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.