Texas4door

Well, let's see here...

Afew years ago, my car overheated on a trip to Oklahoma, and ever since then I've slowly lost coolant due to exhaust gases escaping into the radiator and pushing the coolant out through the radiator cap and overflowing the coolant reservoir.

The car had also been running rich because I assume the computer was trying to compensate for the lack of exhaust gas being read by the O2 sensors due to the leak into the radiator

This eventually toasted my O2 sensors and catalytic converter

So, fed up with having to add coolant and getting bad gas mileage due to the car running rich, I looked into having the head gasket replaced

After seeing the lowest quotes around 400 dollars (WTF?), I decided to spend a bit more than that to do it myself and add a refurbished Y8 VTEC head instead of the old Y7 head

The swap took me about 2 and a half days, slowed up by a bad IACV valve on the used throttle body I picked up (for the Y8 throttle rotor) causing the idle to be all over the damn place

But after switching the old IACV valve from my old throttle body (which I knew had been cleaned out/working) the idle has smoothed out to ~750 RPMS

No vacuum leaks that I could find (plus I was able to kill the engine by placing my hand over the throttle body opening)

However, the car bogs a bit at times, still runs rich, and has a very noticeable lack of power in first and second gear

I did switch out the ECU's to a P2P for an automatic (proven by the extra B plug in the ECU) but the transmission shifts strangely
(I was under the impression that the automatics of the Y7 and Y8 were virtually the same)

Also, even though I wired up a VTEC solenoid/pressure switch (grounded the switch as well) the car bogs at around 5000 RPMS like VTEC isn't kicking in...

A few things I suspect:

1. I have not set my ignition timing yet, which may be the root of all the problems

2. The VTEC solenoid is not good (which I don't suspect or otherwise the ECU would be showing a CEL for the VTEC solenoid malfunction

3. The ECU is bad (which might explain the rough tranny shifting which NEVER happened with the P2E ECU and Y7 head)

Also: I reused the timing belt as it had been changed less that 20k miles ago as well as the Y7 cam gear which I believe is interchangeable with the Y8 cam gear (I marked the gear and belt to keep the mechanical time in place)

I DID adjust the valve lash myself using a feeler guage but it still chatters loudly enough that I can hear it in the car while it's running
(I'm thinking of having my grandpa's mechanic do it himself to eliminate error on my part)

Is there anything I might have missed here?

Is this why there are so few automatic mini me swaps?
(I'm only keeping the auto because the traffic in Dallas sucks with a manual XX )

BTW, I do have an extra VTEC solenoid in my closet which I could easily switch out with the other to see if it works (and I do have PLENTY of oil in the engine)

Any other suggestions?

And sorry for the long post ^^;;

94EG8

I'm currently running a Y8 tranny on a Y7 in my mother's '96 hatch and it keeps throwing P0715 every few weeks and then the light will go out for a few weeks (always has stored code if you check though) It mostly shifts fine, occasionally harsh. I'm seriously starting to wonder if its because the shift points are different between the 2 trannys.

Texas4door

Crap...that code involves the Transmission mainshaft speed sensor...

Maybe they do have different shift points...

Damn, if that's the case, I'll just have to switch back to the damn Y7 head which is most likely warped
XP

Heh, anyone else have any info on the trannies being different in some form or fashion?

If they are...anyone interested in a gently used Y8 cylinder head?
XD

Texas4door

Well, I found SOMETHING about the trannies:

http://www.sohchonda.com/forums/inde...howtopic=10066

The gear ratio is just slightly different...not sure what the heck that makes the shift points, though...

HondaPartsHero

Do you have any check engine lights? I was wondering because you didn't mention hooking up/installing the knock sensor which will IIRC prevent VTEC activation on OBD2 vehicles.

94EG8

Yep. Only thing that really throws me for a loop is that the same car was throwing the same code before I swapped the tranny, but the old tranny shifted HARD, would chirp going into second at light throttle, would chirp going into third when pinned. Its not the sensor or the wiring, so its either the ECU, torque converter, I got another bad transmission, or my Y7 ECU just doesn't like the Y8 tranny.

Texas4door

Oh yes, I did install the knock sensor and wired it straight to the ECU with an ECU pin
^^

And no, strangely no check engine lights yet
(though I've only driven it maybe 4 or 5 miles due to not having adjusted the ignition timing yet)

And the damn Auto Parts stores are closed today cuz of Christmas...
Oh well, time to drive the old truck
XD

Texas4door

Oh, I thought you'd done a mini me swap as well, just the Y8 trans with the Y7 ECU

Perhaps the ECU's don't like being crossed with either tranny...

94EG8

No, I just replaced the trans. I would have prefered a Y7 tranny, but this is what showed up, and for $100 I couldn't complain.

Thats what I'm wondering.

Texas4door

Dang, $100 ain't bad at all
^^

Has anyone else here tried swapping Heads with auto trannies?

Texas4door

Well hot damn!

I bought myself a timing gun, adjusted the ignition timing on it, and bam!

It drives smooth as ever

And no wonder-the timing was off by a full 8 degrees
oO

It still shifts just a tad too sharply, but I'm going to attribute it to being 30 degrees here

The valve train is still a little bit too noisy, so I'm going to recheck the lash here when it warms up later today

That would probably necessitate re-adjusting the timing, right?

Well, I know how to do it now, so no worries
^^

PS: VTEC be awesome
>D