Hi all - I’ve been lurking and reading for nearly a year now. Great info! Appreciate all!

i have a 91 CRX Si - pretty well original. It’s starting to smoke pretty bad (at times) - has 265k miles. I drive it about 160 miles per day, 5 days a week.

I am looking for advice for a swap, as that keeps my downtime low. I love the mpgs and the thing is fun to drive. Had one after they first came out and can’t bring myself to part with this one.

so... knowing that I need to drive a lot, and it’s got to be dependable, what would be the suggested swap for the car?
i don’t need performance really.

i just want to be able to pull what’s in it now, and drop a different motor in without a ton of fuss. I’ll rebuild the original power plant probably over the next year or so.

I’ve seen different JDM options on eBay for under $1000. Just so many options and I’d hate to ship something here and find that I need to hunt down axles or what have you...

Thanks in advance for your expertise!

—JH

 

if your crx still has the original d16a6 motor
yes keep it that motor is a gift from the gods haha

but if you want to put in another
and have the car feel the same maybe just a tad better

theres a motor called the d16y7
this motor is basicly the same thing you have now but just about 6 or 10 years newer
and whats great about doing this swap is that
it bolts on without have to go and buy anything
you only swap out the motor itself
the block and head only
you get to keep and reuse
your header your intake your engine mounts
the factory wiring it all stays
your crx distributor i dont recall exactly but im kind of sure that only one or two of the bolts will fit with the cyl head of the d16y7
but it will not leak and it will work just fine

with this engine your crx will still be the crx you know and it wont change into something with problems everyday
also since this engine is a d series you should be able to find one for about 500 already pulled
or for about 300 if you go and pull one yourself at a junkyard

hope this info helps and goodluck

 

Thanks a ton!

seems the best deals seem to be JDM on ebay... low miles and shipped to my door. Seems the salvage yards here don’t keep the imports around, it’s all late model American.

thanks again for the info - I’ll do some searching and see what I can come up with!

 

Your OBD0 distributor (TD02U) should fit on a USDM Y7 - mine do. If you look at any more junk yard engines, you need one from a 96-00 Civic LX. The Y7 had the crappy intake here - see pic. JDM probably won't have this, because we never get the fun stuff.

Side note, because of personal experience- if you haven't had that transmission off in a long time, take the time to go over it. Servicing now will be a lot easier than trying to replace it later.

 

Interesting that a d16y7 is pretty much a direct swap. What about the crank sensor in the front though? Just keep it in there? Or does that come out of the timing cover?

Ive got one (block, head, intake, fuel rail, injectors, harness, breather chamber etc) in my bedroom and it’s nice to know i could build this to swap in eventually... are the compression ratios different?

OP, if you get a junkyard one the head gasket is prob blown. Just my experience lol.

 

Yes d16y7 resuse your old dizzy, harness, motor mounts and gear box, clutch and fly wheel

use ebay

remove and replace

leave the replacement motors intake and exhaust alone

dont listen to anyone telling you to swap them over they don’t care about the time and money you’ll spend on new gaskets

accept that the gear box works and there is no need to “look it over” or clean it save the time and effort you might just water in it

replace the clutch and flywheel no what for save your money buy new tires

 

Right, don't listen to anyone who literally spent the money on new gaskets (multiple times) and knows exactly what they're suggesting. Definitely accept that the gear box, which probably can't be replaced and will only become more difficult to rebuild, works perfectly. It's totally impossible that your input shaft bearing can go bad and wobble the crank around till your #4 bearings get worn through the shiny bits! Clutches don't wear out, and if they fail it totally won't do anything bad or leave you stranded. Lemme guess, hydro swaps are drop-in easy and will offset the expense of a few bearings and a clutch?

But steel braided lines.

 

see this guy wants your car to sit on jacks stands for months lol

forget he even mentioned hydro anything lol

he thinks a d series gear box is impossible to replace

 

Replace “kid” with “ef build”

lmaooo

 

Consider buying another a6 and rebuilding it. Swap it in and rebuild the old a6 and have a spare.

 

I’m not the other guy but it doesn’t take months to rebuild a d-series trans. I rebuilt my seemingly “okay” PL3-3000 and the bearings were destroyed save for the differential bearings.

A used trans on ebay looks like ~$300 shipped but you have no guarantee of its condition since most of these cars are 30 years old and see a lot of neglect. So that’s certainly a gamble.

Versus a $110 ebay rebuild kit with all the bearings and you know what you’re getting at the end of it. Since OP is gonna pull the engine anyways might as well rebuild the trans... it just makes more sense.

 

cool story bro 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Nobody cares

show us a write up you made yourself on how to rebuild it. What’s the point of rebuilding if it works fine.

 

When bearings degrade and/or go bad they release metal shavings that flow throughout the trans oil. There’s a magnet inside the case to catch these but it will only handle so much. Metal shavings will find their way between gears and synchronizers causing excessive wear to both. This will make shifting more difficult or impossible given enough damage.

Furthermore, as the bearings wear this will increase the play in the shafts, causing them to wobble and chew up the case. Obviously no one wants that. You can do what you want with that information in mind, I’m just advising the best course of action from my experience as a technician.

 

I hear you brotha and I understand your probably in your second year of automotive repair school and you pay good attention and ask good questions when it’s time but this guy is a newbie Im just guessing here. he most likely he doesn’t have your experience. So why would anyone recommend him to do such things lol it’s funny to me

Do you have your textbook on your lap while you write these replies lol I understand your here help but understand that the possibility is there that this guy gets pumped up and takes your advice and take on the whole shebang and without anyone to help like a lot of people don’t have. He never finishes and that’s another ef to the junkyard.

Keep it simple

for the sake of allllll “newbies”

 

You've done a terrific job of keeping it simple minded. You must be so proud of yourself for insinuating that the only reason I have more knowledge than you is because I presumably attended a class or *gasp* read a book on the matter.

Thats typical barrio mindedness.

 

Your cool and know a **** ton I can feel it. Just don’t send newbies down a rabbit hole that they may not be able to get out of. That should go for everyone else on forums. It’s clear op has been reading mags and forums saving however many hundreds he paid for his ef. Now he has it and you want to pack on a parts list and a to do list with things like rebuild the gear box on it lmao what a sick joke that is.