Ic3

Hey everyone!

I am new to these forums and pretty new to Honda's. I have a bit of experience with pretty much everything automotive as my dad is a retired licensed mechanic but most of this work was done to older cars. He can only help so much as he has lost vision in one eye and can't really see good enough to help out with stuff inside the engine bay. I am a pretty fast learner as I try to apply myself to whatever I am doing and do my research before hand.

I bought this 94 Civic DX Coupe with a blown block as the interior and exterior was mint. I have since read a bunch of info on engine swaps and what types of engines that will fit in my bay and before attempting to fit something like a h22 into this car, I'd rather replace the blown engine with something from the same year range as it should be pretty close to bolt in. This should give me some basics to how these engines go in and come out.

I have since then removed the AC, Rad, All hoses,wiring,headers,shift linkage, drive axels and unbolted the rear engine mount from under the car. I am ready to take this block out the bottom if my friend brings me a jack tall enough to lift the front end over it.

My friend rolled his 93 Civic HatchBack Si with 136,000KM on it this winter into a snow bank. The damage was not extensive as it was into snow but the car now looks like some one has jumped all over it. He has agreed to allow me to take the engine,ECU,harness and everything else needed for the swap for 300$ As this will be my first engine swap of any kind to a Honda or any Inline 4 for that matter I am trying to go cheap. I can say I do expect something to go wrong but I am sure there is enough information on these forums and other forums to pull me threw. I am a big search button abuser so I shouldn't be asking to many stupid questions I hope.

I have ordered a full bolt on turbo kit for this engine from my current supplier and plan to boost it up a bit on stock internals again to learn how the turbo goes on, functions and for some fun If anyone has any recommendations for to do's before I add a turbo to this engine please feel free to point this newb in the right direction

Now for the questions... I know some of these might be silly but it's late and I'v been reading for hours so I guess I will ask them here...

1. Should I remove my current wiring harness and replace it will the full harness from the Si? If its only a few wires that is needed I am really hands on with electronics and can sodar no problem and if its easier to just run my own few wires let me know please

2. Should I take the drive axles from the Si and use them in my DX? Or will the orginal drive axles work?

3. Will the original shift linkage from my car work with the Si motor and tranny?

4. Is there a tunable ECU I can buy that will hook right up to my laptop and allow me to tune as I drive?

5. I have very little experience with turbos.. Will I be able to run around 7psi of boost on stock internals without having to worry about one of the piston rods snapping or something?

6. I broke one of the lower control arm bolts off the passenger side ball joint.. Could I replace the hole front assembly for the passenger side from the hatchbacks? Or are there setups slightly different as its a hatch back with smaller wheel base?

7. Any 2 cents about problems I might run into or precautions I could take would really help if you don't mind!


I plan to do this swap Step by step with full pictures for other peoples reference and knowledge. After this project I will start up on something a little more harder, maybe a H22 into a civic of this Gen? Any ideas from you guys would be great too!

Thanks for your time everyone!
Ic3