Hello,
This weekend i performed a MiniMe Swap on my 1996 honda civic DX Coupe
I took my d16y7 head and intake manifold and swapped it to a d16y8 Head and Intake manifold and also swapped to an P2P ECU.

I went to start the car for the first time this morning and it did turn over and start but very poorly, like rpms in the 300's struggling.

now i did hear a vacuum leak and i have located it to be on the intake manifold where it bolts onto to the block. so it didn't get a good seal i guess? so i went to hardware store and got some gasket sealer paste and then took off the manifold and applied it on both of the gasket surfaces and bolted it back on. waited 2 hours like the instructions said and fired it back up, sounded like it was running worse and i still heard the leak -_-

I tried giving it gas and there is a big delay to it, just running really rough. it was spitting out white smoke from the back i looked that up,and that was said to be normal after a swap.

I let it run for a bit, the engine felt really hot, like it was going to overheat, i don't know why it would because it was full of coolant and the thermostat did pop

so now i am kinda stuck here, not sure why it running poor, maybe because of vaccum leak, i do have a vacuum gauge and that thing was just moving everywhere,
also not sure why it is overheating

Any help would be great, i am worried for my car :P
if there any other info you need know just hit me up.

 

Unbolt the intake manifold brace from both the block and the manifold, tighten manifold stud nuts, then attach the brace.

Check the valve adjustment and the timing. Disconnect fuel injectors one at a time with the engine idling to see if the problem is confined to one cylinder.

If the new intake has a 2-wire IACV, you will need to rewire the harness for it.

White smoke from the exhaust is usually not good, unless the old engine was blown and left a bunch of water in the pipes and converter. Make sure the radiator is full. Start the engine cold with the radiator cap off and see if anything blows out of the radiator when you rev it. That would indicate a head gasket leak or cracked head.

 

Hey just to let you i think i found out what was causing the vacuum leak - my d16y8 manifold was a 2000 civic since mine is a 1996 i guess the manifold was different- it had a air injection ports that had nothing going to them on the manifold that was faced into the head, so i couldnt see it- now i took it off and j-b welded the holes shut.
Just waiting for it to dry now
going to start it tomorrow morning =D

 

So I started it today - the vacuum leak no longer exist , but it still had idling problems. On a. Cold start It runs perfectly fine. The vacuum is steady and the idle is at 1200 rpm and the care is building up oil pressure around 50psi- it's not until I push the gas pedal and rev it up it starts messing the up- the oil pressure drops. Vacuum going unsteady from 5-15 and then the rpm goes to 500 - I don't know what could cause this- the only check engine code I have is p1259 which is vtec so that can't affect it - I do not have a knock sensor install I am not getting a cel light for it - but I did just order one to install , but I'm not sure if that would make a difference . It's a 1996 Honda civic with a p2p ecu with a d16y7 block and exhaust and with a d16y8 head And intake manifold
Any help would b great thanks=)

 

Is there a 2 wire vs 3 wire IACV issue, and if so have you modified the wiring to resolve it? The manual EX ECU requires a 2 wire valve, which connects to different pins on the ECU.

If you don't have a knock sensor or VTEC hooked up, and you still have a 3 wire IACV, put your LX ECU back in.

Realize that every time the battery is disconnected, any OBDII will begin to idle unevenly and even possibly stall, until it recalibrates itself. This process is hastened by actually driving the car on the road rather than just idling.

 

The ecu I have right now is from a 97 auto civic and the old one was from my car was a 1996 dx ecu - so I don't really see why I would switch them back the iacv fit fine with out any repining or re wiring.

As for right now would it be safe to drive it around- I don't want to hurt it .