Honda Civic SiR on dteirney.me

B16A Vacuum Line Diagram

Sun, 10 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Below is the vacuum line diagram for a first generation B16A out of an EF9 body shell. A vacuum line diagram is very useful for making sure that all the vacuum lines are going where they are supposed to be going, particularly after a B16A Engine Swap, or Ford XF Throttle Body Swap.

Ford XF Falcon Throttle Body Swap

Sun, 10 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0000

In the search for more power, a bigger throttle body (TB) was determined to be the next place to investigate given that the intake, headers and exhaust had already been improved. Since I have access to a lathe and other machinery, the first thing I investigated was overboring the standard Honda throttle body.

Upon investigation, the standard second generation B16A throttle body looks like it can only be bored by about 1mm, perhaps 2mm before you breach into the cavity that the throttle position sensor (TPS) lives. Such a small increase in diameter for the amount of other work that is involved just didn’t seem worth it. So I decided to investigate the option of swapping in a completely different throttle body. Of course the best place to start looking is in the range of OEM throttle bodies that Honda produces. Unfortunately, the 60mm throttle plate in the second generation B16A TB is the largest size that Honda produces apart from the B18C Type R throttle body, which is only 2mm bigger at 62mm.

Honda Tips and Tricks

Sun, 10 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0000

This page contains some of the tips and tricks that are useful for general maintenance of your Honda. At the moment there are only instructions on how to set the idle.

Set Idle

Setting the idle correctly on a Honda Civic (or any Honda) is important. If the idle is not set correctly the car will either idle too low, or it will idle too high causing the idle to surge up and down.

B16A Engine Swap

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

This page contains information about the B16A engine swap that my Honda Civic had done many years ago transforming it (albeit mildly) into a Honda Civic Hybrid. The donor engine was obtained from Dodson’s Autospares, a local importer/wrecker of used parts from Japan. The B16A engine is from a 1994 EG6 Honda Civic SiR (determined from the timestamp on the head).

The body shell for my EF9 Honda Civic SiR is in great condition. There is no rust anywhere and just the usual small dents down the sides due to inconsiderate drivers at shopping centers. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the engine. The original first generation B16A engine in the Honda was showing signs of weariness. It was going through oil at a rate much faster than I would have liked. Sometimes I would forget to check the oil level every now and, when I did, I would be lucky to find any oil on the end of the dipstick. Far, far from ideal!

B16A Reference

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

This page contains reference information for Honda B series engines. Honda introduced the first B series VTEC engine in the Japan Domestic Market (JDM) in the form of the B16A in 1989. The mass-produced normally aspirated engine managed to break 100hp/liter - 160 horsepower from 1.6 litres of displacement. The B16A has since been a benchmark for all 1.6 litre engines and has been continued in production since 1989 and is still used today in the high performance line up of Honda’s.

Bonnet Spacers

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

To reduce the temperature underneath the bonnet I tried raising the back of it to let some of the hot air escape. Quite a few cars at the drags employ this trick. I used a Cable Free Indoor/Outdoor Thermometer to measure the temperature difference caused by raising the rear of the bonnet and the results were unexpected.

Fabrication

Putting in bonnets spacers is reasonably straight forward. First you need to make some spacers to fit underneath the bonnet hinges and then install them. I have seem some people use a number of stacked washers as spacers, but a proper mounting plate spacer distributes the load much more evenly.

Bonnet Vents

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

The new headers that were installed during the B16A engine swap generate a lot more heat than the stock exhaust manifold and heatshield.

In another attempt to reduce the temperature underneath the bonnet I tried installing some bonnet vents into my Honda Civic SiR to remove some of the excess heat.

Choosing Bonnet Vents

Finding bonnet vents that would suit the Honda Civic SiR was very difficult. More difficult than I would have thought given the increasing import scene in New Zealand. Many local shops sold cheap fiberglass Mazda GTR lookalike bonnet vents. I found other bonnet vents that were similar in design to the Mazda GTR ones, but most of them required a large hole to be cut in the bonnet, which is then covered with a badly made fiberglass surround and aluminium mesh. That seemed a bit silly because you might as well just have cut a hole in the bonnet. The gaping hole probably wouldn’t help the aerodynamics and the would allow all sorts of stuff (like rain) to get directly into the engine bay.

Custom Headers

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

This page contains information about the creation of some custom 4-2-1 headers for the second generation B16A in my Honda Civic SiR. This was brought about after the decision to do a B16A Engine Swap. The stock cast iron manifold looks somewhat restrictive even though it is rumoured to flow quite well. The cast iron exhaust manifold is also very heavy, so just removing it and replacing it with an equivalent header that weighed much less would have some performance benefits.

Dyno Plots

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

This page displays the dyno runs that my 1990 JDM Honda Civic SiR has had. At the moment there have only been two dyno sessions. I wish I had done more prior to some of the modifications to see what modification have and haven’t worked. The seat of the pants dyno has always registered an improvement but the seat of the pants dyno is known to be inconsistent…

All of the B16A dyno runs have been 4th gear sweeps on the ATEC rolling road dyno at Shore Performance & Parts.

EF9 Fuse Panel Translation

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

EF9 Fuse Panel Translation

This page contains the Japanese to English fuse panel translation for an EF9 Honda Civic SiR. One of the people at Work speaks and can read Japanese. So a big thanks to Phillip Barlow for the translation that appears below.

Japanese Version - English Translation - European Fuse Panel

Japanese Version

The picture below is a scanned version of the Japanese fuse panel. Apparently the Japanese found on the fuse panel is typical of most Japanese to Western European conversions. The characters that appear are actually the Japanese phonetics for the English version of the words. This is kind of similar to the phonetic descriptions seen next to words in most English dictionaries, except using Japanese characters. For example, the translation for radio might sound something like rajio from the Japanese phonetic symbols.

Honda B16A ECU Error Codes

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

The table below lists the ECU error codes that can be thrown by a Honda B16A ECU. These codes have been copied directly from a Honda Service Manual. I can’t remember which year Honda it was for, but I think it was for a 5th generation Honda Civic.

These error codes are very useful for determining the cause of any problems that you may have, for example after doing a B16A Engine Swap, Ford XF Throttle Body Swap or for general maintenance purposes.

Honda Gearbox Ratios

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Honda Gearbox Ratios

This page contains the gearbox ratios that can be found in all of the different JDM (Japan Domestic Market) B series transmissions. It also details whether or not the transmission is available with an LSD (limited slip differential).

JDM Honda Gearbox Ratios

Code	S80	Y21/Y80/S80/S4C	S80/Y80	Y1	YS1	S1/J1
Car	JDM Integra Type R 98+ (LSD)	JDM 96-97 Integra R (LSD)JDM Civic R [EK9] (LSD)JDM Civic SiR [EK4, EG6] (optional LSD)	JDM SiR-G (optional LSD)	JDM CRX/Civic SiR [EF8, EF9] (optional LSD)	JDM 92-93 XSi Integra (optional LSD)	JDM 90-91 Integra XSi [DA-6]
Type	Hydraulic	Hydraulic	Hydraulic	Cable	Cable	Cable
1st	3.230	3.230	3.230	3.166	3.307	3.230
2nd	2.105	2.105	1.900	2.052	2.105	2.105
3rd	1.458	1.458	1.360	1.416	1.458	1.458
4th	1.034	1.107	1.034	1.103	1.107	1.107
5th	0.787	0.848	0.787	0.870	0.880	0.848
Reverse	3.000	3.000	3.000	3.000	3.000	3.000
Final Drive	4.785	4.400	4.400	4.266	4.400	4.400

You can use any B-series transmission (cable or hydraulic) with any B-series block as long as you make sure that you use the correct clutch, flywheel, and intermediate shaft.

Known Honda Problems

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Known Honda Problems

This page contains some of the known problems with Honda Civics that I have personally run into. Some of these problems aren’t well known to those outside the Honda community so your local mechanic could spend days trying to find some of these.

Main Fuel Relay - Vehicle Speed Sensor - Oxygen Sensors

Main Fuel Relay

This Honda Civic problem was potentially the most frustrating problem I have ever had with a car, period. Basically the Main Fuel Relay that controls power to the fuel pump stops giving it power at what appears to be completely random times. This is supposedly cause by cold solder cracks in the PCB. When I eventually found out that this problem existed the mechanic at the time opened the relay up to have a look and everything looked fine. We still replaced it though and that fixed the problem.

Links

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Links

Honda B16A - The VTEC Legend Specifications for all of the B16A engines including the US models. Dyno plots from lots of B16A engines with various modifications. Information about swapping various bits from the B18C engines to the B16A.

Hybrid Honda Contains loads of information about hybrid Hondas. Just about everything you need to know to about swapping something from another Honda to your Honda.

Hybrid Honda Forum Forums where people will assist you with any questions you have about your hybrid Honda (part of Hybrid Honda).

Photos

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Photos

This page contains some of the photos that I have taken of the 1990 JDM EF9 Honda Civic SiR using my new (well it was at one point) fan dangled digital camera.

Click on any of the photos for a larger image.

Exterior - Interior - Engine Bay

Exterior

Underhood Temperature Readings

Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Underhood Temperature Readings

One of the cheapest ways to increase engine horsepower is to make the intake charge cooler. A cooler intake charge is more dense and, therefore, contains more oxygen per unit of volume. More oxygen generally means more power and thus having colder air entering the engine is desirable.

There are several ways to decrease the intake charge temperature because there are several places where the intake charge can get heated before entering the combustion chamber. The first is by actually sucking in hot air from the engine bay. The rest of the heating of the intake charge occurs as it travels up the intake, through the throttle body, through the intake manifold and finally into the combustion chamber. By reducing the temperature of any of these pieces you reduce the amount of heat that the intake charge absorbs on it’s way to the cylinders.