what im doing is taking a previously nuilt, installed, and running mini me from a wrecked 90 CRX, and swapping it into our 89 CRX Si. Im completely new to honda's, so if these are stupid questions, please forgive me.

Ive currently got both engines out of their cars, and stitting on engine stands. we are going to put new gaskets in the mini me, as it was leaking. the factory A6 has holes on both sides of the block from where a rod let go. its kinda cool, you can see daylight through the bottom end. we even found the rod end cap laying on top of the alternator.

anyway, ive searched, and done research. it seems that there are as many different ways of doing this swap as there are guys that do it. what im looking for is advise on what to use from which setup. the goal is a very dependable, clean installation.

what we have:
P28 ECU
D15B2 block with Y8 head and intake on it.
very hacked wiring harness from the 90 CRX
bone stock 89 CRX Si wiring harness


now, onto the questions.
1. Which distributor do i use? and what do i do to make it work? ive seen some guys use the A6 OBD0 distributor, and some use the OBD1. im assuming the one on the Mini-Me is the OBD1 version.
MiniMe-


A6


2. Who made this conversion harness, and what do the pigtail go to? i found it still connected to the P28 ECU, but the pigtail wasnt connected to anything.



3. can i use the TPS sensor from the A6? the Y8 sensor was busted in the accident.

4. is this the correct cam gear for timing?


5. Injectors: i believe the Y8 manifold has the factory injectors. i pulled the resistor box and wiring from the Donor CRX. do i want to use the Y8 injectors, or swap to the A6 assembly?

6. What was this? its broken. do i need it, or just plug the hole?


7. what are these sensors? do i keep these, or swap to the A6 units?


8. Where is the Vtec solenoid that i need to wire?

9. i know this is smog stuff from the firewall. do i keep it, delete it, what? same question for the charcoal canister. it has to be street legal.


10. The bolt hole for the top bolt on the side motor mount is broken. i think i should weld it, redrill and tap it. correct?


thansk for the upcoming help.

Michael

 

1. If you are going to run obd1, the distributor that is on there is fine.

2. The pigtail is usually for VTEC solenoid, VTEC Pressure Sensor, 4 wire o2. However that looks like a terrible rats nest and would recommend buying a obd0 - obd1 conversion harness from phearable.net as it will save A TON of headaches.

3. Unsure of, I would think you could though.

4. the lines from the cam should be flush with the head with the crankshaft #1 cylinder at top dead center.

5. Use the stock a6 factory injectors as the y8 injectors will not plug into the factory Si harness because the clips are different.

6. Intake Air Temp Sensor. You will need one of these yes.

7. Single pronged sensor below the dizzy is the Coolant Temp Sensor and the other is the Sending unit if I'm not mistaken. You can use these they are fine.

8. the VTEC solenoid is the one in picture 7 with the blue/black stripe that is attached to a yel/grn wire.

9. You can remove all the smog stuff, everything will run fine. Depending on if you have Smog in your area will determine if you keep those or not.

10. I'd drill the bolt out and retap or helicoil it. That should do the trick.

 

does the A6 have an intake air temp sensor that i can use?

what is involved in converting from the OBD0 to OBD 1 distributor?

thanks for all the help so far.

Michael

 

No the a6 does not have a IAT sensor, only the y8 if I recall correctly.

Converting from obd0 - obd1 is changing out the distributor, ECU and having a 4 wire o2 sensor. I purchased my ECU conversion harness as well as my distributor harness that were pre-made to make troubleshooting alot easier, plus they give directions on which colors go where when converting so you aren't guessing and checking your work.

Cost ~160 bucks for the obd0 - obd1 conversion harnesses.

Pictures courtsey of Phearable.net:

 

1. you should use the p28. so you should use the obd1 y8 distributor. the a6 distributor will not work with the p28.

2. that conversion is a home hack job. if it worked, then I guess you can save yourself some money, but phearable or ebay or rywire are all good choices for a quality replacement. Pigtail definitely should be for vtec solenoid hookups and the 4 wire o2, as the last guy said, and should have been hooked up. If they werent, it means the guy before you was not running the engine in vtec OR using the right o2 sensor, which is a common problem for hackjob mini-me swaps.

3. The a6 tps sensor is riveted on to the TB. you could reuse it, or just buy a new one. It is a whole lot of drama to get those things off unbroken unless you have good tools. you can buy new ones at autozone, etc, but they have to be calibrated on occasion. In my experience, it is best to try and use the tps on the TB unless there is something severly wrong with it or you feel compelled to change it. The only car I have done a tps swap on took me a while to get to idle right again.

4. what dephtone said. You may check the tooth count though, to help determine what timing belt you need to be using if you are going to change it before putting it in the car.

5. what dephtone said. The a6 injectors with the resistor box on your si mean you don't have to to any wiring to get the injectors working, even with the p28.

10. helicoil is the route i would go.

as a final note, you can throw the 90 hacked harness in the trash, because it most likely has nothing you really need in terms of plugs. Your harness should be left bone stock and buying a conversion harness is expensive but worth every penny in the amount of wiring drama it will reduce.