Hey guys, I'm going to write this as clearly and concisely as I can so there's little to no confusion about my points and my questions. I'm sure you'll all appreciate it

I live in Canada and currently own a 1998 Civic Si, automatic transmission (Civic EX in the USA). I've been doing a fair bit of research on swaps for this car and have come to the conclusion that in May/June once the car comes out of storage it will be getting a new motor.

The motor I've settled on is a JDM B18C SiR-G. For those who don't know, the donor car of this engine is a JDM Honda Integra SiR-G which in North America is known as (everyone together now) an Acura Integra GSR. Anyways this engine is 1.8L, 178hp, 129tq, DOHC, VTEC, and will be OBD-2. Because it is OBD-2 this means it was made after 1995 or 1996, I don't quite know. Along with this engine I'm getting the automatic transmission. Before you ask, the Integra GSR's in North America only came in manual transmissions but in Japan automatic transmissions were an option - so thankfully no issues there.

Now anyone who does some basic research on B-series swaps into our EK chassis will probably see mentions of changing the stock motor mounts and/or needing to buy a new bracket or two.

First the motor mounts. From what I can tell these aren't something you need to change - that's why the B-series swap is an "easy" swap and is supposedly a "bolt-in" swap. But for anyone who is **** (like me) you'll want things done perfect even if it means extra money. With that said Hasport offers an engine mount kit for B- and D-series engines which are meant to replace the stock mounts (at a cost of $450 USD). View the kit here: http://hasport.com/catalog/product_i...products_id=45. It looks like this kit includes a rear mount, right hand mount, and left hand mount (with a framerail bracket). If you bought these three mounts separately it would cost $480 USD. Now if you clicked the Hasport link above and read the description of the mount kit you'll notice it says:

"Engine mount kit for B and D series Engines. Fits B18B, B20, and B16 engines. B18C/1 or B18C5 requires a bracket change."

Bracket change? Uh-oh now it's getting confusing! Well what I've commonly seen is the mention of needing 2 brackets from a 99-00 Civic Si (Civic SiR in Canada) and a bracket from a 96-97 del Sol. The del Sol bracket is only needed if you have air conditioning and wish to keep it. The Civic Si brackets aren't needed if you're swapping in a B16A2 but of course this whole post is about swapping in a B18C so yes, they are needed. The two Civic Si brackets you need are: (1) driver side mount bracket (which I've seen called a timing belt mount bracket) and (2) rear transmission mount bracket.

If you want to order these two brackets from an official Honda dealer (such as http://www.hondapartssource.com) search for part numbers 11910-P30-000 (driver side mount bracket) and 50827-S04-N10 (rear transmission mount bracket). With some further searching on Hasport's website though I think I found that they too supply these two brackets as well as a third one. Their first bracket is called left hand engine mount bracket (see http://hasport.com/catalog/product_i...products_id=49) and I believe it may be the same one as the driver side mount bracket I mentioned above. One clue this is an important bracket is where it says in the description "Required if using B18C/1 or B18C5 Engine with EKLH" (EKLH meaning left-hand drive). That makes sense right? We're taking an engine from a right-hand drive and putting it in a left-hand drive. Maybe this is what Hasport was talking about when they said "B18C/1 or B18C5 requires a bracket change".

Anyways the other two brackets Hasport has are a lower transmission bracket (see http://hasport.com/catalog/product_i...products_id=58, I believe this is the rear transmission mount bracket mentioned above) and a rear engine bracket (see http://hasport.com/catalog/product_i...products_id=48, I have no idea if this one is needed but I'd be inclined to buy it anyways just in case). Oh and if you have AC here is the bracket for that I mentioned earlier (see http://hasport.com/catalog/product_i...products_id=59).

Whew! I know that might have been a little bit confusing but dammit I tried to make it as clear as possible! Now I don't claim to be an engine swap expert or anything like that, I just thought I'd share with everybody the bits of knowledge I've picked up from my research because there can be plenty of contradictory information out there. If anybody sees me saying something blatantly wrong please feel free to correct me. If you have anything to add, or want to confirm something I said, please do so also.

Now I have a question for all of you. If I'm getting a B18C with an automatic transmission, how does that change anything with regards to brackets and mounts? I know that people putting manual transmissions in their cars is much more common than putting automatic transmissions in, so this is a grey area with little knowledge going around. Any help would be appreciated and please keep the "why bother with auto" comments to a minimum.

Thanks,

- NastyNorman

 

One or two of the links I put in brackets are slightly screwed-up but I'm sure you'd all figure that out sooner rather than later (where's that "wink" emoticon, lol).

I've already started to document my journey with this engine swap even though all I've done is preliminary research. In say 6 months or so when hopefully it's done I'll post the website link for everyone to see. I plan on making it very descriptive and have a lot of photos. All I can tell you for now though is that it will be hosted on www.nfdriver.com.

A few useful references:

http://www.hondaswap.com/forums/inde...howtopic=29749
http://www.hondaswap.com/forums/inde...howtopic=29815
http://www.hondaswap.com/forums/inde...howtopic=55045
http://www.phear7imports.net/trey/6gen/

- NastyNorman

 

i can't offer you any advice on the engine, but i can say it'd be a lot cooler if it was a stick.

 

BUMP if anyone has anything to add. Please don't be shy in correcting me! Just try to be thorough in your explanation.

 

I will add


add it to a FAQ, thankyou for the write-up

 

I will be editing what I wrote in the next month or so. I got two car tech manuals enroute that are dedicated totally to Honda engine swaps and building up Honda motors. We'll see how much of what I wrote is wrong

 

So can anyone recommend a wiring harness for my B18C1 Ek swap?? should i be pulling an SI harness a GSR or keeping my stock harness? I havent found any on hasport site except for the 92/95..

 

You need a GSR harness because of the secondaries on the intake manifold

 

ok my friend is giving me his gsr motor out of his 92 civic hb and we are swaping in in my 97 ex civic so all i have to get those 2 brakets but i can use the same motor mounts i'm confuse help me out

 

oh oh!..u forgot about somethin..not that its much...but u for got about the 99-00 si shift linkage!..u need that if ur gonna do and EK switch with a B-Series Engine!..oh yea!...FLY!