Ok i have a 93 civic lx and i will be getting a 98 type r swap. Is it coorect to assume that the only things i can't use is the ecu and distirbutors? Also since i have a lx(non vtec) do you guys know where i can get a USDM vtec wiring harness. Thanks a bunch.

 

I'm not sure about the distributor part.

When I had a 2000 B18C1 dropped in my '92 CX, the only thing I had was a Skunk2 chipped P28 ECU.

Anyone else want to chime in on this with your personal experiences?

 

I stole this from myself.

Begin paste:

B18C5 engine wiring into a 1992-1995 Civic:

IMO the USDM ITR swap is easier to swap in. I've done this swap 3 times already and it is 100% easy especially if you run a re-chipped P28 and even more so if you have a 1992 Civic or any 1992-1995 Si, VX, or EX with VTEC wires.

Here's what you'd need too do if you have a USDM ITR swap:

KEEP the ITR engine harness. Regardless of what others say the plugs all plug right in. This way you get to keep the newer ITR distributor and injectors, and there is no need to rewire anything. Again this is from experience, not hearsay.

You'll have a few extra plugs left over on the ITR harness because the ITR has a few extras that our Civics don't have, like ABS, etc. You vcan just hide the extra plugs.

Now there's a few different ways to get an ECU to work, and I'll list them from easiest to hardest:

1. Re-chipped P28. This will simply plug in. No need to wire up for a knock sensor because the P28 doesn't read for one. Better fuel, timing, VTEC x-over, and rev limiter = more power. OBD1 so no need at all to run any sort of extra sensors.

2. Kenji OBD2 jumper harness and JDM P73 ECU. I ran this on my motor for a while before the kenji ECU. You'll have to wire up a knock sensor wire and that's about it. Drawbacks are that this ECU has a 113-115 speed limiter and it doesn't make the power that the kenji-spec P28 does. ThisECU has OBD2 type plugs but IT RUNS AN OBD1 PROGRAM AND IT IS ONLY OBD2 IN PLUGS!!! I ran this ECU with no extra o2 sensor, no crank fluctuation bullshit, etc.

3. Jumper harness with USDM P73 ECU. Why? I wouldn't do this unless I was in Cali and it was necessary for smog bullshit. You'd have to wire up all the extra OBD2 bullshit and the ECU sucks compared to a re-chipped P28.

So that's for the USDM motors, but what about the JDM ITR swaps?

As Apexi-ITR has said the JDM harness can be used. It requires some stretching but it will work. If you must get the factory look then get any OBD2 type engine harness from any USDM B18C1 or B18C5 and then it will plug right in just like I said the USDM swap does.

As far as ECU stuff goes, really a P28 is the better choice again but you will need to add a VTEC oil pressure switch onto the JDM ITR motor because it doesn't have one and the P28 looks for one. Just pull an oil pressure switch from another VTEC motor - didn't you use a SOHC one Apexi-ITR?

Or you can run the jumper harness and O.E JDM P73 ECU. This will save you from having to add the oil pressure switch, but you'll have to add a knock sensor and this ECU still has the shitty speed limiter.

USDM ECU? But why?

That's about all I can think of right now. I run the kenji-spec P28 ECU in my 1992 CX hatchback and with this method and keeping the ITR engine harness I did not have to add one single wire at all! It was absolutely 100% plug and play!

End paste.

As far as the 1993 LX goes, you'll need to wire up VTEC which won't be hard.

Pic courtesy of Katman:

 

hey man great post that is what i was looking for. I am getting the jdm type r since i found one at a reasonable price. So all i need is the p28 chip and to add a couple of vtec wires is that correct? Thanks again for the great post.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by scoobyghost &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hey man great post that is what i was looking for. I am getting the jdm type r since i found one at a reasonable price. So all i need is the p28 chip and to add a couple of vtec wires is that correct? Thanks again for the great post.</TD></TR></TABLE>

No problem.

If you do get the JDM ITR swap you will probably get a cut JDM harness. If the harness isn't cut you could possibly use that one even though you will need to stretch it a bit to fit and the harness won't be able to bolt to the strut tower areas like normal. User Apexi-ITR did his JDM Type R swap like this.

If you choose to run your Civic's engine harness then there will probably be a few more wiring changes, but nothing spectacular.

Here is a picture taken of an OBD2 distributor:



See those two big wires on the bottom of the plug? Those wires need to be moved over to the OBD1 engine harness's "extra" plug. The OBD1 engine harness uses a two-plug style distributor. It's no big deal, so simply move those two wires from the OBD2 dizzy plug over to the "extra" plug on the OBD1 engine harness as seen in this pic:



I know the text is hard to read, but We-Todd-Did is down so I rehosted them on ImageStation which uses some auto rezise crap.

 

sweet thanks guys