JDM B16 - Sport Compact Racing, Engine swaps guide and more!

Taking The Old Engine Out! (Page 1)

This entire process is relatively simple, and should only take 3-4 hours AT MOST to complete (if you are constantly working). I'll just go through the steps how I did them. Everyone has their own way of doing stuff, heres mine. Common knowledge tells you to disconnect the battery. Hell, now is a good time to move it to the rear.

1. First, take the hood off. Unbolt it from the factory flanges by the windshield. Should be 2 10mm bolts on each side. You don't need the hood on so why bother having it in the way. Be careful removing it, as it's kind of awkward to remove. Now is a good time for a second set of hands...

2. After you remove the hood, set it aside, and set aside the bolts, somewhere you won't lose them, and you'll remember WHAT THE HELL they are for! It's not good to have all kinds of bolts laying around and not know where they go.....

3. Jack the car up. Get it up pretty far and throw some jackstands under it. Take off all the underside plastic. Drain the oil, tranny fluid, radiator fluid and remove the oil filter. Also, now is a good time to undo the bolt that holds the intake manifold bracket to the block. Also, do yourself a favor and un-bolt the cat from the header, so ya don't need to do it later....

4. Also, unbolt the shift linkage from the shifter, and the stabilizer from the car. Now go the the other end of the linkage, pull back the boot and pull the linkage out. You'll see a hole with a pin in it. YOU NEED A SPECIAL TOOL FOR THIS. If you use anything but the right pin pusher, it will expand and you'll never get it out...

5. After it is completely drained of all fluids lower the car back down. Now, find the main wiring harness plugs for the engine. There should be 3 on the passenger's side strut tower, and 2 on the driver's side one. Unclip them, and you'll see how half of each one runs to the engine, and one goes to the firewall. Getting all this? Ok good.

6. Now follow all the plugs to their respective locations on the motor(It may be a good idea to label each plug, so you know where it goes on the B16 later). Pull them all out. Unplug the O2 sensor, the Injector plugs (little clips hold them on) and all other engine plugs. There are 2 on the back of the block which can be a BITCH to get to. So....

7. Take off the throttle cable, and un-do the clutch cable. Pull the speedo cable out of the tranny (dont lose the clip that holds it in!)

8. Remove the intake manifold. There are 10(?) 12mm bolts holding it on. I think they are 12mm... anyways, remove all vacuum lines from the Intake manifold. Keep them attached to the car, remove them from the manifold! Also, be sure to clamp down the fuel line, ya don't wanna be leaking gas. Go to the fuel filter and release the fuel line pressure with the nut on top. Get a rag, fuel may leak out.

9. After the intake manifold is out, those 2 bitch sensors should be easier to get at, so try it now. If not, wait till ya pull it all the way out to get them.

10. Now might be a good time to make some room in the engine bay for yourself to work.

Page 1 | Page 2

Part 1: Swap shopping list
Part 2: Taking the old engine out
Part 3: New engine installation

You can also download a PDF version of this guide here