hey everyone,

im swapping out my stock 1.7 vtec for a 1.7 vtec from an 04 El. the reason im swapping is because my headgasket went i fried some piston rings and it leaking and burning oil to the point i need to fill it up every day. there is also antoher problem with a loss of power and it will stall out and backfire sometimes too. i was just wondering, because the ecu harnesses are different on the engines do i have to get an ecu from an el. can i just take the intake manifold and other stuff off my stock and put it on the one from the el so i can keep my stock ecu? whats the easiest way and has anyone else done this swap?

The '04 EL uses the D17A2, which uses the "economy VTEC" - I don't know enough about this to know which solution would be easiest, but I'm sure that's what's causing the difference.

Good luck!

Im kinda rushed to get this engine in because i need the car for work and at the end of the month im doing a road trip. Anyone that can help im kinda stumped on this one so your help would be great. Thanks

I wonder if you can use your existing wire harness. I mean, it's still a D17A2, so I don't see why they wouldn't use the same sensors

My engine is the D17A2 aswell which is the Vtec-E. i drive a 01 civic si canadian version. the specs of both engines are the same but there is an extra plug on the ecu harness so im not going to risk putting it in like that and it not working then having to take it out and take it apart to switch all the **** around so i want to know how to swap the harnesses so i can do it right the first time

What's the extra plug to? Engine harness should be the same regardless.

im not sure its all taped up and really confusing looking but ill go take a look when i get home from work. and they definitely aren't the same trust me.

lemme guess, you drive an manual and the "donor engine" was originally mated with an automatic?

Ahhh... I wasn't aware of that.
Good luck!

yah. but thats not a real problem i'm just going to swap the flywheels. Is there any other problems with the donor engine being auto that i'm unaware of?

that's where the extra plug comes from. The AT engine wire harness has an extra plug

check this post out
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/p...160-post4.html

it's an ECU pinout, shows that connector c is for the auto tranny only.

thanks so much man.. so i can i just toss in the engine and plug everything in and it will work fine without the plug. or do i sill have to swap everything out, i mean like the harness.

Since (I'm assuming) you're mating it with your original manual tranny, I don't see why you couldn't just swap the engine and use your old wiring harness. That extra plug is to control the AT.

Just keep in mind this is all in speculation because I don't see why Honda would change sensors from d17a2 to d17a2, regardless if it's from a civic or 1.7el.. Just a little disclaimer to cover my ***.. lol

yah okay i hope i dont need to change all that **** around. so much work already to do this and i need it done asap. im going to call my local acura and see what they say, they're pretty friendly there. thanks alot again, i really appreciate it.

Your a frickin Genius Riceboy!!! If I could I'd give ya mad rep for how quick you figured that out!!!

Lol.. I've just been around for a long *** time. As soon as I read (paraphrased, of course) "wtf extra plug?!" it kinda clicked.. hence my lead in post (the "lemme guess..." one)

Yeah everything on the motor side should be the exact same. Just reuse you existing engine harness and you'll be fine.

sorry im a bit confused by "just reuse you existing engine harness" do you mean take the one off my original engine and put it on the new one or use the one thats on the engine im using putting in the car and just leave that one plug for the AT unconnected?

use the one that came with your car, not the one that came with the new engine.

Exactly! Use the one that's on your car and you won't have any issues.

i havent really looked to see how to swap them around. is it hard or is it something that is pretty simple, like unpluging ****.

should be just unplugging ****.

wheren't there an issue with the wideband O2 sensor? Maybe should be OK if keeping the original ECU, though

Yea.. I'm pretty sure it won't be an issue if he's using his old ECU. If the ECU came with the engine, it'd be an AT ECU, and he's using his manual tranny with the engine

engine swap is done now! i switched around the harness it wasnt hard. the engine runs great, but now i think i still need a fuel filter/pump.

What makes you think this?

[QUOTE=2002civicrider;4477726]What makes you think this?[/QUOTE

so the problem is that sometimes, usually after starting my car i go push on the throttle and the car has no power and starts bogging out. after a couple seconds its fine and i can drive it but i still doesnt feel like the engine is getting enough fuel or something even while driving around town. im going to check to get a family mechanic to check it out and see what he says. it feels as though there's no pressure in the fuel lines to my engine which means its either the fuel pump or the filter on it is clogged. im going to check this out tomorrow. does anyone know if you can just buy a fuel filter separately from the fuel pump or do you have to get them together? i cant seem to find just the fuel filter anywhere.