B16a in a 90 4wd civic

[Thad]

I am extremely interested in dropping a bigger engine into my 90 4wd civic wagon. I like to drive fast...not into drag racing, just rallying twisty roads, drifting corners. I ride snowboards & downhill bikes so am often driving up Mt Baker Hwy in 18" fresh pow pow. The car has great traction with the realtime 4WD, but is a bit gutless with 4 people, boards & gear. In the summer time, I shuttle bikes up the hill with it....often of fire roads & logging roads. It is fun to drive when I'm the only one in it... but is slowwwwww with 3/4 people & 50lb DH bikes. .

I daydream of turning this rig into a sleeper WRX type of car. Is it possible to drop a b16a engine in this car? I'd like to keep the stock tranny is poss....it's a 6 speed with a super low granny for offroading & ice & snow. All of the JDM import sites have the engines packaged with 5speed trannies.

I managed to drift the car into a ditch the 3rd day i had the car....d'oh. It has dents in the driverside door and the clearcoat is peeling on the hood(it's red). The car looks kind of like a mini-van....grampa mobile. It has stock 13" steel rims with michelins & a set of studded snows. As soon as I wear out the street tires, I'd like to get some lowkey looking 15" rims with more performance tires. Also, I'd like to put rear discs & swingarms out of an integra, swaybars, stiffer springs..shocks after I blow stock ones. I'd like to get those adjustable shocks...have it lowered in the summertime with the street tires, & lifted for more snow clearance with the studded tires. Eventually intake & exhaust system. And then maybe a paint job.

Am I crazy? Does this seem like a good idea?

Also any reccomendations on shops the do a good job on this hybrid engine stuff in the Seattle to Vancouver B.C. area.

Thanks for any help.

[Moppie]

Sadly the B16a will not fit onto your 4WD gearbox.

The bell houseing and input shafts are all wrong. Sorry.

But you could drop a D16z6 (SOHC VTEC) into it, or even Turbo your current engine.
The only problem is the rear diff in your car is notorisly weak, and if you plan to drive it at all quickly its more than likely to have a very short life.

[tenzoracerevovii]

whoa.....that's pretty crazy....i never knew they made a 4wd civic.....wat kind of motor did it have and wat kind of power figures?....where was this car produced too?......i never even knew honda made a 4wd car at all....

[GTA]

The 4wd wagon was made sometime in the 4th gen, it had the si engine, also had a 6 speed gearbox with a granny 1st gear.

[Moppie]

Originally posted by tenzoracerevovii
i never even knew honda made a 4wd car at all....

Well Iv seen 4WD versions of the Civic, Shuttle, Accord, Orthia (like a small accord wagon) and the Odyssey.

All were Jap imports.
In Japan its quite common for manufators to make a 4WD version of most of thier cars, so they can try and catch the large number of Japanese who Ski, or live in regions where it snows in winter.

[marked001]

yup...I'd either go zc or sohc vtec... they'd both give you decent power...actually, I'd probably go w/ the zc for hillclimbing... dont know why...haha. I've seen one or two 4wd wagons on the boards w/ zc's...

[sastanley]

Yeah - I am with Jason...if you want power and torque (do any of our engines have torque?? ) I'd pick the ZC. Who needs VTEC when 4-wheelin' in the Civic? haha..

[Setanta]

I'm thinking a ZC should bolt up as it's a D-series engine over here.

Turbocharge that and away you go - make sure that you have a spare transfer case and driveshafts for it though - they are weak as non-alcoholic piss.

Actually, the Honda official history site lists the 4 door sedan as being AWD, but I have a feeling that it's a glitch in babelfish.