So first of all, I have an ek 96dx honda civic coupe. It came stock with the d16y7 motor. I snapped a head stud on the intake side while putting on a zc manififold, found a d16y8 head for cheap so decided that would be easier. Boy was I wrong. Replaced head gasket, torqued everything down correctly. But has issues. I have not wired up vtec yet. And i did not rewire the iacv to the back of the manifold. i reused the d16y7 throttle body for the meantime ( just for transportation) but had a real high idle about 3k+!! I could possibly have a vaccum leak but not 100% sure, due to the fact that my car is in New Mexico, and I am in maryland for the summer. So this is just for information purposes, this is the first time i've messed around with a 4 cylinder. But when I was messing around with it when i used the ex ecu that came with the d16y8 head it put the car in like a "limp mode" idiling at 2K, but when i gave it gas, it would die out. The same thing happened when i tried using a gsr throttle body with either ecu. The car runs at 3k with the dx ecu.
I'm really just trying to get some ideas so when I get back home I know what to expect.
The main questions I need answered are: Do you HAVE to have a vtec distributor with the vtec head? I assumed the d16y7 and d16y8 ones were the same.
I know that threre is Vtec and Iacv rewiring to do on the ecu and I have a printout for this at home.
Do I HAVE to have a Knock Sensor? I know the d16y8 block has one but the d16y7 does not. So that being said. Should i switch to obd1?? With an obd1 distributor?
Also i do have the gsr throttle body which is obd1 i believe, and i inttend to use this once the car is running well.
I am also running after market header and exhaust if that makes a difference, i'm only using 1 02 sensor.
Try to get back to me about this if you have done this before, time is not an issue. Thanks, Brendon Bond

 

I wish I could help you more, but all I can tell you is that neither the d16y7, or y8 have knock sensors. If you are using a obd2 ecu, with only one o2 sensor, you will have a CEL on of course. I bet many others on this site will be able to help with their first hand experience. I myself, have never done this swap.

 

Welcome.