By Zoin (206.172.136.50) on Saturday, November 17, 2001 - 07:18 am:

It seems like so many peeps are installing v tec engines in there first gens and I realy don't know much about them. What year and model of Hondas are they from. Is it necesary to make custom drive shafts for the install? How many horses are we looking at from these little gems?

By Tim Harding (Timh) (140.160.236.188) on Saturday, November 17, 2001 - 08:52 am:

The easiest VTEC engine to install is the SOHC d16z6 or d16y8. The first comes from the '92-'95 civic si and ex. The later comes from the '96-'00 civic ex. They are very similar and produce 125 and 127 HP respectively. They come from the factory with a hydrolically activated clutch trasmission. The hot set-up is to use the cable-clutch transmission from the d16a6. This will come off a '89-'90 crx si (or civic si I think). When installing this engine there is a fair amount of work involved. Lots of things under the hood need to be "clearanced." Custom engine mounts will need to be made. I'm putting the d16a6 into my '76 1200 and have found it to be a lot of work. But the work shouldn't go without it's rewards... Oh, and the stock axles work with the new transmission. This is also true of the speedo cable and the clutch cable.
There is also a DOHC VTEC engine. This is the B16a. It is much bigger than the d series engine. Extensive "clearancing" is required, as are custom axles. This is a serious swap. Travis is doing this swap right now, and he cut the front of his car off and is using a tube frame and a one-piece fiberglass front body. In a word - I wouldn't try it! But it does make 160 HP stock...

By Zoin (216.209.113.191) on Saturday, November 17, 2001 - 02:03 pm:

Thanks Tim. I have done two V8 Vega swaps and they are pretty easy. Mount kit or Monza parts is all you need with a few custom parts. The reward was def worth the ride. The first time I took it out I took my gf to the drive in. It was busy so they had a young guy directing traffic. I wanted this car to be a real sleeper so I had a custom free flowing single exhaust made up. Looking at the car you could not tell. Any way this young guy walks over to me and says "that defenetly sounds like a small block under the hood cool!" Dam I felt proud! That was 18 years ago and I still have that car.

By Travis (24.248.25.98) on Sunday, November 18, 2001 - 02:12 pm:

With the B16A I have been told the d16a6 tranny will bolt right up. This makes it possible to run the stock axles. Saveing a lot of money. Also with the brake/ 4x100 conversion makes room for 90-91 Si calipers... So there are many cross drilled and slotted calipers available too. Justin is working on a rear Disk set-up from a 2nd gen (83-87) prelude, sounds like it might be a bolt up afair. Anywho. Man I love having all these people to get info from... saves so much time and money! Keep the swaps comin guys.

Travis

By Tim Harding (Timh) (140.160.236.85) on Sunday, November 18, 2001 - 06:09 pm:

Travis, I guess I'd better clear this up. A B16 engine will not bolt up to a D transmission. Otherwise I'd have a B16 in my CRX right now...
How's your car coming along?
Mine's been sitting idle for the past few months since I've been off at school.

By Travis (24.248.25.98) on Sunday, November 18, 2001 - 08:44 pm:

Hum... Justin must me mistaken too.. anywho... mine is sittin. just acumilating parts.

Travis

By errol (152.163.204.53) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 05:56 am:

I put 86 prelude rear discs on my 79 cvcc. the only things I 'had' to do was redrill the upper strut tower to accept the 'lude' strut (2 instead of 3bolts) and the bottom slides right in to the hub. I did have to weld the lower radius rod bracket to the hub, no biggie. It's just the top of the wheel sticks out more than it should and I'm looking into making adjustable, tubular lower control arms and coil overs to deal with that. I'll be redirecting the brake lines/cables and possibly using a different master cylinder. But alas... Mine is sitting also...

By errol (152.163.204.53) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 05:57 am:

OH... btw, what's a 'peep'?

By John S. (207.160.161.237) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 10:29 am:

I am working on that swap as an option also, but the Prelude rear disc assem. bolts directly to the first Gen stub axles, so why do it the hard way. The hassle of this swap to me seems to be converting the emergency system to work, and balancing the frt to rear brake balance. Oh I did forget you must rework the 1st Gen stub axle to fit the bearings in the Prelude disc/hub, but then it slides right on, and no camber hassles.
I had the inboard side of the shaft welded up then reground to fit the ID of the Prelude/2nd Gen bearing(29mm), then you just cut the outer bearing down to 18mm. Drill out the spacer to fit the new inner race dia, check your backspacing, and away you go. I found out the rear disc fits on after I had the machining done to fit the 2nd Gen brakes so it was just an added benefit.
Cost me around $50.00US for both to get the shaft welded up, and another $100.00US for the final machining. The machinist(a different person from the one who welded it up) told me there was zero warpage on the shaft as it was true and straight when he cut it down( this had been a previous concern of mine). We all concur that it strengthens the stub rather than weakens it.

By Justin (24.69.255.202) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 06:20 pm:

John, the way i'm doing the set-up is a little different. I retain the original stub axle, bolt the prelude rear caliper mount on. I'm using a floating hub from a 92 civic(it runs the same size inner bearing)I then machine the outer area for a factory 1200 outer bearing, press it in and i'm done! I originally machined the prelude rear disc to accept the 1200 stock bearings(But i realized, i would have to do this everytime i needed to replace the disc)So going with the later style set-up, it uses a floating disc(much cheaper and easily available) I should have the e-brake cable set-up done by the end of the week.. For the fronts, i've made up a bracket that bolts directly to the 1200 front hub(so you can go with the larger diameter vented discs)You simply press out your original bearings, press in 80'-83' civic bearings also inner seals from the same year(you use your original outer seal), change your axle outboard to the same 80'-83' civic set-up and your done! I'm also currently building larger brackets to accept the larger integra discs and calipers.

By Brian Wilborn (24.5.217.89) on Monday, November 19, 2001 - 07:28 pm:

peep = people...

Hey, peeps.

By John S. (209.223.82.185) on Thursday, November 22, 2001 - 03:39 pm:

Wow Justin,
That saves a lot of cash, and a lot of hassle...well done. By the way I do need a couples sets of the 80-83 frt. wheel bearings, what bargin price are you getting them for?

By justin (24.69.255.202) on Friday, January 25, 2002 - 10:31 pm:

Well, i finally got my buddies car back onto the hoist and took a few pics of the rear set-up.

I basically went with the caliper and brackets from the 84'-87' prelude.
The floating hat is from a 92' and on civic
The disc is from the 92'-95' civic si
The e-brake cables are also prelude..

I'll be doing the same swap on Twyla's convertible, but we will be going with NSX caliper's(front and rear)for a little flair!
(the only pain in the butt is: I'm converting it to the larger vented set-up(front and rear)and then converting it back to 4x120 so she can stay with her Panasports!)