EP Swaps - D17a1 swap--->d17a2

Hello guys I've been researching swaps and seeing what I can do to my car to get a little more hp. k20 and k24 are awesome, if you got a few thousand. But for people like me I need to gothe small way.

Now questions for those people who know:

Do I need a ecu, wiring harness and/or tranny for this swap?(D17a1 swap--->d17a2)

From whatI understand the d17a2 ecu tells the engine to open thevalves more athigh rpms giveing you that extraboost that you can feel.
but the d17a1 does not have that because its anon vtec honda engine. AmI right?

Wait... so you're wanting to put in an ex engine in an lx? Why the heck didnt you just buy the ex in the first place?

Moreover... why would you want to swap out a crappy engine with an equally crappy engine? for what? 5 horsepower or something? Even putting a turbo on the non vtec will be so expensive and such a custom setup that it be so much more worth it to do the engine swap and just go n/a

Just do the vtec head swap. Also Swap and turbo on these cars cost about the same. My goal is 350whp on the d17.

Michalo you do know how much a k20 swap AND a turbo is going to run you, right? Hey Dark, if you simply swap a k series engine you're looking at 6-8k... if you are thinking of boosting you're looking at another 2500 bucks. I tell you what, though... you swap in the k20a and you'll already be faster than the rsx-s you just took it out of (you're lighter, even the sedan)... that is 220hp right there. With a garret turbo on there you could be WELL into the 300s for wheel horsepower but you really have to realize that it will cost as much as your car is worth right now.

It isnt just an engine you simply switch out, there is a ton of stuff you need to upgrade, and then parts that go with that upgrade, and then more parts... gets really pricey and NO ONE ever does it. I have only seen ONE sedan with a k20 and that is only because it was at the same shop I was at when I went in to buy some crap. It was an 04 black sedan and originally an lx... still has the emblem on it too which is funny.

I understand what you guys are saying and I understand totaly. See this is the deal I had a cold air intake and me being dumb one day it was raining realy hard. and no I didnt drive it into a puddle or try to cross some deep water. As i was saying It was raining really hard I could barely see the lights of the other cars in front of me.so i was going like 15 may be 20 mph next thing I knew the car just stalled , tryed to stay on then died. I get out of the car and the water is everywhere. Its still my falt though I wasnt even thinking about the water going into the intake, I should have been.My bro had been telling me to watch out cuz he has one too.(only he is smarter than me).


So the reason I'm doing the swap is because I Thought well if I going to change out the motor I might as well put something better, but for me everything has to be under $1,000 so there you go a broke guys motor swap. So still the question do I need the ecu?

well id jus rebuild the engine.... do a head swap and go from there

Its faster and cheaperto do an engine swap $300 bucks + 60 for the ecu. Of course that doesn't include the labor. But when you're Mexicanthere's always acousinthat knows how to fix whatever your doing.
The only thing I'm wondering is if the wiring harness is the same. If not I'm going to have to get that too. I'm going to try to do a step my step write up on this as soon asI start, with lots of pictures.Wish me luck!

HEY!!! Tell me about what happened when your engine bogged!?!? You are now the first person that has had problems with an intake on their 7th gen!! I am back to stock because I had soooo much problems with my short ram and I didnt want to take a chance messing up my simota cai....

So when I drove in a rut the engine area would shake and the car would begin to lose power... To stop it I would press in the clutch and step on the gas and let the clutch go again. If I kept the revs up high it wouldnt do anything, but under 45 it was horrible! No one with an EX ever has problems, but LX seems to do it! What year is your civ? I am an 04 LX sedan!

Man I have to retype everything I just typed (my computer went stupid)

Well anyways my car is a 2004 lx sedan I put the cold air intake and had no problems, till the day that it took some water. When it did take in the water it just sputerd alittle and died. It didn't want to crank after that.
It might be your mass air flow sensor, My 00 Sentra would die ifI letgo of the gas.

How much water did the intake suck up? Worst case scenario its hydro-locked.

Yeah I'm pretty sureI did hydro lock it. I tryed to pull the pugs and crank it again but no luck.
There is like a small pond on the bottom of my intake.
I already have another engine to drop in to it but I'm waiting on a friend to come help me.
I'm going to tear apart themessed upengine when its out to check out whats screwed up, rebuild it and hopefuly turbo.
But who knows I'll probably never get around to it.

What engine are you dropping in?

I believe him about the intake in rain but I say bs on the new engine unless it is another D17... or unless I see a picture

Why do you call bs? Lol, he has to get a new engine, and you could get a k20a3 for under $1000.

:) I call it because people dont just have engines lying around to swap... not unless it is like Marty or one of those guys that seem to have all the stuff they need! What is the k20a3 out of? Is that the 7th gen si? I didnt know they were that cheap... any big difference between the a3 and the a1 and a2 from the rsx?

Yea, I guess your right.

The a3 comes out of the si and base model rsx,it has 160 hp. The a2 is out of the rsx types and has about 200 hp. Finally the a1 comes out of the integra type r, and I believe it sports 220 hp.

Ok your pretty quick to judge.
Anyways yes like I said before I just need a car right now so $300, a lot of hunduran help,a week and ahalf, andpresto I have my slow stockcivic back! Yeah itsno k20 but it was all done for under $400.
I gotpics of my engine and a quick write upon how to change youraxles. I'll post in a sec.

That was a long sec sorry about that I'm at work.
http://x25.xanga.com/0aad50e521333111514494/m79438926.jpg
Thats what water in the engine does i couldn't see it before cuz my a/c compressor was in the way.
At leas its not as bad as what happend to this mx6 thatI bought. LOL
http://xb5.xanga.com/489d5be449733111515538/w79439694.jpg
All the arrows point to places where there is damage. You can see all the way through this engine LOL

Hehehe sorry, I just like to call people out so I can see pictures faster! That is absolutely crazy damage, man... All that because of water, YIKES.

Well the mx6 was a diffent story the guy heard it knocking but still drove it till booom! It looks like the rod spined compleatly around at least once leaving damage from one side to the other. Luckly the head was still good.
Hey guys I made a How To for changing your axles you can check it out here.
http://www.hondacivicforum.com/m_380671/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm#380671

I've seen on civicforums a couple DIY on how to do a head (not header) swap from LX to EX... that looks waaay cool. BUT I probably wouldnt ever do it, though.

The only problem I see with that is you still need the ecu and all the wiring.(unless there is a way I don't know about) Then you have to ripout your dash to put it all in.. Seems like a lot of work for 15 hp was it? One I get my mx6 done I think I'm going to save up to get a k20 or a k24. Then I'll rip out my dash. LOL

Hey guys I got a question for you maybe someone can answer. After I did my swap I started up the engine and ran it really hard on my road like red lining it through the first 3 gears. When I got back home I popped the hood and my exhaust manifold was glowing. Any Ideas? I think it may be running to lean. But I have also herd of catsglowing cuz they are clogged. I'm going to try and put my old cat back on and see what happens.

Wellincase anyone wants to know I tried my old cat and the manifold still glowed. Iasked a dealer about it and they said they get guys in there all thetime asking about it. "normal?"I'm not going to worry about it to much. You guys should try it too. I belive it only happends in the lx/dx

hey i just got through swapping out my motor and so i can tell you all of the parts you need. for the D17A2 swap. you need the wiring harness, ecu, and head for the swap. the reason you need a harness is because (unlike older civics) there are at least 10 more wires on the vtec head than on the non-vtec and unless you want to pay a lot of labor, it would just be easier to get the harness. i have a vtec head and ecu and i know where a harness is sitting being unused right now. once you get the ecu in, you have to know the serial number of the car it came out of, so you can take your key to honda and have them reprogram your key to match that ecu.