For anyone that has ever swapped their own engine, how difficult was it if your not an actual mechanic? I am very mechanically enclined (I work on my nissan 180 by myself, I plan on doing a head build-up) I want to throw a b16a into my 94 civic hatch. It has no power steering or ac etc, would this be a fairly straight forward if I find a good write up on it? Doing it myself will save me about 800 bucks on labour that I could then you on the other goodies (i/h/e) or something else or just save. I have a nice place to do it in (my dad's garage lol) Ive got alot of hand tools, a couple impact guns from being previous millwright apprentice, jacks, jack stands, all I would need to borrow is an engine manual lift of some sort (I have a mechanic friend I could borrow this off of)

I plan to swap the b16a in and pull out the d15b7, and would give myself a month to do so. Is this going to be too difficult for an average gearhead with mechanical background to do if I have a good method to follow? Im not sure about the wiring though for the p30 ecu or would it plug and play because of the motor? Should I attempt it or pay some schmuck to do it for me, I suppose if I can at least get it in and all the fluids changed, the final bits could be finished by someone else. Let me know what you guys think I should do, and if you have done your own swap let me know what you thought or encountered while doing it.

 

I would not trust someone else to do the job for you, I've been a mechanic for many years now and done several motorswaps, they are not terribly difficult (especially if it's only d15 to d16) there are only minor differences in these two motors, I am not very familiar with whether the wiring systems are the same or not but it's a basic bolt in. If you have a somewhat mechanical background I can't imaging you having a very difficult time doing the job, it's just time consuming that's all. (about the quickest I ever got a motor swap done was me and three buddies swapped a JDM dohc ZC motor into a CRX in about 4 days in my buddies garage) If you have any other questions you can email me. efardoux@nmu.edu

 

he wants to drop b16a gen 1 in his car! ..iv done b16 before n there easyest of swaps especially into the eg models. first off is hubs if u hav a si ur set but DX model n bellow hubs will not work u have to upgrade to a ex or si front hubs to fit axles. the wiring harness is perfect for the swap but u will have to run vtec in the end n u will need motor mounts for b16 upgrade. shift linkage of course n other thn that its pretty straight foward swap good luck we are here to help u

 

lol sorry I meant to say b16, typo error.

 

shouldn't be too hard...atleast you are putting an OBD0 engine into an OBD0 car...unlike mine hah...its a b*tch trying to but a OBD0 engine in a car with OBD2 and have to pass emissions on the OBD2 plug..hah, but should be basically drop it in and plug it in except the hub assemblies depending on your model.