A Noob's Story To Glory!

[Azweezey]

A Noob’s Story to Glory
A MINI-ME FROM START TO FINISH
I don’t really know where to start other than when I started this build; all I wanted to do was switch from Dual-Point Fuel Injection to MPFI. Two’s months later, a junkyard D16z6 mini-me swap is what I end up putting into my car. It was a good thing I did too, because after taking my head off and washing it up, I noticed a huge crack on the side of the block that had to of been losing me a lot of needed compression within my motor. But before we get into my build I really need to explain the length of trouble I went through getting everything I needed to complete this build.
Let’s start with how I got my Intake Manifold, Throttle body, and EACV sensor that goes on the back of the intake manifold. Usually when you buy an intake manifold for a MPFI swap it all comes as one. But I didn’t get one that did, and it took me three trips to the junkyard to finally get everything I needed to do the swap. Only to find out that it actually came off a 95 Civic SI with a D16Z6 motor, which means that I need to change everything over to OBD1 including my distributor, fuel injectors, and ECU. At this point I was really into my car and wanting to make this thing go faster, plus every time I did take it on the freeway it would shake like an earthquake making it impossible to drive on the freeway. Now I’ve spent over $500 on the parts just to do the MPFI swap, this isn’t including the money it took to buy the d16Z6 head from the junkyard for $130 and two gaskets that are over forty bucks a piece. I finally get down to actually putting everything on.

D16Z6 Mini-Me Swap 1
Above is a picture of my new head after I wire brushed the excess gasket and other crud off of it, I checked to make sure the head wasn’t warped by using a level and checked the 8 points needed to make sure. After that I make sure the block is good to go so the head should fit nice and snug with no problems…

D15B2 Engine Block 1
I cleaned up the Valve Cover and took High Temperature paint to make it look good with a Dark Green base and Ford Blue for the Honda Symbol. Now this is where the real fun starts. I can start off by saying reading all of the guides that have been put up are pretty amazing, and people have done really good jobs having pictures and step by step tutorials on how to do both the MPFI swap and the Mini-Me swap that I got myself into, but even as good as those tutorials are, beginners really shouldn’t do these swaps. Before ripping apart my engine, I didn’t know a camshaft from a crankshaft and vice versa. But believe me now that am the least of the problems I came across while attempting this swap. From buying the wrong throttle body, ECU, and EACV, to dropping valve cover bolts down the one of the only holes in the head that goes all the way through to the oil pan. Not once, but twice in a row that happened, luckily the second time I knew better than two take apart the whole upper part of the motor looking for the stupid thing.

I first tried to stick a magnet down the same whole that the bolt went down and that didn’t work for the life of me. I really didn’t know if this hole went straight down or if it curved to where the bolt could have got stuck on the way down, which would have really sucked. After taking the head off with the intake manifold and exhaust headers, plus the timing covers that I had to go and get another one from the junkyard because I got really mad and took out my old one with a torch…It Happens…


So I finally get my head on and everything back on the way it’s supposed to be, and I go to plug in my new P28 ECU that is Virgin and non-chipped. I tried to make a wire harness from all the diagrams and tutorials and my harness came out to be this big jumbled mess of a thing. So I actually broke down and bought a wire harness off EBay for around $70, which I should have done in the first place, but you live and you learn…

Well After finally making sure that I plugged all the vacuum lines in right by buying a Chilton book on my vehicle finally because the internet was getting just too damn confusing by this time. Which I had a copy of the Haynes Book on my IPad and AutoData on my computer, I can still say nothing is like having that hard copy to look through when you really need to see detail in a picture. I finally got to start my engine and at first it takes a second for the ignition to start to turn over and then it sounds like it’s trying to but something isn’t sounding right with how fast it’s trying to start. It’s hard to explain other than it almost sounds like you’re starting a chainsaw. I have no clanking or metal on metal sounds, but I go and check my timing belt and it seemed to be really and the timing wasn’t lined up anymore.
So I take my head completely off to try and figure out what could be wrong for the fourth time since I started this build…right now I’m really stumped.. This is my first time ever doing any kind of work to my any car, I didn’t even take auto class during high school, but I am lucky enough to be a real quick learner.
Please Help
Joshua

[2 Stroke Toy Chest]

ok i am going to do what i can to help out

first of if you were intending for pictures i do not see any or the links there of

wiring can be breeze or a brick wall , but if my memory is working the obd-0 to obd-1 swap in like 3-5 more wires than a mpfi swap . And with the obd-1 head and fuel system you do not need the injector resistor box .
I am no electrican , and I have never bought any item on Ebay .. but a wiring subharness should be from company the specifies in electronics . Hopefully your product is well built and labled right .(not a obd-2 to obd-0 jumper or what not )

as far as the vaccum lines did you run them to the specs of the 88-91 or the 92-96 SOHC ?
do you know if fuel/spark is reaching the motor ?
when you reset the timing belt , did you remeber to tighten the belt tensioner ?

and replacing the head / mpfi swap will not remove the shakes while driving on the freeway , I would advise you check your steering , and suspension components . and since you already have the car partialy disassembled it would be a optimal time

[Azweezey]

ok i am going to do what i can to help out

first of if you were intending for pictures i do not see any or the links there of

wiring can be breeze or a brick wall , but if my memory is working the obd-0 to obd-1 swap in like 3-5 more wires than a mpfi swap . And with the obd-1 head and fuel system you do not need the injector resistor box .
I am no electrican , and I have never bought any item on Ebay .. but a wiring subharness should be from company the specifies in electronics . Hopefully your product is well built and labled right .(not a obd-2 to obd-0 jumper or what not )

as far as the vaccum lines did you run them to the specs of the 88-91 or the 92-96 SOHC ?
do you know if fuel/spark is reaching the motor ?
when you reset the timing belt , did you remeber to tighten the belt tensioner ?

and replacing the head / mpfi swap will not remove the shakes while driving on the freeway , I would advise you check your steering , and suspension components . and since you already have the car partialy disassembled it would be a optimal time

Thanks for taking your time to help. I'll start by giving the links to the pictures I meant to post.
1.Cleaned Head http://www.flickr.com/photos/azweezey/7920978158/in/photostream/
2.Cleaned Engine Block http://www.flickr.com/photos/azweezey/7920922314/in/photostream/
3. Head Gasket On. http://www.flickr.com/photos/azweezey/7920913596/in/photostream/
4. Opening for Intake. http://www.flickr.com/photos/azweezey/7920920434/in/photostream/
5. D16Z6 Vacuum Diagram http://www.flickr.com/photos/azweezey/7921001822/in/photostream/
Now for your Questions.
I have a lot of experience with electronics and wiring so that I am pretty confident it's working, I soldered and used heat shrink on 99% of my wiring. Just didn’t know if there would be a reason to use the resistor box because I have read different opinions. The wiring harness I bought is very good and works like a charm. Here’s the link to it http://www.uneeksupply.com/1991-Acura-Integra-Conversion-Harness-OBD0-to-OBD1_p_11798.html
As for spark and fuel, when I dad have everything hooked up and tried to start the engine, I made sure to check for both and I did have spark, but needed to change the fuse for my PG-MFI for it to give me fuel. After that I went to check compression and wasn’t getting anything in any of the cylinders. So last night I went ahead and took the head off again to check to see if maybe valves were bent and not shutting all the way. I’m not 100% sure that it’s a bent valve, but I’m really stumped on what it could be…

[Azweezey]

when you reset the timing belt , did you remeber to tighten the belt tensioner ?

and replacing the head / mpfi swap will not remove the shakes while driving on the freeway , I would advise you check your steering , and suspension components . and since you already have the car partialy disassembled it would be a optimal time

When i first put my head back on I didn't tighten it, and the belt skipped a couple teeth, I took off the belt and redid the timing and still have problems with my compression.

For my handling, When i took all of the parts off to do the swap I noticed that my engine mount for the lower back part of the motor was not attached to anything, and the drivers side top mount was broken and just moving freely with the rubber ripped off. I attached the back mount since it still looked good and replaced the front mount with a new one.

Now I have a couple questions...
1. Are the valves on a D16Z6 different from a d15b2 and do I need to do something to the block for the valves to fit?
2. I noticed I had fuel injector connectors that the negative wire is on both sides, which side is the black and red striped wire suppose to be on when its plugged in?
3. Would adjusting my valves make a difference enough to give me no compression?


And some more pics for you to look at.
1. Engine Block with damage from the valves.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/azweezey/7937701002/sizes/l/in/photostream/

2. Engine compartment http://www.flickr.com/photos/azweezey/7937542110/in/photostream/

[gregy]

nice to hear your story mate, got to learn a lot more with my vehicle to share my experiences as well

[2 Stroke Toy Chest]

when you say no compression , what numbers are you getting across the board
typically all sohc and dohc motors run in good condition between 175-215 in each cyl
make note if there is more than a 10psi drop per cylder

with the timing belt and head bolts . Were the new or re-used ?
timing belts can be used a few times over as long as there is no damage to the teeth or visual evidence of streching or tearing , personally i will not use the same head bolts more than twice (due to strech and warp ) , same goes for the headgasket most companys use the same grade materials but they are not intended for multiple uses .

as far as the differnce between valves i would ASSume they are different do the coresponding valve trains were eginerred for different fuel and rpm curves , they are also the 2nd to last step of atomization of your fuel delevery

i am glad you have perv exp with electrical once you find a link or a scematic diagram you will be golden
check in the FAQ section i know i posted a link to a resistor box wiring a while back its under the dpfi-mpfi swap i beleive

[Azweezey]

nice to hear your story mate, got to learn a lot more with my vehicle to share my experiences as well

Thanks for your repsonse,
I am now replacing my valves for my D16z6
Anybody have any sugggestions on what would be the best bang for your buck?

[Azweezey]

when you say no compression , what numbers are you getting across the board
typically all sohc and dohc motors run in good condition between 175-215 in each cyl
make note if there is more than a 10psi drop per cylder

When I say No Compression, I really mean there was literally 0psi showing up on the meter, and yes I checked to make sure the meter was working by putting a air hose up to it and it showed it was working...
The reason I had no compression is because the head I ended up getting from the junkyard already had bent valves, and being the noob I am, I didnt check that before reinstalling it. I would say 7of8 intake valves were bent and 2of8 of the exhaust valves looked bent after taking them all off... Here is a pic...
Before

After

with the timing belt and head bolts . Were the new or re-used ?
timing belts can be used a few times over as long as there is no damage to the teeth or visual evidence of streching or tearing , personally i will not use the same head bolts more than twice (due to strech and warp ) , same goes for the headgasket most companys use the same grade materials but they are not intended for multiple uses .

I got a new timing belt just to be safe, I was not sure when the last time it was changed and all the other belts looked pretty bad. I used the same head bolts only because I didn't turn the engine over at all, so there was no strain on them. But, the intake and exhaust gaskets I will need to replace again because they stuck to the manifolds and head.

as far as the differnce between valves i would ASSume they are different do the coresponding valve trains were eginerred for different fuel and rpm curves , they are also the 2nd to last step of atomization of your fuel delevery

i am glad you have perv exp with electrical once you find a link or a scematic diagram you will be golden
check in the FAQ section i know i posted a link to a resistor box wiring a while back its under the dpfi-mpfi swap i beleive

As for the valves, yes they are different due to the vtec and it being a 1.6L instead of a 1.5L. I found a set of all 16 for around $80-$110 on EBay and 29.99 for the 16 OEM Honda Valve Stem Seal Set Kit.
Engine: Valve Guide BECK/ARNLEY Exhaust $0.58e X 8 = $4.64
Engine: Intake Valve BECK/ARNLEY $5.08e X 8 = $40.64
Engine: Exhaust Valve BECK/ARNLEY Part $6.69e X 8 = $53.52
Engine: Pistons BECK/ARNLEY Part # 0125321 Includes (1) Piston and (1) Set of Rings $28.79e X8 =$115.16
Subtotal $231.03

[Azweezey]

I took the Valves off my D16A6 head and noticed that they fit right in the holes for my Z6 head...Is this going to work? I think they are slightly smaller than the ones that are in the Z6 originally. I got some Valve Grinding Compound, and a lapper tool to make sure they get a good seal and all new Valve Stem Seals. Im hoping this works because my next step is to put the car up for sale and cut my losses...After 3 months of non-stop working and not having a vehicle, I'm a valve a way from throwing in the towel on this build...At least I know what to look for on my next Honda, because we all know once you start, it's hard to stop working on these beautiful machines...
Im taking pictures of the two valves and we can see what the difference is...

[Azweezey]

I finally was able to get my car to start after 2 months, 3 heads, and over $2000 in tools and misc. parts needed. The weird thing is that I have a P28 A01 ECU that the car does not like to start up with...But when I plug in a P28 A52, it starts right up. I'm getting ticking sounds from inside my head. In order to get my car to work, I had to go get another head from the junkyard, and boy did I get lucky with that one. The day before I went to the junkyard, I noticed they got a new honda civic in, and when I got there, I was lucky enough to see it was a d16z6, and the car was wrecked, the front end was totaled but the head still looked good, and I took it. I brought it home and took it apart to clean up. I had to use my old rocker assembly for my valves from my previous head, and when I went to go put it on, I left one of the rockers off the camshaft and tried to tighten it down, It turned out that it snapped one of the rocker arms in the middle, the smaller one of the arms that doesnt goto a valve. Sooo, I had to take the whole rocker assembly apart and and put it back together piece by piece. Everything seemed to moved just fine, but now when the car is running, Ii'm getting a prett loud ticking noise from the top of the rockers...It doesnt sound like its damaging anything yet, but doen't sound like its going to take long to do something bad...

Should I open the head and retighten the rocker assembly just to be safe?

When the car starts it seems really loud compared to what it did sound like, is there a big sound difference when first starting a mini-me swap?

What All should I do to make sure the motor is good enough to start test driving?

Does anybody want to purchase this vehicle to have a little project car....Trying to get $2500 which is a $1000 under what I have spent on it in the last 5 months...