Okay, Ive been away from the entire civic movement for over 10 years and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things with my new beater.
It's gotten a d15b2 swap from a euro crx which is a good running little engine but not close to being what I'd consider "fast" (not that i'm really looking to make it faster either...?) My question is this, is it possible to graft a vtec head on the nonvtec d15b2?

The car has a "vtec" valve cover on it but Ive been told that they dont fit a dseries non vtec head? any truth to that? I just kind a figured someone swapped the cover bc it "looked cooler."

Is there a easy way to tell if the head has been swapped over? I dont feel a vtec ever kick in (or at least have not noticed it up to this point) so my guess is it was never swapped and just the cover was... ? Ive been told that they cant swap that style valve cover w/ a d15b2 stock head.... ?
any info would be awesome,
Thanks in advance.

(if the pic doesnt show up i got a engine shot in "my garage" of the current state of the engine.)

 

SOHC heads can be swapped easily. Look for the VTEC solenoid on the back of the head near cylinder #4. Stock D15B2 head had the spark plug holes on the intake side, those are definitely not VTEC. Heads with the spark plug holes on the exhaust side may or may not be VTEC.

 

This has the spark plugs on the exhaust side. As soon as I get a chance I'll have to check behind cylinder 4 for the solenoid to see if it has been swapped.

 

ok, I made time and ran out real quick with a flashlight and jerked the hood up to check the situation out. It does have the vtec solenoid behind cylinder 4, so I can assume the head was swapped out on the d15b2 to the stock vtec head from the original ex 1.5 vtec that was in my 94 from the factory. Is there any way to tell if that is the case? Perhaps a number or something on the head? (much like factory d15b2 stamp on the block) So now my question is this... Being the head has been changed and there is a vtec solenoid present, is there any way to tell if the vtec is firing correctly? I have driven the car daily for the past few weeks and when I push on it hard I dont notice any kind of "kick" from the vtec like my old 95 had...? every once in a while I'm getting a check engine light after driving for decent distances at highway speeds but everytime Ive gotten the chance to check the code Ive been unable to get the light to kick on ?
(Thanks for the information and help MK378, very kool to have a place I can get back into the mix of information.... I could've used this place back in 2000. lol.)

 

Codes are supposed to be stored even after the check engine light goes out, so scan anyway (if you have a 1994 ECU, it's OBD1 which uses the jumper wire and blinking CEL method). VTEC is disabled whenever the light is on for any reason.

 

sweet, thanks again man, I'll have to check the code tomorrow afternoon, weather permitting of course, I'll let ya know how it turns out. (keep your fingers crossed for me lol...) Ive built a ton of vw (aircooled) engines and have never really had to deal with any kinds of electrical mumbo jumbo lol... I have always loved the civics, had one and lost it... couldnt resist the urge to get another.

 

okay... well beat the rain out and I got to read the codes that are throwing on my CEL... Ive got a code 15 (Ignition Output Sensor) which as far as I can tell give people trouble w/ starting their cars...? mine has started every time without fail so no clue what its doing there....
Ive got a code 20 (electrical load detector) which as far as I have read is usually when people are blowing fuses out the a$$ and I'm not doing anything like that either... everything is good electrically that I can see. (did a few test on the alternator and battery and they both look good)
Ive got a code 41 (primary oxygen sensor HEATER?) No clue what that is, couldnt find a definate answer while looking.
the last code i got is a code 43 (fuel supply system.) Seen a bunch of things from fuel filters to clogged injectors etc but everything Ive read says it should run like **** if that is the case and the car is running out fine and hasnt so much as even stumbled while driving.
Any help would be awesome... OH also, Ive noticed that the CEL check plug on my computer is blue? If Ive read correctly it shouldve been gray if it was a cpu from a 92-95 civic and that it'd be blue if it were 96 and up? any info on this would be kool too. Trying to figure out what all has been done to this car is starting to be a pain in the butt lol... (it runs good I just wanta know what I'm looking at ya know?)