I recently got an engine swap done. My old engine was shot due to a blown headgasket, and getting a new engine was cheaper than replacing the headgasket and getting the stock engine milled, especially since it had almost 200k miles on it.

So i went to tigerjapanese, even though i have heard bad things about them, because they gave me the cheapest price and the quickest turn around time. Also i found a lot of shops didnt want to do anything less than a b-swap, or would charge me extra to buy the motor. So i told them i wanted the D15b and they said itd be 2 days.

Long story short, when i go to pick it up, i realise its not a D15b. The engine was stamped ZC. So i gave them hell, they cut some money off my bill, and either way i had a running car.

This is the engine i ended up getting:

http://www.jdmtigerjapanese.co...id=88

Does anyone know exactly what that is and where i can get parts for it? Im assuming most D series parts should bolt right up, considering im using all my stock parts except for head and block.

The reason this is important all of a sudden is because i think my thermostat is dying. The car never really gets up to temp while moving, and the rad fan never comes on (but the car never overheats, and the temp gauge and gauge sender still work). So i want to get a new thermostat but:

A) i dont know where it is on this engine

and

B) i dont know which year to buy it from. Im assuming any year should fit? I dont know.

Thanks to anyone who can help me out.

 

to find it, just follow the bottom radiator hose to the block. i believe if you get a thermo for a 90 model non si, it should work.. but im not completely sure, as i don't have much experience with zc motors.

 

Its definately not the old EF SOHC ZC engine... this ones newer.

I honestly dont think its a 1.5L either, since as far as i could find the ZC's didnt come in a 1.5L, atleast not in the 96-00 model cars, which this is supposedly from. It looks like the 1.6 D16Y7 from my old civic LX, but again, i dont know. There isnt a lot of info on the ZC engines other than the DOHC from the EF's or integras.

Thanks for the tip about finding the thermostat though, i thought that was it, attached to the block where the rad hoses are, but i wasnt sure. Now i just need to know which one to get...

Oh and one more question, is it going to hurt my car if its running cool? Right now as far as i can tell while the car is moving, the coolant is always flowing and its running cool (gauge sits at about 1/4). I can touch the rad hoses, and both are about the same temperature, and the rad cap isnt burning hot, neither is the engine. As soon as i stop the car and let it sit for maybe... 10-15 minutes, it will come up to operating temperature and the rad cap gets hot and the coolant hoses get hot, and the temp gauge sits in the normal spot a little below center. If its not urgent ill wait and get the thermostat this weekend and change it out, but if its bad for my car, ill do it tomorrow morning instead.

 

if the engine is stamped ZC, it is <U>not</U> the engine in that picture - all ZC engines are 1.6L - if you have a non-VTEC SOHC ZC, then it is basically the same as the 88-91 CRX/Civic Si/EX D16A6 and uses all of the same parts - non-VTEC engine has the spark plugs on the intake side of the head - if it is a VTEC SOHC ZC, then it is basically the same as the 92-95 Civic EX D16Z6 and uses all of the same parts - VTEC engine has the spark plugs on the exhaust side of the head

 

The engine is identical to the one in that picture, and its stamped ZC on the front.

 

Ok then so just to be clear, the engine looks like the one in the picture, so that means it is similar to the 92-95 engine, no matter what year car it came out of? Because i got the service manual for the 92-95 civic, and the only difference i can see after reading the engine service section is that the dipstick on my engine comes out the right side of the block, where as the 92-95 civic has it coming out between the headers.

Also because the sparkplugs are on the exhaust side, its a vtec engine? I guess ill have to take the valve cover off and check out the cam, because i dont see the vtec solenoid on the ouside of the engine anywhere.