Good morning all, I am happy to report that I found a 1994 Civic EX that is pretty darned clean. It has 270,000 miles and has a 1.6 automatic in it. As you may recall my 1993 LX was totaled on New Year's Eve and it had a well maintained 1.5 5-speed with only 149,000 miles. I want to buy my car back for salvage and transplant the engine/tranny. Anyone done this?

I know that the gauge cluster will have to be swapped because of the shift position indicator lights, check. The pedal assembly will need to be swapped, check. Shifter and linkage swapped, check. Now the questions:

Will the ECU need to be swapped? Are there specific shifting instructions that are fed to the computer?
Will my 1.5 liter struggle with the new 14 inch tires as opposed to the old 13's? I really do want my mileage back.
Should the wiring harness be OK under the dash for the conversion or will it need to be traded out as well?

Thanks everyone. This has been a whirlwind tour so far and the adventure is just beginning.

Ed Fisher
Dallas, Tx
Anything else anyone can tell me about an automatic to a 5 speed conversion?

 

Yes different ECU for manual vs. auto. You will need a manual VTEC ECU to use the 1.6 engine in VTEC mode. The ECU from your old car will run the 1.5 of course, or the 1.6 but VTEC will not engage.

The 14 and 13 inch tires can be interchanged (as a set of 4 of course). The 14's are lower profile so the diameter on the road is almost the same.

You can keep the auto gauge cluster, the gear lights just won't ever light up.

Auto to manual conversion is pretty well covered if you search. Only minimal rewiring is necessary: the key / starter interlock and the backup lights.

 

https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=31774

 

Thanks guys. Given that I have two complete cars I may just do wiring harnesses as well, but the url helps me considerably. Sorry I just threw out the question before I did a good search, but a wreck/swap wasn't in my timeline right now and swamped doesn't describe my current state. Thank you so much for the help.

Ed Fisher
Dallas, Tx

 

Okay gang, I'm starting to get a little confused here. That isn't all that surprising, believe me.

I want to change out my engine, 5-speed transmission, ancillary items (alternator, starter, power steering pump, etc), steering rack, from the 1993 Civic LX 1.5L into a 1994 EX 1.6L automatic. This is because my 1993 LX had only 149,000 well maintained miles and awesome gas mileage but now has a munched body/frame. The 1994 has an awesome body, but larger engine and an automatic transmission., 270,000 miles, and not really what I want. This was the closest car that I could find to salvage parts from my 1993 which was totaled on New Years Eve.

My original thought was to swap engine, transmission, PCM and wiring harnesses for the cleanest installation. Now, however, I believe that this approach may not be the best route as the 1994 has a passenger side airbag that the 1993 did not have, and I believe the 1994 has ABS, which the 1993 did not have. Just diving in might render the safety devices inoperable, or worse yet, cause a glaring warning light on the dash to be stuck on!

I have seen the write up on https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=31774
which I think I understand, until I get to the portion of modifying the PCM. Do both the 1993 LX and the 1994 EX have OBD-1 PCM’s? Can anyone see anything flawed about leaving all harnesses in place, doing the mods outlined in the above write up, modifying the PCM as outlined as well? I want to also change out the gauge cluster as well, so I don’t have shift indicator lights, even if inoperable, on a 5-speed car.

I guess my major question is: Given that I have two complete cars what is my smartest, cleanest, greatest chance for success and having EVERYTHING be operational approach?

Thanks for any help, I appreciate the support.

Ed Fisher
Dallas, Tx

PS also posting on the swap forum for some advice

 

I'm pretty sure the SRS and ABS systems have their own specific brains separate from the ECU. So I would think you can swap the old engine and ECU into the new Civic and retain all functions from both. And I'm not sure why swapping in a different engine wire harness is necessary. The swap gurus can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Keep all the wiring from the EX. It has wires that your DX doesn't, for the ABS, cruise control, power windows, etc. The air bags have completely separate wiring, it's a yellow harness. If you ever install a VTEC engine the car will already be wired for it. You will just need to add a couple of wires for the backup lights. On an automatic the switch for those is at the shift handle, on manual it is on the transmission.

I'd buy the EX and drive it as it is for a while to see what it needs. Also that way you might be able to wait for warmer weather before doing the swap.

 

Great responses and advice as usual. I am driving the car and shaking it out right now. Keeping the harnesses and just modifying for the 5-speed does indeed seem to make the most sense. The description on the modifications is first rate. My only concern now is that the 1.5 liter will be underpowered when pushing the heavier EX (sunroof, pass airbag, ABS pump/piping, etc).

Thanks for sticking with me.

Ed