I just bought a b16 for my ek yesterday and was looking at the engine code and it reads just B16A then under it reads 1016474. now someone was telling me it was a million series but i need to know what kind of car was it out of possibly and is its j-spec.

 

JDM motors DONT have a # at the end of the B16a

USDM has a # at the end like b16a2

in your case it is a JDM b16a..if your motor is complete including the stock head that came with it, look at the casting on the head to see what year the motor is..it should be 4 circles and i think the year of the motor is the first cirlce, should be something like 9/2

 

I love how everyone thinks J-spec is so much different than American. The BIGGEST difference in USDM and JDM motors is the ECM. This statement applies to the B16A (it does apply to other but lets focus on the b16a).

The engines where made in a different facotry then that, that put the cars together. So they just shipped them over and put them in. In 96+ car in the US, Canada and some european countries the VIN was riveted to the motor and trans. If this still on the motor you can tell what car it came out of. You should also run the VIN and make sure the motor isn't stolen.

The easyist way to tell if it is from japan or not is to look on the timing belt cover on the side. If there is a spark plug sticker that has japanese characters, then congratulations you have a JDM motor. If there is no sticker, well who knows.

The B16A was only offered in a few cars Honda made so it can only be from a few different models (Civic, Del Sol, CRX; all of which are from the Civic family).

To add onto the post above; US, Canada and European countries have #'s at the end of the their B16 stamps. However not all engines used in these countries have # stamps and could still be a USDM or european motor.

 

its not the full engine its the bottom end, pistons crank everything, so are there any other ways to tell