I'm buying my 1st Honda ever in a few weeks & have a couple questions. Its an '89 Civic Hatchback (EF, am I right?) with a JDM Si engine, according to the owner, & a magnaflow exhaust. I haven't popped the hood yet, but I have no clue what a JDM Si engine might be (D16, B16/A/A1?). I'm gonna look to make sure in the morning, but just wanted to see if anyone here knows what engine that would be, or call me an idiot for not knowing what I'm talking about, lol! Great site guys, L8R!

 

it is probably a zc motor. the SiR's came with b16's while the Si 's came with d16 zc motor. if its a single overhead cam, it is rated at about 115hp and DOHC zc's are rated at around 130 hp if the valve cover says dohc vtec, then its prolly a b16a1 motor. the easiest way to tell is to look down on the motor between the tranny and header and you'll see the engine code. you'll prolly be happy with whatever you get cus they're all hondas.

 

technically your buying an ED, thats the chassis code for all domestics. thats what the vin number starts with ed, but even this forum is called ef, so as you can tell its no big deal.

first thing, look how many cams the engine has, then check the block code. its below the head on the left hand side, facing the front of the engine. d15b1 d15b2 and d16a6 are all stock US motors so be extremeley wary of this person if thats what you see there.

and skitty is right, its prolly a ZC, which you can read off that black code thing too.

good luck with the purchase, hondas are fun.

 

simple way to look at it JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) engines don't have numbers after them.

Their low-level CRX 1.5x (similar to our DX)
D15B

Our low-level model DX for instance
D15B2

Honda Integra GSR JDM
B18C

Acura Integra GSR USDM
B18C1

Simple rule and generally stays true. EDM also use the number system however. Go figure. Also the B18C5 is the TypeR motor. As for our engines, that's how it works.

And as for your "JDM Si Engine" the Japanese EF3/EF7 crx/hatch Sis came with a Dual Cam 1.6l engine called the ZC. The block stamp will be ZC. It's also known as the D16A9 in EDM, but that doesn't really matter.

 

Thanks guys! I can't wait to get it & start toyin' with it! It does move, quite well, so d16 zc is what I was thinking also. If it was a dohc vtec, I would think he'd want more for it than he does! Thanks again guys, L8R!

 

I hate to toss ice water on what may be a good deal, but I'd highly recommend that you find somebody that knows honda's to go with you to check it out!!!!!

Try doing a search or add a post and find somebody that lives near you. Offer them a good lunch. (could end up a long term friend)

Have them review how the installation was done and also find out from them what the local laws are in regards to a swapped engine.

It would be way easy to buy something that has "problems".

Wes

 

check for saggy door hinges, check to see the seats are mounted to the floor correctly and not all welded/drilled, look for rear hatch props that wont hold the hatch up (make sure they havent been bent to help either) look out for rot starting in the gas tank door and up under the rear wheelwells/rocker panels (push in for soft spots. they rot from inside out.. a bubble means its starting.) look over the wiring in the engine bay for spliced/taped/freshly loomed stuff. also under the passenger footwell carpet check to see that all the wires going to the ecu are inside the wire loom and not laying all over.

watch when it runs to see if the check engine light is on. feel for grinds in the tranny when you shift, lift up rear carpet, smell for mold/leaks, check front engine mount (near radiator) for broken rubber. window cranks go all the way up and all the way down without falling into the door, tilting, bulging out of the track, skipping or crushing into the rubber gasket up top. look over door gaskets to see theyres no folding or pinching.

check tires to see even wear pattern without any side being coned and look closely for sawtoothed tread blocks (bad balljoints/bearing/tie-rod causes this, if its in the back, the tires were rotated to hide it.) last thing i can think of is rock the rear tires front to back. if they move excessively the trailing arm main bushings are shot(common.)

thats my whole checklist pretty much.

 

I popped the hood today, and good news, both the wiring and engine are clean enough to eat off of! It does only have a d16a6 though, which, according to ef-honda.com, is still an Si engine, just USDM. I got so excited about buying the car, I misunderstood him, not hard to do since I am new to hondas. The civic he's getting has the B16, which is where I got confused 'cause even though he hasn't bought it yet, he was referring to it as "my civic", lol! As far as I can tell, the car is rust free also. The windows go up & down, the CEL doesn't come on, etc.!

 

hey chubbs this is charlie!!!

abou the CEL (check engine light) still check the ecu and see if it is blinking (if i am correct 88-91 civics ecu's have a light that flashes the code of a CEL. they might have cut the wire to the CEL to hide stuff from you (i have heard of it happening to people) if any questions or anything hit me up on IM

 

Hey Charlie! Thanks for the info, I dont think he did that, but I'll check it out for sure! If I have questions I'll hit ya up. The engine idles perfect, trans. shifts smooth, no hesitation on take off or acceleration, etc. The body is almost perfect too, garage kept car!

 

thats cool. let me know if you got any more questions or anything

 

how much?

 

Still negotiating the final price, he originally wanted $2K, but hes gonna keep the wheels, or buy 'em back later, so probably somewhere between $1300-$1600. A fair price I think since he is taking care of a few things before he hands it over to me (New shocks all around, oil & filter change, fuel filter change, plugs). You guys are probably gonna tell me that I can get a 1 for less, but I have checked the papers researching prices, and most of the ones I see have bodies that are beat to hell, dirty engines with more miles on them than Paris Hilton, been riced to death, etc. I'd rather pay a little more for something that I know will start every morning, ya know.