Mini Me write up

This is a write-up of my y7/y8 mini me.


This swap was performed using a 1996 D16Y8 head which was mated onto a 1997 D16y7 block. I also swapped my pistons and rods for those from an 89-91 D16A6 for more compression.

What you need to buy:
New coolant and oil
d16y8 head
d16y8 head gasket
new head bolts

AND HERE WE GO: REMOVING THE OLD HEAD
1. drain the engine of coolant and engine oil
2. disconnect all coolant hoses, sensors, throttle cable, exhaust manifold and bracing from the y7 head (leave the y7 intake manifold attached--it makes the head easier to lift)
3. remove the spark plug wires and valve cover from the y7 head
4. unbolt the distributor from the head, and lay it aside, it's unnecessary to remove the dizzy from the engine bay
5. remove the 10 head bolts
6. double-check to make sure nothing else is still attached to the head, and then remove it from the block

now make sure the block is nice and clean, and if you are going to replace your internals like me, this is the time to do it, just drop the oil pan, and remove the rod bolts and pop the pistons out of the top of the block.

oh yeah, next time you hear someone talk about the bottom end of a d-series being unstable, take off the oil pan of a y7 and you'll notice a solid piece of aluminum, at least 3 inches wide tying the main caps together. :thumbup:


PUTTING THE NEW HEAD BACK ON:
FIRST MAKE SURE THE #1 CYLINDER IS AT TDC by rotating the crank usign the crank pulley bolt and that the cam is adjusted to straight up position.

1. spray the y8 head gasket with copper spray and put it in position, then replace the two spacers in the block.
2. lay the head on the block carefully, making sure everything goes on smoothly
3. torque the head bolts following the factory sequence
4. reattach all of the various sensors, timing belt, coolant and vacuum lines, and whatnot to the new head.

Also, at this time, replace the P2E ECU with the P2P from the EX trim level civic.

NOTE: we did not change the timing belt on my car as it was in near-perfect condition. that is why i have omitted this information from the write-up

Making it all work: this is the tricky part as there are a wires that will need to be either rerouted, spliced, eliminated, or disregarded.

1. The throttle body is a possible point of difficulty, the easiest way is to use the Y8 throttle body and y8 IACV on the head. In order to do this with the y7 wiring harness, you will need to take two spade connectors and connect them to the two prongs on the male side of the IACV connector, the connect these two wires to the three-wire female plug on the y8 wiring harness, being sure to disregard the orange wire. You will need to swap wires A12 and A14, and then disconnect wire A13 from the plug at the ECU.

2. To wire VTEC, you will either need some pigtails or you can just run two wires through the firewall, to the ECU, one coming from the VTEC solenoid and the positive wire from the VTEC pressure sensor. Be sure to ground the negative side of the VTEC pressure sensitive to somewhere on the chassis. Route the VTEC solenoid wire to socket A8 and the pressure sensor to socket C15 (at the ECU)

and i believe that is that!

some compression ratios that might help

Z6 /Z6 Block - 9.13:1
Z6 /y8 Block - 9.21:1
Z6 /A6 Block - 9.95:1
Z6 / ZC Block - 12.03:1
Z6 / D15 - 10.10:1
Z6 / Y7 - 9.62:1

Y8 / Z6 - 9.45:1
Y8 / Y8 - 9.61:1
Y8 / A6 - 10.33:1
Y8 / ZC - 12.61:1
Y8 / D15 - 10.52:1
Y8 / Y7 - 9.96:1

Nice Write up!