I'm going to replace my d16A (91 Civic Si) with a ZC. I drive this car daily 20+ miles to work so I need reliability and fuel economy (which is why I bought the car in the first place). Can you give me an idea of how the ZC will compare to the engine that came in the car in those two aspects?


[Modified by cspu, 4:51 PM 2/18/2002]

 

..you're not gonna see a change in fuel economy...as far as reliability, it really depends on how far you go with preventative maintenacne before you get the engine in....tbelt, water pump. igniter, etc...

you're gonna get mixed opinions about reliability though..

 

The distributers seem to be about as reliable as my methods for hooking up with chicks (not at all).

Other than that, my ZC has a bunch of miles, its on the original water pump, 2nd timing belt, original oil pump, original everthing else I can think of, and it starts and runs every day. I rag on it fairly hard 99% of the time, and now its turbocharged, and I still have no problems other than the distributors. I'm on number distributor #3. #1 = bearings, #2 = cam sensor, #3 = working, but leaks oil in to it somehow (not through o ring either). I've had the motor in the car going on 4 years and I've worked it the entire time. I've probably put about 50,000 miles on it, and I'd estimate the motor to have about 125,000 miles.

It's worth the $$$.

Oh I almost forgot. I did replace the TPS once, but it didn't end up being the problem. The problem was something stupid that I did (leaking AICV I think).

 

I think ZCs are really reliable as long as they are in good condition...i had turbo on my half-built motor for awhile and it ran fine.

 

dists suck on zcs...always going out..

 

They go out if you run the Teg ECU's. If you run the SI or ZC ECU they dont go out as bad. I have been told this by many people, and i havnt had any problems with mine, it runs great, other than the time my timing belt broke. But its very reliable.

 

This is a myth. I can't think of one possible reason why one would effect the other. I'm using an integra ECU with an integra distributer. Nothing in the ECU is going to cause distributer bearings to go bad. Even the distributers that have electrical problems don't make sense. The ECU is basically the same, the maps are what is different. It's not like you're matching different voltages or anything. When my cam angle sensor went bad I was using an Si ECU.

I think this myth was started by people who are trying to sell ZC ECU's which in my opinion are worthless compared to a teg ECU.

Same goes with the running rich. The map may be a bit more aggressive with the teg ECU, but once you add an intake, header, exhaust, etc, it's perfect. My ZC with teg ECU runs less rich than my Si did with the stock ECU.

For the record, I've been running an 89 teg ECU for about 3 years with no problems that I can trace to that being the cause. The improvement of the teg ECU over the Si is VERY VERY noticable. When I put my Si ECU back in, it feels like I put the Si motor in with it.