Technical Questions and Answers - Honda Tuning Magazine

I have a ’94 Accord and want to build or get a new engine for it. What do you recommend? I have a $5K limit and I want more power.
Jabalie Altes

Jabalie, building an engine can be expensive, so I would look into doing an engine swap for more power. A popular and easy swap to do in your Accord is an H22A. The swap should only cost you a few thousand dollars, and after maintenance and replacement parts, you should only be at about half your budget. A nice wiring harness is always a good upgrade, as is an intake, header and exhaust. Lastly, if the budget allows, I would add some mild cams and an engine management system for a nice tune! If you can squeeze in everything listed, you budgeted wisely and should have a very fun car on your hands.

Hi Rywire, how do you convert from DPFI to MPFI on an ’88 Civic hatch?
Anonymous

Based on the info you’ve provided, I can only guess that this is for an OBD0 ECU from an Si. Aside from popular belief, you cannot simply put an Si (MPFI) engine harness on the DPFI chassis. You need to convert the DPFI engine harness using donor plugs from the Si harness. There are some key things to understand here. The TPS sensor on the DPFI is clocked the opposite direction as the Si harness. All that needs to be done here is to de-pin the outside two pins and flip them. Next you’ll notice the injectors are different. Using the Si injector harness, you will need to send all four wires (brown, red, blue, and yellow) to the ECU and pin them accordingly. I would download a pin-out chart online for exact functions. Don’t worry too much about the injector resistor box, as it’s prewired on the Si injector harness. Once all the wires for the injectors are sent to the ECU, simply connect the yellow/black wire to the yellow/black wire at the DPFI harness driver’s side shock tower plug. Next you’ll need to add two more wires to the ECU as the DPFI only has two timing sensors inside its distributor whereas the Si has three. You’ll notice a larger plug on the donor Si harness. Take note of the Si ECU pin-out, and it will make sense.

Additionally, remember that there is no tandem valve on the Si engine, so don’t worry if you have a plug left over with an orange and black/yellow. I have done 2,000-plus conversions to stock DPFI engine harnesses, so this job is not a new one for me. Good luck!

On your ITR buildup, I noticed you’re using throttle by wire. I have an eighth-gen Civic and I actually want to remove mine! Why on earth would you want to add one?!
Mike from Ontario

Mike, the factory drive-by-wire systems are very slow to react and are not designed for absolute performance. Imagine this, if you had a DBW system that was had no lag, and you couldn’t feel any type of delay, would you care if you had it or not? Probably not. With advanced engine management systems like those from AEM and MoTeC, DBW can be calibrated as fast as desired. With the advanced control of the EMS units, think of the possibilities. If you can manage the throttle with an aftermarket computer, you can control things like boost, advanced traction features, idle stabilization, and many other badass options can be achieved with this technology! Stay tuned…

Hey HT ! I’ve got a dilemma. I just bought an H22 in decent shape, but I need to have the valves reworked. I’ve got just about everything I need for the swap into my hatch except the transmission. I eventually want to do an H2B setup, but for right now, with school and bills, it’s not going to happen for a little while. My best friend has an F22 transmission that he’ll give me basically free, but neither of us is sure that it’ll work with an H-series motor. Can you shed some light on this? If it will work, I’m dropping everything in this weekend, I can’t wait!
Todd

Todd, you’re in luck. That particular tranny will bolt up to the H-series motor, so if your friend is willing to donate it to you, you’re good to go. That’s the good news. The not so good news is that although the two parts work together, the gearing on the F-series tranny is a little different. You will probably dip below the VTEC crossover when going from first to second gear, and it might feel a little sluggish when compared to the original H-series transmission. That doesn’t mean you should give up on the idea, you’ll be able to get your car up and running, and it’ll still be plenty of fun. Also, when and if you switch over to an H-series or B-series transmission in the future, you’ll love it that much more. Good luck, and be safe!