D15, D16, D17 and Mini-Me swaps
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By EG Love
#316581 I'm not sure if you guys know much about the canadian el's but I believe they are basically a civic EX from the US. (d16y8)

I'm looking at changing up my winter beater and buying a 1999 acura el premium edition with auto trans with a blown motor. I still have my old d16z6 out of my 93 si hatch, what would it take to put this motor into the EL? Will it be more headache than its worth or would it be pretty simple
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By d-mon
#316583 not too hard.
y8 has knock sensor, z6 does not.
i would use 0db2/1 adapter and p28 ecu
and distributor adapter from rywire.

are you going to do an auto 2 manual swap?
User avatar
By teal_dx
#316585 As long as you don't have to pass emissions you'll be OK. OBD1 motor/ecu in OBD2 car = instant fail in some US states. :(

One more thing to research is if the OBD1/OBD2 auto trannies use the same sensors/signals from the ECU. I know the OBD1 autos have a cable from the throttle body but I think OBD2 is different. So the OBD1 P28 may not jive with the OBD2 auto tranny. Not saying it won't work for sure, but I'd look into it before buying. :thumb:
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By EG Love
#316586 no, i would be keeping it auto more than likely. auto should be fine just as a winter/ second vehicle for when my hatch is down.. sorry i don't know much about electronics :? but from what i gather you recommend getting a p28 and plug it in using an obd2(a?b?) to obd1 ecu conversion harness, and also simply plug the distributor in using a obd2 to obd1 adapter
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By EG Love
#316588 ah yes, here come the complications :lol: thanks for pointing me in the right direction. yes thankfully we have no emissions testing here :thumb:
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By EG Love
#316605 I think im going to ditch the z6 idea and find an obd2 motor. So a d16y8 would plug right in to the exisiting everything but would I need a different ecu for a d16y7?
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By d-mon
#316675 cable on throttle body is 'kick down' to keep the rpms from dropping off suddenly when you let off the gas, like a shock absorber for the throttle.
but obd2 auto trans are controlled differently than obd1 auto trans (on civics) so an auto p28 would not work for a y8/auto.

also auto y8 and all y7 use 3 wire iacv (incompatible with obd1).

was thinking you were swapping in z6 engine and m/t.
User avatar
By EG Love
#316706 Oh thats neat about the throttle cable on the auto. ah that answers another question, my buddy said a p28 out of an auto civic would work but he is wrong lol. No, i am planning on keeping it auto, trying to keep things relatively straight forward.. I'd say its safe to say putting the z6 in is out of the question. possible, but not worth my effort, im already a little starved for time..

I looked at the car today and i'm going to buy it - fully loaded premium edition including heated mirrors and seats sounds good to me especially during the winters lol :D

With dropping the y7 in, i just realized the iacv are in different locations, the TB on the y7 face upwards.. I have a spare y8 head, so ill just swap that onto a y7 block and then everything should plug and play i believe, without changing the ecu. Plus the blown y8 is most likely a bad block so I may use the head too

thanks for the help guys :thumb:
User avatar
By teal_dx
#318265 +1 I would put an OBD2 motor in an OBD1 car, converting it to OBD1. But putting an OBD1 motor in an OBD2 car is more work. You could re-use some of the OBD2 components when possible to avoid wiring issues (alternator, distributor, engine harness) but a problem that comes to mind is OND1 motors don;t have a knock sensor on the block while OBD 2 motors do. So there is a sensor that the OBD2 ecu won't be able to read which gets you a check engine light.