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Hello everyone. I wanted to know what else needs to be done in order to swap from a D17a2 to a D17A1 engine. It's a 2001 Honda civic EX with a crapped out D17A2. The guy who owns it is my co worker, however he didn't change the oil for 2 years of him owning the car. He ended up buying a D17A1 motor from the internet... maybe ebay not sure.

Anyway I wanted to know if this motor could be put into this EX which originally had the D17A2. I heard from a few people(couldn't find concrete answers online) that you could put a D17A2 motor in an EX model civic with the EX ecu. It just won't have vtec considering the A1 sause head isn't vtec. I don't work on hondas that much but my co worker just needs his car running before he deploys in Feb. Thanks again.

 
Rep Power: 512

Technically, yes, it can. However, with the old ecu and no VTEC, the car will be restricted to 4000rpm. Your best bet is swapping the engine then swapping the head (so you have an -a1 bottom with an -a2 head configuration).

It's essentially be the same engine at that point, just with a lower compression ratio.

 
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Okay cool. He is going to have to wait for now to do the Head converstion into Vtec. But for now I have a few other issues with the car. I put the motor in, I got it to where it turns over. I haven't fully inspected everything as far as spark and fuel, but if I were to take an educated guess :P I would say I have Spark and no fuel. Only when I started to turn it over I squirted a little starter fluid in the TB, and it almost started up but never did. It would only seem like it wants to start when I have starter fluid in the TB. Also I couldn't figure out if these plugs are the reason why it wont start. Figured I'd make sure and see where these goes before I even try starting it up again.

 
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Also quick question... Do I need to use the old d17a2 engine harness on the d17a1? I have d17a2 harness on there... Will that cause any issues?

 
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sorry i mean the a1 harness is still on the a1 motor. Just has the ex ecu or a2, whichever its called

 
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Hey guys. I figured it out and got it running but I ran into a few other issues with the transmission. When I was driving it around for a test run, the transmission made a popping sound and it felt like the clutch disengaged or something. Is that pretty common? Its halfway up my driveway currently hahaha.

I looked around online and the closest things i could find was possibly bad input shaft bearing or destroyed clutch. Any help would be appreciated.

 
Rep Power: 367

you in for a lot of trouble for a friend...
possibly something was knocked out of place when mating the engine to the trans?

 
Rep Power: 0

Yeah tell me about it... I'll probably just pull the transmission if he really needs it pulled. What really sucks is someone pulled the motor out without pulling the transmission with it. And they punted the install of the motor to me so I had to deal with their mess hahaha. And me not really familiar with Hondas I got the crappy end of being a friend I guess.