hey everyone. I have a 1990 Civic dx with the "wonderful" d15 in it. It has 220k miles on it and its smoking. Time for a rebuild. However I managed to get my hands on a b16a block and crank. I have never built a motor before but I have done just about everything else mechanical. I have the block and an engine stand and not sure where to go from here. So heres goals etc:

The car will be a non street legal drag only car. As in trailed into and out of the track so legality isnt an issue.

I dont have ANY experience with vtec.

I would after one race season like to boost it.

I have a build budget of around $1500

Horpsepower and torque dont really matter, I just want something better than the stock b16 power and reliability so i can get alot of passes down the track in it.

I dont know what books and or tools I will need along with what ecu and wiring I will need. So I am asking for guidance in building this motor and then swapping it into my civic. Thanks

Also I am in san diego so if anyone would like to come over I always have a fridge full of beer Send me a pm. Thanks

 

First off if you truly live in CA and in the part you specified you would be aware of the crime rate there. I would not let anybody help you with out getting to know them real well first.

Secondly if your budget is only $1,500 you may as well throw in the towel right now. You are not going to get anywhere with that small of a budget. You should get a bigger and better platform if money is tight. Either that or slightly build the bottom end for boost and wait until you can drop 3-4k on a nice turbo setup.

Your complete swap if done right and with nice components (more setup for racing) will run you every bit of the money you have. This is especially considering the fact you do not have a transmission.

Use the FAQs and research the hell out of what you are thinking about doing. You have to do a DPFI to MPFI swap first before you even get started. So start there and branch out. You have a long road ahead of you and research will be your only friend.

 

Ok thanks for the info. The turbo setup wont be for awhile so I am not so worried about that.
I thought $1500 would be good for a decent set of rods pistons and a head. I guess not? What am I looking at? I do NOT want to put all skunk2 etc parts in this thing as its my first motor build. I would hate to blow up an expensive motor. Which is why I thought $1500 would be enough.

 

Well I am assuming that you do not have linkage, mounts, a transmission, clutch, flywheel, ect., ect... to actually do the swap. I would start there then build the motor with what you have left...

 

Ok so what if I said I have $1500 right now and can provide around $300 every 2 weeks after that? Thanks for the help btw.

 

Well either way refer to my post above. You need to get everything FOR the swap then worry about building the motor. If you are building for boost I would leave the entire head stock and just get forged rods and pistons and call it a day. If you are not looking for high horsepower that is all that is needed. There are people pushing 500hp with stock heads anyways. On Honda's the B16 and B18 (Type R) heads flow very well from the factory. This is true with all VTEC heads especially, but even non-VTEC heads flow good.

Look into buying all the stuff for the swap first then worry about the motor. Even if you jumped into the motor rods would cost about $300 for some starter rods and about $450 for some starter pistons. That is half of your $1500 right there...

 

Ok will do. Is there a definative list of everything I need some where? What transmission do you reccomend? Do I HAVE to do vtec with the b16?

 

Check out the FAQs at the top of the forum list. It will say Version 2.0 or something like that... take your time and don't get frustrated there are plenty of dead links. The moderators just ban people and delete posts and don't keep up with the stickies...

Any cable transmission, but if you are going for boost I would say an LS transmission would be a better idea. If you go with a hydraulic transmission you would be upping the cost of your build by a good margin. Plus you could always easily go hydraulic later if you wanted to. I see cable transmissions go from $300 to $600 typically.

I gave you the jist of the list:

Motor Mounts
Shift Linkage
Axles
Hubs (spindles) depending on what your car has already
Extra wiring like injector clips and resistor box
ECU
(and this is just the start and basics)

I don't know what you do or don't have but if you just have the block you are a LONG way away from doing a swap. You would be better off buying a complete swap off a website or E-bay and then going from there. This is especially true if you do not have a head and since you do not have a transmission.

Just go start looking at prices and you will see your $1,500 is not going to get you anywhere.

 

look on the classifieds on this site. people are selling things all the time. you might find some good deals on an LS motor or something. you could even try to trade your block and some cash for some cheap ls parts.

just a thought