The site dedicated to Honda D-series engines
Last updated July 13th 2010
Welcome at this special place on the web, you find
yourself at a site that is dedicated to Honda engines, especially the D-series
engines. I’m trying to build a valuable source of information for people who do not believe
swapping to B-series is the only way to go fast, but even B-series drivers
might find valuable information here. Many of you will know me already as Dodo
Bizar on the Dutch forums (yes I live in the Netherlands) or as Diablo NL on
some foreign forums.
When I got my
car which came equipped with a 75 bhp D14A3 engine many people thought it
would never run fast. Seven years later I think I can prove them all wrong.
1400 cc of
displacement is just 200 cc less than the displacement of a B16A2 engine
putting out 160 bhp stock. It is my goal to get close to the same
100 bhp/litre… I came close and a D15Z6 from a friend of mine (known
as Spawn) did it (150.3 bhp with 1493cc displacement!) in 2007. My own car
reached 103 bhp/litre shortly after in January 2008, yes! In my search for
improvements - or better, the search for the blind spots on this engine - I
came across many other D-series info which I try to put on this site and have
it updated as I come across more interesting information.
Now for some
information about my own D14A3 engine. At this point, dynoing is done five
times with some nice results. It runs fast as hell you could say.
The first dyno was done after; the +15bhp upgrade
involving the throttle body gasket, open air intake, cutting all the coolant
lines from the intake manifold, removed many windshields blocking fresh air in
the engine bay, installing a 4-2-1 header, 55 mm midpipe and muffler,
swapped the stock intake manifold for a D16Z6 IM, converted the engine
management system from OBD2a to OBD1, installed a P06 ECU tuned with Crome.
This setup pulled over 116bhp (and had one big flaw: the cam timing was
advanced one tooth).
The second dyno (which was a one hour session) was
done with; replacing the stock 190 cc injectors with 240 cc injectors, a rebuild P06 ECU with P28 functionality, yes
that means it has a VTEC head (from D16Y8) with a VTEC cam (from D16Z6), an
adjustable cam gear and a heat shield (goes between IM and head) to complete
it. This setup pulled 122 bhp the first run, after properly cam and
ignition timing it went over 133 bhp. Quite nice for a stock 75 bhp engine I think without using turbo
and still the cat converter had not been removed. (I like to refer to it as a City-me setup, because the
Civic is called ‘City’ and the usual name for this kind of head
swapping is ‘Mini-me’).
A third time it went on the dyno, this time with cat
replacement and some small changes to the fuel maps (Zeitronix wideband lambda
installed), overall ignition (had to replace the dizzy because the old one
died) and inlet length (adding 5 cm length to the inlet tube seems somehow to
improve performance, came across this by accident). It pulled 136.6 bhp @ 7500
rpm and 140 Nm @ 6500 rpm… could have been more I figure.
The fourth time on the dyno I had put on a Skunk2
manifold with 70 mm throttle body. I hoped to get it over 140 bhp.
Unfortunately, I placed the cat converter back because I thought it was faster
with than without it… I was wrong; the Skunk2 did its job and added 5
more hp to my engine, but the power band till 7000 rpm was exactly the same as
in the second dyno run. The result was 138 bhp @ 7700 rpm and back to a maximum
torque of 135 Nm or so at 6200 rpm. So 99 bhp/litre is reached, theoretically
with the cat converter I would have passed the 100 bhp/litre mark I am
convinced.
Fifth time I had a cat converter again, a Skunk2
camshaft, springs and retainers. It reached 145+ bhp. Up to high CR pistons and
maybe some stronger rods to rev it even further…
Furthermore I did some fiddling around with a new
intake from Simota, looks good and performance seems normal. The intake was
bought to re-install the IAT sensor which gives more constant temperature
signals compared to the TA sensor configuration. Thanks at Frank a.k.a.
Gaskleppie for this one.
Work on my D14A3 will be paused for 1 or 2 years since
I bought a ‘real project car’ (some pessimism in there, the car had
a lot of hidden flaws). It is a 95 Civic coupe in terrible shape, but equipped
with B16B engine and tranny. This car is being prepared for some sprints and
circuit days. It already taught me the next upgrade I should give to my D14A3,
a limited slip differential, even with low power, these things can do brilliant
things in corners.
This site futures many articles about swaps and
information I came across. Most links in the menu bar do not tell you exactly
what is in it. It is always a good idea to look inside. Maybe the information
is applicable to your engine as well, but the links will get much too long if I
try to put everything in it. Reading is the solution. And you might understand
that this site is always under construction, so errors might occur. Also if you
think to have information that can help this site grow you are welcome to email
me at: Dodo Bizar or even better, visit the
forum. You can also visit: Honda-Fanatics (Dutch). And last but not least I want
to thank my girlfriend who gives me the time and encouragement to accomplish
this all: Nicole
I want to thank all people that visit my site and
email me regularly for there support. It keeps giving me the push forward to
update this site and get it up to some priority again.
Dodo Bizar
Disclaimer: the builder of this website can not be
held responsible for any damage done as a result of information on this site.
Use the information on this site at your own risk!!!