just a few questions on engine conversion - b16a

[bubblecivic]

hey guys
i remember talking to Charlie at GPC and he said that its best that i do a package deal with him as he'll do everything for me and all i do is driveway without a worry.
but the thing is, the package is quite dear and is out of my budget. however, i've source an engine with gearbox etc for the conversion and it works to be more affordable.
he told me that i'll need a new air con compressor etc, power steering, fuel tank and stuff when i do the conversion and i was wondering if this is true? he goes i can't use my GL air con cause its different or something.

withe brakes,exhausts, i can always upgrade slowly.
he also said that engineeer certificate will cost me $500!? is this right?

also the cluster, he goes i'll need to change that cause i'm upgrading to a b16a so the current cluster won't have the correct lights.

also last thing, do you guys recommend any other workshop i can do my conversion at other then GPC?

is it possible for you guys who have experienced this, list me exactly all the parts i'll need?

sorry about the long post but i'm really keen or doing this conversion and doing it right first time.

any help will be very much appreciated!!!

thanks

[Muckafutha]

it sounds weird that the mech should ask u to change ur aircon and not change ur brakes and exhaust, considering u are doubling the power in ur car. u probably need to change ur fuel lines if ur car is a carby or add a surge tank. i wouldnt worry about a few lights on ur cluster either...the important thing is remember u have a new redline after the conversion.

[bubblecivic]

yeah he did say his package also includes upgrading the brakes and exhaust aswell.
that i can do slowly myself as i've seen a few of those parts over forums.

yeah my car is a dual carb.

[Lyle_Style]

yeh i do see u haveing to upgrade your zorst, but not your breaks. Unless they are completely fuct. I mean you would only need new breaks if the mass of your car was increase alot.. there is no difference travelling at 60 with a D series compared to a Bseries you know. They weigh pretty much the same there for you wouldnt need to get better breaks because they are still slowing down the same weight and the same force is being applied to them...
Good luck dude

[Chi]

Well with charlie he does everything to install for the conversion a/c, engine , wiring, brakes etc.

Just wether or not u wanna go thru hassle of sourcing all items out urself.

BUt i recommend u upgrade ur brakes, if u dont have rear brakes, get upgrades for that too.
Also your car will be significantly more powerful, better ot be safe with upgraded brakes.

If u upgrade ur zorst, get somehting decent not some shitty aftermarket crap.
Like a 5zigen, mugen or spoon zorst to get the best out of ur engine.

You will need to definately upgrade ur fuel tank to EFI

Not sure bout the a/c and p/s.

How much did he charge u for the package?

I got my EG project going thru him soon. :D

[SiR JDM]

I dont think the actual aircon is different, but with EGs, there are many many different hoses, nossels etc. I got aircon PUT IN to my EG and i had to wait around for the specific hosing etc to fit condensor etc.

Brakes, I beleive as long as you upgrade the front to SIR/VTIR brakes, the rears will be fine as fronts do about 80% of the braking.
If your goin to be a dickhead and take your car REALLLY hard on the street, or if you plan to track, then I recommend doing the rears, but like you said your on a budget, so do it slowly =]
But if u want an engineering certificate, ull need to do the rears.

The cluster, im not 100% sure, but because when you chuck your engine in, youll need a WHOLE new wiring loom. Because the EG6 cluster is different to the GL, this may be true, however I know a guy who is using his original Cluster in his conversion, so that might be all bullshit?
The cluster looks crazy anyway so just get it :P

Hope it helps

[mytoycivic]

yeh i am going to do my D16a8 conversion with him too...very hard to understand that little man! he told me teh same about the A/C...it wont match up with the new engine... i am not getting a whole new EFI tank...charlie told me it would be cheaper to set up an external fuel pump for the efi...

rear brakes are pretty much a must when you are boosting your power to almost double your existing power in your carb engine...

btw it is better to cost a bit more in the beginning than to have problems while you are driving or later down the track. it will end up costing you more in the long run... and it will ALWAYS blow out ;)

TIM

[LatinoHatchCrap]

you can always cut back on p/s and a/c and exhaust and that will lower the price quite a bit. All in all it would be easier and cheaper if you can source a half cut yourself and take the bits and pieces apart and have someone do the install for you. How much is he charging you? That'll give us a rough idea how competitve the price is.

to give you an indication a straight swap cost me 1g.

[bubblecivic]

whatttt?! $1000 only?!

Well the Package with Charlie is $6000, that includes "EVERYTHING!" lol, he always repeats that. So what do you guys think?
Any other places I can do the conversion at?
For labour itself his charging $1500. That why he goes its best to do the package deal with him as it includes JDM engine, rebuilt engine and gearbox, exhaust, brakes, engineering cert., 10 000kms warranty, new cluster, air con etc, fuel tank.

So if you guys were in my position, would you go the package deal or try to source a halfcut and organise a conversion with another workshop and upgrade the little bits slowly as you gather back more funds?

[SiR JDM]

With Warranties and all that stuff.. its not a bad deal IMO. But if its out of ur budget then yea obviously u cant get it.

I think Latinohatch means 1000 for labour.. no parts... i assume he sourced the 1/2 cut himself...

Most conversions down here in melb go for 4500+ figure range.. (a guy i kno paid 6k and that was just conversion, no rear discs or exhuast or anything.. engineering nothiing and he thought it was a bargain)
I paid less than that, less than 4.. less then 3.5 even... and im upgrading bits slowly as funds come. But i had a set back when i had to reco my gearbox due to syncros wearing. You wont have this sort of problem if you get the whole package

[BlacKEGPedroew]

Where in Melbs does a full conversion from a dual carby to a b16a for under 4.5 large?

[Muckafutha]

i know many palces that charge 1k for labour...if u can source the halfcut urself. 4.5k is definitely doable

[bubblecivic]

usually JDM model engines are low KMs anyways right?
so would you guys think the engine and gearbox would need rebuilding?

i'd like to know which workshops charge 1k for labour as i'm interested. i've seen halfcuts go from $3000 - $3500 so 4.5k budget will definitely work.

also engineering certificate, how much would that be?

last thing, does the fuel tank come with a halfcut?

what other parts will i need to source that won't be included in the halfcut besides the exhaust and brakes?

[LatinoHatchCrap]

By using the breeze as your base your already making the conversion more expensive. A gli as your base would make matters less expensive. If you already have a breeze its prob a good idea drop Danny a PM. I remember seen his posts about his swap which he did himself.
I dont believe that halfcut comes with fuel tank. Wreckers wouldnt be so kind:S

PS: that was 1k for the labour
My conversion+the bottom end rebuilt cost me $4500 (JDM B18C)

[bubblecivic]

My civic is a GL model.

[[[d a n n y]]]

4.5K isnt too bad..
at this time of the year..

as the B serise engines are getting so rare..

i thinku should do it.

[SiR JDM]

breeze is a head fuk, thats right.
I did the breeze swap
GL , you will still need to do an EFI conversion. Including Fuel tank, fuel pump and fuel rails.

I got mine off a ek4, but any EFI eg can be used...gli, si, vti

If your in melb i can give u a hand with ur conversion if u need, i did the breeze swap as well and had every problem that could go wrong going wrong :P

[bubblecivic]

oh damn man
i'm in sydney but thanks for your offer...

anyone know any workshops in Sydney that may be able to do the labour for me for $1000 or under? I'll try source myself a halfcut if I'll need all those fuel lines, fuel pump. I'm sure I can source the same wrecker.

[[[d a n n y]]]

hahaha

i did my conversion too
in the breeze.a back yard.
if u go ahead i could possibly go ahead with this i can help u

[imashy14u]

yeah, if you have a complete halfcut, doing the conversion yourself shouldn't be a major problem. the only problem, like what everyone has said, will be the fuel system. If you're lucky, you can get away with just an external pump and surge tank, but if not, you may need to get a complete fuel tank and fuel lines from an efi model.

[mytoycivic]

a half cut is litterally the front half of the car, usually only mechanically but sometimes it may have other components with it...

hence you will not get your fuel tank with that.

you may want to give robert at hannys a ring and see what he can do for you in the case of rebuilding the engine. that will prob include rings, head service, gaskets and seals...you will probably not need to do much more to the engine, especially if it is coming out of japan as it will have little kms on it.

robert wil not do your conversion but he may be a little more fair on the price of rebuild!

charlie can do your conversion or you could call SSS automotive as they have done many conversions as well

HTH :D

[Perry]

oh damn man
i'm in sydney but thanks for your offer...

anyone know any workshops in Sydney that may be able to do the labour for me for $1000 or under? I'll try source myself a halfcut if I'll need all those fuel lines, fuel pump. I'm sure I can source the same wrecker.


try calling charlie at Good performance 9681 6788, for a quote, :)

[bubblecivic]

i've already got a quote from Charlie and trust me, its not $1000.
i'll give SSS automotive a call tomorrow, anyone else guys?

[SiR JDM]

Dannys backyard! :p

[Chi]

Danny will even do a 3 lug conversion like his previous EG

[mytoycivic]

Danny will even do a 3 lug conversion like his previous EG


excuse my ignorance but WTF? :P

[bubblecivic]

hey guys

say i've sourcved a b16a halfcut, and the workshop i chose to do the conversion charges me $1500 for labour.

what are the common problems after halfcuts? who would be responsible under warranty?

also can you list me the parts i'll need for the conversion besides the halfcut.

lastly, how can i check if the halfcut is in healthy condition? and not on the edge of its life??????

thanks

[Rufes1]

yeh i am going to do my D16a8 conversion with him too...very hard to understand that little man! he told me teh same about the A/C...it wont match up with the new engine...
TIM

I dont see why you need to change the a/c when going from a d15b4 to d16a8?

They are till d series engines.. everything should bolt up fine? What am I missing?

[emp]

cant u like get them to test da engine ? alot of places in melb test da engine infront of u and comes with warranty or something ... u can call few performance work shop ask engine about a straight drop for the engine and get a qoute ... should ask around dont stick to one place ... dat is the mistake i always make hehe.

[[[d a n n y]]]

yeah, if you have a complete halfcut, doing the conversion yourself shouldn't be a major problem. the only problem, like what everyone has said, will be the fuel system. If you're lucky, you can get away with just an external pump and surge tank, but if not, you may need to get a complete fuel tank and fuel lines from an efi model.

better to get a fuel rail and tank off a EG si

best way

[Rufes1]

how come danny? Difference between carby petty tank with external pump compared to an efi tank?

[bubblecivic]

ok, new fuel system as honda civic GL and breeze are not EFI.

i'dlike to know how much you guys got your fuel tank/lines/fuel pump for?!?! also which brand pump do you recommend!?!?

i'm seriously thinking about doing it in backyard now as i've got a friend that's willing to help me out.

[michael_antoi]

hey so you've sourced your halft cut?

how much did it cost you?

i'd much rather do a backyard job, except i dont have any mechanic friends....lol

[pablos8]

bubble which mechanic was this?

[mugen_ctr]

quick question, off topic slighty, but what if it was a B16 or B18 into a EK/EJ8? Yea u could say get a Ek4 or Em1, but iev done 2 much to give up an start again...... given that the car in question has drums, d16y8..... would the pricing change given that the mech is doing less with reguards to converting to efi

Askin cause i wanna drop in a B16 or B18 next yr

[geeang]

bubble which mechanic was this?

Seriously pabols8, do you really need to bump 5-6 year old threads with one line questions? Just PM the guy if you need to ask something like that.

[dougie_504]

$6g is too much IMO. Shouldn't cost you too much more than $4g at the most to get an engine and have it swapped for you I think.

Then brakes, exhaust etc could set you back another $1000 +/- depending on quality etc.

[[[d a n n y]]]

i can source u a mechanical JDM EG6 B16a ( no panels dahs etc) for under 3K
so just do abit of sum.
4.5K sounds resonable