Hi all, im new to both this forum and Honda's and have been bitten by the bug...

out of curiosity, i am only legal to drive cars with an auto transmission and have just bought my first 1994 honda civic civic with a D15B7 engine and AUTO trans. is there any way of changing what RPM the trans shifts at?

I was also reading up on Bauleycivic's mini me swap from the D15B7 head to the D16Z6 and it says you need the P28 ECU. now i understand this would probably be a pointless swap with the auto trans but thats not what im going to ask and as i said this is curiosity... is the trans controlled by the ECU? i.e. if this swap was done on the D15B7 would this affect the auto transmission?

 

I did a tiny bit of research for you buy searching on google.com. You should try it yourself, you would be surprised at what you find by doing a simple search.

As most know there is an automatic and a manual version to every ECU for Honda cars, at least as far as I know. If you were to do a z6 head swap or a "mini-me" swap onto your car you would need to get a P28 ECU that was meant for the automatic d16z6. Which I seem to find a lot of and they are a lot cheaper to be had than the manual ECU's which seem to be so popular.

So when/if you ever do a mini-me swap onto your b7 you will need the auto p28 or else the car simply will not run. Or if you use your auto P06 that you have now the engine will run, the trans will shift. But it will not run the way it should, and VTEC will not engage.

To answer your first question, I don't think there is a way to change the shift points of an automatic. If there is you will find it by chipping and tuning a OBD1 ECU with software such as CROME/HONDATA/Neptune. But then again I do not know... Another way to get an auto to shift harder or more firm is to increase the line pressure on the transmission. How to do this I'm not 100% sure on Honda trannies, last time I did that was a Chevy Cavalier. But there might also be a way to do it through tuning software such as those listed above.

Hope this helps you any at all, but I must say... Not licensed to drive a manual sounds weird, where are you from?

And we will all tell you over and over, search, search, search!!

 

Thread titles MUST summarize the tech problem (be topic specific) so that members browsing titles can understand the problem without reading the post. Title edited.

 

thanks very much! thats helped a lot

I come from England so there are 2 types of tests you can do. i really needed a car so chose the very quick, cheap and easy root of the Auto license but will eventually be upgrading to the manual when i can get the money together (its very expensive on this side of the pond).

i did try looking on ebay for a Z6 P28 ECU but coming from England theres not a lot you can find. i'll keep searching to see if one pops up! i wasnt sure if that swap was pointless with an auto tranny as im sure i wouldnt see much hp gain from it but its worth a go at least.

I will definatly look into increasing the line pressure and see if its possible! google here i come!

thanks again

 

thanks very much for changing the thread title, i appreciate that

 

I've heard rumor that the D15B7 trans has taller gearing than say a D16Z6. Can anyone verify and is that auto or manual? My auto has pretty tall gearing as far as I can tell. Good for mpg crappy for performance.

Also what effect can be had by changing the kick down cable adjustment?

 

To answer the OPs question, no you can't adjust the shift points, even if you chip and tune the ECU with crome or Hondata you still can't adjust the shift points.

5 speed Z6 tranny is geared lower/shorter than a D15B7, the opposite is true for the automatics. Z6 automatic transmissions have a higher 4th (OD) because the engine makes enough power to haul itself along at a lower RPM and get better mileage.

 

Makes sense thnx.

 

Hey Buddy, I have the ECU you need (from an EX Auto) and that will allow you to do the Mini-Me. Shoot me a PM if you're interested. Good luck!

 

at the risk and probably guarentee of sounding stupid... does the B7 and Z6 auto trans both have 5 gears? or would i need to drop in a Z6 tranny?

and i guess going back to my original question i was concerned that if i was to put in the Z6 head would my tranny shift before i hit VTEC making this a pointless idea?

 

Should have said this up front.

 

Neither of them have 5 gears, they're both 4 speeds. You don't need a Z6 tranny, but it may shift a little weird with your current tranny (potential harsh shifting, may or may not happen)

That shouldn't be a concern, but you might just want to find a complete automatic Z6 swap and save yourself a lot of hassle swapping heads.