D16A engine question

[boltz]

My wife has owned a '92 Civic Si 5 speed, with a pre VTEC D16A (all alloy twin cam) since we married 10 years ago.
Having never owned a 4 cylinder car, I've always been really impressed with how hard it went and how it loved to rev.
Unfortunately I've let the car go, to the point where it's not worth spending the money to fix it. Think paint, panel, suspension and lots of broken trim pieces.
I'm undecided whether to look for a tidy donor GL to transfer the running gear into, or pension it off.
The engine has done over 260 000km and still goes hard, but must be ready for a freshen up by now, but I'm guessing it would be cheaper to buy an import VTEC motor. Would I be right?
Finally is there any market for the D16A or has the advent of VTEC made it redundant?
Thanks in advance, Steve

[3K9]

Hey boltz,

Welcome to OZhonda! ;)

I am currently kinda in the same position as you, except I am just about to swap engines!

If the engine has been properly looked after, I don't see why not keep going with the mighty D?

For the broken/worn out parts of the car, you can just source parts off wreckers, or from people who are wrecking Civics, or buy new parts. Cheap and widely available.

You should read the Motor Change Guide:

http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?47020-Motor-Change-guide-for-EG-*-B-D-H-K-SERIES-!!!!

As you can tell, this was written over 7 years ago. The prices have gone down, about 30% off from those listed prices, should be today's prices.

There is barely any market for the D16 (DOHC), in terms of demand and aftermarket support. That's partially why I am upgrading.

Old generation Hondas are great. Please don't give up!


I am sure someone else can fill in further...

[Baby Face]

D is a good one to turbo, since the bits are generally cheap as not many ppl want them.

Now we have 2 options in regards to the shell.
accept that it looks like turd, strip it all out, make it your personal on road race car, then put in the Turbo D16a you have or a regular b18c2/b16a (cheaper direct fit VTEC engines)
i think if you like the revvyness of the d16 you should try a b18 or b16. i say strip it out because the effort of replacing all the broken trim, if there is a lot of it, is a bit of a pain. i went through a stage with my EG civic were i was hunting down wrecked ones, to get a perfect dash, perfect knobs, etc the parts were cheap, but the effort of changine the WHOLE dashboard was a pain.

OR!
we sell the shell wreckers/scrap metal, and source another car whether it be another similar age civic - with a broken engine to move your old one over or to do an engine swap- or one with one of the a fore mentioned engines already in it.

[Daveho1]

the DOHC D series is a cool part of honda history. they dont need to be turbo, they dont need vtec or supercharging. a high compression n/a is more then enough. they where very popular during the 80s in japan, speed hunters did a article that touches on them... ill see if i can find it... nope anyway they are a cool part of history and can be a good base, depending on what you want from the car

[boltz]

Thanks for your replies guys - very helpful. Probably will keep looking for a tidy one to put my running gear in.