1988 Civic LX 4 door, 5speed conversion and B18 swap build

MisterKleen

New Member
Hello everyone! new to civic club so I thought what better way to introduce myself than to post my current build project. I'll explain as much of my process as I can for anyone that may be contemplating a build similar to this.

So to begin I am starting with a 1988 Honda Civic. 4 door LX model currently automatic, but will be converting to a 5 speed when I do the B series swap. Car was given to me in exchange for repair work on my neighbors car. Unfortunately I broke the phone I used to take the pictures of the car I took when I picked it up and began the teardown. So these in progress ones will have to do. Car came with a clean title and has sat in a field for 2 years after it blew a headgasket. Currently rocking a D15b2.

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There is quite a bit of work to do in this build and I will document as much of it as I can as I go through it
 

MisterKleen

New Member
My parts car is a 1993 Acura Integra LS rocking an OBD1 B18A1 with a cable transmission. I bought it for 500 from a local kid and it has nearly all the parts I'll need to do this swap. 30752 30753
the front hubs and brakes, rear trailing arms, master cylinder and brakes booster will all be transferred as well.

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some in progress stuff, stripping down the engine bay.
 


MisterKleen

New Member
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The pedal assembly I'll be using is from a 1991 honda civic ef that was a 5 speed. Left over parts from an old build. Should be a direft swap for the automatic pedals.

I also plan to semi shave the engine bay by welding up excess holes and painting over them. 30766 30767 30768 30769

Next step is primer:

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and finally a coat of black with some prisim sparkle clear from autozone. Cheap urathane paint but effective for something like this. 30773 30774 30775
 

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MisterKleen

New Member
cleaning up the brakes and suspension. also ordered up new ball joints and bushings. 30777 30780 30781 30784 30785
pressings new ball joints is a pain but saves a ton of money over having a shop do it.
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beware of knockoff parts, even if they came in a name brand box! I ended up with a Chinese knockoff that did not have the groove for the retaining clip. as seen on the left. also the joke of a castle nut it came with.
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the pads and rotors the car came with were in very good shape so I opted to just give the calipers a shot of high temp paint and fresh hardware.

I neglected to check the type of shocks I was running when ordering some aluminum LCA's so the stock ones will not work. However I plan on gettting lowering struts so its not an issue.

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cleaned up B series T bracket for the swap.
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Integra master cylinder for the swap. Will be paired with the teg booster and a 40/40 proportioning valve.
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will also add this Integra rear sway bar once I get to prepping the mount holes from inside the trunk.
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new more compact power steering oil cooler to save space.

I kept powersteering with this swap! stay tuned to see how I did it lol.
 


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MisterKleen

New Member
starting in on the DPFI to MPFI conversion. At the same time I'll be doing an obd0 to obd1 swap. stripped the teggy harness of its injector wires and depinned the civic harness. I like to completely remove all unused wires and pins from the harness so there is no confusion down the road about what a loose cut wire might go to. makes for several hours of extra work but its well worth it.

Obd0 to obd1 dizzy jumpers. plug ang play, just need to add 2 wires for the crank sensor.
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decided it was easier to just de-pin the civic plug and repin it to the obd1 plug adding the 2 extra wires
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stripping the teg harness.
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injector harness ready to splice in. Since im using OBD1 injectors I will not need to worry about a resistor box, I utilized the stock union cube instead.
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all the headlight and fan switch wires will be rerouted through the inside of the fender well for a more tucked look. Battery is on its way to the trunk.
 

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MisterKleen

New Member
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slow and steady, making sure every wire is solid from end to end.
primary and secondary injector wiring for the DPFI setup. depinning and running whole new lines.
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leftover wiring from past jobs comes in handy for extending wires while keeping the same color coding. you'll thank yourself in the long run if you take the time to match colors wherever possible.
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brand new B swap mounts with 60A soft compound bushings direct from Innovative motorsports. Halfsize dual core radiator to keep things cool and free up room.
 

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MisterKleen

New Member
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nothing can ever be as easy as it looks with cars lol. had a bolt on the rear LCA snap its head off and ended up having to cut the arm off the car. time for stud extraction. its too rusted to get a hold up with pliers but I have a simpler method for this kind of break.
step 1 put a nut over the broken stud 30818
step 2: weld that bugger on 30820
step 3: remove as usual with wrench 30821
 

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MisterKleen

New Member
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installed the heavier Integra front swap bar, also modified the front lower crossmember to allow for a larger header/ future turbo downpipe setup. 30824 30827 30828 30828
The swap mounts from Innovative could not have been a better fit. Everything lined up exactly as its supposed to. 30830
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prepping the Bseries linkage to be shortened 2 3-8 inches 30832
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grinding off the factory paint makes its easier to realign the shift rod at the correct angle.
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since the front transmission mount is nolonger used, its best to just cut it off to avoid bumping during hard shifts.
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I very stupidly threw away my half shaft when tearing down the teggy. So I had to purchase one for a 94+ integra and a matching axle for it. I also had to change to the 94+ transmission axle seal so it doesnt leak. the seals are very similar but the outer ring is slightly different so this is very important to change if swapping half shafts of different years. 30837
cannot forget poly bushings when reinstalling things 30838
 

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