Cpatterson205

Hey everyone,
The whole point of this post is going to be me explaining that I'm new to the honda world, completely lost, and am begging for help. There's the long short if you don't like reading. If you do:

So I rescued an 88 DX from the crusher. Guy had title in hand but had broken the ignition cylinder off and couldnt/didn't want to bother replacing it so he was gonna junk it. Anyways I bought it, rigged a couple switches and a button, dropped in a new battery and fresh gas and she runs like a top!

Now the problem is, I'm only getting my feet wet in the honda world and I would much appreciate some guidance. It has a d15b2 motor in it, checked the timing and it seems to be good. I have two main problems-
On the drive home (about 20 miles) I had ZERO acceleration off of stop lights. I tried standing on the throttle, feathering it, tapping it, everything I could think of. Engine would lag severly and only accelerate in about 1/2 second bursts, but once I got her to second gear everything was copacetic. Also she overheated very quickly at one red light, think I narrowed that down because the radiator fan wasn't coming on. So my first point of guidance is, where do I start with this acceleration problem? I want to get this engine healthy before I worry about any upgrades.

Thanks in advance for advice!

ezone

I'd fix the fan problem first, because overheating will ruin lots of stuff.
You might want to find a service manual for the car and see how much work you are willing to do to it.

Cpatterson205

Got the fan fixed for now, waiting on a part to come in to fix it the right way.
Power issue came back last night but not as bad as before. I put mid-grade in it this time so I think I'm gonna sea foam it and see if that doesn't clear up the issue.

In all honesty, the body is straight and I like the styling, think I'm gonna do an engine swap soon. (the D16 sounds pretty straightforward and like a good option, any advice?) so I dont mind putting the work in for now. I'm actually excited to bring this car back to life.

ezone

I can't comment on engine swaps, but another complete engine/trans/harness/ECM would probably get rid of whatever is causing the low power issue now LOL

Cpatterson205

Lol thats another reason for me doing it. I want this to be reliable before I do that though, because I might have to daily this to work for a couple weeks while I save up for the swap.