Just bought an 88 Civic DX sedan for my daily driver and I was wondering what motor would be really easy and inexpensive to put in. Please remember that i want to keep this car as my commuter so nothing fancy and i also want to pass smog. Also what are all the things i would need since i have the wack Dual Point Fuel injection right now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sergio

 

Im kind of a fan of the sohc vtec motor. It bolts right in, and you can use your tranny. The ZC motor is the same amount of hp (130) and it also bolts right in with your tranny. But most of those engines are getting old.
To get anymore hp youll have to go with a B-series motor and thats alot more money involved.

 

ZC or SOHC VTEC is cheap and fairly easy.

 

well, if i do ZC i would do Single Cam so that i could pass smog. What price range would i be looking at for that and for SOHC vtec (including tranny, since the stock one has so many miles)? Also what other things would i need besides engine, tranny, and ECU?

 

any more advice guys?

 

Yeah, i would say a zc sounds reasonable. Sohc vtec is nice and cheap,realiable too. Of course you could go all out and do a b16...sleepers are the best man.

 

sleeper would be nice, but remember guys this is my commuter car. i have my integra for speed.

 

I'd say go with the ZC DOHC. From what I've read, this is a perfect engine for the civic/CRX. Bolts right in minor wiring and you're off to the races. There does seem to be a few differnent ZC's out there, go with the black top one. It has about 130HP.

 

get a sohc vtec from a newer ex. They have 127 hp and they will pass smog unlike the 130 hp zc.

 

C'mon guys, read my question before replying, for those who did answer correctly, Thank You.

"Please remember that i want to keep this car as my commuter so nothing fancy and i also want to pass smog. "

I'm not looking for racing, i want something economical, reliable, cheap, and good for driving 70 miles a day.


[Modified by SMZ812, 9:48 PM 7/20/2002]

 

keep the stock motor then....

 

just get a HF motor and get good mileage for your 70 mile commute.
JK, GSR into CRX, CRVTEC into GSR

 

aright man......ive looked into everything ur talkin about, and was gonna go with the zc but ive read and heard......and know kinda.....the engine is crap unless u wanna work with it and baby it.......its not smog legal either, so ud have to just be the "lucky" guy and have them overlook it!! so go with the sohc vtec, u wont be dissappointed, and itll be relaible and ull get good mileage and itll pass smog!!!!!!!!
peace

 

go with any usdm motor 88+....i passed smog with a jdm b16 with a 525 hc level...oh wait....i have smog hook ups

 

i would if it didn't have 226,000 miles. things are gonna breakdown, so might as well switch b4 i waste money fixing it.

 

ok heres the thing man, zc wont pass smog, sohc vtec u can use your tranny but u said u wanted a new one u cant use the 92-up trannys(hydro) with out a kit so that cost more money, so your option is to find an 88-91 tranny si would be preferable but harder to find in good shape and reasonable price.the other problem ull run into is dual point to multipoint injection swap-been there done that this is a bitch. now u can keep your dual point injection mani and use it on the sohc vtec-slight power loss,plus since the sohc vtecs are all obdI-II and your ride is non obd u couldnt use the ecu(p28) anyway so u are stuck with the dx ecu-no vtec, well there are many ways to get vtec to work but this will only change the lobes not make a change in the fuel curve.unless u buy a feilds or apexi controller. which is not cheap. becuase with out the fuel maps to go with the change in cam profile u really dont gain a whole lot. your only other option is a rechipped ecu.

to sum all this up your best bet is to find another d15b2 and tranny or get yours rebuilt. u said it yourself u have a teg to go fast this is just a daily driver and u arent interested in makin this fast. actually after a rebuild and a few boltons that d15 will lay down about the same times as that si/zc/or sohc vtec would anyway for about the same price in the end. but its all on u man its your ride do what u feel.
later

 

Thanks a lot egvtec. That was the kind of info I was looking for. I guess i'll look into rebuilding the motor. Thanks again. later

 

Find a good 88-91 DX motor then! They are practically being given away

 

Why do you think that a B16a or ZC will not pass smog. Yes, I am familiar with california smog laws, but as long as the vaccum stuff and emision parts are hooked up like the stock emision lines are, a Ref will pass it and with a 88-91 crx si ecu, it will pass the sniffer. I have done it this way many times.

 

Go with a 1.5 SOHC Vtec swap 130hp


[Modified by SpoonSportsEF7, 8:19 AM 7/22/2002]