Just did a y7/y8 minime in my 2000 ex.
no knock sensor installed yet.
car, when cold has a hard time finding and maintaining a steady idle
ranges from 750-1500rpm. i'll try her warm later tonight.

all other sensors and hoses are attatched, no cat installed yet.

 

On the OBDIIs, the ECU needs to recalibrate idle by running for a while. The calibration is saved in RAM thus it is lost when the electrical power is cut. Any first start after disconnecting the battery is going to be unsteady.

 

how long should that take. once shes warm shes starts almost dieing the revs get so low?

 

You should check the IACV. If it looks like its dirty clean it up with carb and choke.

 

it was dirty when i took it off, before the swap. i did clean it.
my best guess, from driving her around today, is its a vacuum leak. its hard to keep her alive in neutral with the foot on the brake and her rpms drop hard in neutral coming up to a stop, while im on the brakes. ive had hose issues with this car, lol. most of the problems im having are because im trying to reuse hoses that are 11 years old and have 200000 miles on em. how much would having all the vacuum lines replaced and having most of the coolant lines behind the motor cost? average? id love to do them myself and save some money but my time is short, i really wanna take the car across the country in less than 5 days lol.

 

You do have the proper ECU for your IACV type, right? DX auto or manual uses a 3 wire valve. EX uses a 2 wire valve if manual, 3 wire if auto. If you're converting a DX / LX manual to be a VTEC EX with the EX manual ECU, you should also swap the intake manifold and rewire for two-wire IACV.

Vacuum leaks make a MAP controlled engine idle too fast. So I don't think that's your problem. Whatever air comes into the intake, the MAP will detect and match it with fuel in the proper ratio.

 

its a 00 ex manual with a y7/y7 minime. y8 im. y8 iacv. y8 manual. the only difference from this "swap" and a regular y8 ex is that the block is a y7, and it has a cai. thats all folks! oh and i put a little breather filter on the valve cover where the hose normally goes into the intake tube. its got the y8 TB, y8 map sensor, y8 AIT sensor.
but if the vacuum leak is past the map sensor wouldnt it idle low?
anyone know a good link with the vacuum and or hose diagram. my chiltons does have squat! i still think its a hose somewhere and its cheaper to check that off the list than to replace the iacv. and the iacv was working fine before, i cleaned it with carb cleaner 3 days before i put it in and it just sat on a shelf. idk you could be right mk and what your saying makes sence accept the vacuum leak could be after the map sensor right? the maps on the TB and theres all kinds of hoses on the IM after the TB.
im going out to fix the coolant hose and finish my exhaust with a new downstream o2 sensor tomorrow and im prolly gunna take it to a honda guru a few miles away.