Hey everyone,

I just purchased a 96 Civic Coupe EX
I was told it had a mini-me swap.
The block is stamped D16Y7.

Questions:
Shouldn't the EX model have the D16Y8 block in it with VTEC from the factory ?

Does the presence of the Y7 block prove that the whole motor was swapped at some point ?

How can I check if the motor does indeed have a VTEC head on it ?

I "verified" via Wikipedia that the EX model 96 Civic should come with the D16Y8
Honda D Engine
I feel like I can trust this info, however if anyone knows of a more official site for Honda specifications etc... please post it.


I have also checked the vin number, and the car definitely came from the dealer with the EX trim level.

Would the buyer have had the option to purchase/order the car with out VTEC ?

 

i dought there was an option to get it withought vtec if u look on the passenger side of the head in the rear corner there should be a selinoid there google what a vtec solinoid looks like to verify. its most likely that the engine blew and they swaped in a junkyard motor. another way to tell is look at the ecu if they did a mini me swap it would need a vtec ecu if they used a jumper harness to convert to obd1 the ecu will be a p28 in theres no jumper then the ecu will be p2p. the ecu is behind the plastic kicker panel on the passenger side of the car. 4 10mm bolts hold it in. there will be a white sticker on it the code is in the center of the sticker for a p28 the code will be like 37820-p28-a02 if its a manual or -a51 or a52 if its an automatic ecu dont really know the codes for the obd2 p2p but if u dont see these and u see p2e on the ecu u got screwed sorry

 

yes it came with a d16y8 from the factory.

yes it has a different motor.

most likely it has a stock ex ecu in it (p2p) since thats the ecu u would need anyways for a y7 mini-me with a y8 head.

the vtec solenoid is the one circled on the top of this picture


having a mini-me swap isnt that big of a deal as long as they did everything correctly when swapping. also see if you have a trans from an ex or from the d16y7. look at the casting codes by the fill plug on the trans.

if you have an ex trans it will say- S40-K4F
if its from a dx lx or cx it will say- S40 E7F

if you dont have an ex trans no big deal but the ex is geared closer and is way less pokey that a dx trans.

oh and IF you dont have a vtec ecu you will know. the car will kind of lose power of bog above 4500 rpm.

 

Not for nothing but when they told you it had a mini-me swap before purchasing, you should've done your research then, before handing over money.

Depending on who you bought the car from, you could have a mess in wiring, in a Frankenstein parted together motor, who all knows what you got. Maybe the guy who did the work knew his junk and did a good job, and maybe not. However those should've been sorted before you handed over the cash, unless you paid next to nothing, in which case....start reading and searching, lol.

 

Thanks for the information everyone, I have definitely noticed the VTEC solinoid so I know that's there. I will be checking my transmission this evening and perhaps checking the ECU as well. I will keep you guys posted.