Newb here .... looking for info.

I have a '92 D15b7 5-spd car. Runs fine w/ a little smoke. The rear of the body is really rough.

I recently scored a '91 D15B1 4-spd car. The motor won't run. Turns over real hard. Supposedly it smoked really bad (they used to tow a camper with it!).

I feel if it's possible, it would be easier to do a transplant. Here's the deal. Can I swap the entire motor/trans from the '92 into the '91 ? I'm worried about CV shaft lengths and motor mounts.

If that is not possible, can I just replace the motor only. Putting the D15B7 engine/harness/ecm in the D15B1's place, keeping the 4-spd. Will the tranny bolt up ?

Looing for advice.

 

I have tried the search function, but I am not finding anything close to my current scenario. I'm also browsing other forums. If anyone has any other resources for motor swaps, I'd be glad to do more research.

Let me give you a little more information on my scenario. This is not my daily driver. I'm first looking to get the D15B7/5-spd (from '92 hatch) swapped into the 4th gen just to make the car mobile. This may eventually turn into a project to learn more about Forced Induction. I'm not looking for specific HP numbers, and I know this would not be the optimal engine for this. My goal is to learn more about Forced Induction, not to make a mustang or camaro eater.

The other reason for wanting to use the D15B7/5-spd is because I have it, and it runs, and I also have a spare D15B8/5-spd (from '94 hatch) combo that I'm pretty sure would run on the same ECU and wiring as the D15B7.

Thanks for any info/thoughts you may have ...

 

i'm pretty sure that the motor mounts will work and the axles shouldn't be a problem

yea it'll bolt up and work

you need the D15B8 ECU, i think the wiring is the same

 

First off, thanks for your reply.

Even though the engine seems to have different mounting locations ? (ie., If I look at the '92 engine bay the motor/tranny mounting locations seem to be straight across from one another. On the '91 they are stagered. And there is an extra mount point up front on the '91 under the radiator. The '92 also has a couple odd extra mounting 'bars' on each side.

Sorry for the confusion here, just trying to clarify (I'm not saying your wrong.). So I should be able to use the '91 mounting brackets on the '92 motor/trans, to put the '92 drivetrain in the '91 chassis ?

Sweet, that one simple option to make the car mobile quickly.

Thanks, I do have the D15B8 ECU ... but I only have 1 wirning harness, the one in the '92 car (D15B7). That would be awesome if the harness will work with both ECU's and Engines.

 

yea, you'll use the mounts from the 91 civic, and put those mounts on the 92 civic's engine. also, to clarify, you'll use the 91 axles on the 92 engine and transmission.

copied this from the later mentioned link (i used brackets to edit it so it made more sense):
"Your car comes stock with a d-series engine. [D-series engines] bolt right in with out mount kits. You can use your stock shift linkage, axles, mounts, and even the tranny if you want"

http://www.ef-honda.com/ben/EFswapguide.php

 

by the way, the D15B7 tranny has a hydraulic clutch, and your 91 civic has a cable clutch. i read that it's a pain to put the hydraulic clutch in the 91 civic, so you may want to just leave it with the 4-speed.

 

Thanks, perfect clarification ! and thanks for the link !

Yes ... I noticed that as well. I wonder how difficult it would be to install the pedal assy. and clutch resivoir.

 

are you putting the D15B8 in the 92 civic? if you're planning on doing that then you might want to leave the 91 as a cable tranny. because if you take the hydraulic stuff out of the 92 and put it in the 91, then you'll have to get another set of hydraulic stuff to work with the D15B8, or you'll have to put the 4-speed with the D15B8 and hook up all the cable tranny parts.

 

TD,
I should have been more clear. My plan is to de-commission the '92. That was my daily driver up until about a month ago. It was only inspected through October. I'm sure I could have slapped some bondo on it and got another year out of it.

My plan for the 'new' '91 was to replace the motor/trans as one unit, part of me sees that as being easier than breaking apart the tranny from the motor. I realize that would require me to convert the '91 to a hydraulic clutch system. However I know my clutch cylinder in the '92 does leak over time (I carry brake fluid in the car for when I need to refill the cylinder). Now that I'm talking through all this, maybe I'd be better off keeping the 4-spd ...

Just to clarify:
'92 -> D15B7, 5-spd, hydraulic
'91 -> D15B1, 4-spd, cable (motor won't run!? I haven't spent much time trying to get it to start.)

Not to complicate things, but, prior to getting the '91, I bought a '94 just for parts. I got tired of looking at the '94, so I scavenged it for what it was worth (body parts, engine, tranny, and scrapped the rest). That's were the spare D15B8 and 5-spd come in.

 

alright, i gotcha now.

hmm... yea i think it'd probably be best to leave the cable tranny in the 91. Plus, if you're going for gas mileage on this car, i would assume the 4-speed has longer gears than the 5-speed, making the 4-speed better for gas mileage.