93 civic lx --> d16y8 swap

[jaeh]

Ok, i just got my civic back from the shop. Here what the mechanic did. Used my old intake header, powersteering pump, and alternator and dizzy. He also somehow managed to use my wire harness and ecu.

Now im driving this car, and its making what sounds like valve noises due to the fact that VTEC is not being used.

I want to know is it harmful to run a vtec motor witha non vtec ecu?
and
In order to enable vtec, all i have to do is swap the ECU to a p28 and vtec should work?

Thanks

[fiberglasscivic]

Your mechanic should be shot. You need a vtec wiring harness and the ECU to use vtec and yes it is a problem to run a vtec engine on a non vtec ecu.

[jaeh]

So basically, rite now all i have to do is swap the ECU to the p28, and wire up the vtec. Right?

Originally Posted by fiberglasscivic

Your mechanic should be shot. You need a vtec wiring harness and the ECU to use vtec and yes it is a problem to run a vtec engine on a non vtec ecu.

[fiberglasscivic]

Are you kinda new to the civic thing? It's not that easy to just "wire up" your vtec. You would have to make several modifications to your current wiring harness and change the plugs for your ECU. They aren't the same because they were never intended to be used together. You either need to get the mechanic to put a non vtec engine in or buy a vtec wiring harness.

[jaeh]

Then why do people say you can use the eg wire harness along as you change the ecu, an the dizzy on the d16y8. And also hook up the Vtec Solenoid, the vtec oil pressure sensor and knock sensors to the ecu.

What more would be required for vtec to work?

Originally Posted by fiberglasscivic

Are you kinda new to the civic thing? It's not that easy to just "wire up" your vtec. You would have to make several modifications to your current wiring harness and change the plugs for your ECU. They aren't the same because they were never intended to be used together. You either need to get the mechanic to put a non vtec engine in or buy a vtec wiring harness.

[CivicSpoon]

Originally Posted by fiberglasscivic

Are you kinda new to the civic thing? It's not that easy to just "wire up" your vtec. You would have to make several modifications to your current wiring harness and change the plugs for your ECU. They aren't the same because they were never intended to be used together. You either need to get the mechanic to put a non vtec engine in or buy a vtec wiring harness.

WTF are you talking about? You don't have to change plugs, you don't have to modify or change out the harness. He's planning on using the P28 ECU, not the OBD2 one. All he has to do it run 3 wires. 1 wire from the vtec solenoid to pin A4. 2 wires from the vtec pressure switch; a ground and a wire to D6. That's it, it's that simple. If you want it to look neat under the hood, you should re-pin the shocktower mount plug on both ends. But simply running the wires from the solenoid and pressure switch directly through the firewall and into the ECU works just as good. It IS that easy to wire up vtec.

If you're using the P28 ECU, you don't need to wire in the knock sensor as the ECU doesn't look for it.

[fiberglasscivic]

Sorry, thought the P28 was obd2. I guess next time I'll shut my big mouth.

[des7165]

is this a decent swap? cause i was planing on doing this swap and building the motor and maybe a turbo? with out the tubo about how much hp is possible and about how much would it cause and what would i need? Or would a b16 or ls swap be better?