Another great write up i found a long time ago.. I thought some people running the powerless d16y7 like me and with a low budget may be interested in this swap ( hey at least its cheap and you gain some hp and VTEC!!)

The stock motor is the D16y7. It's a 1.6 SOHC ( Singer Over Head Cam ) motor. I used the D16y8 head, intake manifold, throttle body, fuel rail, and injectors. The D16y8 motor is from a 1996-2000 Honda Civic EX.

Below are the specs on the individual motors.

D16Y7 = 1.6L SOHC non-VTEC 96-00 Civic CX/DX/LX 106hp
D16Y8 = 1.6L SOHC VTEC 96-00 Civic EX 127hp

Now, from what I have read the D16y8 block is the same as the D16y7 block. So, off hand, you are bolting on 21 HP. Not to mention w/ the compression change there should be some added HP. To top it off, you get the beloved V-Tec. I did this swap w/ less then $500.00. Now, I kept the D16y7 tranny for the time, but in a few months I'm geting the D16y8 tranny.

Now that we talked about the swap a bit, let's get to the write up. Just remember, there are differnt ways to do this swap. I may have used parts that you may not want to, or may not have done something you may want to. The parts in my list is parts that I used for what I wanted.

What I used to do this swap...



-D16y8 Head
-D16y8 Intake Manifold
-D16y8 Throttle Body
-D16y8 Fuel Rail
-D16y8 Fuel Injectors
-P28 ECU ( May also use P2P ECU, I'll get into that later )
-An Intake Device. ( The new setup will put the Throttle Body on it's side, not up in the air. )
-Torque Wrench
-Head Gasket
-Copper Spray
-Intake manifold Gasket
-Throttle Body Gasket
-Exhaust Manifold Gasket
-Timing Belt
-Oil + Filter
-Coolant
-96-00 Honda Civic EX Spark Plugs
-Some Wire, and Wire Connectors
-Colored 3M Tape to mark Fuel Line, Vacume Lines, and Coolant Lines
-A box of Zip Lock Bags and a Sharpie. That way you know what bolts go where.

Let's start by removing the old head, intake manifold, etc.



Start by disconnecting the negative battery termanil. ( If you have a Strut Tower Bar, I would recommend removing that now. ) Next, jack the car up, and put it securely on jack stands. (It's not completely needed to be in the air, but it's alot easier to work on it that way IMO.) Drain your oil, and coolant at this time. You may also want to change your oil filter while you are there. After they are done draining, put the plugs back in.



Now, to the engine bay. Remove your air filter system. Next, unplug your fuel injectors. ( You may want to number them w/ tape. 1 2 3 4 ) Unbolt the fuel rail from the intake manifold. ( You may want to get some kind of catching device. You will lose some fuel when you pull out the injectors. For example, I took a beer can, and cut it in half and used the bottom as my catch can. ) Pull the injectors out, and unbolt the fuel line to the fuel rail. Catch as much fuel as you can from the line. Swing it up, and out of the way. Now would also be a good time to remove the spark plugs.

It's important to have the motor in TDC. ( Top Dead Center )

This is how I have always done it. It may not be the best way, but it's my way. Do at your own risk, and do it carefully.

Take a longer screw driver, and put it in cylender #1. Turn the crank clockwise until you see the screw driver slowly rise up. Turn it until you see it move down into the motor a tad bit, and STOP! Back it up counter clockwise a tad. Then BINGO! TDC. Look on the cam gear, and you should see that the word "UP" is up.

Here comes a part that may be a pain in your *** for hours. Removing the anoying crank pulley. We need to take this off, to remove the timing belt. First, take the drivers side wheel off. Now, if you have an air impact wrench, try that to break it loose. If you have no go w/ that, as I did, here is a solution.



Take a strap wrench. Lay the strap over the crank pulley, but still have it loose. Next, lay some sand paper between the strap, and the pulley itself. This will let it have a lot stronger grip. Have someone hold the strap wrench, while you crank the **** out of that bolt w/ a break bar. Best of luck, but it will come off.

Finally, remove the spark plug wire, and swing them to the side. Remove the throttle cable, and swing it out of the way as well. Now, take off the valve cover, giving you access to remove the top of the timing belt cover.



Remove the top timing belt cover. Remove the crank pulley to get the lower timing belt cover off. Now, I do believe you need to remove the one motor mount on top to swing the timing belt off. Be sure to put a brace under the motor as a "safty". Finally, remove the timing belt.

( Yea, that's me. )



Now, unhook all the connectors on the intake manifold. You will notice that the IACV ( Idle Air Control Valve ) is on the throttle body for the D16y7 motor. I would highly sugest that you mark that plug. It needs to be alterd in the future to work right.

Now, unhook all vacume lines, coolant lines, and fuel lines. BE SURE to mark them what they are. It may be a pain in the ***, but if you mix up a line on the install, it will cause problems. Once everything is unhooked, and marked, it is almost time to lift the head out.



Remove the Dizzy ( Distributor ) from the head, and lay it aside. Unhook all connectors and hoses from the head. Unbolt your Exhaust Manifold, and pull it out away from the motor. ( There are some brackets under the car for the exhaust you may need to remove to do so. )

Double check all hoses, lines, and connectors are removed from the intake manifold, and head. If so, unbolt the 10 head studs from the head. Lay them aside. ( I would advise you to keep them in the same order to use them again. Unless you buy new which a lot of people would advise you to do since the bolts do stretch. Me, I just gave them an extra 5lbs of torque when tightening them back up. ) Now lift the head and intake manifold straight up, and remove it from the motor. ( It's a good idea to have some news paper laying down to place it on, or a box, etc. )



Now, look either on the block, or on the bottom of the head. There are 2 little pieces of tube that goes in the block to line up the head. Make sure they are in the block.

 

I do believe this is what they call "cross hatch" right? 107xxx miles at this time, still there from the factory.



Lay your new head gasket down, and make sure it's right!! I do believe it says "UP" on one side. Once it is, spray copper spray on the gasket. It will help seal. Now, carefully, lay the new head on. Make sure everything is lined up, it will fit nicely.

Now, put in the head studs. Remember, there is a certain order they must be tightend in, along w/ a certain amount of pounds of torque. If you have a Haynes manual, it has the information. Your owners manual may as well. If not, spend 10 bucks on the Haynes manual.

( My buddy John )



Once the studs are in to the correct lb of torque, you may want to crank up the lbs of torque another 5 lbs. I did, do to the fact I reused head studs when you arn't supposed to. My head does not leak, and everything is fine and has been for months now.



Now, put the dizzy back on the head, and bolt up the exhaust manifold. Be sure that the D16y8 cam gear is on TDC. Make sure the "UP" is up. Put the new timing belt back on, and timing belt covers. Also put the motor mount back on. Next put on the crank pulley.



Double check your work, and everything should be TDC. Check it just as we did before.



Hook up all vacume lines, fuel lines, and coolant lines to the proper locations. ( Just as they were before you took them off. ) Hook up the fuel injectors, put on the valve cover, throttle cable, etc. Also be sure to add the correct amount of oil and coolent.

Everything should be on now. You will notice that you don't have a plug for V-tec, the V-tec Oil Pressure Sensor, and that the plug for your IACV won't fit.



It is time that you have to run some wires yourself. That includes running them to the ECU.

Speaking of ECU, let's talk about that a bit.

You have some choices here. You can use the P2P, P28, or even the P2E you currently have. The P2P and P2E are OBD2, and the P28 is OBD1. Below is a bit of information about the 3 ECU's listed.

P28 : 92-95 OBD-1 Civic Si/Ex
P2P : 96-00 OBD-2 Civic EX Coupe
P2E : 96-00 OBD-2 Civic DX Coupe

Of course, the P28 and P2P are V-tec computers. That is the best way to go. However, some people chose to use the P2E, and just have V-tec activate via RPM Switch. The choice is yours.

Alot of people use the P28. They say it's easy to program, etc. If you use a P28, your going to change to OBD1. Doing so, you will need to buy a conversion harness. ( If you do, becareful. 96-98 are differnt then 99-00. So get the right one. ) Running OBD1 will only look for 1 O2 sensor, and no knock sensor.

If you get the P2P ECU, you will run both O2 sensors, you won't need the harness, but you will need to purchase and install a Knock Sensor. Since I chose to use the P28, I do not know much more information about this.

Okay, let's talk about the IACV. On the D16y7 motor, the IACV is on the Throttle Body. On the D16y8 motor the IACV is on the back of the intake manifold. This is where you need to do some of your own wiring. Take 2 pieces of wire, and add male connectors to both ends, and female connectors to the other 2 ends.

Hook the female wire ends to the D16y8 IACV. ( Make sure you bend them right to fit on tight ) Now, use the male ends to plug into the D16y7 IACV plug. Be sure to disregard the orange wire, as it will not be needed. Check the diagram included to compare the wires so you know which you will need to hook to what. Honestly, if you can get the D16y8 IACV plug and cut it w/ a few inches of wire on it, that's your best bet. If not, you just gotta play w/ it until you get the wires on correct. You got a 50/50 chance the first time.



Now, still on the IACV. You gotta move some wires around on the ECU. There is a diagram for this as well.

I recently just found this picture, and to the guys on ff-squad, mad props and thank you!!



At ECU plug A, move pin A14 to empty pin A12. Then unpin A13, and leave it unpined. It is not needed.

Click this bar to view the full image.

Now for wiring up V-tec. Take a wire, and run it from the V-tec solenoid to the ECU. Plug it into pin A8. Now, on the V-tec Oil Pressure Sensor there are 2 wires. One is a ground, and the other goes to the ECU. Again, I don't have the plug, so I can't really tell which is ground and which is not. Ground one. The other, run it to the ECU to C15.

If V-tec doesn't engage for you, switch the wires around on the pressure sensor.

Sorry I can't give the "Exact" on those 2 parts. The IACV and the V-tec Solenoid. It's just I didn't have the plugs. There are only 2 wires on each, so it is 50% chance of geting it right the first time.

I believe that is it. Use this write up as a guide, and only at your own risk. Thanks for reading, and I hope I have helped some of you.

 

another mint thread
someone sticky this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good write up rick10!

 

what happened to the pics?!?!

 

ummmm thread is from 2010, pics or image hosters expired.....

 

Amazing thread answered all my questions on the mini me swap <3 so doing this great hp per $ especially since im gaining and hear say 21 hp and a vtec engine!

 

This thread helped alot when i was doing my mini me swap