again, hello to all. this isnt my very first time on this forum, but as of tomorrow, I'll be an actual civic owner. but more on that in a sec. to let you know how clueless i may come across, i recently went from a 2000 VW Jetta VR6. it was a nice car, but it was about as dependable using ceran wrap while ca noodling the local *****. so, after much encouragement form sane friends and famly, i decided to look for a honda.

The VW forum I use to frequent was setup very similar to this, so i understand the search function and so on, read the FAQ, yada yada yada... I get it. bear with me as i am from a completely different world in terms of cars. any help is always cool. and you guys are bound to be easier to deal with than the guys on the vortex.

Onto the car... Its a 93 Civic Si hatch, red. the only realy die hard facts that i have is that the motor is a the JDM B16A. The guy showed me on the motor, there was nothing after the A. I understand that its hard to get any real info on motors from japn, but is there any way to know which model year the motor is?

further more, there seems to be a fair amount of mods done already, but im curious what would be good in terms of bolt ons for the motor? namely intake/exhaust manifolds, DP's, TB's, or any other "easy power."

lastly, i was reading a thread that had someone wanting to re-install air conditioning on a swapped motor... seeing as how the B comes stock in the USDM Si, i was wondering if this was possible? if so, what part wise is needed to re-install?

thanks for the help!

 

the usual first mods are i/h/e (intake, header, exhaust) and suspension.

 

dont forget if you can get a compression test on the engine. that will let you know alot./

 

For the ac, I think you would need the bracket, condenser, compressor, and all the associated lines. The Si's if i'm not mistaken all came with it from the factory so no reason to mess with any wiring or anything behind teh dash, should all just bolt up. Good luck with the car.

 

if you look on the head of the motor, there is a few tiny circles on there that have numbers on it. i think the 2nd or third circle is the one that shows you the year. it looks like thiss 9/4 that would be a 94

correct me if im wrong.

 

The Civics with B-series engines in the US stock are the '99-'00 Civic Si coupes, the generation after the car you have bought.

I have a couple links in my sig that might be able to help you out on some basics.

 

welcome to the darkside.. muhahaha

there really is no "easy power" unless you get nos.. but your best bet with the b16 for "easy power" is to turbo it.. also to find the model/year just go to Wikipedia.com and type in Honda B Engine and a whole list will come up telling you a bunch of info

 

awesome info. thanks guys.

as far as mods go...
It already seems to have exhaust, and if my ear doesn't deceive me, the cat has been gutted. the intake is an AEM, but it seems to be fit for something else, but my friend has a 3 in that hes going to give me. i guess my main questions is what header would be best? The guy i bought it from said that it was already lowered on some springs, however it doesnt feel like the struts were done. dont know if thats something that might be necessary later on, but it never hurts to ask. I guess my next question would be, what brand of header is a good choice? Im not looking for big numbers, just good solid power in the upper RPMs and good tone.

as far as maintenance, would it be a good idea to seafoam or some other form of head cleaning? any gaskets that will need to be replaced soon? I was prety sure that the B series used 5w30, but does anyone recommend any specific oil? oil stabalizers? im open to suggestions.

thanks to all for the info!

 

DC carb legal headers are fine if you are looking for basic bolt ons. As far as maintanence... how many miles are on the motor? Replacing the water pump/timing belt is a good idea. You could also seafoam it, but be aware that if the motor is held up by carbon/sludge that you will start to see/hear leaks. The normal cap/rotor, plugs/wires, oil change and fuel filter might be a good idea. Some may not be necessary, but I always like to do it for piece of mind. As far as your oil you dont need any stabilizer. GL

 

jsut for the record, the motor is the JDM B16, so I obviously have no clue unless someone on here has a method. Ive heard that in theory, the motor should have less than 60k or so if its JDM. just to help.

 

I would just replace all of the above for piece of mind and a fresh start. Its not going to hurt

Even around 70k, most people replace the water pump and timing belt on JDM/used motors.

 

all i can tell u is if u buy that, its gonna pull a hell of a lot more then ur jetta did.

 

well, IDK about that... I pulled mildly modded Si's in the jetta. which surprised them a bit. But it was only something pretty to look at, im more interested in something without all the bells and whistles. is there a link anywhere that will tell me more about my particular model year? if what im reading is correct from a few posts up, the B16 did not come with earlier Si's? more info always appreciated!

 

to my knowledge the jdm b16's yielded a slighlty higher CR than the USDM models, and its first and secondary lobes on the cams were a bit beefier..but other than that the motors are excatly identical

 

iono man i highly doubt ur vr6 woudl even come close to a b16a hatch. A stock hatch si from 93 wont do that,


when i had my stock b16 in my si, i took gti vr6 2003 like nothing.

 

The stamp on the head, above the exhaust, will tell you the year of the head, and in theory, the year of the motor. If it already has the (I/H/E) then there aren't too many more bolt on parts that will gain you any more power. I would consider 95ProjectEJ1 advice. Checking/replacing many of those parts will help to keep your motor running without issue for a while. Good Luck

 

you will have much better fuel economy in this 1.6L 4-cyl as opposed to your 2.8L 6-cyl. And if you put a little bit of money into it, you can make it a hell of a lot faster too.

definitely change the timing belt and water pump...just a lil preventitive maintenance that will never hurt. Other than that, get some DC 4-2-1 headers, cat-back exhaust, and save up for a turbo kit you should be able to run 6-10 psi easily on stock internals with something small like a 14b mitsu turbo

but remember, you won't need as much power in your honda to go as fast as your jetta. your honda weighs like half as much

 

stock99Si, you know, when you put it that way, your probably right. i didnt meet many of them, but im sure if i ran into a similar on then id probably have gottten pulled. oh well, vdub

well, it seems that maintenance is what i need to be looking into. thanks to all for the advice. I have heard good things from the DC 4-2-1, so that may be the next mod.

I'll be sure to post up pics soon, although i must warn you, shes ugly! needs paint and a few body pieces here and there to srpuce up the oustide and she should look good as new!

thanks!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Convert &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it was a nice car, but it was about as dependable using ceran wrap while ca noodling the local *****. </TD></TR></TABLE>

That's hilarious. Well put. And welcome! I recommend putting all your pennies into the car in this order:

1) Brakes
2) Suspension
3) Power

You will be so much happier in the long run with a balanced car to boot. Then go do a few track days and learn why Civics are great little racers. Or ricers, if you prefer.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JMelt4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

That's hilarious. Well put. And welcome! I recommend putting all your pennies into the car in this order:

1) Brakes
2) Suspension
3) Power

You will be so much happier in the long run with a balanced car to boot. Then go do a few track days and learn why Civics are great little racers. Or ricers, if you prefer.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Don't forget security

Thieves FTL

 

yea dont forget security... most important thing

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by andoxviii &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you will have much better fuel economy in this 1.6L 4-cyl as opposed to your 2.8L 6-cyl. And if you put a little bit of money into it, you can make it a hell of a lot faster too.

definitely change the timing belt and water pump...just a lil preventitive maintenance that will never hurt. Other than that, get some DC 4-2-1 headers, cat-back exhaust, and save up for a turbo kit you should be able to run 6-10 psi easily on stock internals with something small like a 14b mitsu turbo

but remember, you won't need as much power in your honda to go as fast as your jetta. your honda weighs like half as much </TD></TR></TABLE>

I dunno, chief, the gas mileage I get on my civic opposed to my '01 GTI VR6 is negligible UNLESS on the highway - the highway i where the civic actually shows it - around town tho though higher torque makes the VR6 actually get close to the same gas mileage as my D16 (either of them) - highway though - no contest, civic &gt; VR6 in gas mileage. You can use like 20% throttle and shifter at 2k in a VR6 and still have adequate acceleration - you try that **** in a civic around some towns over here somebody'd kick ur *** for accelerating so slow - so to compensate you have to give it a little more gas .

Though agreed on the preventitive maintenance. I've seen WAY too many cars that pple buy where the guy said "oh yeah, I just changed the timing belt" - then it snapped 10k miles later - unless he's got a receipt (like I do ) to show the timing belt was replaced - replace the timing belt/water pump/tensioner.

EDIT:
All the older german cars had timing chains, you couldn't break those, didn't have to worry about timing belt changes as it came like once every 200k .

I dunno, I loved my dub, and yeah, parts were expensive, but in all honesty, the parts were about the same price as Honda's - it's just the labor of putting them in (charged) - but working on a dub is SO MUCH EASIER than working on a Honda (and you won't believe me unless you've actually worked on both). Wow, so much easier. Think VW knows their car is gonna break so they make things easier to change . Woulda kept the stupid thing but I needed money and it was either sell the Honda or sell the VW - and I needed to sell the VW b/c it was worth a ****-ton more .

 

i hope that you are not assuming that it a b16 just cause it is an si.

that model you referred to will come with a single cam vtec with is still good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mustang5.slow &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i hope that you are not assuming that it a b16 just cause it is an si.

that model you referred to will come with a single cam vtec with is still good.</TD></TR></TABLE>

if you had read the post, you'd see that the motor thats coming in the car is the JDM B16. I have no way of knowing what year at this point seeing that i dont pick it up for several more hours.

thanks for the concern though!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mustang5.slow &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i hope that you are not assuming that it a b16 just cause it is an si.

that model you referred to will come with a single cam vtec with is still good.</TD></TR></TABLE>
He's not assuming.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Convert &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Onto the car... Its a 93 Civic Si hatch, red. the only realy die hard facts that i have is that the motor is a the JDM B16A. The guy showed me on the motor, there was nothing after the A. I understand that its hard to get any real info on motors from japn, but is there any way to know which model year the motor is?</TD></TR></TABLE>