Can I do it myself

ok i was goin to have a shop swap out my gutless d15b8 with a b-16...so a friend of mine says why dont we do it in the garage.my buddy has done all kinda of mods to domestic cars and trucks no honda experience though. i have changed my drive shafts clutch and change my own oil all the time........now the question how hard is it to do this swap no ase certified mechanic. just a couple guys a garage tools and hope of saving a grand......can someone just let me know how hard this is to do..........the wiring is what makes me nervous.

please dont tell me this is easy if you have never done this........if you have done this and can let me know what problems i might have it would be appericiated.

shane

Provided you have a cherry picker, some basic mechanical knowledge, general hand tools, and a haynes manual, the 2 of you should be able to pull it off in a weekend.

i have heard u dont need a cherry picker its a 4 banger anybody else heard of this

i have heard u dont need a cherry picker its a 4 banger anybody else heard of this
What are you going to use to get the motor in/out of the chassis??

People put the car up on jacks and drop it out hte bottom...then use four or five people to lift it back up into it.

If im not mistaken, dont you need custom mounts for doing a d to b swap?

And the swap is really no problem...just unhooking everything then hooking it back up. And if your car didnt come wiht vtec (i know the vx hatch had it) then you shoudl probably swap ECU's. After wiring and maybe some exuast line up issues, youll be fine.

we have a cherry picker and we will prolly use it i just didnt know for sure if u needed one and it was boosted that said needed a cherry picker ........i also heard him say that a itr was better then an ls for boosting.....he owns a mustang.........nough said

You can still drop it out the bottom even if you use a cherry picker....I heard/read somewhere that if you drop it through the bottom and bring it up that way that you are less likely to damage your ac and other accessories. Who knows

Not to be rude, but if you have to ask if you can do it..... then you can't and shouldn't. :2cents:

just rent an engine hoist from target rental for a weekend and do it like that. and you don't need "custom" engine mounts, just get some from www.hasport.com to fit your engine and your car.

dude when i said custom mounts thats what i meant...I was saying that you cant use the stock mounts.

I heard/read somewhere that if you drop it through the bottom and bring it up that way that you are less likely to damage your ac and other accessories. Who knows

Never done an engine swap on a Honda (have on a DSM) but alex is right, dropping it through the bottom is alot easier, especially on these engine bays that are so cramped on Hondas. But taking it out the top with an engine hoist works fine just might take a little longer, and a little more care..

well sorry, but when i hear custom, i think of making it yourself.

you have a 94? you dont really need the mounts. you dont need to do ANY wireing conversions or anything. take all the wires off of your intake mani, take you O2 off, rent a lift, take the damn hood off (its 4 bolts there 10mm) take the tranny/motor mounts off (i mean take the bolt taht holds them on the motor out) and pull it right out of the top. take the motor out from the bottom would be harder in this case. oh, dont forget about the exhaust and CV axles, and the wires/hoses attached to the tranny. getting your motor out is not that big of a deal. its getting the other one HOOKED BACK UP RIGHT that is hard. b/c i dont know about you, but i forget about were some of that shit goes on at, and no matter how many times you go over it, you WILL have forgotten something. you will need the ECU for the B motor and the B motors Tranny, AND its intake mani, and its exhaust mani, you will also need its shift linkage.

i know you said dont tell you what you have to do if you have never done it b4, but i have done D15 swap to D16 (w/e the 92-95 gen vtec is) into a 93 hatch. its basicly the same thing. (only the tranny can stay in that swap) if you need more info or anything- acctually, before you even really think of doing it yourself you should ask a few Qs
1. do you need this car running fast (is it your main transportation)
2. sence you had to ask, are you sure you are capable of intermediate mec. work?
3. how much will it hurt you if it does not run (bad motor/incorect hookup/ect.)

if you have a problem with any of this then dont do it yourself. expect it to take you and your freind 2 or 3 full weekends working on it. 1 weekend to get the motor out (it only took us a day, but i had a real mechanic helping, and i had taken that motor out b4...) another weekend to acctually get the 2nd motor in. and the 3rd or 4th to figure out why its not working right. and i'm %90 sure something will be hooked up wrong. it hapens to everyone lol. (we couldn't figure out why it didn't start.. forgot to hookup fuel + distributer lol) it took us 3 days to do ours (working like 4-6 hours a day) but we had done this b4, and it was really a simple swap. you dont have the exp. and a D to B is ...not as simple. so if you need it to be done fast b/c its your main transportation then let the mec. do it. if its just to play with, do it yourself!

In order to put a B series motor into a 5th gen Civic you need the following mounts, not custom, but you can't use all the civics mounts...

http://www.hondaswap.com/gallery/images/s3e2f81346d4f4.jpg

There IS some wiring like vtec and the knock, and you may have to lengthen a couple wires. You have to have the B series motor/tranny, axles/ halfshaft. shiftlinkage, ECU, and mounts. Taking it out of hte car either way is the same, if it comes out the bottom you have to have a lift, but if you remove the hood pulling it out the top is just as easy. I ahve done it both ways. If you don't have a lift, like we did one time, you can recruit four friends and have each one take a corner and lift the D out, this method sucks however for putting a motor back in.

wow....ive learned something allready today! i suppose you'd need different mounts for a 4th gen?