I bought a 90 Si hatch recently after having sold my STi a few months ago. Damn I miss that car.


After that I tooled around in a Lexus LS 400. I sold that after a month since it wasn't my style. I had to have something that was quick handled well and was easy to work on and reliable. Enter my 1990 Civic Si hatch.



I picked it up about a month ago. It was pretty clean with just a few surface rust spots and very clean interior. Just the usual rip in the driver seat bolster. It needs a hood and a front fender and of course paint. The engine had a lot of blowby and should have probably paid less for the car but, physically it was in very good shape so I couldn't complain. Besides, the motor was coming out anyway. It had shitty ebay/ractive coilovers on the stock struts. And some shitty fart can with a crust bent exhaust.



After further inspection and after degreasing the block after removal, it was actually a D15B2 block and I guess it's an Si head and cam but I can tell the difference.



I picked up a GSR swap from a guy here on HT. I was told it was OBD1 but turns out it was OBD2. Oh well, Rywire said it wasn't a problem doing my harness, so I didn't care. At least the P72 was OBD1. I sold the hydro tranny and picked up a YS1 from a 92-93 GSR, better gearing and no cable to hydro conversion. :-) I picked up new axles from Advance Auto Parts and had the intermediate shaft when I got the YS1.

To date, the stock suspension is off and I still have to cut off the exhaust. I bought a set of Koni Yellows and Progress B series springs. I also plan on upgrading the sways but haven't decided on which ones to get.

I had a lot of work to get the B18C ready to drop in. I had to buy the rear mount and side post mount so everything would fit in the EF. I had to buy all new timing covers since they were all screwed up from the original owner. The VTEC oil pressure switch was also broken, so I had to buy a replacement. The front tranny stiffener was broke. It was missing some of the valve cover mounting studs, all but 2 of the exhaust manifold studs were missing and one was broken off. So that has to be drilled and re tapped for a helicoil. Also the threads that mount the side post to the block have to be helicoiled. Along with all new gaskets for the top end and a new oil pan and gasket. The oil pan was all beat to hell. So I have all the parts I need to get the swap done. I will be starting on getting everything together to drop the motor this weekend or next week.

I also bought DA front knuckles and rear brakes for a future front big brake upgrade and rear disc conversion.

I painted the valve cover last week and my Rywire harness came in yesterday.



All in all, i'm pretty excited to get the swap done and start driving it. At some point, my plans are to make the performance of my Si compete with my departed STi. So a turbo w/7-10psi and Hondata are my future plans with a goal of 300whp.
Updates soon.

 

Nice project, I have the exact same tranny. Rywire makes motor swaps sooooo easy.

 

good luck with your build.sounds like its gonna be a beast.does your gsr tranny say ys1 on the bar code?i got a ys1 and was wondering wat it was.

 

good start

 

Yes, mine says YS1 on the barcode. But both the GSR and LS tranny is a YS1. I know mine is, since he had a DA GSR that it came out of...

 

Definitely, thank God for rywire...

 

thats clean, too bad this deuchebag travis couldnt do that with all the 4 ef's he had, keep up the good work...

 

oh okay. thanks man.

 

I took a few more pics of the hatch today before starting to get some things done.





And the B18C that will be going in...


But I did run into a little bump in the road.
How in the hell do you get the rear bolt out of the rear trans mount. There is no possible want to get a wrench or socket back there.

 

Will a GearWrench fit in there?

 

I wish I could find an Si that clean in Alaska..
Nice build.

 

i was able to get that rear mount off but i cant for the life of me remember exactly what i did to accomplish the task lol. i wanna say either i somehow got to it with a 3/8" ratchet with an extension, or maybe i used a ratch wrench. i'm not really sure, but i know its possible lol.

 

i was lucky enough to have a wobble socket like not a socket with a wobble extension but a socket witha full wobble capability..
i cant explain it..im sure a short socket with a short wobble extension will work fine tho with a longer extension off of that so yu dont have to bend down as far..
it was easy peasy tho..

 

Dang what a downgrade!

 

ratcheting box wrenches are your friends good luck with the build! I'm jealous of your hatch man. wish i could find an si for cheap

 

nice project good luck

 

i dont think a gear wrench will fit i had some at the time..and i know i didnt use them.....but maybe..

 

dude that is so clean. nice start!

 

Gear wrenches won't work either. It's impossible to get it on the bolt at that angle and even if that was possible there wouldn't be enough room to go back and forth to loosen the bolt. I was hoping there was an alternative to dropping the cross member, which apparently i'm going to have to do. :-(

 

lol wow did you even read this?

 

i got it off and if memory serves, i just stuck a wrench on the back side and busted it.

but for some reason remember using a swivel and extension from the top

 

Today was a semi productive day. I did end up getting that damn bolt our on the rear trans mount. I had to drop the subframe down then I was able to get in behind it wilth a deep well socket, short extension, and a swivel. It was a PITA...


I also got the old suspension out...


And these all ready to go in, Koni Yellows and Progress B Springs...



I also got around to replacing both front upper control arms, just in case.



I also removed the charcoal canister and fire wall mounted map sensor. Although I'm not sure If I should cut off the part of the harness for the old map sensor or what to do with the vent tube from the fire wall that went to the charcoal canister. I also need to know what to do with the harness plug for the resistor box...


Also removed the front subframe, waiting to be replaced by a traction bar.


More to come this week, God willing if UPS delivers my helicoil kit that I've been waiting on for over a week...

 

nice build im doin the same thing with my 89 standard should be a fun little car gl with your build

 

Damn photobucket. Anyone know of a web hosting site that doesn't have a bandwidth restriction???

 

flickr or shutterfly.. not sure if they do or not