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'89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested...

1254 Views 17 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  997Timbo
http://www.nsadhal.f2s.com/crx/index.htm
My cousin and I did this swap last summer, but he only now just gave me the photos from the digicam. '95 B18b1 into '89 CRX.
Just thought I'd share if anyone's interested.
Somebody told me it's against Vortex rules to post pics of yourself, but I couldn't find that in the rules anywhere, maybe I didn't look intently enough.
Here's the pics anyway. I'm the one with the shirt that says "Troy High School".
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
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Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (nsadhal)

Me and a friend were talking last year about how awesome it would be to swap a VTEC engine into a CRX. We didn't realize what a common and doable job it actually is. That car's going to fly. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
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Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (nsadhal)

Nice! I wish I had the mechanical skills to do something like that.
http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

How many hours total from start to finish do you think it took you guys?
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Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (nsadhal)

haha look at this license plate http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
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Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (garbage)

quote:[HR][/HR]Me and a friend were talking last year about how awesome it would be to swap a VTEC engine into a CRX.[HR][/HR]​
Just as a FYI, that swap is not a VTEC. The VTEC swaps are a bit harder (wiring and what not).
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Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (TurboDave18t)

quote:[HR][/HR]haha look at this license plate http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
[HR][/HR]​
LOL, that plate rocks http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
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Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (2lowA4)

yeah, it's actually pretty funny because the car looks like a ricey piece of crap right now... it's all dented up and the paint sucks, but it's on lowered on 17s... SSR GT1 knockoffs.

About the VTEC and such... yeah... the original plan was for a b16a (civic SiR, 00 Si), but they're more expensive and harder to get... so we opted for 200 more cc's even tho it's 20 less horses. The car feels like a torquey bastid now, even tho i t's only like 126 ft lbs or something.
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Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (nsadhal)

Any idea how much that car weighs now? How much weight did the new engine add? And how much power are you getting now?
Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (garbage)

wow i wish i too had the mechanical know-how to do that ...
and how much tighter is it in the engine bay?
Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (garbage)

the new engine/tranny added ~100 lbs
the specs on the b18b1 are 140 hp @ 6300 and 121 lb-ft @ 5200
the specs on the original d16a6 are 108 bhp @ 6000 and 100 lb-ft @ 5000.
While the gains may not seem like that much, the engine adds a lot more tunability. It's dual cam instead of single, and it has a lot more potential for forced induction.
btw, does anyone wanna buy the '62 aircooled in the back of this picture? http://www.nsadhal.f2s.com/crx/images/102-0289_IMG.jpg
you can have it real cheap, and it comes with a rebuilt bored and stroked engine... with some fancy parts, making somewhere in the vicinity of 70 hp...
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Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (nsadhal)

30hp and 20lb/ft. is definitely going to be a noticeable gain in a car that size. And if you can figure out how to get the thing in, I'm sure you're going to have a blast tuning! http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
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Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (garbage)

actually we don't know jack about tuning... we just followed instructions... i'm surprised nobody has noticed from the pics... we're two high school kids... it took us much longer than it should have... just use the Helm's manual as a bible... and a lot of internet pages.
i dunno, i get a kick out of learning stuff though. i think we should work on the suspension now, simply because too much power in a FF car == major torque steer and no traction...
edit: my bad about the power, it's actually 127 ft lbs and 142 hp, and it's a fair amount tighter in the engine bay, we had to hammer a section of the engine bay with a baby sledge to clear the crank pulley


[Modified by nsadhal, 4:14 PM 2-12-2002]
Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (nsadhal)

Congrats man! The helms manual is the sh-t!!
Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (nsadhal)

Awsome!!!
I MAACO'd my '91 Si recently and plan to drop the ZC in it next year. I fear my lack of patience (and know how) will result in my death if I try anything more difficult than that. 130hp from 108hp in a 2100lb caris pleeeeenty for me. I just hope I can get a ZC in descent shape. I fear buying mailorder may result in garbage, though. You're lucky you can inspect where you are (i.e. most JDM importers are in LA).
http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
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Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (uncleho)

Actually JDM engines are a big pain in the butt in California. The engine we used was a USDM b18b1 from a '95 Integra. It was all California legal anyway. The car has yet to be smogged though.
Which brings up another point... the ZC isn't gonna be smog legal, but i guess if you're not in CA, it doesn't matter.
We also got the engine from a Honda/Acura junkyard in Fontana (K&P) auto... and we had a pretty bad experience with them, so I don't even want to imagine what you're going to have to deal with if you mailorder it. With any swap, especially when converting emissions systems and such, you're gonna hafta have extra cash lying around for all the miscellaneous parts and you're gonna hafta make sure the guy at the junkyard is giving your the right parts (ZC will probably be less hassle).
I don't know how many times the guys at K&P gave us the wrong parts, they even gave us the wrong engine the first time (OBDII instead of OBDI, sure it's just the intake manifold and a few wires, but we weren't prepared to deal with it... we asked for OBDI...).
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Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (nsadhal)

That motor looks very clean...is it a crate motor??
Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (VWTornado)

Swapping honda engines is a lot of fun. I did my ZC all by myself in 3 days. I had a shop to work on it in and a left and everything at the time. makes all the difference in the world to have the right tools. there is enough good info on the internet to do almost any swap into a crx by printing out articles and following instructions
kevin
Re: '89 CRX Engine Swap pictures, in case anyone's interested... (kevwithoutacorrado)

No, it's not a crate motor, it's from a '95 'teg... from a scrap yard. We just cleaned it up a bit.
About having the right tools... hahaha... we broke a few Craftsman tools (lifetime warranty) because we had no way to get the flywheel off (to change the bearing)... We wound up using a 6 foot pole with a torque wrench on the end, and then another six foot pole to hold the engine in place... I think we broke 3 or 4 sockets before the flywheel came loose.
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