93 Hatch with GSR Swap
11-13-2018, 09:18 AM
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93 Hatch with GSR Swap
What's up everyone,
I recently picked up a 93 hatch with a gsr and 5 spd swap for super cheap. Drove the car home with really no issue. Car does seem to smoke a little after deceleration, but has no loss of power. So I'm hoping it's the valve stem seals. But my real issue, is the fact that it is a wiring nightmare. Vtec isn't wired in, every wire splice was hand twisted together on the engine harness. And today I noticed it's running the P05 ecu. Now it's been quite some time since I had a honda, but I'm pretty sure that's the wrong ecu. Any insight on all of this would be greatly appreciated. I will post some pics up here in a bit.
I recently picked up a 93 hatch with a gsr and 5 spd swap for super cheap. Drove the car home with really no issue. Car does seem to smoke a little after deceleration, but has no loss of power. So I'm hoping it's the valve stem seals. But my real issue, is the fact that it is a wiring nightmare. Vtec isn't wired in, every wire splice was hand twisted together on the engine harness. And today I noticed it's running the P05 ecu. Now it's been quite some time since I had a honda, but I'm pretty sure that's the wrong ecu. Any insight on all of this would be greatly appreciated. I will post some pics up here in a bit.
11-13-2018, 12:25 PM
#2
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
Get an OBD1 P72 ECU or a chipped P28 and load up a stock GSR tune (assuming your injectors are stock size).
Smoke on decel could be valve stem seals as mentioned, if the car smokes on startup before it warms up at idle then that increases the likelihood. It could also be piston rings otherwise if you're unlucky, I'd recommend doing a compression test on the engine since whoever you bought it from was running it on the wrong ECU and apparently did a hack job on the swap.
Smoke on decel could be valve stem seals as mentioned, if the car smokes on startup before it warms up at idle then that increases the likelihood. It could also be piston rings otherwise if you're unlucky, I'd recommend doing a compression test on the engine since whoever you bought it from was running it on the wrong ECU and apparently did a hack job on the swap.
11-13-2018, 12:32 PM
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
Awesome, thanks for the info. A compression test is next on the list. I’m thinking it’s the rings now since it doesn’t smoke upon start up. I did do a leak down test, which it failed pretty bad. But it sounded like it was coming from the head. I’ll do a compression test in the next day or two and report my findings.
Get an OBD1 P72 ECU or a chipped P28 and load up a stock GSR tune (assuming your injectors are stock size).
Smoke on decel could be valve stem seals as mentioned, if the car smokes on startup before it warms up at idle then that increases the likelihood. It could also be piston rings otherwise if you're unlucky, I'd recommend doing a compression test on the engine since whoever you bought it from was running it on the wrong ECU and apparently did a hack job on the swap.
Smoke on decel could be valve stem seals as mentioned, if the car smokes on startup before it warms up at idle then that increases the likelihood. It could also be piston rings otherwise if you're unlucky, I'd recommend doing a compression test on the engine since whoever you bought it from was running it on the wrong ECU and apparently did a hack job on the swap.
11-13-2018, 06:26 PM
#4
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
If the compression test is already coming back poor, then a leakdown test would be next before tearing into the engine.
Sucks you're running into problems. I've picked up a couple of cars that had similar situations going on (swaps with incorrect ECU's). Disappoints me that people will go through the trouble of swapping an engine/transmission, but not spend the extra $100 to get the correct ECU. I don't know if they realize just how much of a difference it makes.
Sucks you're running into problems. I've picked up a couple of cars that had similar situations going on (swaps with incorrect ECU's). Disappoints me that people will go through the trouble of swapping an engine/transmission, but not spend the extra $100 to get the correct ECU. I don't know if they realize just how much of a difference it makes.
11-13-2018, 06:52 PM
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11-13-2018, 06:54 PM
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11-13-2018, 06:58 PM
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
Study Honda OBD1 ECU information and hybrid swaps here:
http://www.phearable.net/information/tech-area.html
What color is the exhaust smoke?
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11-13-2018, 07:01 PM
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
I’ll open it up tomorrow and snap some pics.
Smoke is white. It’ll also smoke sometimes at highway speeds, but not all the time.
Smoke is white. It’ll also smoke sometimes at highway speeds, but not all the time.
11-13-2018, 07:05 PM
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
11-13-2018, 07:21 PM
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
I’ll do that.
The oil isn't milky by any means, and I don’t seem to be losing coolant. But the coolant is a nasty brown color. I was planning on doing a full coolant flush and replacing the factory radiator with a bigger aluminum one I have.
The oil isn't milky by any means, and I don’t seem to be losing coolant. But the coolant is a nasty brown color. I was planning on doing a full coolant flush and replacing the factory radiator with a bigger aluminum one I have.
11-13-2018, 07:34 PM
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11-13-2018, 07:44 PM
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11-13-2018, 08:17 PM
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
11-14-2018, 03:02 AM
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
Do the flush before you pull the head. When I bought my sedan I thought it had a blown head gasket, but someone had just filled the radiator with stop leak, and it turned the coolant brown. Unfortunately, this isn't much better of an issue to deal with, as I ended up eventually having to replace the radiator and heater core due to being stopped up from the stop-leak.
11-14-2018, 03:17 AM
#15
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
That's why you got it for super cheap. **** was about to blow up. Should be a simple fix, if you know what you're doing.
11-14-2018, 04:41 AM
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
You make a good point. The heater doesn’t blow very hot at all. I was already looking into replacing the heater core for this reason.
Do the flush before you pull the head. When I bought my sedan I thought it had a blown head gasket, but someone had just filled the radiator with stop leak, and it turned the coolant brown. Unfortunately, this isn't much better of an issue to deal with, as I ended up eventually having to replace the radiator and heater core due to being stopped up from the stop-leak.
11-14-2018, 04:44 AM
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
Very true. But in my defense I bought it from an old man that didn’t know what he had. He took the car in trade for some tile work he had done for a guy. But I think you’re on to something, the guy he got it from knew something was up. Fortunately for me, I live in a fairly small town and know who owned it before the old man. Just need to track the guy down.
11-14-2018, 05:34 AM
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11-14-2018, 07:31 AM
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Re: 93 Hatch with GSR Swap
I still plan on doing a compression test before I do anything. But I have to get my welding rig back on the road before I can do anything. Hopefully I can get the oil pump changed out today with minimal issues. No welding rig means no money for Honda stuff. Lol
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