That's strange, anything I have ever heard about CA smog/emissions stated that JDM engines will not pass... but if anyone should know it's the guy at the smog testing facility, so he's probably right... or he doesn't care.

 

if you were to put the y8 head onto the d15 everything will work like it use to.

 

leave it in, take intake mani off and exhaust mani, then take vale cover off and remove head bolts, then buy a y8 head gasket and put y8 head on.

 

Yes, you need a torque wrench.

You tighten the head studs in 4 steps. This is the order to tighten the bolts on a D16Y8:
9 3 1 5 7
8 6 2 4 10

1. tighten them all to 14 ft-lb in that order.
2. tighten them to 36 ft-lb in that order.
3. tighten them to 49 ft-lb in that order.
4. retorque bolts 1 and 2 to 49 ft-lb.

All of that on torquing the head studs is right out of the Honda service manual, in case anyone is wondering (since most people say 2 steps, not 4. 92-95 service manual says 2 steps and 96-00 says 4).

Since you're going to be boosting you might look into getting ARP head studs (make sure they are specifically for the Y8). To install those, use an allen wrench to get the studs hand tightened in the block (make sure they are in all the way... sometimes oil will get stuck in the hole the stud goes in and make it very hard to tighten... in this case I locked 2 nuts together and tightened the stud that way). Then put your head gasket and head on over the studs. Grease the threads of the stud with the supplied ARP Moly lube. Put the washers on and then finger tighten the nuts. Then follow the steps above and add a fifth step to the torquing... torque all head studs in order to 65 or 70 ft-lb.

Use a new head gasket (OEM Honda... get the one for D16Y8)

Getting the head ported and polished would not be a bad idea. A mild port and polish can give you an easy 10 WHP gain. If you do that, have the valve seals replaced too (OEM) since you'll be in there.

You'll also need a new intake manifold gasket (yours will fall apart when you remove the manifold). You might look into a Hondata or Golden Eagle one (they don't transfer heat as much to the intake manifold).
You'll need to scrape this old gasket off with a gasket scraper or a razorblade. Same goes for the head gasket remnants on the block and the Y8 head.


Here's a good DIY of a head gasket change... this is essentially what you are doing, except you're putting a different head back on while putting it all back together.
http://www.civic-eg.com/viewtopic.php?t=2865




Since you were going to build the Y8 on the side though, i'm not sure if this is really the best option for you... how will you build it on the side if the head is on another engine in your car? Did you try to contact the company with the P2J ECU?

 

also use the y8 timing belt.

 

^Are you sure that the 96-00 JDM D15B doesn't already use the same timing belt?