Hi guys,

I just thought I would give you all an update on my project. There's nothing special really about my buildup, but I guess the way I built my motor is kinda out of the ordinary. I first bought the block and incmplete head in Feb 04, and since then I've been buying bits and pieces until last week when I got the last part. I know a lot of your guys said you wanted to see me take pics of the entire swap in my CRX. Well here it is:

(but first the specs}
-94 JDM B18C SirG
-91 YS1 LS cable tranny (temporary)
-Exedy clutch kit
-HCP 3 pc mount kit and adjustable linkage (temporary)
-Skunk2 stg 1 cams, S2 cam gears, and S2 valve springs
-S2 IM
-USDM 95 P72

Here are the pics that some of you have been waiting for:

BLOCK SITTING ON 2" THICK PLYWOOD


THE TRUNK WHICH HAS EVERYTHING ELSE


MY LEATHER OFFICE CHAIR WITH BACK AND ARMRESTS REMOVED

 

I moved everything to the car using my chair/dolly. I moved the head first, then the tranny then all the little stuff. The block I saved for last because I was expecting it to be really hard to move just like the first time I carried it alone.

But let me tell you, with the flywheel, clutch, PP, and alternator removed the block is not so heavy or akward. I was able to lift it up from the ground pretty easily and up onto the chair. Before, I was struggling to get the block from the tire where it was sitting up to the same chair.



Modified by BlueShadow at 7:44 AM 8/12/2004

 

Haha, that reminds me of when I got my motor. We brought it home in my friends 88 HF (that motor barely pulled us home) and moved it into the garage on one of those creeper things.

Got any pics of how loaded down the suspension is with all that crap in there?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr_CRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Haha, that reminds me of when I got my motor. We brought it home in my friends 88 HF (that motor barely pulled us home) and moved it into the garage on one of those creeper things.

Got any pics of how loaded down the suspension is with all that crap in there? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Well I was driving out of a driveway, and the suspension was creaking quite a bit. I'm gonna have to drive slow.

 

yo did you have to take out ur ac to fit all that in there?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by highhopes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yo did you have to take out ur ac to fit all that in there? </TD></TR></TABLE>

The motor didn't have an AC system on it.

 

the office chair is the best part

 

BUMP for another B18C1 CRX !! Mine's finally done. I have to break it in and then its time to go see the REF!!

 

BlueShadow, Lookin good man. Ya, definately take a lot of pics throughout the whole process!!
Are you planning on refing your engine?
Ryan

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by droppedcrxsi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">BlueShadow, Lookin good man. Ya, definately take a lot of pics throughout the whole process!!
Are you planning on refing your engine?
Ryan</TD></TR></TABLE>

I was planning on doing it on the 24th and I was gonna take 5 days to do it, but I'm getting really impatient so I'll be starting it today. The problem is now I only have 3 days with only 8 hours each day to work on it. I wanna do the whole swap in just 8 hours though. But somehow I dont see that happening. If I get codes I'll have to sort them out, and once I do that I'm gonna get it ref'd.

BTW, now that all you guys are here, I was aondering if you guys could help me out with a mystery plug on my custom harness. Nikitads custom harness/VTECC subharness has the plug for the VTEC oil pressure and the VTEC solenoid. However he also has a wire which he soldered into a loop. So it looks like a ground, probably for the VTEC solenoid. What is a good location to ground this wire?

TIA

 

You should have a ground wire comming off the vtec oil pressure switch, ground that on your clutch cable bracket, or something solid metal near by.
Ryan

 

Hey guys,

Well I'm back from my first day working on the swap. I didn't actually get to the swap though, I spent about 4 hours assembling the motor, then the place had to close down Those 4 hours should have been enough time for me to have the motor ready to be swapped. Things didn't go as well as they did when I did my practice assembly in my apartment. I managed to get the flywheel, clutch, PP, and the head all bolted on. However I ran into some problems when I started torqueing down the cam caps and plates.

The first bolt in the middle that I started to torque down fricking broke on me. It was broken too deep in the cap hole for me to dremel a slot through and screw it out. The hobby shop guy gave me a device with a chisel and part that you tap into the broken stud and turn like a screwdriver. However the chisel was too soft and it kept mushrooming against the stud. Luckily the guy at the hobby shop was very resourceful. We needed a chisel made out of harder metal, so he got socketed flat head screwdriver bit and sharpened the tip and at an angle. So it was like a small knife that was hard enough to cut into the top of the stud. Once the screw bit dug into the stud, I was able to turn it and pop the screw out.

That pretty much sums up my first day. If it had not been for that broken bolt I could have gotten the plugs, valve cover, dizzy, and VTEC solenoid all bolted into place too. I may have even been able to get the tranny and IM bolted into place. Oh well, hopefully I'll have better luck tomorrow

Also thanks for the info about the VTEC ground.

 

Cool build-up. I am also planning on putting a GSR in my 88 since I have to rebuild it from the theft that took place, but that probably wont happen till sometime later next year.

Keep us all posted
Are you doing this in your apartment ?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by I3ackfire &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Cool build-up. I am also planning on putting a GSR in my 88 since I have to rebuild it from the theft that took place, but that probably wont happen till sometime later next year.

Keep us all posted
Are you doing this in your apartment ?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I bought all the parts over a period of 6 months, and I stored all the parts in my apartment. I'm assembling the motor and doing the swap at the base hobby shop.

BTW I had a question for you guys. I'm gonna get some replacement cam cap bolts from the dealers if they have them in stock. But if not I'll have to go to my local NAPA who I know will have the bolts in their shelves somewhere. I just wanna give the OEM Honda bolts another chance. BUT if I have to get the NAPA bolts I had a few concerns.

If I cant find an 8x50 bolt that is the correct length, and end up having to get one that is a litle shorter. Will that affect the valvetrain balance at all? Also there is nothing special about the Honda cam cap bolts is there? are they just regular stainless steel bolts?

Thanks

 

2nd day of the swap completed, I managed to assemble the entire motor. And I also got the car jacked up and I started to take the hubs of and tne hood an, battery, and engine started to come out. Everything was going along quite smoothly...I didn't have any brainfarts, or anything else break on me. However my hayfever which started yesterday has gotten a lot worst. I was sneezing nonstop for the whole 8 hours I was working. That only slowed me down a little, bu what slowed me down even more was the guy that had to get my engine out of the secure storage was dragging his feet. I waited for 20 minutes for him to get my stuff outto me. And to top it off the place decided to close up early!

Tomorrow I should be able to get the DX motor out in 2-3 hours and then I'll have 5-6 hours to get the B18C installed. I haven't taken any pics yet, and I'm sorry to say taht I may not have the time to take pics tomorrow. I wanna zip through this last day, and with any luck it will actually be my last day.

 

Oh yah, on he subject of me not breaking bolts, the reason I didn't break any is because I got a beam type torque wrench which I think works a lot better. The only time when I think I came close to breaking a bolt was with the tranny. One of those big 12mm bolts that bolt the tranny to the block was being hard going in. I coated it with a little oil but it was still hard going in. I was passing 450in-lbs, at which point the bolts was still turning a little hard. But all of the sudden the bolts started turning a lot easier and the torque reading went down to 350in-lbs. At first I thought cool the bolt is going smoothly now, but then I stopped because I think that maybe I had overtorqued the bolt and it was ready to snap.

So anyways, I was just wondering how easy is it to snap one of those 12mm bolts? arent't all the 12mm bolts, like the one for the tranny, engine mounts and bracket all garde 8 or 9? what would it take to snap one of those?

CLIFF NOTES with my superhuman strength I almost broke a grade 9 (I think) tranny bolt. How much force does it take to break a tranny to block bolt?

TIA

 

Day 3 of the swap, I put in 10 hours of work on the car and I almost had it done today. All I had left to do was the shift linkage, axles, hubs, radiator, header/cat and ECU/OBD conversion harness install.

I managed to get the B18C with the help of another guy at the hobby shop. And he just happened to be the owner of of a CRX that got into an accident (which he had a B16 installed into), and a 4G Hatch which he was swapping his B16 over too. I had been using his car for reference because he had the alternator dent and the rear crossmember lip bends. He came by just as I had finished taking out the stock motor and started banging the frame rail. Good thing he came by and offered to help me drop the motor in, because it was a lot harder then I thought it would be. However he said it was one of the easier installs he has done.

Anyways, the last day of the swap will only be for a few hours because I will be doing it during my regular work day.


Modified by BlueShadow at 3:29 AM 8/16/2004

 

Sounds like its comming right along!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by droppedcrxsi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sounds like its comming right along!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yah, the third day went by a lot smoother then the other two. The thing that sucks though is I didn't get a chance to take pictures like I promised.

There were a few instances where that might have helped out a lot of the first time swappers too. For example, I was trying to figure out how to remove the rear bolt on stock rear mount, but I couldn't figure out how to get to it. But then I got to it by going straight down through the heater hoses/control lever and using a flexy head and a long extension. But hey if a first timer like myself can figure it out just by reading about it and looking at all the swap FAQ sites, then anybody should be able to do it.

Another thing about dropping the motor in is it definately is a 2 man job, especially if it is your first time. It helps if the other guy has done it before too. The other guy knew the little tricks to letting the motor slide in.

 

One more thing, I will try to remeber to bring my camera in on the last day. But one thing that caught my attention is the front crossmember and the front mount. Do people remove the front mount location on the crossmember because it would get in the way of the tranny when it is being dropped in? I thought it was because the mount would interfere with the header, but after dropping the motor in it doesn't look like the clearance is for the header.

EDIT: and another thing too...I have a HCP adjustable linkage. Does it matter what position that tranny lever is in when adjusting the linkage? I'm talking about the thing that sticks out of the tranny which you put the 8mm spring pin (aka bitch pin). it looks like the lever goes in and out but I'm not sure what position to best install the linkage in.


Modified by BlueShadow at 3:27 AM 8/16/2004

 

To get the rear mount out I just inserted a box end wrench straight through the mount, and loosened. As far as the front mount goes, cut it off. It will just get in the way when you are putting the engine in. Well it did with my hasport mounts.
Ryan

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by droppedcrxsi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To get the rear mount out I just inserted a box end wrench straight through the mount, and loosened. As far as the front mount goes, cut it off. It will just get in the way when you are putting the engine in. Well it did with my hasport mounts.
Ryan</TD></TR></TABLE>

About the rear mount, when I read about how you did that I thought that at first that's how you got your front bolts off. But once I saw the rear mount's rear bolts I then thought that you were talking about the rear bolt and not the front one. I tried to stick my wrench through the mount but I couldn't get to it. But I did manage to get a 14" extension and swivel head through the heater hose lines and undid the rear bolt from directly above. I just had to get the swivel head centered and down on the bolt before I could start loosening.

About the front mount, the shop didn't have anything I could use to cut it with. while dropping the motor the tranny did keep catching on it. But we still got past it pretty easily.


Modified by BlueShadow at 3:26 AM 8/16/2004

 

i'm pretty sure most of the tranny bolts are 17mm, and maybe a few 14mm. but how the hell are you almost breaking them, maybe you did 350 ft.lbs. instead of in.lbs. lol yeah right.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rjay8604 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i'm pretty sure most of the tranny bolts are 17mm, and maybe a few 14mm. but how the hell are you almost breaking them, maybe you did 350 ft.lbs. instead of in.lbs. lol yeah right. </TD></TR></TABLE>

About the tranny bolts, I forgot to mention that there were some metal shavings inside the tranny hole. I tried to blow it out and I even lubed up the bolt with a little oil, but it was still hard going in. I wasn't using ft'bs though...if I was then I'm a lot stronger then I thought. hehehe, but yah I was using my beam-type torque wrench which has the readings in in-lbs.

I probably should have re-tapped the hole or something huh?

 

maybe theres a awkward force on the threads, cause them to be tough the whole time, i think a good "pretty damn tight" with a like 8" long ratchet will be sufficient. i'm sure you'd rather not break another bolt head. I FORGOT TO SAY. one thing i remember about the b series tranny bolts, they all look similar but they use a few different lengths, you might be bottoming out a long bolt in a shallow hole. so make sure your using the right length bolt with respect to the bolt holes.