3 replies to this topic

[Zephyr]

So after blowing up two D16a1's in two months at the begining of the season I decided to regroup and figure out a new engine to run in the racecar. I already had an LSD in my CG transmission and wanted to keep it so it was switch to a B series or figure out how to make it work with the D16A6 that a friend of mine had recently pulled from his STS EF. A good bit of research suggested it was possible but with some modifications. I had a few questions that no one answered very well that included the following:

1. What clutch/flywheel could work, it is confirmed that using an A20 flywheel with a D16a6 works in this combination. I wanted to know if you could use the D16a1 clutch and flywheel. YES they do work!

2. What intermediate shaft would work. No one confirmed much of anything other than that the D16a1 shaft bolts up, sort of. No one could go into details of what they did to make the shaft work but here is what I have found. Only one bolt will be able to be threaded in, it holds it in alignment however I didn't feel that only one bolt holding the intermediate shaft was sufficient. I cut out a section of the bracket mated up the two pieces and welded them together. I have two out of the three holes on the bracket now secured. I'm debating making the third one work however I don't thing it is required.



3. What drivers side engine mount would be used. The bracket from my CRX engine lined up with two out of the three holes, however it is a tight squeeze for those two holds, I think I'll open one of them up a little so as not to stress the bolt or the block. For the third hole I cut a section out of the block, bolted the piece on and welded the two pieces back together. Some people have said that you need to shim this bracket to the mount but this has not been confirmed as I have yet to put the motor in the car.



Other sections to ease in the swap:
Oil pressure gauge, mechanical Autometer with a block adapter.
Autometer Water Temp gauge with upper hose adapter from Pegasus Racing (PN HA30)
Ron Davis Racing radiator from Mister Disability with a slimline plastic fan.
Generic Tri Y header opened up to a 2.5" outlet into a 2.5" pipe with a flex pipe, resonator and turn down.
Modified Boomslang OBD0 to OBD0 harness to include additional distributor functions. I ran three sets of shielded wire directly from the ECU to the dizzy plug.
PM6 ECU socketed with Romulator. using TurboEdit for tuning.

As others have already mentioned you need to either tap out one hole for the starter as it does not line up. I chose to put in a M10x1.25 Helicoil as this made more sense to me and I had the Helicoils. The bolt hole at the back of the block does not line up with the transmission. The rear bracket only attaches by the two bolts that go into the transmission as the two bolts that go to the D15a1 block are no where near close to lining up. I was thinking of cutting and reworking this bracket too however I noticed that the bracket called for M10 bolts but the block was tapped for M8's.



Tomorrow night I'll be dropping the motor in, I need a Helicoil to fix a stripped bolt on the transmission and ran out of time tonight. The plan is to have the car done and shake it down on Sunday.

Z

[anjin]

Glad to see you have done this.

I was working on how to get an L3 gearbox (with lsd) onto a D16A1/zc browntop block, and had drilled new holes to get those rear bolts to line up. It looked like it would work; but a friend needed an lsd L3 box for a serious turbo build so I sold it on. I hadn't got to the mounts and intermediate shaft, but the cut and weld looked the way to go.

Since then I managed to source a cg box with lsd and changed gear set from a local race car, and several blocks and heads including the D16a8 series (blacktop). That's next years project - rebuilding the combination. I did notice several cut and welded engine mounts and the same on an intermediate shaft, so the way you have gone looks similar. One of the more interesting cut and welds was to the rear engine mount. It had been lowered about an inch. I suspect that was to accommodate the angle the engines are supposed to sit at, although it could also be connected to simply lowering the engine a bit. There were also lowering shims for the other mounts, but they were only quarter inch. So something to keep in mind when fitting the engine.

[Zephyr]

It looks like everything bolted right up. Loaded the car on the trailer and will be heading down to the local test track to shake the car down. I had a slight fuel issue which I think was due to the car having sat for 4 months.

[Zephyr]

Car held together wonderfully. The gearing was really nice.