new to piston engines, going to attempt a mini-me, have questions!
Thread Starter
0.0 BAR
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 5
new to piston engines, going to attempt a mini-me, have questions!
howdy fellas. a buddy of mine pointed me here as a source for honda information. i gotta be honest with you tho, i'm not keen on turbocharging my civic at this point.
my background is mostly with rotaries. i've never actually cracked open a boinger before, so i'm entering new territory for me.
anyway, here's the skinny. i've got a '98 civic dx. my buddy is probably going to bestow upon me a couple parts from his '96 ex. namely the transmission and the head/intake/tb.
the transmission excites me, as the stock dx gearing is a bit less than entertaining. and as for the head, right now i'm trying to come up with as much info on swapping the head as i can. i understand this is called a mini-me.
anyhoo... i've done some searching around for my specific project (y8 head onto a y7 block) but couldn't find any good writeups, if someone has one bookmarked, i would be thrilled to get a link.
so on to the questions.
1. knock sensor. these go in the block, correct? and the y7 block is sans-knock sensor. what options do i have here? is there a spot to mount a knock sensor, or will i have to "customize" my block? also, if i'm going to be running this badboy at stock-spec (no messing with stock vtec settings, forced induction, or timing), can i just ground the knock sensor wire or something and fool the computer into *thinking* it has a knock sensor and just trust that it will not knock?
2. wiring. what sort of wiring issues am i looking at? i know i'll have to wire up a vtec solenoid, which seems easy enough, considering i managed to get a dual leading ignitor direct fire ignition system (DLIDFIS, pronounce that!) system working on my old rx-7. will i have to hack up the wiring harness much? would it be easier to just run a ex engine harness instead?
3. compression. i seem to recall reading that the y7 pistons produce a slightly higher compression ratio than the y8 ones. is this true? if so, would it be a good idea to run 89 octane and what does this mean for the engine's power output?
4. cleaning the head. i figure it would be a good idea to clean up the y8 head before i put it on my block, as it has almost twice the mileage. any recommendations for this process? chemicals i should use, should not use, or should i just not touch it and top off the oil with some marvel mystery oil?
5. emissions. i'm a bit concerned about this. in WA, they test obd2 emissions by just hooking up a code reader and verifying no error codes. is a project like this going to throw up any error codes? anything i should keep in mind as far as emissions go?
i appreciate any help that comes my way. this will be my first grand endeavor into the world of boingers and i have to say i'm just a bit apprehensive, having never worked on a piston engien before. thanks in advance!
my background is mostly with rotaries. i've never actually cracked open a boinger before, so i'm entering new territory for me.
anyway, here's the skinny. i've got a '98 civic dx. my buddy is probably going to bestow upon me a couple parts from his '96 ex. namely the transmission and the head/intake/tb.
the transmission excites me, as the stock dx gearing is a bit less than entertaining. and as for the head, right now i'm trying to come up with as much info on swapping the head as i can. i understand this is called a mini-me.
anyhoo... i've done some searching around for my specific project (y8 head onto a y7 block) but couldn't find any good writeups, if someone has one bookmarked, i would be thrilled to get a link.
so on to the questions.
1. knock sensor. these go in the block, correct? and the y7 block is sans-knock sensor. what options do i have here? is there a spot to mount a knock sensor, or will i have to "customize" my block? also, if i'm going to be running this badboy at stock-spec (no messing with stock vtec settings, forced induction, or timing), can i just ground the knock sensor wire or something and fool the computer into *thinking* it has a knock sensor and just trust that it will not knock?
2. wiring. what sort of wiring issues am i looking at? i know i'll have to wire up a vtec solenoid, which seems easy enough, considering i managed to get a dual leading ignitor direct fire ignition system (DLIDFIS, pronounce that!) system working on my old rx-7. will i have to hack up the wiring harness much? would it be easier to just run a ex engine harness instead?
3. compression. i seem to recall reading that the y7 pistons produce a slightly higher compression ratio than the y8 ones. is this true? if so, would it be a good idea to run 89 octane and what does this mean for the engine's power output?
4. cleaning the head. i figure it would be a good idea to clean up the y8 head before i put it on my block, as it has almost twice the mileage. any recommendations for this process? chemicals i should use, should not use, or should i just not touch it and top off the oil with some marvel mystery oil?
5. emissions. i'm a bit concerned about this. in WA, they test obd2 emissions by just hooking up a code reader and verifying no error codes. is a project like this going to throw up any error codes? anything i should keep in mind as far as emissions go?
i appreciate any help that comes my way. this will be my first grand endeavor into the world of boingers and i have to say i'm just a bit apprehensive, having never worked on a piston engien before. thanks in advance!
3.0 BAR
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 21,468
Re:new to piston engines, going to attempt a mini-me, have questions!
3.0 BAR
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 21,468
Re:new to piston engines, going to attempt a mini-me, have questions!
Originally Posted by cpt_gloval
what's quadnie? 
1. Why would you want to put the knock sensor on your motor? From what I have seen, they are wothless.
2. You just need a 12+ signal to the solenoid to activate VTEC. If you are using a VAFC you can just use the output from that to control it instead of an RPM activated switch.
3. Play with this for a while:
http://www.knology.net/~jediklc/D.htm
4. How many miles are we talking? Are you sure it was good beofre it was pulled? If you're sure it was good I would just clean it up with some degreaser and make sure it doesn't have any noticeable defects)cracks, chips in valves...etc...etc).
5. I have never had to worry about emissions myself, but this procedure shouldn't throw any codes wahtsoever. If you throw a code, you fucked something up.
I hope I helped.....
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote
Thread Starter
0.0 BAR
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 5
Re:new to piston engines, going to attempt a mini-me, have questions!
1. Why would you want to put the knock sensor on your motor? From what I have seen, they are wothless.
2. You just need a 12+ signal to the solenoid to activate VTEC. If you are using a VAFC you can just use the output from that to control it instead of an RPM activated switch.
3. Play with this for a while:
http://www.knology.net/~jediklc/D.htm
http://www.knology.net/~jediklc/D.htm
4. How many miles are we talking? Are you sure it was good beofre it was pulled? If you're sure it was good I would just clean it up with some degreaser and make sure it doesn't have any noticeable defects)cracks, chips in valves...etc...etc).
thanks for the help!
3.0 BAR
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 21,468
Re:new to piston engines, going to attempt a mini-me, have questions!
If you're using the EX ECU(P2
you will need to run a few more wires(or at least one that I know of for sure)for the VTEC oil pressure signal or you'll get a cel.
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote
you will need to run a few more wires(or at least one that I know of for sure)for the VTEC oil pressure signal or you'll get a cel.__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re:new to piston engines, going to attempt a mini-me, have questions!
Originally Posted by Dr.Boost
If you're using the EX ECU(P2 you will need to run a few more wires(or at least one that I know of for sure)for the VTEC oil pressure signal or you'll get a cel.
you will need to run a few more wires(or at least one that I know of for sure)for the VTEC oil pressure signal or you'll get a cel.
3.0 BAR
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 21,468
Re:new to piston engines, going to attempt a mini-me, have questions!
Ah, my bad. I just assumed it was an EG. 
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote
Thread Starter
0.0 BAR
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 5
Re:new to piston engines, going to attempt a mini-me, have questions!
3.0 BAR
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 9,089
Re:new to piston engines, going to attempt a mini-me, have questions!
boost stick w/ obd-0 stuff ok? :P
lol
here's what u do.
- swap the current DX ecu w/ your friends EX. (or buy one)
- get ahold of a 96-98 civic ex engine harness.
- take the head of your DX and replace it w/ the EX
- use the EX intake manifold
- use the EX harness u aquired and pop it onto the engine.
- start the car and enjoy your vtec
lol
here's what u do.
- swap the current DX ecu w/ your friends EX. (or buy one)
- get ahold of a 96-98 civic ex engine harness.
- take the head of your DX and replace it w/ the EX
- use the EX intake manifold
- use the EX harness u aquired and pop it onto the engine.
- start the car and enjoy your vtec
