere else I can find any info about the swap? As I recall it's not 100% drop-in, some machining needed to be done to the flywheel? What else?

Smackin

https://web.archive.org/web/20160323.../engine-swaps/

1985

Is the mounting pattern (transmission to engine) between the 1300 ev1 engine and 1500s ew1 engine The same. If you needed a replacement transmission could you use either one??